Here’s a pic of my room at the Hotel Asia. For €30 a night I get a bed, a sofa, a writing desk, a bar fridge and a (colour) TV. I also get breakfast at the cafeteria on the fifth floor and a babushka down the hall who makes the bed and generally keeps an eye on things.
I love it. Most of the hotels in Moscow have been turned into expensive business hotels but the Hotel Asia is holding on to the old ways a little longer than most. It’s out of the centre at Ryazansky Prospekt but it’s right next to a Metro station where Red Square is only a 15 minute ride away.
When I booked I was given the choice of a ‘renovated’ or ‘unrenovated’ room. I chose the ‘unrenovated’ option because it was €20 a night cheaper.
At the time I wasn’t exactly sure what ‘unrenovated’ meant. Now I’ve checked in I think it means that the decor in the room hasn’t been changed since the sixties.
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But would your wife enjoy staying there? That is the question.
Incidentally, I have read that the Russian police are notorious for stopping people and asking for their ‘papers’ before extorting some sort of bribe to smooth the irregularities with their Visas. How have you found them? Paying a bribe to a Russian official wearing one of those huge dinner-plate peak caps must be a fine experience. I am actually hoping it will happen to me when I’m there in a fortnight.
Comment by jason smart May 12, 2007 @ 11:34 amHey Jason. Sally says she’s got no interest in going to Russia at all - let alone stay at a Soviet-style hotel!
Re: Bribes. I’ve only been stopped once but more about that in a future post. What II will say is that no money changed hands.
Comment by babushkastan May 12, 2007 @ 11:40 amHi Peter, this picture reminds me of some of the places Rumble and I stayed at in the Baltics, complete with uncomfterable beds that haven’t been renewed since Soviet times.
Comment by Holly May 16, 2007 @ 5:30 am