hostels/guesthouses: southeast asia

I had a request to list the places I stayed while on my trip.  I know that hearing about places from other people is way more helpful than trying to find one on your own, so I thought it was a good idea.  Keep in mind I was looking for places that were easy to meet other people in, so they weren’t necessarily the cheapest.  I always tried to stay in dorm rooms when possible, and I know this isn’t everyone’s style.

If you’re into booking stuff ahead of time, I recommend hostelbookers.com because they don’t charge a booking fee.  And some of these places aren’t listed online, but every single place I went to (minus Myanmar) had backpacker areas that were packed with guesthouses, so you can easily show up to any major place in SE Asia and find a cheap place to stay.

Here are the places I loved and would stay in again if I were traveling alone or wanted to be social:

Hanoi: Hanoi Backpackers’ Hostel One of the nicest dorm rooms I’ve ever stayed in, met a ton of people, and is a great place to book a Halong Bay tour.  It’s more pricey than other’s, but if you want to get drunk with fun people, it’s a good way to go.  Ha.

Hoi An: I stayed at a really nice place here, but don’t remember the name.. it was listed in the newest Rough Guides for Vietnam I believe, and if anyone wanted to know I could find out once I got back to Korea and could look through my stuff.

Ho Chi Minh City: I stayed at Luan Vu Guesthouse, and it was nice, pretty average.  There are a ton of places in the backpacker area of Pham Ngu Lao, so it’s really easy to find somewhere to stay.

Phnom Penh: Where I stayed was “meh”, but I guess the area to stay is near the lake.  I dunno.

Siem Reap: There are cheaper places, but I had a lot of fun at the Siem Reap Hostel.

Vientiane: This city is hardly worth staying in for more than a day, so it really doesn’t even matter where you stay, ha.

Vang Vieng: One of the coolest places I’ve ever stayed—Spicy Laos.  Def, def, def recommend it.  I stayed at their sister Spicy Laos in Luang Prabang, which I also recommend.  It’s not as nice, but a good place to meet people.

Chiang Mai: I tried to stay at Julie Guesthouse, but it was full.  It had been highly recommended.  I ended up staying in a $3/night very basic dorm at the Same Same Guesthouse down the street.  By that point, I was incredibly low-maintenance so anything with a bed and shower was fine.

Bagan: May Kha Lar.  The owner is so, so, so helpful and friendly.

Yangon: This is also one of the better places I stayed.  It’s called Motherland Inn 2.  It’s not in the best location, but the staff was amazing, and I met a ton of awesome people.  It was almost full when I came, so if you go in high season, it might be best to try to book ahead if possible.

Bangkok: I stayed in two places.  The first was called the River Line, and it was near Khao San Road.  It was a quieter place, though, being a few minutes’ walk away from the madness.  It was kinda “meh” because I really just wanted to go out and party, and it wasn’t the best place to meet people.  The second place, though, lub d, was awesome.  The nicest hostel I’ve ever been to in my life, and lots of cool people.

Koh Phi Phi: Golden Hill Bungalows (also known as Bungalow Dave’s).  It had pretty bad reviews online, but I had to book something ahead because everything fills up.  There are probably better places—the whole island is just restaurants, bars, and accommodation—but it was fine for me.  They have dorm rooms, and I met some good people.  It is the farthest possible place from the pier, though, so carrying all my shit back and forth in 90 degree heat was probably the worst thing ever.

Sooo, I hope that is helpful for someone! :)

phi phi

The last part!  Here are my pics from beautiful Koh Phi Phi, and here is what I wrote.

Lots of boats.

Since there were so many beaches, none were really that crowded.

I climbed up to the viewpoint, a hellish trek that caused me to pour sweat like I never have before.  But it was pretty beautiful.

Monkey Beach

I went on a boat ride, and the water was so pretty.

Maya Beach, where they filmed The Beach.  I don’t remember that movie being very popular, but they advertised the shit out of it.  It was a nice beach, but the only people who go there really are on boat trips so it was crowded and kind of lame.

Then this happened.  SO MANY BUG BITES ahhh!  I think they were from the sand -_- I was itching like crazy for the 23.5 hours it took me to get to Seoul.  Miserable.

My last night :(

Thai toilets.  Pee, try to find something to use as toilet paper, pour water in the toilet because there’s no flush.

The fire jump rope.

Party party party.

He painted my face.

He painted a sun on my arm then asked for a kiss.  Haha.

So many South Africans.

