Bed – Traveling Mark

Cost of Budget Accommodation in Laos

Accommodation is usually one of the biggest tickets budget traveller has to pick up day after day so its cost vastly determines daily budget one needs to work with when visiting that particular country. Compared to much of South East Asia, true budget accommodation options are not only limited in Laos, they also end up being more expensive which increases your daily spendings yet you end up staying in rooms of significantly lower standards than in neighboring countries.

On an overall scale, traveling through Laos is far more expensive than traveling through Cambodia, Vietnam or Thailand. Not taking into account small, but pricey SE Asian countries of Singapore and Brunei, Malaysia is the only country in the region that’s comparably costly for a traveler on a budget. While budget accommodation in Malaysia is on average 10% to 20% more expensive than in Laos, Malaysia offers additional money savers for money tight travelers with its plentiful camp sites and dormitories.

If prior to visiting Laos you had already gone through Cambodia, Indonesia or Thailand, then you have probably tasted the pleasures of having a decent, clean, bed bugs free room with its own ensuite bathroom with hot shower for up to $5 a night. You may have also enjoyed a spacious room with a king sized bed, air conditioning, fridge, safe, large screen TV and a nice view for up to $10 a night – which would also include daily room service. But after coming to Laos, your $10 will buy you a measly, uncomfortable bed in a tight room without a window that doesn’t even have enough space for you to turn, nevermind to store your backpack, with questionably clean, shared bathroom containing an overused squatting toilet bowl, a broken shower outlet and a slew of mosquitoes all over its mouldy walls.

It’s hard to get used to paying so much more money than you had paid before but get so incomparably less, but that’s the way it is in Laos. I don’t suppose it had always been like that but as the number of tourists visiting the country kept growing, so did the prices for tourism related goods and services but the delivery of quality seems to have gotten stuck.

If you’re like me and started traveling around the world in circa 2009, then you have missed out on the golden age of tourism. Nowadays, no matter how remote and unmentioned a place you get to is, there will be thousands of blog posts about it all over the internet from the travelers who had visited it long before you. And… nowadays, even seemingly poor countries like Laos, after experiencing tourism boom, had adjusted their prices so cost of travelling is out of proportion to the country’s gross domestic product. Too bad this increase did not go hand in hand with increase of quality.

The only place in Laos where reasonably cheap accommodation can still be had is Don Det of Four Thousand Islands, in south Laos, near the border with Cambodia. Bamboo room costs as little as 25,000 Kip (about $3 US – based on 2010 conversion rates) per night and represents the cheapest accommodation in the country.

Once you have left 4,000 Islands, the mainland will welcome you with room prices typically starting at 60,000 Kip (roughly $7.50 US) for which you will get a pretty run down room with small, hard bed, no windows hence strong smell of mould, shared bathroom with cold shower somewhere within the complex and a rattling fan with grate so dirty, you’ll think it’s been used in a car shop since the 60’s.

To get a room $7,50 US equivalent would get you in Cambodia, you would have to shell out 80,000 to 100,000 Kip per night (roughly $10 to $12). I went through many less traveled areas of Laos yet Don Det was the only place where I was able to find a private room (aka not dorm) for an equivalent of $5 or less per night. And that was in off season when guesthouses and hotels were struggling to get bookings. What it would have been like in high season when rooms sell out quickly I dare not imagine. By South East Asian standards, accommodation in Laos is very expensive but lack quality you would get in other countries where rooms usually cost less.

Irritating Buzz at Two Dragons Guesthouse

My first day in Siem Reap has been eventful and fulfilling day. I did not get much sleep the previous night, but I didn’t feel that tired. I was really happy things were working out for me and I got to teach Cambodians English on my first day in Cambodia. My supper at Home Cocktail Restaurant was delicious and since I was already far away from night life in Siem Reap and close to Two Dragons guesthouse where I was staying, I headed straight to my room to perhaps catch up with some sleep.

I felt rather disgusting as it’s really hot and humid in Cambodia so I was sweating whole day nonstop. I stank and my feet were dirty from walking in the dust wearing sandals whole day. Shower would feel like a life saver and so it did, but I was so tired I just fell in the bed and lay there motionless for a few hours, contemplating the need to take shower, but struggling to find strength to lift up and walk to the washroom. The room was hot but provided air-conditioning fixed it all up within minutes. General lack of sleep from previous night and long day travelling prior started to show eventually and I felt really tired, ready to crash.

