Last weekend for a friend’s wedding I stayed at a luxurious country hotel. The room had everything you could ever want: fluffy dressing gowns, fancy soaps, shower caps and of course, room service. It reminded me of some of the less appealing places I stayed at during my time in South-East Asia.

One of these places was in a mountain village in Laos. When we arrived after a terrifying six-hour journey and found our way to the dusty wooden guest house, the owner seemed so shocked to see guests, we began to worry that we had come to the wrong place.

After all confusion was cleared up, she presented us ceremoniously with two small candles as there was no electricity, and led us up a flight of steep steps to our room which consisted of a wooden bed, thin mattress and mosquito net.  For the bathroom, we were led downstairs to what appeared to be a manmade cave with a wooden door attached and shown to the shower (a tap and  bucket) and the toilet (a hole) . The room was comfortable enough and we had a good night’s sleep until we were interrupted at sunrise by the village’s local radio which we found out is broadcast each day on a loudspeaker in the centre of the village.

After overcoming our shock of the noise levels of the radio and braving an icy wash, we decided to try our luck with another guesthouse which we had heard was some distance from the loudspeaker and had electricity. The place appeared to be nice enough at first, but we soon realised that the light in the bedroom didn’t work. We couldn’t even use the light in the bathroom as we’d had to barricade the door with beach towels thanks to a green and brown (and potentially poisonous) spider which we had found inside. The hotel owners appeared to have disappeared so it was another evening of candlelight for us, although unlike the last place, we no longer had access to a bathroom (or a toilet) …

These rooms were the extremes of the places we stayed and were only found in the more remote regions of the countries we visited. We once paid £2.50 for a three star hotel with marble flooring and an ensuite bathroom. Admittedly, there were no shower caps included, but for £2.50 a night, we weren’t complaining!