Taking Other Traveller's Advice

When do you take other traveller's advice? I wish I knew the answer to that. Everyone is eager to offer advice; and we are no exception. But when do you listen?

Recently we were talked into the non-airconditioned sleeper train car to Bangkok. "The AC cars are so cold, the window's fog and you won't see anything." Perhaps, but the cars without AC are broiling even with the fans going. Rolling down the windows cools the car but dirt blows in. Should we have listened?

Someone we met in Bali told us to stay in Chinatown in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. "The Twin Happiness Hotel is marvelous". It has AC, She was right about that, but the rooms were old, dingy and noisy. Locked in our room at the end of a hall on the third floor we felt as if we were sleeping in a fire trap. Maybe we should have turned a deaf ear.

The recommendation to stay at the Cendana Homestay in Solo Java though was worth it's weight in gold. So was the Bladok Hotel in Yogyakarta. Nyoman Astana's Bungalows in Ubud, Bali was fantastic. The Moon Lodge in Kuala Lumpur was the pits.

So who do you listen to? The best way is strike up a conversation and try to size up the travel style of those giving the advice. Sometimes we guess right, when we don't, we repack our bags, or never unpack them, cut our losses and move on.

Someone on this train has just recommended a place to stay in Bangkok, the D&D Inn. We're going to take her up on her offer to share a took-took ride to Khoasarn Road. She's been to Bangkok several times and knows the area. Should we listen? I guess we'll just have to see when we get there.