05-10-2010, 05:27 AM
Please share with us, your worst hotel horror stories when you have traveled to Russia, China, Mongolia, or the former republics of the USSR.
My buddy Justin Taylan and I went to Khalkin Gol in Mongolia last year. It is literally at the ends of the earth! We stayed at the museum there, which also doubled as a hotel. The first three nights were OK.
Typical Soviet military metal bed with springs, and a few wooden slats under a thin worn mattress. There is a toilet in the building...very old and it didn't flush, only good for #1. The floor was wet due to a leaking toilet bowl.
If you had to take a load off your feet, you went outside to the outhouse. At night, you needed a flash light, and you had to be very careful not to fall in!
The fumes were enough to jolt you awake!
In the kitchen, there was a large primitive cement block stove. You cooked your own meals there. There was ample wood supply...someone had torn down a painted wooden fence to use as firewood. Must have been lead based paint! Black smoke and toxic, yet hotel guests were cooking their meals using these firewood!!!
No indoor plumbing. If you wanted water, you had to take one of the many large 5g plastic jugs and walk to the town well about 200 yards away! Imagine lugging a full 5g container full of water back to the hotel.
Now for the nightmare. At nights, the outside of the window sill, there would be billions of mosquitoes, moths, and gnats. The first three nights were OK, but on the forth night, all the beetle larvae must have started to hatch.
Around midnight, we started to hear things dropping on the floor. We had a high ceiling, typical of the Soviet style of architecture. When I turned out the light, we were shocked, but there were hundreds of black beetles on the ceiling. The thuds on the wooden floor were these beetles dropping down and hitting the floor!!!
We tried to ignore them, but we found small beetles crawling up our legs under the sheets, and on our faces!!! I put on mosquito netting over my head, but they were still crawling underneath the sheets. We got up many times to brush them off, but it was a losing battle. Justin got bit by something...he had a big red welt on his thigh.
Finally out of desperation, Justin suggested that I fill a 5g bucket with water, and put it in the corner of the room, and hang my keychain flashlight over it to attract the buggers. We turned into bed, still getting up ocassionally to brush them out. After an hour or so, we were so exhausted, we fell asleep. In the morning, we checked the plastic bucket and it was full of dead black beetles! Our 2 guides also suffered the same fate. I have to give the museum hotel a -5 star rating. I attached a photo of a Soviet BT tank in front of the museum.
We left in the morning. I dare anyone to top this hotel from hell!
My buddy Justin Taylan and I went to Khalkin Gol in Mongolia last year. It is literally at the ends of the earth! We stayed at the museum there, which also doubled as a hotel. The first three nights were OK.
Typical Soviet military metal bed with springs, and a few wooden slats under a thin worn mattress. There is a toilet in the building...very old and it didn't flush, only good for #1. The floor was wet due to a leaking toilet bowl.
If you had to take a load off your feet, you went outside to the outhouse. At night, you needed a flash light, and you had to be very careful not to fall in!
The fumes were enough to jolt you awake!
In the kitchen, there was a large primitive cement block stove. You cooked your own meals there. There was ample wood supply...someone had torn down a painted wooden fence to use as firewood. Must have been lead based paint! Black smoke and toxic, yet hotel guests were cooking their meals using these firewood!!!
No indoor plumbing. If you wanted water, you had to take one of the many large 5g plastic jugs and walk to the town well about 200 yards away! Imagine lugging a full 5g container full of water back to the hotel.
Now for the nightmare. At nights, the outside of the window sill, there would be billions of mosquitoes, moths, and gnats. The first three nights were OK, but on the forth night, all the beetle larvae must have started to hatch.
Around midnight, we started to hear things dropping on the floor. We had a high ceiling, typical of the Soviet style of architecture. When I turned out the light, we were shocked, but there were hundreds of black beetles on the ceiling. The thuds on the wooden floor were these beetles dropping down and hitting the floor!!!
We tried to ignore them, but we found small beetles crawling up our legs under the sheets, and on our faces!!! I put on mosquito netting over my head, but they were still crawling underneath the sheets. We got up many times to brush them off, but it was a losing battle. Justin got bit by something...he had a big red welt on his thigh.
Finally out of desperation, Justin suggested that I fill a 5g bucket with water, and put it in the corner of the room, and hang my keychain flashlight over it to attract the buggers. We turned into bed, still getting up ocassionally to brush them out. After an hour or so, we were so exhausted, we fell asleep. In the morning, we checked the plastic bucket and it was full of dead black beetles! Our 2 guides also suffered the same fate. I have to give the museum hotel a -5 star rating. I attached a photo of a Soviet BT tank in front of the museum.
We left in the morning. I dare anyone to top this hotel from hell!
