TRAVEL BLOG
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Budget Accommodation in Hong Kong
If you are booking Hong Kong budget accommodation online you will notice a number of "Mansions" listed in the results. These mansions are great apartment blocks on Nathan Rd, the main road in Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Mirador Mansion
If you are staying at one of these mansions (Chunking Mansion or Mirador Mansion) you might be taken aback by its outside appearance. The blocks are old and shabby, with air-con units and washing lines hanging from just about every window. The blocks are a mix of residential apartments, small businesses and guest houses.
Chunking Mansions
The quality of your budget accommodation guest house will vary widely once you are inside though as there as so many of them. I have stayed in guest houses in both mansions and they have been clean and presentable, but as space is at a premium my rooms have only been slightly larger than the bed itself.
Mirador Mansion
If you are staying at one of these mansions (Chunking Mansion or Mirador Mansion) you might be taken aback by its outside appearance. The blocks are old and shabby, with air-con units and washing lines hanging from just about every window. The blocks are a mix of residential apartments, small businesses and guest houses.
Chunking Mansions
The quality of your budget accommodation guest house will vary widely once you are inside though as there as so many of them. I have stayed in guest houses in both mansions and they have been clean and presentable, but as space is at a premium my rooms have only been slightly larger than the bed itself.
Labels: china, hong kong, hotels, kowloon
Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Sunday, November 11, 2007
A night in Amsterdam
I end my Benelux railpass in Amsterdam, where I make my way back to London. I have found a great budget hotel near Leidseplein, Kooyk Hotel.
Hotel Kooyk
Not far from here is the Cafe De Saloon. This Flatiron shaped building is by a canal in a quiet area and I come whenever I am in Amsterdam.
De Saloon
Hotel Kooyk
Not far from here is the Cafe De Saloon. This Flatiron shaped building is by a canal in a quiet area and I come whenever I am in Amsterdam.
De Saloon
Labels: amsterdam, cafe, hotels, netherlands
Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Monday, November 05, 2007
Botel Maastricht
A different budget accommodation option in Maastricht is the Botel Maastricht.
Botel Maastricht
This boat hotel has basic single rooms with shared bathroom for €33. The river is tame and the boat is well docked so the only time you feel you are on a boat is when a barge would go past, and the boat would gently rock. I heard ducks outside my porthole as well as I drifted off to sleep. A beautiful way to go to sleep.
Botel view at breakfast
Botel Maastricht
This boat hotel has basic single rooms with shared bathroom for €33. The river is tame and the boat is well docked so the only time you feel you are on a boat is when a barge would go past, and the boat would gently rock. I heard ducks outside my porthole as well as I drifted off to sleep. A beautiful way to go to sleep.
Botel view at breakfast
Labels: boat, botel, hotels, maastricht, netherlands
Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Monday, October 01, 2007
A guide to budget accommodation in Dubai
There is not much in the way of budget accommodation in Dubai. Cheap guest house style accommodation that is common in Asian destinations does not fit in with Dubai's grand master plan of being a luxury holiday and shopping stop-over destination.
Hostels
There is one hostel in Dubai, the UAE YHA, though it is not the most convenient location.
Guest Houses
There are budget accommodation options available, but booking online is generally not possible. Most of these places don't even have a website, let alone booking facilities, and their contact details are via a yahoo address.
If you are looking for a guest house in Dubai they can be found in the Deira and Bur Dubai area (the Dubai Creek area). I found a number of places that had single room accommodation for 150 UAE Dirham (about $40 US) . As a comparison, the cheapest room I could find on any hotel booking site was 300 UAE Dirham (about $80 US).
These guest houses are spread out all over the city as well, so it is not like you can just turn up in an area and look around, like say in the Khao Sanh Road in Bangkok or Colaba in Mumbai.
Mirage Guest House, an example of a basic Dubai guest house.
Hostels
There is one hostel in Dubai, the UAE YHA, though it is not the most convenient location.
Guest Houses
There are budget accommodation options available, but booking online is generally not possible. Most of these places don't even have a website, let alone booking facilities, and their contact details are via a yahoo address.
If you are looking for a guest house in Dubai they can be found in the Deira and Bur Dubai area (the Dubai Creek area). I found a number of places that had single room accommodation for 150 UAE Dirham (about $40 US) . As a comparison, the cheapest room I could find on any hotel booking site was 300 UAE Dirham (about $80 US).
