Japan Hotels

Here's some info about the hotels we stayed at on our September/October 2007 trip to Japan.

 Sept 22 & 23 - Fukuoka
Accord Hotel  - A 15 minute walk from the Train Station, we paid ¥11,160 total (with credit card) for 2 nights. Room 315 was small, but nice: wired Internet, fridge, desk, stool, hangars, no closet, sink, tub, shower, double bed.

Sept 24 & 25 - Kanazawa
APA Hotel - A short local bus ride from the Train Station, we paid ¥15,600 total for 2 nights. Room 932 was small, clean, and with Internet. Access to the 14th floor public onsen , where you can see the stars, is included in the rate.
Room 932 - APA Hotel


APA Hotel. The letter "P" is dark.


Sept 26 & 27- Takayama
Kuwataniya Minshuku - A short walk from the Bus Station, we paid ¥4000 per person per night plus a "hot springs" tax for a total of ¥17400. The tatami room had a small closet, TV, fridge, and table. There are 2 "hotspring common baths". Tatami rooms share a toilet. Internet was free as well as the use of their 12 bikes.

Sept 28  - Matsumoto
Matsumoto Hotel 1-2-3- This nice business hotel is 3 blocks from the train station and our "big" room had Internet, desk with chair and a view of Matsumoto Castle. We paid ¥6650for one night. The "included" breakfast is served on the 2nd floor.
Our room at the 1-2-3



Sept 29 - Tsumago
Minshuku - Don't know the name of this minshiku. We booked it on arrival and paid ¥5500 a person for a big tatami room with no meals. Interesting, that in this $100+ room, one pays for the TV and AC by feeding ¥100 coins into a slot. No other guests so we had the whole top floor to ourselves.
Tsumago Room


Sept 30  & Oct 1 - Nikko
Johsyu-ya Inn - Room #31 is big with an en-suite sink, clothes drying rack, TV, a table, and 2 chairs !!! We paid ¥15,660 for 2 nights. The inn is conveniently located just 30 meters from a bus stop.

Oct 2 - Kamakura
Komachi-so Minshuku - Great location. We paid ¥4500 x 2 persons =  ¥9000  for one night.

Oct 3 & 4- Hakone
Minshuku - No romaji sign for this minshuku in Moto-Hakone, so no romaji name, but it was very nice. We paid ¥19,500 for 2 nights. A huge tatami room, a small sitting area, fridge, low table, and a view of Lake Ashi. Bath, toilet, and sinks are shared, but we had the whole place to ourselves as there were no other guests.
Our room with view of Lake Ashi.


Oct 5 & 6 - Nagasaki
Toyoko-Inn Hotel  - Great location near TI and JR Station. We paid ¥7560 per night for a double with twin beds, included breakfast, and Internet.
Our room.

Mumbai Hotels

We arrived in Mumbai on Jan 16, 2009 just six weeks after the November 26th terrorist attacks. And since we had purchased our Yangon to Mumbai via Bangkok plane tickets at the end of December, we arrived with no hotel reservation.

Our first stop, after surviving the airport money changers (we used the ATM), the queue at the airport's train ticket window (no luck), a prepaid taxi scam (resolved in our favor), and a free tour of VT, Fort and Colaba Districts with our clueless taxi driver (got some great photos), was the Oasis Hotel, a popular backpacker joint according to Lonely Planet. Took a look at a Double for 1600 RS – way too small. Deluxe Doubles were 1800 (47RS = 1USD) but they were all full. The nearby Welcome Hotel was also full.

The Railway Hotel had a corner room for 2300 + tax = 2530 RS, over $50 US, with breakfast included. We also went by the nearby Ship Hotel which has non-AC rooms for 200 to 300 RS. Looked like a great place if you were a seaman. So we take the room at the Railway.

After snagging train tickets to Goa from the Foreigner Ticket Window at VT, we headed out in search of dinner and had a tasty evening meal at Mangalore Naaz Restaurant. Well run with friendly proprietor and waiters, and located just a few blocks south from the hotel, we ended up eating there at least once a day during our stay in Mumbai.

We were out the door the next morning at 9:00 AM with a plan to search for a cheaper/better hotel in the VT District. We noticed that while our room key fob says Railway Hotel, the room stationary and invoice say Fort Landmark Inn. Hmm. We check back at Welcome Hotel - still full and more expensive than the Railway. On to the Princess, a sister Landmark property, which is even more expensive. The Grand, The Benazeer, all were either full or too expensive or we didn’t like the “available” room(s).

