vaga #1/20 Hotels "b"

from my window in Cat Bac, Vietnam, in Halong Bay one of the 10 wonders of the world

Part XX

Guest houses, family stays, hostels, small hotels are my favourites, attended many times by the owners or their families and in these places they are always very informal. The hotels with 4 stars are efficient but impersonal, a personal treatment is never achieved and the "tea houses" of Nepal make me want to run away but in trekking there is no other choice.

It turns out that when travelling alone, the point of the hotel happened to be, without me realising it, is the moment of interactions with someone. At least having a small chat and many times it is the only one in the day. When one spends more than three days in a place, a personal relationship begins to develop and the relationship becomes more than customer service. They become the closest people at the time, as well as a source of information, not only for touristic things, but also about their lives. They get involved, stay tuned for when I return, and they ask if it went well for me, for instance to recount my days, my impressions and what I have done, and would explain the things I did not understand about their culture. Now if one is there for the week or more, the spontaneous royalties begin, they would give me breakfast outside of breakfast hours, once the kitchen staff had left, the same manager made me eggs with toast, authorised me to use the kitchen to get hot water for my sachet of coffee that I take to the room, and thus I do not pay for coffee on the spot, or else they give me a kettle, I can leave my  suitcase for as long as I want without charge. They take me on motorcycles for nothing to do small errands, if they do not see me on the day they check on me with discretion to know that everything is fine. Being old and alone creates a special care or concern on their part, mixed with admiration because it is unusual to see an older woman in this way of life. I receive kindness and obviously that it goes reciprocally, I ask them their names, about their lives, their families, I always ask everything where, when, how, I try to find out about their days off, what they do or where they spend the holidays, or they tell me their things, stories, their dreams, They show me photos of their loved ones and even make me talk to relatives on the phone. They ask me about my life that I share  with joy, I show photos of my “piglets”, naturally I dropped a chocolate bar or two around there, smokers would get a pack of cigarettes, we share cigs even beers whenever they can. And if there is someone with a birthday, I would give them a small treat  These are instances that I establish contact with the locals, they no longer see me as a guest, I became someone they called by name. In my home in Kathmandu the manager said aloud and to everyone "Peque is not a guest, she is part of the family". I look for the same thing, they are a big part of my time, many times, our chat is the only one I have in a day. Especially in these countries with incomprehensible languages.

DEFINITELY THE BEST VIEWS FROM THE ROOM  ARE PAID FOR, THERE ARE MANY THAT I PAY FOR.

some: Bali, Indonesia Namche, Bazzar (Nepal), Bagan (Myanmar), Pokara, (Nepal). San Pedro de la Laguna (Guatemala)

I want to highlight a couple of houses from which I will always be received with more than open arms, and when they tell you that you are part of the family I know it sounds like a cheap cliché, but it was put to the test. Here are their stories because they are remarkable. Khem, my home in Kathmandu, Nepal, I had to leave Bali, Indonesia quickly, because the visa had expired, and I was in urgent need of convalescence after my hospitalisation.  Where am I going? , I need to recover  without thinking about it, I went to my house in Kathmandu, whatever it took they would always give me my room, obviously the best, the largest with a terrace and many windows, I was taken care of, lovingly, free laundries, they gave me cash until I could function and go to a cashier that was much later, and so on…. 

Novi, in Bali, who took care of me in my pre- and post-hospitalisation together with her family, a topic that I described in Vaga Chapter #1 “The Experience” and I will not repeat it. Waew, my home in Chiang Mai, Thailand, she and her husband took full care of me after my ankle operation. Transportation, buying medicine, dropping free breakfasts in my room and endless care. Even inviting me to go to her house because she had a room on the first floor and in my house I had to go up to the third floor without an elevator, obviously I did not accept it, but the gesture was there, speechless.

my homes and my beloved families, I will be ever and forever grateful, and they know that they count on me instantly, yes they know… .. I have had the opportunity to return in different ways my thanks to all of them, none of this has been a monetary transaction, Never. 

