Realising that my comfortable life at the Plaza Hotel could not continue I checked out after 6 days. I was budgetting on 20pounds per night in Asia and this hotel was costing me three times that amount.
Opting for another hotel, (hostels are ignored even by seasoned travellers,) I went for a centrally based one in Mongkok.
It looked a bargain at 25 pounds per night and easily the cheapest I'd seen.
The map took me so far but then street names became obselete as if the they didn't want tourists to know of them. It was another movie moment when the guide tells the lead, "I can only take you this far - I dare not go beyond this point."
I was approached from both sides of the street by Indian men who seemed to have mistaken me for someone else. They kept calling me this other chaps name......."Taylor"
The entrance to my hotel was made clear by the rats leaving.
When I unlocked the door to my room it immediately connected with the bathroom door, "clang" such was the size. Even the cockroaches under my bed looked gloomy and undernourished. (the ones in Cape Town were far happier)
I was unable to stand my backpack in the space between my single bed and the wall - and I realised that I would never be able to change clothes for the next 7 days.
At the Plaza I had a king sized bed with crisp white sheets, a marble bathroom and a concierge department so alert that they would organise my travelling arrangements for the next day (conveniently posting maps and directions under my door) The girls at check-in were all models and always happy to see me.
My last hotel room even had a kitchen and a hob. (Jonny gets slightly emotional)
I have been in this new "hotel" for 10 mins and already feel depressed!
"Yes, but Jonny, you are missing the philosophy of travel and its many experiences," some of you say. "Crap," I retort. Fundamental to absorbing culture is being happy, relaxed and comfortable.
I don't necessarily expect to see hords of wildebeasts roaming across the plains from my window. However a brick wall with large industrial air vent which hmmmmmmms all night in disapproval is rock bottom.
I'm off to find a bar that sells whisky and plays jazz.
