Hotels you’ll never forget

Hotels you’ll never forget, good or bad. Here are five of my favourites:

1. The Amanjiwo, Borobudur (see photo). I stayed here whilst doing an article on Java for The Daily Telegraph. It was probably the most luxurious billet I’ve ever been given. This room had its own pool, and all sorts of gizmos. There was ever a set of watercolours in case the mood took you.
2. La Parillada del Triunfo (The Grill of Triumph), Neuva Germania, Paraguay. At the other end of the spectrum, this ramshackle guesthouse cost $5 a night. I was woken in the morning by a pig in my room.
3. Hotel Russaya, Moscow. This Stalinist monster had over 5,000 rooms, and it could take 15 minutes to find your own. On each floor was a fierce old lady, to ensure good behaviour. The whole place was pulled down in the 1990s.
4. Unnamed hotel, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil. At $1 a night this was the cheapest I have ever stayed in. The walls were made of cardboard, and I had my soap stolen whilst I was in the shower!
5. The Cara Lodge, Georgetown (Guyana). All built of wood, this is a lucky survivor in a city of fires. It’s seen many great moments in Guyanese history, and was the seat of resistance during the rule of Forbes Burnham. After the death of Dr Walter Rodney in a bomb explosion, his fellow conspirators came back here to perform emergency surgery on his brother.