What is the cheapest place you have ever stayed in Asia? Was it on purpose or an accident? And how was it for you?

Did it make you revise your opinion of what you "must have" in the way of a bed for the night

Happy travels, all.

$20 a night for a room at a business hotel in downtown Chiang Mai. I forget the name but it was very clean, yet simlpe, and had perfect location.

About $1 a night average in Nepal on a trek in the Himalayas in 1998. This was typical, but the food cost us on average 15 times the amount of our room. However, the rooms were extremely basic; wood slat walls one could hear and see through the cracks. "Bathroom" down the hall or outside. No heat. Narrow wood beds with thin mattress. No electricity. But it was an adventure and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
That same year we spent $7 a night in Ubud Bali for a thatched roof bungalow with western style en suite bathroom, fan, and resident geckos. Later, $5 a night for a bungalow at a "dive resort" on Ko Tao in Thailand.
All of the places about were fine and chosen on purpose as we were traveling for a year and had to keep costs down. We had some dud rooms too that cost even more during that trip.

We go back for our 5th trip to Thailand next week and I think our average will be about $150 per night. When travel time gets shorter my requirements for a "nice room" increase. ;-)

Good subject!
I think the cheapest was bout $4 a night for a fan room back in the dark ages in Phuket.
Bringing that upt to date an air-conditioned room with color TV with Cable, h/c shower/wc, mini-bar, in-room safe, balcony or terrace, swimming pool and great views, current price B 480 ( about USD 12 double ) in the hill overlooking Patong !
Our local 'budget' is maximum USD 40 and for that we always stay in good comfort, always a/con with refigerator, h/c, tv etc, usualy place has a pool, often for a great deal less, away from tourist areas USD 15-20 gets us nice a/c 2 star plus places, again always a/c, tv, with breakfast, usualy pool.
So you can still stay very cheap if you wish yet have quite acceptable comfort if you don't care if the carpet is worn and a bit of paint falling off here and there.
I've stayed in the past at some real expensive places around the world, but in the 2 star to 3 star range there are some great places around Asia that are well cheap!

I didn't quite finish that....in the real expensive places some have been nice but others just downright not worth the money, have often found service slow, queue for check in/out, not real value in the rooms, overpriced food, dinks, adding tax even after paying outrageous amounts for even a Cola etc etc, when in places like Singapore I head for a 7-11 and stock up my own drinks and snacks in the mini bar!
In Thailand paying $20 to a real top max of 50 or on a special ocassion up to 60 ( maybe once a year ) I don't think I have a single complaint of any place at all, the great thing is staying in a $25 hotel but booking their top $40-50 suite and you are their 'top' customer and get treated as such, you can pay $200 at some hotels and get treated like nothing!

FREE , I slept a little bit on the streets in OSAKA, I wanted to get a cheep hotel but I just couldn't figure out how to get a room, After, recently, reading some posts on FODORS i now know that I was trying to get a room at a LOVE HOTEL and many don't have receptions maned by people.

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I spent $1 for lodging in Jakarta. the place was obviously a dump according to my lonely planet guide the place also served as a brothel.

the experiences of sleeping in dumps hasn't changed my opinion about what I must have for a night. I already knew that if I wanted to travel all over the world with the budget of a produce clerk, I'd have to rough it.

Last year I did a loop through NE Thailand into Lao, and then followed the Mehkong through Lao and back into Northern Thailand. All the way I stayed in budget places, some were very cheap and very basic, often because there wasn’t anything better. This happened in Vang Vieng were I paid 140 Bt for a Spartan fan room – that’s all I could find. The following day I moved to a place called Riverside and had a fan bungalow for 240 Bt. At LP I had a great fan room overlooking the river, it had a wooden balcony and was a nice clean well furnished room, that cost 240 Bt.
Back in Chiang Mai I stayed at Bow Guesthouse, very nice AC room with cable TV, cost 400Bt.
I rarely pay over 600 Bt for a room in Thailand, for that price I always have AC & cable TV, sometimes even a pool.

i don't understand this post....is paying a low price some sort of an award or accomplishment?? it is all very fuzzy to me...

being willing to pay a low price opens options of where you can visit and how long you can stay.

