The Good: Yes Inn

When I say that this hostel is good, I mean relatively. It’s really not that great a place, just the best of a bad lot. There’s no common area besides a couch in front of the reception desk but it has free internet (including free wifi that oozes its way into the rooms), helpful staff, and the rooms don’t feel like prison cells.

I met a few people here and had a good time at the hostel. It always seems to be booked so if you want to stay here, make sure to make a reservation well in advance. It’s located on Hong Kong island across the road from the Fortress Hill MTR stop so is a bit away from the action. But it’s handy enough and there’s a supermarket across the road to stock up on cheap eats.

Work wise, I was able to get a lot done here. The dorm rooms are pretty small but I made some space on the floor in front of my bed, pulled over a small table and went to town. It helped that there were a couple of other girls in the room who decided to spend most of the day hanging out in the hostel so I didn’t feel like such a nerd and had people to chat to when I wanted.

The Bad: The Entire 11th Floor of Mirador Mansion

This place is a strange one. I thought I booked into Travellers Friendship Hostel but was instead put into a different hostel called New Garden. Both of these hostels are simply hallways going off a main hallway with different names affixed to the hall entrance. Each ‘hostel’ (hallway) has a handful of rooms and one of the halls is used as a dorm room. This is also a walkway to a balcony, the internet cafe, laundry room and only has a curtain separating it from the main hall. I was happy I wasn’t stuck in here.

The ‘reception area’ (main hallway) consisted of a plastic table in front of the elevators. The desk was manned by what looked like a father, mother, daughter combo of the most surly, nasty, unhelpful kind. It seemed like the check-in for all of the ‘hostels’ on this floor were done at that desk. I suspect they have loads of different hostel names to get a bigger slice of the pie when people search for hostels online. If they’ve got 10 ‘hostels’ there is a larger chance a traveller will pick one of theirs. It’s actually a good idea but not exactly ethical.

Because the wifi juice could only be received in the elevator area, I spent several hours parked on the floor in front of the reception desk attempting to work. I witnessed loads of people come to the hostel to check in, ask questions or complain about various problems. All of them were met with a rude reception and the hostel tended to blame most of its booking problems on Hostelworld.com. There were many, many booking problems.

The Ugly: Garden Hostel

Not to be confused with the New Garden Hostel which is located on the notorious 11th floor of Mirador Mansion, this hostel is actually reasonably ok. If doesn’t look like much but the staff are nice, the dorms have air conditioning pumping through them, the sheets are clean-ish and there’s a great garden area in the back complete with wifi and people practising martial arts. I loved working here. There’s something about the rhythm of people practising punches and kicks that really gets me into a relaxed mood.

At HK$70 per night for a dorm bed, it’s pretty affordable for Hong Kong. It’s also located on Nathan Road in Kowloon which is in the thick of all the action and a good spot to be if you have to sort out a Chinese visa. It’s one of the few places with a common area and good for meeting people.

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Village hopping around China is great for relaxation and even better for the budget but not so good for the whole website updating thing. Some places I visited had the internet but none had wifi which made getting much work done pretty hard for me.

So I arrived in Fenghuang (a large village in Hunan under siege by Chinese tourists) not expecting there to be any wifi but still hoping for the best. My Chinese friend I have been travelling arrived a few days before me and, fortunately for me, she’s also got a computer and is always on the hunt for wireless internet. She combed the streets for two days before finally finding a bar called Greenstone along the river with a dubious connection, terrible coffee and a menu consisting of peanuts and popcorn. Not really an ideal choice but better than nothing.

With nothing really keeping me in Fenghuang, I was ready to head straight to Hong Kong to catch up on some work, drink Frappuccinos and figure out a way back to Beijing. But my Chinese friend didn’t give up on her hunt for a good wifi connection in a nice setting and two days ago she stumbled onto a place called Bingo, a cafe and guesthouse set in a supercool, old wooden building and, most importantly, equipped with a great wifi connection. The food is pretty average and the milkshakes are inexplicably warm, but the six bed dorm is empty besides us and there are workspaces aplenty for me to hide away in and get stuff done.

I’ve decided to stay a few more nights because I’m being uncharacteristically productive here. It’s bizarre. I think I got more done yesterday than I did all of July combined. When motivation rears its head at the same time as I find a great place to work, good things can happen so I’m in no rush to move on, especially since I know how terrible hostels in Hong Kong are.

