What a Crappy Guesthouse!

When Carrie and I backpacked around India, the average cost of our hotel rooms was in the neighborhood of $2 – $5 per night. Now, before you go and say “wow, what great hotel deals you guys found,” let’s evaluate the type of places we stayed in.

First, these places are more commonly referred to as guesthouses. Usually, they consisted of four bare walls with peeling paint, a bed about as comfortable as a baseball stadium seat, a fan that spun so perilously it was often better to sweat through the night than risk decapitation and a shared outdoor squatty potty with no running water or toilet paper.

So why did we subject ourselves to this type of living? For the experience, of course! That, and because these guesthouses were the best place to meet both the locals and our fellow travelers. I can’t count how many adventures began with people we met in the common areas or attached restaurants. When traveling, the last place I want to spend too much time in is my hotel room when there’s so many amazing sites to explore outside.

The photo to the right comes from the Yogi Lodge in Khajuaraho, India, where we spent a couple of nights in between exploring the Karma Sutra temples that the town is best known for. We spent 200 rupees a night for the room, which at the time was worth roughly $4.