Tag: germany

Unusual Hotels for your Bucket List

Posted on | by robin@robinesrock.com | Leave a Comment on Unusual Hotels for your Bucket List

Jumbo Stay, Sweden
The next time a friend tells you how they were bumped to first class and could stretch out on a reclining seat, tell them about the night you slept inside a 747 on a double bed, with an en-suite bathroom! What’s more, it was in the cockpit, with a flatscreen TV, and view of Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport. Couples might want to consider the private, double Black Box suite at the back of the plane. The 29 rooms on board this converted jumbo jet might not actually fly anywhere, but your one night in a “most unusual hotel” story will certainly have wings.

Desert Cave Hotel, Australia
One sleeps very well in a cave hotel. Possibly because our DNA remembers the thousands of years humanity evolved inside dark caverns, or more likely because it’s quiet, cool, and somewhat impregnable. Located in what is known as the opal capital of the world, Desert Cave is a memorable outback experience. Extreme heat and dust storms make these spacious underground luxury rooms a respite from the world above. There’s also an underground bar, shops, opal interpretation centre, and a history of “dugout” living in the area. Go on, cave into the temptation. See Also: Aydinli Cave House Hotel, Turkey

Giraffe Manor, Kenya
Breakfast on the patio, a bright sunny morning outside of Nairobi. You’re excited to be heading to Masai Mara or one of the other game parks that put Kenya on the safari bucket list. You know you’ll soon get close enough to the animals to put away the zoom lens. As you sip your tea, the large head of a Rothschild giraffe pokes its head through the window, and gives you a lick with its cucumber-sized tongue. Yes, that just happened, as it does every morning at Giraffe Manor, a 10-room luxury hotel located inside a giraffe reserve. The herds love popping their heads in at breakfast or tea, helping themselves to a snack, and giving you the wildest breakfast of your life. Photo: Giraffe Manor

V8 Hotel, Germany
There’s nothing cool about sleeping in your car. Unless that car is a vintage Mercedes, racing VW Beetle or cherry-red Cadillac, converted into a double bed in Stuttgart’s classic car themed hotel. The 10 theme rooms celebrate all facets of the automobile. The Gas Station room lets you sleep in Herbie, the Drive-In room lulls you to sleep with painted stars and soft yellow headlights. Too chintzy? Book the Scrapyard Room, where your bed-car needs a fresh coat of paint (although the hood does hold a large flat-screen TV.) All the rooms look like the dreams of a 12-year-old boy came true, and will therefore appeal to men of all ages. Photo: V8 Hotel

Aux Vieux Panier, Marseille
Small, independent boutique hotels are popular for a very good reason – they provide a different experience from cookie-cutter hotel chains. It doesn’t get any more different than this hotel slash art gallery. Located in Marseille’s historical La Panier district, the five rooms have been turned over to artists to run amok. And amok they have run. One room has hanging columns of wood over the bed. Another was designed to “extract poetry and absurdity.” Each room has an artist statement, incorporating painting, architecture and sculpture. All designed to give you something to think about, and talk about, for years to come. Photo: Aux Vieux Panier
See also: Toronto’s Gladstone Hotel has a similar concept, with 37 unique, artist-designed rooms.

Finca Bellavista, Costa Rica
What makes Finca Bellavista stand-out from other treehouse hotels is its location – both remote and yet surprisingly accessible too. Located off the Pan American Highway in Costa Rica, you enter a world where guests stay in multi-platform treehouses high in the jungle canopy, ziplining to the main lodge for dinner, and surrounded by the sounds and colour of rainforest. The privately owned, eco-friendly treehouses are rented out to overnight guests, giving each a homely atmosphere. Shower on the outdoor platform, high in the treetops, and breathe that rich jungle air. Ah….your own private Pandora.
See also: Free Spirit Spheres on Vancouver Island, where you can fall asleep gently swaying in the trees. Photo: Robin Esrock

Mine Suite, Sweden
Advice for those that found the sandstone cave hotel in Australia too exposed: go deep. The Sala Silver Mine offers guided tours inside and around a former silver mine. At night, descend 155m to the legendary Mine Suite. Left alone (with an intercom to contact an attendant aboveground) the heated double room is so isolated and quiet that an alien invasion wouldn’t interrupt your sleep. All alone, deep beneath the ground, the silence is immaculate. It’s enough to forgive the 50 metre walk to the closest toilet, although at this depth, one should be grateful there is one to begin with.