I have a little place in Kuta on Bali that I have used for over 20 years.

I started paying 50000 rupiah a night back then when the rupiah was something like 1500 to the Australian dollar and am still paying it now that the rupiah is 7000 to the dollar.

The bungalow is basic = fan and cold water, a double and a single bed, and a little verandah with table and two chairs where you can sit with a beer and enjoy the lovely garden setting.

I have no need of more than this if the company is agreeable.

Harzer

Cheapest place I've stayed cost $2 in a little village (Daju) at the far end of Tiger Leaping Gorge in China - not much choice there! Room had a dusty wooden floor and two beds, nothing else. Hot shower (no door) one courtyard away (courtyard shared with the pig and chickens, in pens), squat toilet two courtyards and a passage away. Great experience - the landlady spoke some English. Normally I figure on $15-$30 for a single in Asia, which usually gets me my own bathroom and AC if needed. I choose to sleep cheap so I can eat well - and keep travelling. I did splurge a little when I got back to Lijiang after the two nights in Dazu!

Thanks for all your replies.

Fun times. I always hope to find something in the $10-15 range. That would have been $7-10 just a few years ago. I like a little comfort - a balcony or deck or verandah (choose your term), or garden would be top of the list - closely followed by a bathroom of my own.

Cheapest - $1.50 for a bamboo hut with balcony overlooking the Mekong in Southern Laos last October.

But I had hoped to hear from people who weren't dyed in the wool long term, and therefore going for the cheap option, travellers.

Aren't there any folk out there who found themselves roughing it unexpectedly?

Srill hoping that there are.

I paid $7 for a beautiful suite in a private home in Naxos,Greece in 1988. I arrived at about midnight on a ferry from Piraeus armed with my "Let's Go Greece," which suggested taking a room from one of the people who meet the ferries.Well,this was a dour old lady,but the suite was gorgeous!Of course,when I met other young travellers,they told me I had paid way too much.I could live with that.

>>Aren't there any folk out there who found themselves roughing it unexpectedly?<<

When things happen unexpectedly, I usually find those to be the expensive times! Like our night in a "love nest" hotel in Tokyo, or the time we got snowed in at a resort and had to pay double, etc.

Probably my cheapest spot in Asia was in Seoul, Korea many years ago when they were under a strict curfew due to some rioting. We brought in some of American cosmetics and liquor in return for a free room (plus they reimbursemed us for the cost of the items!)at Inn Dae won (??).

Nice warm futon on a heated floor. Very cozy for sleeping, which was good since we had to be in by 10 each night.

Toilet was in an unheated room across the courtyard. "Sink" was a spigot on the wall outside the toilet.

Showers were down the block at the local bath house.

I loved it except for the cold toilet and water!

You are so right, Lcuy - cold water is a killer when it's not very warm! May have to start another thread on the worst cold shower you ever took.

And loved your story, massagediva.

I guess what I'm trying to say - no oneupmanship implied - is that cheap lodgings usually mean you make contact with the local people and have experiences you will never forget.

Staying in a Hilton, or 4 seasons, or Marriot, or whatever, you are expecting a certain standard - that of your home country - and I guess, tell me if I am wrong - you are most put out if the service is not to your liking or the bathroom is too small, etc. etc.

But will you remember and treasure the experience of staying there 30 years down the line? Well, NO, of course not - because it wasn't an experience, it was just another hotel - same aa all the others.

I would really, really like the opinion of 5 star people.

Please tell us if you have ever considered staying in anything other than 5 star establishment.

Thank you.

I suppose I've kind of evolved into a kind of 5 star traveller over time, but we stay in a wide variety of places still.

The cheapest place I've stayed was in Naxos, Greece..the equivalent of about $3.00 for a night. It was horrible...an unfinished building with rooms for let. Bed had sheets that hadn't seen washing since the previous season, I'm sure. Running water wasn't available, but there was a toilet you could flush from the large barrel of water beside it. Sink and shower fixtures were present in the shared bathroom...but no water. We had arrived late on the island and the whole place was booked out. Finally, a child led us to her uncle who told us he had a dumpy place (his words) we could stay in for $5.00 each. Once we saw it, we offered have of that for both, and he agreed. We slept on our towels, woke with bedbug bites, and spent the following night on the beach instead.