These guest houses are spread out all over the city as well, so it is not like you can just turn up in an area and look around, like say in the Khao Sanh Road in Bangkok or Colaba in Mumbai.
Mirage Guest House, an example of a basic Dubai guest house.
Labels: dubai, guest house, hostel, hotels, uae
Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Thursday, June 28, 2007
easyHotel London
I'm always interested to see what Stelios is going to do next with the easy.com brand. So when the easyHotel started in 2005 I knew I would have to try it out one day.
The easyHotel is touted as being the cheapest hotel in London. Rooms start at £25. It is important to note that this is a no frills hotel, just as easyjet is a no frills airlines. If you understand that the hotel is a cheap and comfortable place to sleep for the night then you will be fine.
The rooms are small. Very small! The bed takes up the length of the room and then there is a small pace to the door with the bathroom next to that. If you have large bags you will find yourself dancing around the bags on the limited floor space.
I stayed at the easyHotel located in Victoria where all the cheap (for London) bed and breakfasts are clustered. It is certainly the cleanest budget place I've ever stayed at in this area. The matresses at easyHotel are great too.
easyHotel Hallway
easyHotel Room
easyHotel Bathroom
easyHotel Bed
The easyHotel is touted as being the cheapest hotel in London. Rooms start at £25. It is important to note that this is a no frills hotel, just as easyjet is a no frills airlines. If you understand that the hotel is a cheap and comfortable place to sleep for the night then you will be fine.
The rooms are small. Very small! The bed takes up the length of the room and then there is a small pace to the door with the bathroom next to that. If you have large bags you will find yourself dancing around the bags on the limited floor space.
I stayed at the easyHotel located in Victoria where all the cheap (for London) bed and breakfasts are clustered. It is certainly the cleanest budget place I've ever stayed at in this area. The matresses at easyHotel are great too.
easyHotel Hallway
easyHotel Room
easyHotel Bathroom
easyHotel Bed
Labels: easyhotel, england, hotels, london
Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Dealing with room touts
When you get off a bus in India you will usually be greeted by rickshaw drivers eager to take you to a hotel that they recommend.
When I get to a new town I find the best thing to do is to tell the rickshaw driver you already have something booked. It's not practical to book guest house type rooms in advance in India so I usually pick something out of my guidebook and tell them I am booked there. That will at least get me to the neighbourhoods where there is other accommodation.
You will usually get told that the place you are going to is very bad and they can take you somewhere better. I tell them that every rickshaw driver in India has used the same line on me so I don't believe you.
Of course this does not always work as the place you choose might be fully booked. This happened to me in Bangalore. The same driver was still outside as well so he flashed me some cards of hotels he could take me to. There were no other hotels in the street so he had my patronage
My man took me to a hotel far from anywhere and it cost nearly twice as what the card quoted. I was so tired by this stage that I didn't care. It was a nice hotel at least with air conditioning and TV, so I kicked back and watched some world cup cricket and took it as a lesson learned not to go with rickshaw touts again.
This is not to say that this happens every time. There are a great number of home stay accommodation in Kerala for example. I stayed in a good place in Alappuzha where a man approached me at the bus station. The room was central, clean and economical.
The most important thing is to be able to say no if don't want to go or are not convinced of the accommodation on offer.
Rooms cost more if a tout takes you (Mamallapuram)
When I get to a new town I find the best thing to do is to tell the rickshaw driver you already have something booked. It's not practical to book guest house type rooms in advance in India so I usually pick something out of my guidebook and tell them I am booked there. That will at least get me to the neighbourhoods where there is other accommodation.
You will usually get told that the place you are going to is very bad and they can take you somewhere better. I tell them that every rickshaw driver in India has used the same line on me so I don't believe you.
Of course this does not always work as the place you choose might be fully booked. This happened to me in Bangalore. The same driver was still outside as well so he flashed me some cards of hotels he could take me to. There were no other hotels in the street so he had my patronage
My man took me to a hotel far from anywhere and it cost nearly twice as what the card quoted. I was so tired by this stage that I didn't care. It was a nice hotel at least with air conditioning and TV, so I kicked back and watched some world cup cricket and took it as a lesson learned not to go with rickshaw touts again.
This is not to say that this happens every time. There are a great number of home stay accommodation in Kerala for example. I stayed in a good place in Alappuzha where a man approached me at the bus station. The room was central, clean and economical.
The most important thing is to be able to say no if don't want to go or are not convinced of the accommodation on offer.
Rooms cost more if a tout takes you (Mamallapuram)
Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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