I have a real special (e.g. special bus, special shoes) ability when it comes to selecting hotels. Throughout our travels, we have stayed at many different hotels, motels, guest houses, hostels - you name it. In general our lodging has been more than adequate and occasionally it has been inspired.
Yet in three distinct cases, the hotels we selected have been terrible. Run down, dirty, dark, moldy. In a word, depressing. In each case, I selected the hotel. In fact, I am batting 100% in my hotel selections. I am 3 for 3. Erin picked all the rest.
I can't really explain it. Our guide book - Lonely Planet - has given these places reasonable reviews. For example, last night's lodging was described as a "charming British country manor." Sounded pretty good to me. And the reality probably did have a bit of charm, back in in 1954 when it was last updated. When we first saw the place, we were prepared to stick it out, until we discovered that the electricity and water didn't work.
No fear, the innkeeper assured us in limited English, water and electricity would be back on at 5pm. So we went out for an amble around Dalat, a Vietnamese tourist Mecca in the mountains. When we returned to the hotel at 5:15pm, the electricity was back on. We were actually a bit disappointed, hoping to use the lack of basic amenities as an excuse to jump ship.
Instead we decided we could make do for a night before treating ourselves to two nights of relative luxury for New Years.
That is, until Erin tried to take a shower. What came out could not be described as either hot or flowing. Instead, a cold drip emerged, hardly instilling confidence in a lathery shower. The helpful innkeeper did offer to boil water for us so we could take a bucket shower, but the deal was done. We were out of there. For $15 a night, we expected much more.
And the reality is in Vietnam, you can get much more. For the same price, we relocated to the Hotel Europa, a lovely family run place in the center of town. We not only had hot water and electricity, but also satellite TV with HBO and BBC. And of course, Erin picked this place.
1 comment:
Brad.
It sounds like you are learning to admit your limitations and recognize the obvious strengths of your better half. Welcome to married life, my friend. Long may you run.
As for the hotel selection, I'd think I nice bucket bath might be a refreshing change of pace from the ho-hum, run-of-the-mill normalcy of a hot steamy shower. Call me crazy, but I think you need to toughen up, traveller. :-)
-David
Post a Comment