The funny anecdote that I shared with Peter, the funniest of the funniest that kept us laughing for five days. And the story began like this, I make a booking for the small town Kuching, in Borneo, Malaysia, we were going to see the orangutans. From the airport they took us to the hotel where I made the booking. He left us in the middle of a huge hotel, with many stars, the counter was 40 meters long, all in marble, 8 receptionists, in elaborate uniforms, huge marble columns, gleaming bronze handrails on both spiral staircases, very elegant shops ... . Only when we entered we looked at each other again and again with the face of this is not it !!!!! ….error …!!!!!  the taxi was still there, we told him it wasn't this one, he said: yes it was.  PLOP   What had I got myself into... ... I went to the reception, the reservation does not appear in their system, the boss arrives, it does not improve  anything I planted my feet, and showed the booking on my phone, and it was already paid for, I showed the bank transaction, then , more waiting Peter couldn't stop looking at everything in the lobby, which was very busy, he would take photos and look at me from afar with his hand over his mouth to hide his laughter, after 20 minutes they handed us the key, then the classic “bell boy”, with those bronze chariots and military clothes on the day of the parade. The fetid backpacks in that wagon, when we got to the elevator another hunk of laughter, tackiness was overloaded to the maximum, there was no room for anymore shine, here shininess means elegance. The fairly standard room that we got, because there were others with large living rooms inside, Peter gave the tip to the "bell boy" with a tremendous smile, a  tip to get your stinky bags up to the room. On the night stand on the side of the bed was the remote control, that controlled all the buttons in the whole room, all the lights, bathroom lights, TV, air conditioning, fan, obviously he ran grabbing that side of the bed. He did not stop playing for 15 minutes saying: I want one like that for my room. For the night I realised the entanglement, booking or the hotel was wrong in the price, I paid 15 dollars a night which is my normal budget and not 150 dollars which was what it cost, hahaha and for 5 days, it was a zero mistake. Hotel stories ……… if it had happened alone I would have laughed a lot, but with Peter the laughter was in chorus. It made it more fun along with the shared memory for life. To finish with the complete story, the corridors with many doors like a large hotel, Peter came up one day and how we are already in a joking mood he rang the bells of each of the doors and ran…. "knock , knock run", ... just like that ... ..and he ran, and I just walked but when I realised that he had disappeared they were going to see me, so I also ran after him ... ..who can believe at the 60s being into the antics of "knock, knock run". LOL

I return to "my considerations" and the “suns” that I give them. 

Mini market: I have already mentioned the mini market on the same block that was open 24 hours a day, it is a luxury, not to ask around with language difficulties, where to buy cigs or to stick to schedules because I always realise that I want something outside the schedules and the worst thing is the midnight craving for something sweet, or go in your pyjamas for the Nescafé sachets, which you ran out of without realising it. Tuna, cookies, instant noodles, cigs, shampoo and recharging the "SIM card" are my usual purchases. Useful very useful. The "staff" has already been mentioned. Staff makes your life pleasant, they help you, they look out for you, you share your days with them when you get home,

Curtains; yes, the curtains because when I open my eyes in the morning and see the ugliness it affects me, the good awakening makes me close my eyes immediately…. Trying to ignore them, but it is difficult since they are small rooms and the curtains cover a quarter of the room, they are almost all horrible, and it affects my visual sensitivity. Asian taste, it is not mine, I am in their land, and it is not commented on. They are saturated in colours, brightness, scrambled designs, and the more complex the better for them. Only in high-cost "resorts" there are cream curtains sometimes with a line there, European taste since they are the clients, it is their taste and that's where I am. 