I don't think I got anything out of that experience other than bedbug bites, and the lesson that to arrive late on a Greek island in August without reservations or a clue isn't a good idea.

Honestly, my most memorable experience ever was our first stay at the Peninsula in Bangkok. We were completely wowed, from the limo from the airport, through the check in, by the pool, the suite, the service, everything. It really was 5 days of wow for us.

Now, we tend to stay in a variety of places. Last trip we stayed in the Conrad Bangkok (free on points) and were not wowed. It was nice, but I wouldn't say worth the price they ask for it...but for free, excellent. And we went to elephant camp...bamboo hut, cold water, lumpy bed...and loved that too.

I really think that what you learn from your travels has little to do with where you stay or how much it costs. Travelers of every budget seek out what they want...I've met plenty of low budget travellers who are having a truly cultural education. I've also met plenty of travelers like ourselves who are also learning just as much. And, there are plenty on a budget who care so much about the cheapest room, cheapest food, cheapest transport...that they spend all of their energy pricing things and really lose out on everything else around them.

What it comes down to, in my opinion, is that people who are interested in really learning about culture, talking to people, and learning about the place they are visiting, will be able to do so regardless of their budget. There is no right or wrong way to travel...just individual preferences.

Very well said, Kim!

Kim, I absolutely agree with you!

I've stayed in cheap lodging where that was what was available. And I can't say that it was a better experience (more authentic, more contact with locals, etc) than the far more expensive lodging I had on that trip. I'm thinking of a trip to Morocco, where I stayed in some lovely 5-star properties like the Palais Jamais in Fez - a wonderful experience in every respect and in a place after driving over the High Atlas that had hot water for a brief time each day and the sand sifting in through the cracks in the windows. I knew what I was signing up for, and I wanted to see that area of Morocco. I lived through it. Did I relish it? No. Did I come down with a deadly disease? No. Would I stay there again? If nothing else was availabe in the area, yes. I did stay in a unique place out in the desert in Morocco, owned by a Belgian man who made a Christmas feast for us, killing the turkey in the courtyard that day. It was a marverlous experience. The accommodations were rather primitive, but they were not cheap.

fuzzy, you may think that because a place has a name on it like Marriott or Sheraton or whatever, it means it offers the same experience as "home." That's not my experience. As you know, my home away from home in Bangkok is the Towers of the Sheraton Royal Orchid. It's really the only Sheraton property I stay in regularly, as I typically don't like Sheratons. For years there was a Thai man who was the manager of the Towers, and I got to know him well. He'd send me a huge boquet of roses each time I'd check in. Believe me, there was nothing about my stays that reminded me of stays in the US! While that lovely man is gone from the Towers, and the experience is no longer quite as exquisite, it's still my preferred address in Bangkok. Is it memorable 20 some years after my first stay there? Absolutley!

And the most expensive place I've stayed in the last few years? The Borneo Rainforest Lodge. It was luxury for being located in the remote primary forest of the Danum Valley (hot water!), but was hardly what anyone would call luxury accommodation. But the whole experience was absolutely unforgettable from the orangutans to the staff's Hari Raya party to sharing a bottle of Laphroig with a couple of Brits.

Most of the time, I stay in more mid-range accommodations. The other places I'm looking at staying in for my upcoming trip are in the US$90-125 range, including tax, service and breakfast. I find there are memorable accommodations in most price ranges.

I don't travel in search of a place like home, I travel in search of new experiences. And those experiences are to be had in all kinds of accommodations. Yes, sometimes even those with a familiar brand name on them.

I think most of us are looking for the best value for our money. Sometime the $7 a night place (a palapa on the beach in Mexico)is the best, and sometimest the $350 night place (the Amarvilas in Agra)is the best value for the experience. Other times, you feel like you've been ripped off even though a place was cheap.

I'ts all part of the experience. I like mixing up my accomodations - some small owner run spots and some deluxe. Makes you appreciate the differences, whatever they are.