- Shoestring budgets I have travelled to Thailand before, that inevitable shoestring holiday of sun, city, beach and a starvation diet of cheap alcohol, old fried rice and the occasional luxury of sweet Thai dessert. Watching the movie called the Beach the other day, made me realize how close they were to reproducYou should ing an authentic guest house Del cheapo Bangkok. The only thing they got wrong were the walls of the guest house, Thai hotels and guest houses have completely enclosed walls, not ones that are open at the top as depicted in the movie. The open style walls in hotels however, can be found in cheap Chinese hotels in places like Penang, Malaysia. If you are fortunate enough to stay in one, you will have the luxury of breathing the same tobacco smoke filled, alcoholic and germinated air as another fifty odd guests. Luxury is Luxury in Thailand Cast all that to the back of your mind, then close your eyes and think of serenity, peace, beauty and gold. These are some of th…