Plugs; how many plugs there are in your room goes to a very important score of how many suns I give. Where I move, 90% have a plug, they are old buildings, countries with a low budget, you can see how difficult life is with one plug or the pins are different from the other plugs, and you do not have the correct adapter, because you do need many adapters, especially in rural locations that have only one alternative. The location of "the plug" is crucial, if it is far from the bed, it is lousy, located on the wall in the most useless parts such as at mid-height, the cables do not reach the ground, you cannot use the cell phone while recharging it nor can you charge the PC at the same time. Now there are plugs and sockets which were installed after the original construction, they are a disaster, badly fitted, many of you have to make many manoeuvres to make them work for you. The most radical were in the "tea houses" of Nepal, very rarely do you have a plug in the room and if you had been in more than 20 of these, there would not be more than 4 with a plug. Now I was travelling at some point with Rafa, my other son or with Peter on the trekking and in the "tea houses",  we fought about who got the "plug", if you are alone you do not have that problem, sharing is technological survival in addition, the power in these places are  only on  at night and only for a couple of hours, because there is no electricity, or they have solar panels, or with batteries like those of car but larger. Every minute of power counts. if you haven’t charged your phone, you will understand the fight with the children,. When there are no plugs, you can buy minutes at reception, and they charge you right there, by the minute, even the hot water, they charge you for the minutes taken to heat it. This can only be understood by understanding the geography of the Himalayas; without roads, everything is carried on the shoulder, it takes weeks of hauling back and forth and replenishing the batteries. "Light bulbs", many have only one in the centre of the room, it is not useful for reading, in my case I do a lot, and it is a problem, now at night looking for the switch to go to the bathroom is complicated specially when changing so many places it is always in different geographical situation, Definitely the solution is a miner's lamp.

the curtain is clear, the plug at the height of the door handle, hanging and useless, there is no table underneath and the cables do not reach the ground, logistics to make the plugs work since they are loose or Rafa who monopolised the only one light bulb, that night I was left without reading.

A "balcony": is very necessary to dry clothes, I wash my things because I only have a few, and the climate here is favourable, they dry in a couple of hours, the most fun is when I do it in good hotels, when they cannot be hung in the balcony, many times I’ve done it sneakily and dried the clothes.

Cat Bac, (Vietnam) Hanoi, (Vietnam)

In Halong Bay, my first “resort”, while hanging my clothes I was ashamed to show the lint of a traveller without a budget for a “resort”, the truth is that I have few clothes, I can't wait to accumulate a lot for the laundry because I am left with almost nothing and that is why I wash often.

THE "CONSIDERATIONS" STILL FOLLOW BUT IT WILL BE FOR ANOTHER CHAPTER.

Now moving to the category of "resorts" that are seldom visited, but there are additional suns for these. The resorts differ from each other and most of them fall into something.

"Pillows"; in the "resorts" how I enjoy them. Usually the pillows are something like 98.3% ultra soft, meaning it has been used for year after year, useless you have to put clothes underneath to achieve any height, or they are hard as a board (so that they last many years, I say) and I'm always missing one. While in the resorts the pillows are a kind of pleasure, I hug them again and again, fine feathers, in one I counted up to 7 pillows just for me, the prize of the month. Thin, soft, impeccably white sheets. Towels of all sizes, fluffy, not like the cardboard ones that do not dry at all and sometimes half frayed which is common in my budget. So many towels that I can not think of what they will be for, I have three to spare, it was a pleasure the abundance of these, and the next day all new ones even replacing the ones you did not use. In one of them I was surprised when I turned on the TV and “have a good day Peque Canas” appeared on the screen, nice to feel that they greet you. Now where you really notice the differences and quality marks between the "resorts" is in the toilet paper, the honest truth, the 5-sheet like cotton versus the rather rough semi-basic double sheet, here where some of the best fall out" resorts "LOL 

Kutla, Nepal, this is an example that the name of "Resort" is called for free, because it does not meet even close to the requirements of "resort", but I do an explanation this was during the trek to the Everest base camp, and, yes it is a "resort” of high quality compared to all the rest of the tea houses that one goes through for 14 days, one dreams of coming down from the trek to reach this“ resort”, it becomes the most luxurious of the luxurious… .. it all depends on circumstances and geography.

!!! THIS HAPPENS WHEN I DON'T HAVE A BALCONY !!!  

reminder; Vaga #1 on my temporary person, Vaga #2How a possible Buddha is born, Vaga #3 Myanmar Vaga #4 Vietnam

dispatched from Luang Praban, Laos, everything narrated is exactly two years ago, and two  Chinese New Years ago.