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TheGreatGrundy said:
Beauty was in the eye of this beholder,or at least in the mind and imagination. I fronted up to reception at the Royal Mekong Boutrique Hotel in Phnom Penh. I'd booked on Agoda for 5 nights. Their photos and description suggested that a spacious and tasteful low season steal awaited me. Throw in a decent size swimming pool, and for $US 18 per night I would taste a discounted version of the level of luxury that my finances might otherwise not entitle me to expect. 'Would I like to update a standard to deluxe double with breakfast for an extra $US6 something?' Agoda gives me 10 minutes to accept the offer and I say no. I reckon I can get breakfast for $4 outside. So I save $2. US.

Bad decision. This place does really good coffee and omelette to order.Worse there appears to be a significant difference between standard and deluxe double rooms. I was escorted over the road to the old hotel. Three days later, my room has gone from a windowless box with some big shells on in-built ledges and tasteful lighting, and generally nice fittings, to a smaller box with windows, and blinds with gaps that leave me exposed and that let in the light from the room opposite me. Not to mention the noise of the 3 maids who all gather early each morning in their cleaning and sheet closet. Along with the scrapes and bangs whenever an occupant uses their door.

Both my rooms have been on the ground floor.My windowless cave at least insulated me from sound and light. This much smaller corner box has 2 lots of windows with bars criss-crossing them. There is a nasty urine smell in the bathroom which wafts into the bedroom. Both rooms have a decent flat screen TV, a neat little fridge, an electric jug, cups and saucers and tea and sugar bags. There's even a hair dryer. The pillows aren't hard and big like they have all been so far. The mattress even has a bit of give. The metal doors are noisy, get stuck and require pushing, pulling and banging to open or lock them. Not just mine, but everyone else's doors have their own crunching and screeching sounds.In my mind, the negatives of this experience,significantly outweigh the positives.

There is a pool, but though it's immeasurably bigger than my room, it's still small and exposed and not my kind of scene at all. I will ask for an upgrade tomorrow. If it costs me an extra $10 a night for my last 2 nights, so be it. I promised myself a bit of a treat. Instead my nostrils are working overtime at filtering out the urine, and I am continually looking for spots to put my stuff within my tiny surrounds. I feel like Gulliver living in the barn or whatever the Lilliputians sheltered him in. The control for the air con has disappeared. It's right over the bed so I am going to freeze overnight. The air-con, not the remote control. I can only gather that has been lost.

My old room was better than this. It even had a biggish bathroom boasting no less than 3 shower heads and hoses, and a bathtub. If a bathroom's worth is measured by it's shower capacity, this one is only a third as good as good as the one I gave up. Having requested windows, I felt a compulsion to accept the move. My decision making skills appear lacking in objectivity. From the frying pan straight in to the fire. Of the many comments on Agoda no one has stated the bleeding obvious - don't book a standard room at this hotel.

I quite enjoy doing Agoda hotel reviews. Mine are significantly longer and more detailed than the average review. The manager of this place is going to wish I had never stayed here.
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I use Agoda too, have found them pretty accurate and always read reviews first.
I always think if I am spending money for a holiday, may as well make it a good one but have been burned before I used Agoda.
 
Maggie5 said:
I use Agoda too, have found them pretty accurate and always read reviews first.
I always think if I am spending money for a holiday, may as well make it a good one but have been burned before I used Agoda.
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I used their reviews and the hotels' web page but the descriptions of their standard rooms are nothing like the reality.

EDIT: I just complained to the manager and got a free upgrade into the new building. The squeaky wheel gets the oil!
 
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I just discovered this thread - interesting reading.

76 and I met up last year when he was living in Prescott north Arizona, where I had based myself since 2011 from Houston TX after I retired.

Currently I am just outside a little town off the Blue Ridge Parkway, in Virginia, minding the house and pets of friends of mine for a month while they are cycling around Nova Scotia in Canada. Nice log cabin on 78 acres, green and lush, with a big fresh water pond to dip into in the hot August weather. Then after my swim I sit on the dock with a chilled white wine close to hand, throwing a ball to the 2 hounds.

I keep an eye out for black bears - one of the neighbor's dogs got taken by a bear last week, but I figure I am safe if I can dive into the pond before the bear gets to me. I definitely don't want a selfie with a black bear in it!

Many tourists to the USA go for the big cities and don't really see the real America, which is small-town USA and the rural areas. I guess the log cabin and pond would be my current postcard, plus some snaps of my 400-population funky little town of Floyd, Virginia.

But I haven't figured out yet how to upload my shots - anyone give me a heads-up how to do that on this thread?
 
I thought bears could swim deltablues!!

re uploading photos:
Click on 'upload a file' next to the 'post reply' button and choose your image.
I'm looking forward to your photos:)
 
deltablues said:
I just discovered this thread - interesting reading.

76 and I met up last year when he was living in Prescott north Arizona, where I had based myself since 2011 from Houston TX after I retired.

Currently I am just outside a little town off the Blue Ridge Parkway, in Virginia, minding the house and pets of friends of mine for a month while they are cycling around Nova Scotia in Canada. Nice log cabin on 78 acres, green and lush, with a big fresh water pond to dip into in the hot August weather. Then after my swim I sit on the dock with a chilled white wine close to hand, throwing a ball to the 2 hounds.

