Hotels and Guest Houses

The CABINN Hotel was recommended to participants of the CPN Workshop. It is part of a chain of 6 or 7 CABINNs across Denmark. They have the aim of the providing cheap but comfortable accommodation near the centre of the city. The tradeoff is the room sizes. They follow the layout of cabins in cruise ships; small and with bunk-beds.

The hotel is about 10 minutes walk, straight along the main shopping mall, from the Arhus central station (where trains and the airport bus stop). The area between central station and the hotel is the main (only?) area for shopping, pubs, restaurants and night-life in Arhus. So the location of the hotel is great.

I arrived at 1pm, and despite the hotel web site saying checkin was between 3pm and 6pm, I was immediately given a room. As expected, it was small. There was a single bed, and a bunk-bed above it. There was a desk, small TV, electric kettle and small bathroom containing toilet, shower and sink. There were 3 or 4 coat hangars and a couple of shelves to store clothes. The room size was not a problem for me. However if there were two of you with full size suitcases you probably would find it too small. Of course there are a few larger rooms at the hotel.

Despite the small room sizes, the rest of the hotel is quite good. The lobby is large with a couple of sofas, and then there is a TV lounge with 5 sets of tables and chairs and a LCD TV. On the 4th floor is the breakfast room which was great. Each morning there were fresh loafs of bread, bread rolls, bread for toasting, to be accompanied by cheese, slices of ham/turkey/salami and 3 or 4 delicious jams. There were 3 types of cereal, milk and yogurt and of course, coffee, tea and juices. It wasn't fancy but it was more than enough to get you full in the morning. I loved the fresh bread with salami and cheese, and made about 3 slices each morning. There is a restaurant/cafe on the bottom floor but I never went there (not sure if it is just part of the hotel or on fact an external restaurant). Finally, the reception sells snacks and drinks 24 hours a day (a bottle of Tuborgs beer was 27 Kroner).

The room price was 465 Kroner plus 60 Kroner for breakfast; a total of 525 Kroner per night. I think this was a discount of 20 Kroner per night (as we booked as part of the CPN Workshop group). As Denmark is one of the most expensive countries in Europe, I consider this price quite good value and would recommend others to stay there (unless they need a large room).

Wan and I stayed at the Country Comfort Adelaide motel at 208 South Terrace when we arrived in Adelaide. This was one of the cheapest motels I found on the Internet within Adelaide CBD and Mum and Dad had said it was ok in the past. Before flying out home we spent another two nights here. Although there is nothing special about the rooms and service, we found it a great spot for what we wanted to do in Adelaide.

First, don't get confused with the many Country Comforts around Adelaide and suburbs. This is the Country Comfort on South Terrace. It is owned and operated by the same people running the adjacent Grand Chifley Hotel and the Chifley on South Terrace. That is, there are three different places all next to each other: two hotels and a motel. You actually check-in at the reception of Grand Chifley and can make use of their facilities. We had breakfast included for one night and that was at the Grand Chifley.

On our first stay the room was $100 per night, and the second stay just $80 per night (booked on wotif.com). This is without breakfast. I booked a room with a double and single bed, since there was a possibility a Brenton would stay one night with us (it turned out he stayed 3 nights. There is supposed to be a $30 charge for the extra person, but we didn't say anything about him staying and no-one asked so that was free).

The room was normal size with a table and two chairs, space for suitcases, wardrobe, TV, mini-fridge, iron and standard bathroom (including shower in the bath). It was an old room, but everything worked and was clean. The rooms were on the eastern wing, numbers 1, 2 and 17. Mum and Dad had a room with queen bed one night (on the western wing, number 37?) - this room looked a bit newer with a renovated bathroom (shower, but no bath).

Although not in the heart of the city (around North Terrace), the location was convenient for us. It is only a 5 minute walk to King William Street where you can catch a free tram through the city. Or you can walk for another 10 minutes to get to Victoria Square and Central Market (and another 10 minutes to the shopping and entertainment area - it is only 2km from one side of the city to the other!). There are a few pubs within walking distance (Brecknock, Kings Head, Gilbert Hotel), a small grocer/convenience store on Gilbert Street and a few nearby cafes for breakfast or lunch. Of course it is a motel so there are plenty of car parks. A bonus of the location is that Brenton works on the corner of South Terrace and King William - a 5 minute walk away. We caught up with him on several occasions after work, usually starting with a pint of Guinness or Pale Ale at the Brecknock.

If you are looking for somewhere cheap to stay so you can explore Adelaide, and don't require special service or fancy rooms, then I recommend staying here.

Not a very imaginative name, but a nice place to stay while in Hua Hin. The Guest House Hua Hin is in Takiab beach, about 5 km from the centre of Hua Hin. I stayed there fore 5 nights over New Years 2007, along with 11 other friends (although not all at the same time).

My friend Brenton is visiting Thailand again, this time with a group of his friends from Japan. For the first few days of his trip he made plans to go to several tourist attractions in the provinces of Khorat (นครราชสีมา) and Buriram (บุรีรัมย์). Once I knew Brenton would be travelling alone for these three days, I decided to keep him company. This is an overview of our trip, starting Friday 21 December 2007 and ending on Monday 24 December.

The Honey Inn is a family run guest house in Nang Rong, Buriram. Brenton and I stayed there for 2 nights in December 2007.

Brenton found this place via the Lonely Planet Guide (I think). I booked via the phone about 1 week prior to arriving. Booking was easy as the guy who runs it speak perfect English (he is Thai), and if his mother answers she puts him on the phone immediately. I would expect most times you wouldn't need to book, but I think on the weekend we were there it was almost full.

On the weekend, nine of us from SIIT made a trip to Wang Nam Khiao (วังน้ำเขียว) in the province of Nakhon Ratchasima (generally known as Khorat). We travelled there on Saturday morning in two cars, with several stops for food on the way. It took about 3.5 hours, for a distance of 200 to 250km.

We stayed at the Nentawan Resort, sharing a two bedroom bungalow amongst the group. Each bedroom had their own bathroom, and there was a small common room between the two rooms. After unpacking and getting a fridge for the beer, we made our way to the nearby Huai Yai Waterfall (although it was almost dry). Around 5pm, we decided to check out the Thailand International Balloon Festival, held in nearby Pak Chong. Well it wasn't as nearby as we thought, arriving about 8:30pm. After playing a few games in the side show alleys, we made our way back to Nentawan Resort for dinner - at 11pm!

We stayed at the Felix River Kwai Resort in Kanchanaburi for three nights in August 2007, over the Queen's Birthday long weekend. This was perhaps the most upmarket hotel/resort I've stayed in in Thailand, and I was impressed. However we only paid AUD60 per room, per night via Asiarooms.com.

I stayed in the Centara Duangtawan Hotel for 4 nights in July 2007. We had two connecting rooms, one with a king bed and the other two single beds.

I stayed at the Adriatic Palace Hotel in July 2007 for 1 night. I didn't choose the hotel - we went there for a Last Orientation with ICT Senior students from SIIT (check out some photos - set 1, set 2 - on the SIIT forum).

The hotel is about midway between Pattaya and Jomtien. Except for a local convenience store and a few small Thai eateries, there is not much within walking distance (that is, you cannot easily walk to the attractions and nightlife of Pattaya or Jomtien).

Chanthaburi is a province in the south-east of Thailand, bordering Cambodia. The province is best known for the gemstone mining and tropical fruits.

Located in Chaeng Wattana, about 5 minutes south of the Don Muang International Airport. Like Asia Airport Hotel, convenient for a stopover or if you'd prefer to stay out of the main tourist areas. I paid about 1800 Baht for a standard room for several nights in April 2006 (although was upgraded to a Deluxe room which had two separate bedrooms, large lounge/dining area etc.).

Located in Pathumthani, about 10 minutes north of the Don Muang International Airport. Convenient if you have a stopover and want to stay near the airport, or you are heading north (e.g.

A small hotel also located in Sukhumvit, about 5 minute walk from Ambassador. Stayed there because Ambassador was booked out (we had only booked 1 night in Ambassador, so when we found out is booked out for the next night we just walked down to the Federal).

This is located in Sukhumvit, on Soi 11, a popular tourist area in Bangkok. A large tourist hotel, with a nice lobby and standard (almost on the smallish side) rooms. Paid about 1500 Baht for a room in September 2005.