Shittiest Hotel Rooms, Part Two

Ah, a long overdue post, to follow Shittiest Hotel Rooms part one here.

2. Hotel Istana, Pekalongan.
Stayed in: July 2010.

It was work, a research road trip across Java,  that brought me to Pekalongan for the first time. Pekalongan is a small town in Central Java, known for its Batik and Batik culture. It’s a beautiful town, and we stayed a total of two nights, the first spent in this hotel.

When we got to town, it was late at night, and some government official’s wedding was on that night, there were a lot of out-of-town guests, so all the good hotels were fully booked, and that was how we ended up in this shithole of a hotel.

From the outside, it looks outdated but innocent enough. If I remember correctly, the hotel is rated 2 stars. I don’t know where those stars came from. Someone’s ass I suppose.

The VIP rooms were fully booked, so we (the 3 of us) had to settle with a deluxe room for (about) Rp. 250.000/night. What a steal! Yeah right! We were ushered up a cum-stained circular staircase, to a dusty, musty corridor, past some old men smoking in the corridor, and then down to our room. OK, I’m going to let the pictures speak on its own.

Walking into the room felt like taking a trip back in time. Way back to the seventies. There’s no bright lighting, all the lights are dim. The wallpaper were peeling, the ceiling mysteriously stained and cracked. Everything was dirty, dusty. I didn’t even bother to take pictures  of the cyan and blue tiled bathroom… I didn’t even bother to shower either, I was too horrified of the water turning into blood, just like in The Shining (or was it Psycho? duh!)

See the window? It faces straight to the highway. Everytime a 16-wheeler truck passed by, the whole building shook like a minor earthquake. And I get to sleep on the extra bed. Extra meant extra-creaky.  Luckily I was so tired that night, so I managed to get a few hours of sleep, thankfully without any strange ghostly disturbance… (I prayed really hard that night)

Look at the cabinet, straight out of a horror movie set. Oh look. I had 2 untattooed arms.

The morning after, I took some more pictures. Ah, the room looked slightly better in the sunlight. Notice the lopsided sofa! And the mysterious hole in the ceiling!

I went down to the lobby to get breakfast. It looked like a rich person’s living room back in the 80s.

Tonight’s entertainment program. Yeah right.

The dining room. Looks like an abandoned nuclear demolition site…

Notice the strange black stuff on the table? It’s someone’s konde! Fresh off last night’s party!

After the breakfast, we decided that we’ve spent enough time in this miserable hotel, and checked out. I took one last picture of the cum-stained stairs. It must have been there since the 1970s or something.

Bye, Pekalongan! Next time I won’t be staying at this hotel, just so you know! This place totally creeped me out!