Chook & Shack Stories

[Ping]

It is interesting and often humorous to hear stories of the worst hotel or other commercial accommodation in which a person has stayed.

One of my worst was at Chiang Mai. Organised a hotel at the airport. After zig-zagging around a few back sois, finally arrived at the hotel. There was one employee at the hotel - a lass of around 20 years - her boyfriend, a dog and no other guests. My bedroom was directly across from the reception desk. The mattress on the bed was rock hard (on both sides). While I was trying to sleep, the dog - which had decided to lie outside the bedroom door - was thumping against the door each time it scratched its fleas. I eventually got the girl to move the dog and she then remained in the reception area giggling with her boyfriend. I got to sleep some time after midnight and awoke at about 6am to the sound of bricks thumping into a trough from a factory behind my room. I scratched the itch on my neck which was a solid mass of mosquito bite upon mosquito bite. Not one shred of exaggeration. Anyone else got some interesting tales of woe?

[kmart]

The "cancellation" my g/f managed to get us on Ko Samet during Songkran Holiday. We fancied getting away from the mainland over Songkan, but the nearby Samet Island hotels and bungalows were all booked choc-a-bloc at least 2 months prior, so the missus managed to obtain a supposed cancellation for a "bungalow" on the island for 3 nights.

Actually got to this hovel of a tin shack and dropped my bags in disgust. Even the shifty-eyed little ###### who had taken our booking managed to look apologetic and offered us a discount immediately. This outhouse would have needed at least 3 more sheets of corrugated iron to even qualify as a shack.

The first night we got blotto on various cocktails and managed to get some sleep. Fortunately, local mozzies and other insects appeared to have better taste than to bother us in our khazi, and we were left alone. The hangover and waking up in this toilet the next morning though, was horrendous. Got on the next speedboat back to Rayong, and home. Never again.

[theseveredhead]

You guys don't know what rough is. I've got dozens...

I could write a book on the dire digs I have taken for a night or two. For starts... When traveling B200 is absolue max I will pay for a room.

In India I have paid as little as B13, it was a concrete cell 2m tall w/ tin roof and tin door. about big enough to sleep in.

Some years ago in Bodghgaya (India) a monk who ran a tiny NGO gave me his bed for the night while he went to town. There is a rule for monks to sleep on low, simple bedding. IT WAS A WOOD BOARD.

Northern Lao in 95 (anything beyond Luang Prabang was basically no-go)

Northern Pakistan 97 (sleep in a tent with cold wind blowing thru)

I just came back from doing Hindustan-Tibet Highway in India 4 days ago. One of the most remote places on the planet. no exactly Club Med territory

Best rule I can give. Never book in advance. Front up and have a look.

Softies :-)

Edited July 22, 2007 by theseveredhead

[tijnebijn]

The "cancellation" my g/f managed to get us on Ko Samet during Songkran Holiday. We fancied getting away from the mainland over Songkan, but the nearby Samet Island hotels and bungalows were all booked choc-a-bloc at least 2 months prior, so the missus managed to obtain a supposed cancellation for a "bungalow" on the island for 3 nights.

Actually got to this hovel of a tin shack and dropped my bags in disgust. Even the shifty-eyed little ###### who had taken our booking managed to look apologetic and offered us a discount immediately. This outhouse would have needed at least 3 more sheets of corrugated iron to even qualify as a shack.

The first night we got blotto on various cocktails and managed to get some sleep. Fortunately, local mozzies and other insects appeared to have better taste than to bother us in our khazi, and we were left alone. The hangover and waking up in this toilet the next morning though, was horrendous. Got on the next speedboat back to Rayong, and home. Never again.

Koh Samet certainly is one of the worsed places in Thailand . When I got there once I had a similar problem , noting

that there was nothing else for us to sleep in a tent on the beach . Luckily I got some money back I made as a deposit .

never no more , the same for us !

[JetsetBkk]

You guys don't know what rough is. I've got dozens...

I could write a book on the dire digs I have taken for a night or two.

I think here's your problem:

When traveling B200 is absolue max I will pay for a room.

[Ping]

You guys don't know what rough is. I've got dozens...

(snip)

Severed you wouldn't be a Yorky, would you?

[ColPyat]

Side alley guesthouse of Soi Sri Bamphen in '91. I think i was the only non-junky there, lotsa freelancers, katoeys, and the guy next door screwed the middle aged male toilet cleaner at every opportunity. I think i managed to stay there for a month. The room cost 30 or 40 Baht.

That was even worse than the many nights i ended up in assorted slums around town in those days.

[sbk]

Absolute worst was cheap hotel in KL. Holes in the wall and someone had written on the back door "Beware the peeping tom". Moved out immediately.

[Mid]

'79 , ' Thai son geek ' ( sp ) close to the main station in Bangkok ,

same as the Col's post above only cheaper .........................

[keestha]

Poona (India), 1992. On every floor of the hotel there was an attendant sitting in the hallway behind a table with a telephone on it. These guys were being rung up by the frontdesk continuously, I could not only hear the ringing from my own floor, but also from the floor below and the floor on top. To add insult to injury, directly across from my room a guy was maintaining some sort of office, and also his phone was ringing 6 times every 10 minutes, till deep into the night. I felt like the place was fitted out to prevent me from having any sleep.

[gburns57au]

I was offered a bed in Patpong once....bunk bed, dirty mattress, no blankets, air con or amenities. 700 baht they wanted for the room.....

They evicted me after about 30 mins, The big Thai guy with pick handle shoulders was most insistant I paid for the room and the complimentary drinks....the lady who I gathered was a part owner said something about...."BJ finish...you go now"

BTW...I didnt pay the room fee but that is a different story......

[Humphrey Bear]

Slept in tents in the Yemen and Oman, but that was tolerable.

Worst was the 'President Hotel' in Port Harcourt. The company paid three days in advance. That meant a two-inch wad of 10 naira notes (the biggest currency note available - worth 50p on the official rate 20p on the commercial rate). Room was OK, looking out over the swimming pool, but at 9.00 p.m. they held a party round the pool every night. Loud bands, party went on 'til 6 a.m. when I had to get up.

On the third night I went back to my room - couldn't get in. Went to reception, asked why. Not enough Naira - they had changed the room rate and the deposit wasn't enough. About eleven that night a Nigerian from the office turns up, I am allowed back in my room for another three sleepless nights. Made sure that there was always a bit extra on the deposit after that. Tried moving rooms, but not allowed. Was there a month - then had a room in a villa allocated to me. Unbelievable change - could now sleep at night behind the broken glass and rusty spikes on the walls, with a couple of guards with machine guns doing sentry duty. Much better - relaxed for the next four months.

[chownah]

Not me....the man who is renting the rice field next to my rice field is living in one of those little shade structures out in the rice field...you know....four posts at the corners with a floor and a roof with all open sides about 2 metres square. Its him and his wife (I guess) and perhaps a child (seen one around who is about 10 years old). They strung up floor mats to make walls for privacy and to keep some of the rain out. He uses my pond to bathe in. I asked him where he shiits as I was hinting I don't what him shiiting in my rice paddy...I suppose its good organic fertilizer but it could be a health hazard and its just bad policy to encourage shiiting in rice paddies. He seems more or less like an all right guy though...he knows how to smile politely anyway. Maybe I'll give him some bananas tomorrow to let him know that I'm not hostile.