213MANDALAYSLEEPINGMANDALAY & AROUNDSLEEPINGMANDALAYSLEEPING(^)
105 and 206 are windowless. You can use the
small swimming pool at the co-owned Hotel
by the Red Canal. Credit cards are accepted
by advance agreement (10% commission).
Mandalay Hill Resort Hotel HOTEL $$$
(Map p 204 ; %35688; http://www.mandalayhillresortho
tel.com; 10th St; s/d from $120/144; as) This
Thai-owned resort hotel sits near the base
of Mandalay Hill set in a garden twinkling
with oriental umbrella-lamps. There’s a
lovely outdoor pool and the breathtaking
spa area feels like an Indiana Jones treasure
trove. Overloaded lifts climb from the bejew-
elled lobby to nine storeys of rooms, which
conform to international resort-style specs,
but with less fl air.
CENTRAL MANDALAY
The nearest thing to a ‘backpacker zone’ is
a three-block area around the Nylon Hotel
in Central Mandalay. Don’t imagine Khao
San Rd. These are ordinary-looking streets
where several cheaper hotels happen to be
licensed for foreigners. There’s no banana-
pancake strip, and only a few (mostly un-
spectacular) restaurants have menus in
English. Several hotels here can help you
organise transport, and outside you’ll often
fi nd a motorbike and/or trishaw driver who
speaks some English. You might need to
book ahead to get the hotel you want, espe-
cially in December, January and April.
Mandalay City Hotel HOTEL $$
(Map p 206 ; %61700, 61911; http://www.mandalaycity
hotel.com; 26th St, 82/83; r $52-60; aiWs)
Walking past you’d never guess that this
enticing palm-shaded oasis lay just behind
all the dreary buildings of 26th St. The airy,
cream-tiled lobby is entered across a fi sh
pond, there’s an attractive outdoor pool
(nonresidents $5) and rooms are neat and
professionally maintained. Choose ‘garden
view’ rooms as the alternative rear rooms
have frosted-glass windows with no view
whatsoever.
Royal Guest House BACKPACKER GUESTHOUSE $
(Map p 206 ; %31400, 65697; 25th St, 82/83; s/d
$10/15, with shared bathroom $5/10; a) Putting
a lot of eff ort into a little space, the Royal
is the Mandalay cheapie that fi lls fi rst. Gloss
paints in multiple pastel colours, little
carved panels and a frontage of pot-plants
and foliage, all help set the place apart from
its lacklustre budget competition, though
bed quality is somewhat inconsistent and
cheap rooms can be seriously small.
Silver Star Hotel HOTEL $$
(Map p 206 ; %33394, 66786; http://www.silverstarhotel
mandalay.com; 27th at 83rd St; s/d $25/28, cnr
room $27/30; ai) A vast step up on most of
Mandalay’s dreary midrange hotels, the Sil-
ver Star isn’t particularly stylish but it’s spot-
lessly clean with pine furniture and creamy
yellow walls. The lift works and the rooms are
bright, especially the corner rooms ($2 extra).
ET Hotel HOTEL $
(Map p 206 ; %65006, 66547; tmchomdy@mand
alay.net.mm; No 129A 83rd St, 23/24; s/d $14/18,
without bathroom $6/12; ai) The only thing
extraterrestrial in the 27-room ET is the
glow of the lone fl uorescent bulb against the
mint-green walls in clean but dated rooms.
However, beds are comfy, showers hot and
the unusually helpful staff understand trav-
ellers’ needs. The air-conditioning might
even work once in a while. On the roof are
a few cheaper rooms and a couple of deck
chairs in which guests can sun themselves.
Nylon Hotel HOTEL $
(Map p 206 ; %33460; 25th at 83rd St; s/d with
fan $7/12, with air-con $10/15; ai) Manda-
lay’s long-term backpacker standby is a
no-nonsense 25-room, fi ve-fl oor tower (no
lift). Decently tiled rooms come with solar-
heated showers and are more likely to have
windows than rooms at the similarly priced
Garden Hotel next door.
Classic Hotel HOTEL $
(Map p 206 ; %32841, 61891; 23rd St, 83/84; s/d
$9/15; a) Don’t be fooled by the name or the
modernist facade. Rooms here are simple,
mainly windowless boxes with little charm
beyond their price and location.
Sabai Phyu Hotel BACKPACKER HOTEL $
(Map p 206 ; %32297, 39997; 81st St, 25/26; s/d
$10/13, shared bathroom $6/10; a) Friendly
service and a rooftop area with a few sunny
lounger-chairs make up for seriously lack-
lustre rooms, which are most acceptable on
the 3rd fl oor. The 1st-fl oor cheapies are pad-
locked prison cells, which won’t put anyone
in a holiday mood.
AD 1 Hotel BACKPACKER HOTEL $
(Map p 206 ; %34505; Eindawya Rd, 87/88; s/d
$8/16, with air-con $12/24; a) Simple, func-
tional rooms just off vibrant ‘onion mar-
ket street’, hidden in the approach lane to
Eindawya Pagoda. Beware if asking a taxi to
take you here – to local ears ‘AD 1’ sounds
very much like ‘81’ (ie 81st St).