HI-Ottawa Jail Hostel, Ottawa

If darkness gives you the creeps, match it with a haunted prison cell. After a century of (mis)use, the old Nicolas Street Gaol was closed in the 1970’s due to inhumane living conditions. It opened shortly after as a budget hostel. There are 4 beds to a dorm in the same vaulted cells murderers and thieves once scratched their names in the walls. Evening tours of the former Death Row, isolation cells and ghostly haunts doth not a peaceful night make. Even if your face is as white as the sheets, it’s an experience you won’t forget. See also: The Liberty Hotel in Boston, a former prison, this hotel is far more luxurious.

Crazy House, Vietnam
A local architect felt inspired by Gaudi, Dali, Disney, Sesame Street, Tim Burton, fairy tales, nightmares, monsters, angels, demons, and whatever else can explain the wildest hotel this side of Fantasia. Built as a personal expression, the loopy buildings were opened as a guesthouse to help with heaps of debt. 9 of the rooms are located in three treehouses, the honeymoon suite in the Spider-Web Garden. Like many visitors, you might stay a few nights to experience more than one room, but like the ice hotel, rooms are open to the public for daily tours. Some guests love the creativity, others find it kitsch beyond sanity. As for your dreams…well, they can’t be any weirder than the rooms themselves.

Ice Hotel, Quebec
There are cool hotels, cold hotels, and just plain freezing hotels. Quebec’s Hotel de Glace may look like a winter wonderland, but spending the night is a matter of survival. Guests are provided with Arctic sleeping bags, instructed how to use them, and warmed up before bedtime in hot tubs and saunas. You enter your artist-designed ice chamber with nothing but your jammies, boots and winter jacket. It’s an even -5C in the rooms, and much colder outside. Public bathrooms are located in the heated public area.. A night in the quiet ice hotel is a night bundled up with just your face exposed. Don’t think about sleeping in – if the light doesn’t wake you up, you’ll be asked to leave before the day visitors arrive in the morning.

A Bucket List of the World’s Best Night Markets

Posted on | by robin@robinesrock.com | Leave a Comment on A Bucket List of the World’s Best Night Markets

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There’s simply no choice between a mall and a night market.   Instead of food courts, you have local cuisine cooked before your eyes. Instead of multinational clothing chains, you have handmade knits and knock-off fakes.   Instead of sterile hallways, you have cluttered narrow pathways full of smiles, smells, and secrets.   After shopping around, here’s our pick of the best:

  1. Luang Prabang, Laos

Night markets in Asia are usually loud and chaotic, yet my memory of this sleepy city’s night market, located along Sisavangvong Road, is one of calm. There is very little pushing and prodding to buy this or that, in stark contrast to markets found in neighbouring Thailand or Cambodia. Around 300 traders sell a wide range of goods – from pillows and covers to lanterns to cheap Beer Lao T-shirts, the perfect souvenir from Laos. Without the pressure, it’s almost impossible not to spend your kip, the local currency. It’s always advisable to haggle, and don’t expect the best quality.   Open daily, the market closes early at around 10pm.

  1. Queen Victoria Markets, Melbourne Australia

During the summer months, Melbourne has several vibrant night markets, gathering local artists, designers, traders, with food and entertainment from around the world. Every Wednesday November to March at the Queen Victoria Markets, on the corner of Peel and Victoria streets, you can find the popular Suzuki Night Market, with 35 ethnic food stalls, art, clothes, and jewelry traders. On Fridays in late January/February, you can shop away and enjoy the atmosphere at the Geelong Night Market in Johnstone Park.   Besides the stalls, there is also a health and harmony section, and licensed bars to enjoy a cool drink on a warm summer night.

