Wednesday, September 10, 2008

hostel hunting

after the "meh" phase that plagued me since the start of the year, i'm back to my wanderlusting groove.

i'm taking a break from planning the bangkok-siem reap trip by hunting for hostels in other cities that i want to visit.

you all know how much i love a good bargain, but i'm also on the lookout for interesting-looking hostels, not just the usual backpacker den. nothing against backpackers, but some hostels do tend to scrimp on privacy, which i value the most when i'm traveling. i like to socialize as much as the next person, but i also want to have my own space.

so right now, i'm checking out some hangzhou hostels. i really can't wait to get to this place and see the west lake.

when hunting for a hostel, i usually start with sites such as hostels.com or hostelbookers.com, just to see what's out there. the pictures in these sites don't usually give you much information on the place, but the reviews are pretty helpful.

when i've picked one or two from the list, i then consult google (like i really needed to place the link), so i can see if the hostels i chose have their own official website that, hopefully, provides more information. if i'm still not satisfied, i check trip advisor for reviews.

i try not to book through third-party websites, because i want my transaction to be done direct. even though hostels.com and hostelbookers sometimes offer better rates, i still stick with booking direct. i just think it's less of a hassle that way, and you minimize the problems and confusion regarding your booking.

so, anyway. let me go back to hostel hunting. :) i'll let you know what i find. in fact, i've been thinking of writing a hostel directory blog of sorts. so far, i have singapore, hong kong, and bangkok, with some recommendations for siem reap as well. i'm trying to see if i can find really cool and cheap places to stay in every city that i want to visit.

let's see what happens.

8 comments:

asiaholic said...

just curious where are you staying in bangkok and siem reap? thanks.

i gotta go! said...

ei carlo!

we're staying in the villa in siem reap, and in take a nap in bangkok. :)

you going there anytime soon?

asiaholic said...

it's my dream to go to siem reap soon but me and my wife love bangkok. we've been there 3 years in a row. it's a yearly pilgrimage haha. if you need any questions about bangkok just e-mail me. thanks for the great blog.

i gotta go! said...

oh, maybe on your next bangkok trip, you can squeeze in a couple of days in siem reap. :) we're just going overland, taking the bus from mo chit to aranyaprathet, then crossing the border. :D

i'll definitely keep you in mind should i have some questions on bangkok! thanks!

asiaholic said...

wow overland trip. that's good. i heard sobrang mahal kasi ang airfares from bangkok to siem reap (monopoly kasi) how long is the land trip?

oh and one food tip in bkk: chote chitr, hard to find but really good thai food near democracy monument. order the mee krob. :-) here's the link...http://www.alifewortheating.com/bangkok/chote-chitr/ tnx. can't wait to hear bout your trip. someday i'll go to angkor wat. we did ayutthaya this year...the poor man's angkor wat haha.

i gotta go! said...

hey, thanks for the food tip! :) got any recommendations for 24-hour food places in bangkok?

the overland trip takes 6-8 hours daw, depending on traffic and road conditions. hopefully, since we're taking the 330am bus, we won't have to experience that much traffic. :D

asiaholic said...

don't really know much of the 24hour food places in bkk but you can never go wrong eating street food there. cheap and yummy. enjoy.

kegler747 said...

Pareho tayo ng style, most of the time mas gusto ko to book directly to a hotel website lalo na pag di masyado kilala ang hotel. I also value yung mga reviews sa tripadvisor.com

For hotel chains, I don't mind booking sa mga travel sites like asiatravel or agoda