My last night was excellent. There were a ton of people in Phi Phi that I had met in Vang Vieng and we all went out. I had to wake up at 8 to catch a boat and knew that heavy drinking before a boat ride and three flights was a terrible idea, but did it anyway and didn’t go to sleep until 4. SO this morning was not my favorite, waking up covered in florescent body paint and having to lug my stuff to the pier, 15 minutes away in the heat. But I have made it so far and spend almost every last baht penny. Trip was a success. I can’t wait to upload my 1000+ photos tomorrow in Seoul!

things that are available (and encouraged) for drunk people to do in southeast asia that are all terrible ideas:

- Tubing in Vang Vieng.  It’s one of the best parts of most people’s trips, but you can imagine how many accidents happen when you combine drinking and a river.  And on top of that, you can climb a huge bamboo pole for a free bucket (of alcohol), go on ziplines and big swings, and they also offer buckets to people who tip over kayakers.  Ridic.

- Massive jump ropes that are ON FIRE.  These are on the big beaches at night, and people just hop in and usually come out scorched and probably scarred.  Also: fire limbo, etc.

- The accessibility of tattoo-getting.  A girl in my room got one last night at like 2 am while she was drunk.  Luckily it was something she had wanted for a long time and was with someone else who asked her a hundred times if she was sure.  But I’m sure many people have woken up here, saw a Chinese character freshly added to their body, and felt some regret.

- Any kind of contest that offers a free bucket for participants.  For instance, there is a bar here in Phi Phi that has a huge boxing ring in the middle.  They give free buckets to anyone who volunteers to fight someone in the ring.  Last night I saw several guys beating the crap out of each other.  Fun to watch I guess?

Hmm, I’m sure there are plenty more but these are the biggies.  There are so many other things in general that seem like lawsuits waiting to happen in the eye of a North American, but these that involve alcohol are clearly the worst.  I mean, giant fire jump rope??  Really?

more coincidences

While wandering around, semi-lost in Phi Phi—this whole town is made of rows and rows of massage places, internet cafes, and tour companies so it is very easy to get confused—I ran into two girls I had met in Vang Vieng.  They said two other guys we had hung out with there were also here.  I knew a lot of people I’ve met would be here at this time, so I’m happy I ran into some.  And so begins my second to last night…

tonsai

Gah, I have so much to update since I was being super lazy for two days.

So three days ago, I think, I took a boat from Phuket to Railay.  I didn’t have a place booked to stay, so was debating where I wanted to go.  Railay is divided up in three areas: West Railay, East Railay, and Tonsai.  The west side is the fancier, expensive area with a nice small beach, the east side is cheaper with a nasty mud beach, and Tonsai I had heard was very chill and where all the hippie backpackers go.  But the whole area is very small, and not many people go there since it’s between the more developed areas of Ao Nang and Koh Lanta.  Railay is apparently one of the top rockclimbing destionations in the world, so at least half the people there are climbers.

Anyway, I decided to go with Tonsai.  So I had to take a longtail boat there from Railay, and when I was getting out of it, another boat had just arrived as well.  An American guy got off at the same time I did, and we ended up talking and hanging out the two days I was there.  All the bungalows were pretty booked, but we each found a room at different places pretty easily.

Then the two days were spent just lounging around.  Tonsai is sooo relaxed and it’s a really small place.  Every other person has dreadlocks, and the bars were all reggae-themed and had names such as Peace & Love Bar, Chill Out Bar, Stone Bar, etc. so you can imagine what kind of place it was.  There also isn’t electricity anywhere from 6am-6pm, so the only bad thing was that it was impossible to sleep in the heat when my fan turned off in the morning.  But the beach was pretty much empty the whole time, which is really rare for Thailand in high season.  So it was a very perfect place, one of my favorites on the trip for sure.

The first night there happened to be a Jungle Fantasy party, so a lot of people dressed up in leaf-clothes for prizes.  There were a ton of Spanish people there, so I got to practice what I have left in my memory.  Most of the night was a blur, but I remember talking to a lot of people who had been there for months, just climbing and hanging out.  I can see how people would want to stay there for so long, I wish I had been able to for longer than two days.

Anyway, not much really happened on Tonsai, but it was great.  This morning, I took another boat to Phi Phi, which is super crowded and totally different.  I want to find a boat tour for the day tomorrow to see all the different beautiful islands here.. then the day after I fly back to Phuket, then Bangkok, then Seoul for one day.  Ahhh, so sad to leave SE Asia but very excited to go home!

And there goes all my money…

I am just staying in Phuket Town today since I arrived too late for the beach, and I haven’t really heard anything good about this island anyway. So tomorrow I’m taking an early ferry to Railay where I hope I can find accommodation for a decent price. The two hour ferry cost $20 which is the most I’ve spent on a single thing in a really long time. I have four more full days (two on Railay and two on Koh Phi Phi) and I’m scared to think how much I’ll spend. Eep!