After changing more money (hotels wanted cash) and enjoying a tasty McVeggie at the McDonald’s across from VT, we were headed back to the Railway resigned to spending another day there, when we spotted the Hotel Victoria right next to the Welcome Inn and we took newly renovated room #202 for 1500 RS per night. Great! And there was a Wi-Fi signal if we perched our netbook on the window sill. Awesome!

And there was a mad dash to get back to the Railway before noon to check out. Haha!

Hotel Victoria:
255 Shahid Bhagat Sing Road, 1st Floor,
Near G.P.O., V.T., Mumbai - 400001
Phone: 2261 1642 / 2265 1322

All the hotels mentioned above are within easy walking distance of Victoria Terminus (Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus)

The Railway Hotel


The view from the Railway Hotel


The Hotel Victoria (left) and Welcome Hotel (right)


The Mangalore Naaz Restaurant

Room #204 - The Prince Hotel - Sittwe, Myanmar Burma

Room #204 - The Prince Hotel - Sittwe, Myanmar Burma, originally uploaded by meckleychina.

Sometimes you stay in a dump when all the other hotels in town that are licensed to take foreigners are full of visiting dignitaries. ;-( However, the owner and staff were friendly, the "included" breakfast was tasty, they brought us a fan and an extra blanket, and were quick to clean up the oily, fishy smelling fluid that suddenly began leaking through the ceiling. ;-)

For 10 US dolllars a night you get room #204 with 1 twin bed and 1 double bed (both with mosquito nets); 2 old wooden chairs; a small metal vanity with a stool, slide-out tray and Bakelite wheels; several in-room clotheslines; a big desk; windows on two sides with screens and curtains; 2 potted plants; one normal sized fluorescent light and one tiny fluorescent light; one red nightlight; a work of art obscured by the mosquito net; a small bookshelf attached to the wall with two books, one of which appears to be selected works of Kurt Vonnegut in Russian; some wall hooks; a 4' x 6' poster of the frozen Arctic wilderness; big bathroom with tile floor, walls, and ceiling, peeling paint everywhere else, and a open shower providing a trickle of cold water [a bucket of hot water comes on demand]; several electrical outlets that may have power from 6PM to 11PM; a very low drop ceiling; and a fake linoleum floor ; that is, more like drawer liner paper than actual linoleum. Overall not too bad until the oily fishy smelling liquid started leaking through the ceiling. Luckily the leak was in the far corner and not over the bed. ;-)

Breakfast - Breeze Rest House - Mawlamyine, Myanmar Burma

Breakfast - Breeze Rest House - Mawlamyine, Myanmar Burma, originally uploaded by meckleychina.

January 02, 2009

Our train pulled into the Mawlamyine Station about 3PM on Jan 1, 2009. We immediately found the ticket office and bought return tickets to Yangon on the 36DN train leaving at 6:00 AM, January 03. Tickets were $18 each and as usual we were treated like guests; invited to come around behind the counter and sit; and the very nice gentlemen gave us 4 very crispy clean USD in change.

Not very good transport from station to town and we spent 90 minutes or so haggling with moto dirvers, talking to locals, waiting for buses, taking a bus, and then walking 15 minutes in the very steamy late afternoon heat to the Breeze Rest House where we took a $15 room; no windows, no TV, but 24hr hot H2O from a in-line electric heater, AC, ceiling fans, 3 beds, fridge, tile floor and walls, a large bathroom, small desk and mirror but no chair, plenty of hooks and racks but no wardrobe.

The included breakfast is served on this 2nd floor balcony which overlooks the Salween. In the photo, Sun-Ling is enjoying the breakfast of coffee, boiled egg, and toast with butter and jam. There are two 2nd floor rooms which face the river, but they were both booked. Bummer.

After a shower we walked south along the riverfront promenade, watched the sunset, and ate dinner at a LP recommended restaurant: 3900 kyat (3.50 USD) for 2 glasses of Myanmar Beer, a tomato salad, fried spicy watercress (very tasty) and a bean dish.Sun-Ling enjoyed the breakfast of coffee, boiled egg, and toast with butter and jam.

A typical, for Mawlamyine, local bus, like the one we took into town from near the railway station.

Vientiane is hopping...

... with tourists. In the last 24 hours we have seen more independent travelers than we saw in the whole of Myanmar in four weeks. John exclaimed, “there are more tourists here than in Rome!”

We had a such a hard time finding a room that last night we took the last available room (without a bathroom and up 3 flights of stairs) at the Orchid Guesthouse, just 3 minutes ahead of another couple from the same flight.

After looking at over a dozen places this morning, we now have a nice home at the RV Riverine with bathroom en suite, Wi-Fi, and breakfast buffet. Yes!!!