In South Korea and Trying to "Adapt"

Just a quick note to let you know that I've arrived in South Korea. As I have come to expect with Malaysia Airlines, there were bumps on the way. This time, my carry-on luggage was too large (even though it was the exact same size as when I arrived in Bali), so I was forced to check it and pay $170 for excess baggage. Then, upon disembarkation in Korea, half of my luggage didn't even make it. It's supposedly somewhere in transit between Kuala Lumpur and Seoul. Sigh.

So I'm starting to a hit a travel-weary wall. I knew it would happen some time, and it's coming on strongly now that I'm in yet another city where another 10-million people barely speak English. The struggles are both mind-boggling and amusing. Let me give you an example: South Korea has different power outlets than the U.S., so I asked the clerk at the hotel's front desk where to find a power adapter. In broken English, he explained that I exit some side door, hang a right (or maybe it was a left?), then walk 10 meters (or was that 10 minutes?), and I would find a store called "Morning Glory" (I think that's what he called it?) where I could purchase an adaptor. My Aussie roommate Amy and I wandered for a good half hour in a late spring monsoon before stopping for lunch in frustration (where, in similar language-barrier defeat, we simply ordered "rice" for me and "noodles" for her). We returned to the hotel to ask for adaptor directions again, and this time, the same clerk - that very same clerk who sent us out in the pouring rain - pulled an adaptor from a drawer right behind the counter and said I could buy it for 10,000 won (less than $10).

Huh?