A month or so back, I booked a hotel over the Christmas period, because I wanted to be sure to have somewhere nice to stay, and because I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about Christmas this year; A lot has happened in 2024, and I thought there was a chance I’d just want to hunker down & ignore the whole season.
Today’s the day I move from the hostel to the hotel. In some ways it’s a shame to leave About A Bed, because it’s a very friendly place, but having my own room will be good too. And I’m back at AAB afterwards, until after New Year’s Day.
Packing up was easy enough, & I stashed my bag for the day while I went out.
I’d been told about a great big mall within walking distance, so with nothing better to do I went there. Needed to get some more Thai cash, & I figured that an ATM in a somewhat high end mall is a safer option than the machine sitting out on the street.
Walking on the footpath in Thailand can be a bit frustrating, because there’s constant construction, misc broken concrete from who knows what, giant infrastructure boxes, and all kinds of other crap blocking the way. The people selling stuff are usually the easiest bit to walk around, but the other stuff means you’re walking in the road half the time.
It was indeed a big impressive mall, and I had a nice lunch there because why not?
Also got cash from an ATM attached to a bank branch in the mall itself, which is about as safe an option as I can think of.
Back at the hostel I sat around reading & chatting to people in the common area for a while, but eventually schlepped my bag over to the next hotel; It was walking distance, in one corner of the old city.
It’s pretty nice, and having my own room for the next few days will be good. Not that I’m expecting to have a bad time over Christmas, but having a comfortable place to block out the world from if I do provides a comfortable backup option.
Like many places I’ve stayed, as a friend pointed out, it’s down an alleyway, so it’s quiet.
This one is maybe more of a lane? You can get a car down it, & people clearly do, but the corners would be tight & you’d have to be careful.
Old Quarter View in Hanoi & The View in Hoi An were definite alleyways, where the only thing going down them was a scooter; You’d never fit a car down them.
An Huong in Tam Coc was a country lane, I think; You could drive a truck down it if you were careful, and cars could use it easily, but not pass each other. Back Home Backpackers in Bangkok was the same.
Jyu Capsule Hotel in Singapore was on an actual road, but I think it was blocked off a lot of the time. The airport hotel in Hanoi & the Oversleep Hostel on Cat Ba were on actual roads that were in use, and Lub D in Siem Reap was on a multi lane arterial route.
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