It got dark fast and everything in Two Dragons fell quiet. It was night hour. I went to take my shower at last and feeling clean, I lay in my bed ready to get some sleep. To my most unpleasant surprise, there was this extremely loud, irritating buzz shaking my room. It was brutal. I’d be sitting on my bed and all I hear is this horrible buzz. It felt as if I was sleeping inside a giant power station where buzz from ultra high voltage is deafening. The buzz of Two Dragons was no less of an ear tearing experience.

I switched off the air-conditioning, switched off all the lights, made sure no water tap is open but the buzz was persistent and appeared not related to anything in the room. Headache from the noise was getting more severe and I have quickly come to realize that I won’t be able to fall asleep in such painful conditions.

I was surprised I did not hear any commotion outside. I’d think someone would already complain or the management would notice and try to resolve it. But everything was quiet and everyone seemingly asleep already. I opened the door and walked out on the hallway to learn that the buzz is present there as well. There was no particular place it was coming from, it was just there. Extremely loud and omnipresent.

I walked up and down the hallway and noticed the buzz was much stronger at the southern end of the building, where my and most other rooms were located. Northern end where balcony and coffee table were was still getting the buzz, but the intensity was a bit lower. It’s hot outside even at night in Cambodia and if it wasn’t for mosquitoes who love my blood, I would crash on the balcony floor to avoid getting my head burst from that horrible buzzing.

Since there were no signs of life anywhere in the building, I opened my suitcase and dug out the earplugs. I could not believe I was sleeping in a $12 a night establishment and was forced to use earplugs to sleep. Everything about Two Dragons seemed to go downhill and I started to regret my decision to book stay here for a week. Wearing earplugs all night long provides breading grounds for bacteria in your ears and feels uncomfortable. I hated having to do that and could not wait for the morning.

My First Night in Cambodia

I was dead tired after a long flight and when I eventually made it to my terminal destination and put all of my luggage down at Two Dragons guesthouse, but instead going straight to sleep, I sat on the bed reading the brochure about the guesthouse and life in Siem Reap and elsewhere in Cambodia. Part of the reason was that I felt so tired, all I could summon was to sit on the bed and grab at something to read that was close by. I needed to gather enough strength to actually get up, take my clothes off, brush my teeth and get some sleep. It seemed like too much hassle and my body was refusing to go through it just yet. I was rather excited at the same time. I was in Cambodia. This was my first night in the country so far away. My sub consciousness was dictating me that I should find something better than sleep. Sleep is for home.

As the minutes were passing by, the rain was relentlessly pounding the world outside and I have gone through everything in the brochure and had nothing more to read. I gathered all the strength I had left and started to go through steps needed to get ready for sleep. Bottle of water was provided, which I used to brush my teeth with. I knew Cambodian tap water was not safe for drinking, but what’s worse, it was not even safe to brush ones teeth with. Having to rinse your freshly brushed teeth with bottled water and use it to wash excess toothpaste from your brush made brushing a major pain. But it is what it is. I was in Cambodia where tap water is not safe. That’s the end of it.

I hit the sack as soon as I was done with necessary cleaning and undressing. It took me a while to fall asleep and I had no idea what time it was. The cell phone I brought with me was dead so I couldn’t use it to check time and the only other option was to start up the laptop and change timezone settings to Cambodia to get a sense of current hour, but I couldn’t be bothered. It was pitch dark outside, the sound of heavy rain was overbearing, temperature outside was high despite it being night so I lay on the bed naked and covered with light blanket that was provided.

Once I have fallen asleep, I started having very vivid dreams. I no longer remember what I was dreaming about, but I do remember it felt as though I slept forever. So many dreams. I realized in my sleep that I had no watch to refer to in order to check what time it was so I stirred suddenly believing it’s probably late evening the following day. I knew I was tired when I went to bed and after so many dreams I felt like I slept too long. I got up to find out that it was still pitch dark outside. I walked downstairs to the restaurant area, looked at the watch there and found out it was only 6am the same morning. I have only slept for a few hours. I don’t know why I had such hard time sleeping, but each night thereafter I would get up early in the morning regardless of when I would go to bed. I did not get a single night of continuous, long sleep. Don’t know what the deal was.

This first night in Cambodia set a standard of nights with not very good sleep for me. I had hoped that once I’ve moved to a different guesthouse, sleep pattern would improve. From the beginning I thought it may have had something to do with time shift my body went through, but it hasn’t changed after 6 nights after which time I would expect the body to get adopted. Maybe my room was above some geo pathogenic zone that kept me from getting decent sleep. I’m only staying at Two Dragons for a week. We’ll see what happens after I’ve moved.