So for the next few days I’m going to be a hermit and I’m not going to feel guilty about it. I’ve found a great place to work so I just need to hope my motivation sticks with me.

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I arrived in Yangshuo this morning and I’m pretty knackered. I’ve been out for a little look around and so far so good except for the ridiculous humidity and nearly getting pick pocketed. It’s a beautiful little place and touristy as hell but that’s ok since having a lively traveller scene usually means a lively bar scene and that’s always good as far as I’m concerned.

I’m hear to volunteer myself as a talking head. I speak English with some Chinese students nightly for 2 hours and in return I get free accommodation, lunch and dinner, and Chinese lessons a couple times per week. I also have to throw in a 50 minute speech on a topic of my choice once per week which might be challenging but I’ve never minded public speaking so it’ll be good to get back into practice. Good and kind of scary.

This morning I was taken to a semi-scary room in an apartment block. It was in a nice enough area but the room was really dingy and musty and everything felt sort of damp. I’ve since been moved to a new room because they need that other room for a couple who are arriving. Ah shucks. So now I’m sharing with a nice French girl in a much nicer room that is part of an apartment shared by some permanent teachers and Chinese admin staff. When I was in the scary, musty room I was sure that I would be booking a hostel instead. But now that I’m in a nice room with an interesting roomie I’m a bit less inclined to want to run to a hostel.

The major problem with boths rooms is a lack of wifi. I will be doing the English speaking thing each night at 6:30pm which gives me the days to do what I want. I plan to do some exploring but would also like to get some work done and the no wifi thing is a killer for me.

The net cafe I’m in now is dark which is ok, and quiet which is unlike Asia. The problem is that it’s smokey and they don’t seem to have space for people to work with their own laptops. So I’m still contemplating a move to a hostel and wishing I hadn’t seen the new room because my decision would have been a lot easier otherwise!

Maybe I’ll have a little experiment for the next week or two and see what I can accomplish without constant internet access. I feel like I’ve been in antisocial mode for a bit too long lately anyways so perhaps I should pack the laptop away altogether and see what chaos unfolds both online and in real life.

So if I don’t check in for a few days you know what I’ve decided!

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If you ever find yourself at the airport in Hong Kong with the intention of getting some serious work done I have a bit of advice. If you find a power point, cling to it like your life depends on it. This place is devoid of all power. So while there’s a free wifi connection floating around, it’s not much use if you’ve arrived with a dead battery.

The only one I managed to find is in Terminal 1 and it was sweet. It was behind a coffee place and next to a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream place. Oh ya! Comfy chairs, nice quiet place to work because it’s tucked away and there was a table to spread out on. Only one power point in there though so if someone else is there then you’re out of luck. I had to evacuate to use the toilet and then decided to check in and head into the rest of the airport assuming there would be other places to plug in. Nope. I should have stayed at my secret little ice cream and power point hideaway for longer.

Gotta go. Power… running… out…

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I’m not that big a fan of Starbucks. Actually, that’s not true. I like to think I don’t like Starbucks and globalisation and blah blah blah but the reality of it is that I love frappuccinos too much to ever turn my back on the big ‘Bucks. Now I love their wifi too. I’m a lost cause and I don’t even drink coffee! Oh the shame.

I felt like I was starting to look like too much of a nerd at the hostel, always sitting in the lobby, laptop perched on my lap and looking all busy and stuff. So I decided to take my nerdy escapades on the road and am now sitting in a Starbucks in downtown Kuala Lumpur.

I’ve got a comfy chair, corner location, spacious table and the holy grail of mobile workers - a power point next to me. There are yummy smells swirling around me, chilled out tunes blaring out of the speakers, other nerds all around to detract from my own nerdiness, and access to the finest of all icy beverages, the delightful but expensive mocha frappuccino.

With all these distractions I never would have expected to be able to get much done but it turns out that I’m being pretty productive. I’ve booked some hostels, written a few blog posts, eaten a banana muffin, altered a few images, drank a frappuccino, emailed my mum, read a few blogs, and have even managed to fix some tricky coding type things.

I think I’ll stick around for awhile longer. There’s something about the background noise and hustle bustle of the other customers that makes working here pretty easy. I think I’ll settle in for another couple of hours and see what else I can accomplish.

I suppose I should buy something else at some point. Damn you Starbucks, why do I love you so?

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I’m still amazed each day at how well the internet works here in rural Bangladesh. Power up my computer, plug in my phone and away I go. In theory.