  1. Huaxi Street Tourist Night Market, Taipei, Taiwan

There are six major night markets in hot and sticky Taipei, with the most famous, and most notorious, being Huaxi, also known as Snake Alley. Once a legal red light district, Snake Alley is known for the exotic dishes served by its restaurants and stalls.   These include snake meat, including their blood or even their venom, milked from their fangs. There’s also turtle meat, deer penis soup, and other delicacies that draw tourists. Surrounding the market are stalls selling all manner of goods, proudly Made in Taiwan.

  1. Summer Night Market, Richmond, BC

During summer, some 300 traders set up stalls each weekend in Richmond, one of the growing satellite cities next to Vancouver.   Reflecting the multiculturalism of Richmond’s large immigrant population, the night market features strong Asian, Indian and Latin American influences. Grab yourself a bubble tea and catch a live salsa performance on the 60ft stage, or just roam the alleys looking for bargains on clothing, electronics and souvenirs. The market attracts some two million visitors a year, and often features themed nights, like Taste of Asia, or Chinese Karaoke Night.

  1. Chiang Mai Night Market, Thailand

Crammed into three blocks on Chan Klan Road, the night market and bazaar of Chiang Mai is extremely popular with visitors.   All manner of goods are on sale from traders packed on the sidewalks, or in purpose-built malls. Friendly tailors beckon you into their shops, old ladies fry up noodles, and lanterns cast a soft glow in the night. Operating every night of the year, the market is considered to be amongst the cheapest in the country.   Don’t expect lasting quality from the goods on sale, although I still have various candleholders and even some shirts I bought many years after my visit. Traders will typically start their price at double what you should pay, so remember to bargain.

  1. Batu Ferringhi Night Market, Penang, Malaysia

The Malay word for night market is “pasar malam”, a popular example of which can be found in Penang at Batu Ferringhi (literally, “Foreigner’s Rock”). Vendors in small stalls sell the usual knick knacks – clothes, shoes, accessories, bags, watches, jewelry, and other goods of authentic or dubious origins. The night market draws tourists with the sweet smells of local cuisine, and is close to a beach and pool area as well.   It sets up each day in the late afternoon and operates from 6pm until the customers thin out.  International hotels are located along the beach strip, with some directly facing the market.

  1. Christmas Market, Nuremburg, Germany

Every Xmas, markets pop up all over the Germany, differing from region to region. Frankfurt has the largest Christmas Market in Germany, along with the tallest Christmas tree. But the most famous Christmas market is in the Bavarian city of Nuremburg. This market is a popular place to pick up toys, ornaments and candles, along with treats like biscuits and sausages roasted over wood fires. Located throughout the old town, the market has nearly 200 wooden stalls, many sporting red and white cloth.   They even compete for the most beautiful and tasteful stall award. More than two million people visit it each year.

  1. Temple Street Night Market, Hong Kong

Hong Kong is a legendary destination, and its most popular night market doesn’t disappoint. There’s a wild variety of goods and services on offer, including fortune tellers, palm readers and impromptu Opera street performances. Open from 2pm onwards, the market is located on Temple Street next to the Jordan MTR station in Kowloon. As with most night markets, street food features prominently. Try some of the sticky sweet desserts and browse for electronics, antiques, and lamps. But remember, you break you buy

  1. Marrakech Night Market, Morocco

Enter the Jemaa El Fna night market near the heart of Marrakech’s medina, and you’ll feel like you’ve stumbled onto a set of Indiana Jones. Expect a cacophony of snake charmers and monkey dancers, hagglers and hustlers, juice being freshly pressed over the sounds of salesmen beckoning their next client. Each night, over 100 open kitchens are set up, serving cheap but delicious Moroccan cuisines to patrons seated at long rows of wooden tables. Each kitchen typically serves one dish, and you might want to watch your food being cooked to avoid any tummy upsets later. The night market is open until 2am in summer, and around midnight in winter

  1. Donghuamen Night Market, Beijing, China

Here’s what I like about this particular night market: where else can you find rows of stalls featuring raw insects, scorpions, crickets, centipedes and lizards, ready to be deep fried in wok for your culinary enjoyment?   Sure, you can stick with dumplings, noodles or fresh fruit, but sometimes, you just find yourself craving a deep fried starfish.   All the prices are marked (in case you’re too hungry to haggle) and conveniently displayed in both Mandarin and English.   Don’t know about you, but I’m salivating at the thought of it!