THE WORLD’S SMALLEST HOTEL ROOM10 min read

MONGOL SERIES, DAY 6 & 7

ULAANBAATAR – HONG KONG – GUANGZHOU

The world’s smallest hotel room. I enjoy variety when it comes to hotel rooms, some have been very good and others have been very very questionable!! But as soon as I knew I was travelling to Hong Kong I knew I had to stay in the infamous Chungking Mansions. Do not be fooled though, these buildings are as far from mansions as you could expect and far from being fit for a king.

After another horrendous red eye flight via Beijing we arrived in HK to the typical summer day in East Asia.

WHERE IS HONG KONG?

Hong Kong

CHUNGKING MANSIONS

These huge buildings, built in the 1960s as apartments, later transformed into shops, restaurants, and tiny hotels. Rising accommodation costs in the city turned potential residential spaces into a gold mine for landlords. Now, outside the first two floors, almost every inch is a guest house, hostel, or hotel.

GROUND FLOOR

Inside, you’ll find an eclectic mix of cultures, mostly South Asian migrant workers who own and operate everything. The first two floors are full of electronics shops, forex, South Asian restaurants, and barbers. I got a shave and a head rub. Nobody does head rubs like South Asian barbers! It’s like its own little ecosystem.

At night, some darker corners become makeshift bars where locals gather to hang out and drink beer. It’s safe since plenty of people are around, so I recommend taking a walk.

HOTEL

The building has 8 wings, each with 2 lifts, taking you to odd or even-numbered floors. Each floor has around 6 units, mostly hotels, though some have more or fewer units. Each hotel is small, with only 7 or 8 rooms, and most can barely fit a single bed.

These hotels somehow fit a 4ft bed, a bedside table, and an ensuite where you can do everything at once. I especially liked my Louis Vuitton design.

PRICE

You might think these are cheap, but they aren’t. The location is great, but the process of getting to your room is chaotic. You might spend a while queuing for the lift. The space is limited, but this is Hong Kong, and a night’s stay in one of the better hotels costs $30.

DIM SUM

When in Hong Kong, it is important to try the food and that especially goes for their dim sum. I enjoyed it so much that I forgot to take a photo but instead can show you this, completely forgot what it was.

DAY 7

Today it was time to jump aboard Hong Kong’s high speed rail network and head back to country number 31, a country I just visited only 2 months ago, China.

I visited China for the first time 10 years ago and enjoyed it but only made plans to revisited to show my parents The Great Wall and a few other of the country’s marvels. But revisiting on my own again during my Tibet trip, showed me how much more this country offered and I knew I had to return pronto!

RAIL NETWORK

So here we are, in Hong Kong’s railway station, a place that resembles something from the year 3024 ready to visit 3 new cities! It is Japan that is known for its high speed rail but believe it or not, China has over 60% of the world’s high speed rail network. This is expected to increase to 90% by the year 2035.

Another reason why I love East Asia is that it is always ready to surprise you, even the vending machines that sell chicken breasts, fish and coconuts!

TIME TRAVEL

Anyway we booked a train as because I had too much time, I ended up missing it (didn’t allow for immigration!). But not to worry this is Asia and trains are quite regular, even the high speed ones. So much so I even arrived at the same time had I made the original train!

I had a stop in Shenzhen and no longer had I sat down that we arrived at Shenzhen. I refused to believe it.

The next train that took us onto Guangzhou was a little longer but not by much. The trains here are super comfortable, spacious, modern and clean, not what we have been told about Chinese infrastructure.

PACO HOTEL

China is also very affordable and good hotels can cost around $40. After checking into my hotel room with no window, I was offered an upgrade to one with a window, I didn’t even complain, just received a call as soon as I walked into the room. The hotel was great, again very spacious and clean.

GUANGDONG FOOD

There is an expression with this region of China which I will get into in the next post but like Hong Kong it is important to get out and sample the delights of local food here, nothing else beats it. Didn’t forget to take a photo this time!!

TODAY’S YOUTUBE VIDEOS

If you want to see today from a different perspective, and catch a few different stories from the front row, then check out today’s YouTube videos below.

FINAL THOUGHTS

It might have been small but I couldn’t argue with the nights sleep I got.

NEXT UP

Eating mice in Guangzhou!! Click to read.

SAFE TRAVELS, DS x
171/229

This post is part of the Mongol Series, for the entire series click here or for episode 1, click here.

To watch the video of my trip, head to my highlights on my Instagram.