In reality, working here is quite difficult partly because the power goes out for several hours each night and flying bugs attack my computer screen leaving rather offputting smears across the screen when I smoosh them. The main problem, though, is that I haven’t been able to find a work space that suits me.

There’s a recent post over on Working Nomad that talks about being able to work better with people around. I’m the opposite as I tend to get distracted pretty easily when interesting people are around and find myself preferring to join in on conversations rather than sit in front of my computer typing madly. The place I’m staying at the moment houses about 25 volunteers in a relatively small space so finding a quiet space to work is pretty much impossible.

Even worse for me though is the lack of comfortable places to set all my stuff up. There aren’t really many tables around and the ones they do have are all really low to the ground and awkward. I’ve either got to hunch over in a ridiculous position or sit on a cold, concrete floor to be at the same level as the table.

The uncomfortable setup is more of a hindrance because I really like to work in long spurts and being forced to contort into some bizarre position will just leave me sore and fed up after an hour or so.

Crap, the power has just gone out again and I have bug guts all over my screen from squashing mosquitos so I think I’ll call it a night. Another unproductive night… damn.

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I strongly doubt that ‘internetless’ is a word but for the sake of this post lets just let that one slide. I’m in an internet cafe on Bohol Island, Philippines and the stool I’m sitting on is making my arse ache and I just want to escape so go easy on any made up words or other literary crimes.

I’ve been spending time in some very cool, remote jungle hostels and haven’t had an internet connection. This has made getting anything done pretty hard. I’ve been filling my time instead with a bit of article writing for my new site and have been attempting to improve my terrible photographic skills.

It’s kind of relaxing being away from the net and not being able to check stats every 14 seconds. It makes coming to the internet cafe an event because I always have lots to catch up on. I’m still not totally comfortable working in them, though. Not sure I ever will be. This one is small and airy and there are no online gamers in site which is nice. It’s just this damned stool… so uncomfortable!

January is looking like a great month and might be my best or close to it. I’ve finally passed the $300 a month mark with Adsense and it looks like I’ll even clear $400 easily. I don’t have any explanation for this at all though.

On the budgeting side of things… the news isn’t quite as good. I’ve been having a great time, flying all over the place, doing what I want, drinking lots of rum and not keeping track of any of my spending so things could be bad when I tally everything up. Despite my lack of a budget though I still don’t think I’m close to spending as much as I’ll earn this month and that’s the ultimate goal, really. Budgets are boring!

Once I get back to Manila I’ll be checking in with some reviews of places I’ve stayed, how they are to work in and some photos and stuff so, fear not! I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth. Not yet, anyways.

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For the first time since my arrival in The Philippines about 10 days ago I’ve got no wifi in my hotel. They have a computer in their reception area but it was mysteriously ‘closed’ with no real explanation. I guess that means it doesn’t work? I will never know.

So I’ve found myself in a Filipino internet cafe to book a flight for tomorrow and if I wanted to work I think it would be pretty much impossible. The lights are all off and I’m surrounded by teenage boys tapping away at their keyboards, each with an army of more kids watching them play various flashing, fit inducing games.

I could probably do with a good working session since on Boracay, the last place, I did more beach sitting and hangover recovery than work but in reality I can’t wait to get the hell out of this room!

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My first hostel is a dream for wireless workers. Their wireless connection is reliable and didn’t go down at all while I was there. In fact, I don’t think it even disconnected once. The internet connection even oozed down into my room which was great for when I just wanted to send a quick email or something without having to cart my gear upstairs.

There are plenty of power points scattered all around the common area with tables nearby as well. This is something I never would have even thought of but it really important if you’re looking to get a lot of work done without having to stop and charge up or work in an awkward position just because it’s near a power point.

I wasn’t alone either, there were always at least four or five other people tapping away at their laptops which was great because it made me feel like less of a nerd. I met one guy who was an internet marketer and he told me his idea which is an interesting one which I’ll share in a later post. Then there were a couple freelance photographers and I didn’t get a chance to ask anyone else if they were working on the move.

Friendly’s Hostel was a great place to stay for anyone who needs an internet connection and beyond that, the guy who runs the place makes sure everyone has fun. They even do a wine and cheese night on Saturdays which quickly deteriorated into a boozefest.

I’d stay there again in a heartbeat so add it to the list of wireless worker friendly places.

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