South East Asia on a bit more than a shoestring.
March 16th, 2009
I’m almost a week into my trip around Malaysia as part of the travels for my new book and I thought I’d better catch up on my blog. I must admit, though, that I do have trouble dragging myself into an internet cafe full of smelly backpackers when I could be out and about looking at stuff. I’ve just left Melaka where I stayed in a hotel that’s certainly not even close to ‘On the Cheap’ anymore. Back in 1974 a room at the the Majestic Hotel cost US$2.00 a night. Since reopening in 2008, after being renovated, a standard room will now set you back US$250.00 a night! Of course I had to stay there because it’s in the original guidebook. And boy, was it lovely. The Egyptian cotton sheets and soft bed were certainly a nice change from the stained sheets and rock-hard mattresses of most of the places that I’ve been staying in. I will be shunned by the backpacking fraternity, though. Particularly when I paid 40 Ringit for a glass of ‘house’ white wine. For the same price I could have stayed 5 nights at the Wan Hai Hotel in Georgetown, Penang (although back in 1974 Tony Wheeler said: ‘The manager is very unpleasant and the drains smell’).
I’m in Georgetown at the moment, which was home to the Tye Ann Hotel and the ‘Best Porridge in South East Asia’. I tracked down The Tye Ann Hotel, but sadly they weren’t serving porridge. They weren’t serving porridge because the hotel is now ‘Peter Siew & Tan Advocates and Soliciters’. I believe they serve a very good writ, though.
On March 17th, 2009 Hamish Moffatt said:
On March 21st, 2009 Helen said:
On March 24th, 2009 Ben Marshall said:
On April 3rd, 2009 Simone West said: