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#41
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Worth staying in a classy hotel?
Madonna wrote:
John W. wrote: But... most locals wouldn't stay in some of the places I've stayed, so I'm not sure if a shabby, run-down hostel in the backstreets of Seoul, for example, count as experiencing local culture. I'd say if a person's going to 'experience' a culture they'll do it regardless of where they're staying. If you stay in a 5-star hotel or resort, eat at their restaurant, take organized tours, and shop around tourist traps the experience is more about sightseeing than a cultural one. I, for one, am fed up with the attitude some backpackers exude about their holiday experience being a "cultural one". It's bull**** IMO. These same people seemingly spend the bulk of their time necking imported beers, smoking pot, watching DVDs and arguing about the price of t-shirts and toe rings in maxxed out backpacker haunts like Khao San Rd and Hat Rin. Great insight into the culture that is. And even if they do manage to eat a couple of meals "where the locals eat" and ride the same buses "that the locals ride", it's still surely a mile from "learning the culture" (whatever that precisely means).....Think about it - 2 bus rides on my 428 bus and a counter meal at my local pub hardly qualifies you for Australian citizenship, at least in my eyes. Don't mistake this as some sort of attack on backpackers, drinking imported beer, smoking pot, Khao San Rd, riding local buses or anything else I ranted about in the above paragraphs. Personally I have done/still do many of those things and enjoyed it immensely. I just hate it when people produce on some holier than thou crap about how their trip was so much more rewarding becuase of x, y and z. Travel is an immensely personal thing, and people are looking for different things from the experience. If they want to see the country from a 5 star hotel and air conditioned bus tours, good for them. Besides, you can't really do that without spending a good bit of time in a place; I know lots of people that consider themselves 'learned' about a culture after only a week in country. That's true. For people with a fixed budget, staying in a less expensive hotel means being able to stay a lot longer and have more time to learn the culture. 1 week is just barely enough to get over the culture shock and jet lag. ********. You can see, eat, do and experience loads in 7 days if you want to. Greg |
#42
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Worth staying in a classy hotel?
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#43
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Worth staying in a classy hotel?
Madonna wrote in message m...
John W. wrote: But... most locals wouldn't stay in some of the places I've stayed, so I'm not sure if a shabby, run-down hostel in the backstreets of Seoul, for example, count as experiencing local culture. I'd say if a person's going to 'experience' a culture they'll do it regardless of where they're staying. If you stay in a 5-star hotel or resort, eat at their restaurant, take organized tours, and shop around tourist traps the experience is more about sightseeing than a cultural one. Nonsense. If you stay in a guest house and hang out with backpackers and spend your days hunting for ectasy then your experience is more of a ....., well, it's not really an experience, is it? I stay in a 5 star hotel in Bangkok. The staff is Thai. Everyone I encounter is Thai. I go out to nice restaurants and the people there are Thai. You're right about "organized tours, but it's a wild misconception that people who stay in nice hotels go on "organized tours". It's far more common for people staying at "middle class" hotels to be on organized tours because it's all part of the tour package. I've been on an organized tour exactly once in my life and that was from Hong Kong to southern China because at that time it was difficult to get in to China any other way. Besides, you can't really do that without spending a good bit of time in a place; I know lots of people that consider themselves 'learned' about a culture after only a week in country. That's true. For people with a fixed budget, staying in a less expensive hotel means being able to stay a lot longer and have more time to learn the culture. 1 week is just barely enough to get over the culture shock and jet lag. Culture? Nonsense. You are doing what I pointed out in a different post. You are equating "poverty" with "culture". You go to a country that is poorer than your home country and you have the mindset that only the poorest of the poor there are "real (Asians, Thai, Lao, what have you)". |
#44
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Worth staying in a classy hotel?
Tchiowa wrote:
[..] Nonsense. If you stay in a guest house and hang out with backpackers and spend your days hunting for ectasy then your experience is more of a ....., well, it's not really an experience, is it? Did you ever try it? I guess not ... You're right about "organized tours, but it's a wild misconception that people who stay in nice hotels go on "organized tours".[..] But is completely clear to you that people living in inexpensive homestays are only interested in drugs and living on the cheap ... Regards, Manfred |
#45
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Worth staying in a classy hotel?
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#46
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Worth staying in a classy hotel?
Madonna wrote in message m...
PTRAVEL wrote: I'm sorry, but I completely disagree. I've stayed in 5-star "local hotels" as well as the international chains, and there is nothing to distinguish the two except that one will give me frequent stay points. That's what I mean. 5 star hotels isolate you from the country you're in, it's like a bubble isolating you from the country you're in. ???? Where do you get that? Apparently you have never stayed in one. There is no more insulation in a 5 star hotel than a backpacker flop house. What you have is more "creature comforts". It brings home to a foreign land. Sacrificing the princely comfort will give you more of a local flavour, Nonsense. you may have to eat rice with chopsticks instead of steak with a fork, You can eat rice with chopsticks in a 5-star hotel and you can eat (what passes for) steak in a backpacker restaurant. the waiter may not speak perfect english, Which has what to do with anything? the train ride will show more of the country than a plane over it... Which has what to do with culture? And a train ride sitting in First Class shows just as much of the country as a train ride sitting in Third Class. |
#47
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Worth staying in a classy hotel?
Manfred Aigner kirjoitti:
Tchiowa wrote: [..] Nonsense. If you stay in a guest house and hang out with backpackers and spend your days hunting for ectasy then your experience is more of a ....., well, it's not really an experience, is it? Did you ever try it? I guess not ... You're right about "organized tours, but it's a wild misconception that people who stay in nice hotels go on "organized tours".[..] But is completely clear to you that people living in inexpensive homestays are only interested in drugs and living on the cheap ... He is famous about describing patterns of behaviour and practices of tourists. His true home is in s.c.thai, however. When I was young in 1980's and did train travelling a lot in Europe, I typically had a budget of FIM 4000-4500 ~ 700 euros for 30 days. Once I met a gang of Spanish youth who were riding like me by a budget of 300-350 euros each for 30 days. I felt rich at that moment. My desicions on choosing accommodation, restaurants and so on was much dictated by the limitations of my thin wallet. Who gives a **** where you straighten your legs for a night's rest during your holiday. I understand this being meaningful when one is very young or very old or very sick or anyhow weak. If one wanted to imply from this that I am a negro moslem with homosexual tendencies harrassing women and small boys, spitting and urinating on streets and smoking pot, one is naturally all free to do so. I suppose Asians do not mind what Europeans do think of their culture and how superficially they know about Asian culture. |
#49
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Worth staying in a classy hotel?
Madonna wrote in message m...
PTRAVEL wrote: snip It's a bit like going to a McDonald's in Nova Scotia, ordering a McLobster, then saying you've 'experienced local food delicacies'. I'm sorry, but I completely disagree. I've stayed in 5-star "local hotels" as well as the international chains, and there is nothing to distinguish the two except that one will give me frequent stay points. That's what I mean. 5 star hotels isolate you from the country you're in, it's like a bubble isolating you from the country you're in. It brings home to a foreign land. Sacrificing the princely comfort will give you more of a local flavour, you may have to eat rice with chopsticks instead of steak with a fork, the waiter may not speak perfect english, the train ride will show more of the country than a plane over it... I'm sorry, but you're completely and totally wrong. The 5-star hotels I've described ARE hotels of the country in which they're in -- they are run by nationals, staffed by nationals, decorated by nationals, and stayed in by nationals. They are NOT Americanized. The restaurant at the JW Marriott in Hong Kong, which is acknowledged as one of the best in that city, serves their meals with chop sticks, not knives and forks (as does room service). If you want western utensils, you'll have to ask for them. Either you're one of those people who subscribe to the mistaken idea that, unless you're eating food from street vendors, you're not getting local flavor, or you simply have no idea what a world-class 5-star hotel is like (I suspect probably both). I've travelled at both ends of the economic spectrum. You get no more "local flavor" at a 2-star hotel than at a 5-star. You just get a lower level of service, smaller room, less sumptuous bathroom (if a private bathroom at all), a harder bed, and no air conditioning. It's fine to have an opinion but, clearly, you have no basis for yours. |
#50
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Worth staying in a classy hotel?
Spehro Pefhany kirjoitti:
In a big hotel, services such as laundry are always very expensive compared to what you can get outside, sometimes they are more convenient or of higher quality, sometimes not. I often find their pickup and delivery times for laundry to cause problems. This pretty trivial. There are lots of services you partially or fully pay for regardless of whether you actually do use those services or not. In public laundry you wash 3 kg by 150 bahts. At fancy hotels laundry cost 1000 bahts. |
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