Bangkok

     A sadistic interior designer has conspired with the managment to distress the Miami Hotel esthetically to match guests' perception of what they should expect for a nightly tarrif of $27 total for three people. 
     Pray, tour with me just the bathroom.  Hanging from the exposed pipes under the basin are three mothballs.  Yup.  Sure enough, the bathroom is not stinky.  Ironically, it lacks the ubiquitous "toilet hose" ... an apparatus that before this trip we might have regarded as an indication of fewer, rather than more stars on the hotel marquee, given their uncanny resemblance to kitchen sink sprayers.  But hey, there's toilet paper.  The towels are a grey shade of white, and the fact that they're embossed indicates tthey were not made yesterday.  Hilariously, two are from the (probably defunct) Rama IV Hotel and one is from the Rainbow Hotel in China.  But they're large and heavy ... a sign that once, they "was high class."  The plug does not plug the hole in the basin ... yet the basin looks new.  Two chains tied together keep the bathplug tethered to the bath ... but the plug fits, at least... to be continued!