Dorm Room Stories Part 1! Not Today Blog 21
“It must have been around 2-3 grand. You won big time, lad.” Three of my favourite stories happened in or just outside a cheap hostel dorm room.
Hostel Life
I almost spent an entire year sleeping in dorm rooms. This was between 2015 and 2016. Sharing this much privacy with strangers is a recipe for annoying, disturbing, but also hilarious stories.
A dorm room is a large sleeping room containing several beds. Although it is usually the cheapest way to stay overnight, it is often the most eventful. A place where long-term backpackers, drop-outs, party vacationers, academics, singles and couples from all over the world come together.
Chapter 1 “Silk Cloth Singapore”
Geylang Rd, Singapore, 8.30 AM. As if my unintentional choice of a terrible hostel in Singapore’s red-light district wasn’t enough.
I wake up contemplating if today was going to be the day I would try one of the restaurants down the street. To be specific, one of those restaurants where they display these huge black frogs in aquariums at their entrances. For some strange reason, this street is packed with frog diners. I am sure they have a good reason to have a bite of black frog every once in a while.
As I am turning around in my bed, I see this huge orange something from the corner of my eye. Where is all this orange coming from?
Rainer, a 60-year-old backpacker from Germany, notices that I am awake. “Morning Danny!”
Ah shit here we go again. My hope that he had checked out and left this morning vanishes immediately. “Hi Rainer, what’s with these orange bedsheets?”
“I just got back from the market in Little India. Listen, I made this great deal for silk cloth! I am going to wear this as my clothing. It’s super airy. Check out how thin and soft this feels.”
“You must be kidding; this is like 20 meters of fabric. How are you going to carry…”
“I just washed it all in the sink. I hope you don’t mind if I dry them in our room.”
“Yeah sure, I, ok.”
Chapter 2 “Coral Bay”
Booking the right hostel can come with challenges. 6- or 8-bed dorm, or go even cheaper and go for an 18-bed dorm room? Do I need an aircon or is a fan room enough?
Although you may sometimes consider different districts (perhaps someone actually has the intention to stay in a red-light district). At least one thing is usually clear – the city or town.
But is it really?
“Is anybody currently in Cyprus? I have booked this little hostel in Coral Bay for the night. Apparently, there is a Coral Bay in Cyprus and also in Western Australia. I am in the latter. I somehow booked a hotel on the wrong continent. The booking is non-refundable, so if anybody needs a place for the night. It comes with a parking spot!”
My Facebook post June 1, 2016.
Chapter 3 “Blacking Out in Paradise”
Fremantle, Australia, 9.00 AM. My head is about to explode. I can’t remember shit. What did I do last night?
My room is empty, that’s good. Nobody can confront me just yet. Fuck! My phone, my wallet?! Wait I am inside the room. I must have had my keys when I got back to the hostel last night. There’s a good chance I might find my phone and wallet too.
Why are my jeans wet? Right pocket my phone. Back pocket my wallet. Thank god. Danny, you can breathe now.
Let’s try to refresh my memory. I won the goon pong tournament. That was fun. I got my jacket from my room. We opened the hostel door to go out. That’s it. That’s all I can remember.
My mate is knocking on the door.
“Bro let’s not talk about last night. I can’t remember a thing.”
“Really? When did your blackout start?”
“We left the hostel. And then?”
“Hahahahah.”
…
“You were going wild last night bro!”
“Stop. I don’t want to know.”
Another friend is walking into the room.
“Hey! Listen to this, Danny can’t remember last night haha! Remember? He was moooortal.”
“Hahaha really? Danny, do you know you won in the casino last night?”
“No, I didn’t (?)”
Me trying to switch topics.
“By the way, I had like 50 Dollars yesterday. No way, it lasted me for the night.”
Checking my wallet.
“Did we see an ATM last night? I have got 150 bucks in my wallet.”
Checking my online banking. No withdrawal.
“I told you, you won in the casino last night!”
The Story
What a strange day. Three people have thanked me for the beers last night. Apparently, I walked through the hostel at 3 AM giving out free beers from a carton. How can this be real?
“Ok, Ryan, let’s pretend that we went to a casino last night. What happened in the casino?”
“Mate you rung the bell a couple of times.”
“What does that mean?”
“Shots for everybody in the room. You pay.”
(That does sound like something I would do) “Stop fucking with me! How much money are we talking about?”
“You must have won at least 2-3 grand lad.”
The Resolution
Three days later. I drop my friend off at Perth airport.
“You have to tell me now. Did we REALLY go to a casino that night?”
“Why do you keep asking me that every 5 minutes? I know you want to believe it. Just believe it!”
“I want to know…”
“Ok. So. No, we never went to a casino.”
“YOU MOTHERFUCKER. HAHAHAHA! How did you get the whole hostel to play along?????”
“That morning in your room, that was freestyle. When you went back to sleep, we spread the word.”
“Come onnnn man, all these people I have never talked to before!”
“Haha yes. Sorry. But you know we were in Fremantle, the next casino is up in Perth.”
This is the story of how a whole hostel played a trick on me. The 100 AUD in my pocket was the money I got back from the others. I paid for the pre-drinks in the liquor shop.
Why Not Today
I get it. We should live in the moment. We shouldn’t look back, or try to look into the future. Bla bla. Times are rough out here. The closest we can get to wake up in a crowded dorm room is our memories.
Why not today think of good stories from the past and write them down. Just a few notes on what happened and who you were with. Maybe your grandchildren will find your notes one day. How exciting it would be if they could read what funny memories you had.
This is your life. Do what you love and do it often.
Holstee Manifesto
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