I keep an eye out for black bears - one of the neighbor's dogs got taken by a bear last week, but I figure I am safe if I can dive into the pond before the bear gets to me. I definitely don't want a selfie with a black bear in it!

Many tourists to the USA go for the big cities and don't really see the real America, which is small-town USA and the rural areas. I guess the log cabin and pond would be my current postcard, plus some snaps of my 400-population funky little town of Floyd, Virginia.

But I haven't figured out yet how to upload my shots - anyone give me a heads-up how to do that on this thread?
Click to expand...

Upload Pics Here deltablues:

http://postimage.org
 
deltablues said:
I just discovered this thread - interesting reading.

76 and I met up last year when he was living in Prescott north Arizona, where I had based myself since 2011 from Houston TX after I retired.

Currently I am just outside a little town off the Blue Ridge Parkway, in Virginia, minding the house and pets of friends of mine for a month while they are cycling around Nova Scotia in Canada. Nice log cabin on 78 acres, green and lush, with a big fresh water pond to dip into in the hot August weather. Then after my swim I sit on the dock with a chilled white wine close to hand, throwing a ball to the 2 hounds.

I keep an eye out for black bears - one of the neighbor's dogs got taken by a bear last week, but I figure I am safe if I can dive into the pond before the bear gets to me. I definitely don't want a selfie with a black bear in it!

Many tourists to the USA go for the big cities and don't really see the real America, which is small-town USA and the rural areas. I guess the log cabin and pond would be my current postcard, plus some snaps of my 400-population funky little town of Floyd, Virginia. L

But I haven't figured out yet how to upload my shots - anyone give me a heads-up how to do that on this thread?
Click to expand...
Sounds idyllic. 78 acres is a lot to explore. Enjoy your hounds and hot weather. Beware of the bears! I would be posting photos myself if my trust old Samsung 3 hadn't been snatched 2 months ago in Cambodia. Looking forward to seeing your shots.
 
TheGreatGrundy said:
Sounds idyllic. 78 acres is a lot to explore. Enjoy your hounds and hot weather. Beware of the bears! I would be posting photos myself if my trust old Samsung 3 hadn't been snatched 2 months ago in Cambodia. Looking forward to seeing your shots.
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If you have tapatalk it's very easy to post photos TGG

Where are you now?
 
Magpie Girl said:
If you have tapatalk it's very easy to post photos TGG

Where are you now?
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I am in Bangkok. Arrived by train this morning. Got prison visits coming up then I will be home next Saturday. As my smartphone was also my camera, I have no photos from the last 6 weeks. I accidentally left the phone on a counter in a restaurant in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, and of course when I realised and returned 5 mins later, the staff knew nothing about it. Traveling is the best way I know to divest yourself of worldly possessions. I have travel insurance but it would not have covered carelessness. Thankfully it was an older model.
 
TheGreatGrundy said:
I am in Bangkok. Arrived by train this morning. Got prison visits coming up then I will be home next Saturday. As my smartphone was also my camera, I have no photos from the last 6 weeks. I accidentally left the phone on a counter in a restaurant in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, and of course when I realised and returned 5 mins later, the staff knew nothing about it. Traveling is the best way I know to divest yourself of worldly possessions. I have travel insurance but it would not have covered carelessness. Thankfully it was an older model.
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Hope you are ok TheGreatGrundy and nowhere near that bomb explosion.
 

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TheGreatGrundy said:
Coincidentally I am just watching news of the explosion as I read your post. My Thai is not good enough to follow what actually happened. Thanks for your concern rdhopkins2. I will source the story else where.
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Glad you're ok, although I don't know yet what happened
 
TheGreatGrundy said:
A bomb explosion in Bangkok that killed at least 12 people. It is suspected that tourists may have been killed because the explosion occurred at the Erawan shrine which is next door to a 5 star hotel.
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Good to hear you're ok and weren't caught up in it - terrible situation.
 
Glad you reported in, GG. The places where it's safe to visit are growing fewer by the week. I'd love to go to Jordan, Turkey and Tunisia, but himself has vetoed my visiting any of them. It hasn't helped that a man I met at a camogie game when I was home was shot dead a few days ago. :(

We so lucky here in Australia. Despite the calculated scaremongering of politicians, this is still a safe country compared to much of the world.

On a more cheerful note, if you're wondering what camogie is, it's this:
camogs.jpg



camogs2.jpg
 
There was a second bomb blast yesterday in Bangkok near a ferry terminal frequented by foreigners. Seems possible someone threw a bomb at a ferry but missed and it exploded under water. Thai people are really concerned about these attacks. When I visited my friend in prison today, a female warder who always helps me out now (getting me double time visits the last 2 occasions with my friend), said she had worried about me the last 2 days, thinking I might frequent these tourist areas. The room cleaner today questioned what sort of god directs people to kill others indiscriminately, saying that Buddhism requires adherents to behave with kindness and decency to others. I guess the obvious assumption is that the radical Islamics are responsible for these bombings. We are living through troubled times.
 
Posting some Photo’s I took at Mornington on Sunday:

20150823_112002.jpg


20150823_120547.jpg
 
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