No passport required: A night at one of Singapore's worst hotels, according to Tripadvisor - is it really that bad?

Rooms at Golden Dragon Hotel cost about $50 a night, reek of stale cigarette smoke and have stained walls and bed sheets with holes, but they give you front-row seats to the goings-on in the Geylang red-light district

Travel correspondent Clara Lock spends a night at the Golden Dragon Hotel, which is in the heart of the red-light district. It has an average rating of 1½ out of five stars on travel ratings site TripAdvisor.
The room decor (above) is functional, if dated, the bedside lamps are dusty and the bed sheet is pockmarked with cigarette-butt burn-holes. Toilet paper, a kettle and cups are provided.
The room decor (above) is functional, if dated, the bedside lamps are dusty and the bed sheet is pockmarked with cigarette-butt burn-holes. Toilet paper, a kettle and cups are provided. ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
The room decor is functional, if dated, the bedside lamps (above) are dusty and the bed sheet is pockmarked with cigarette-butt burn-holes. Toilet paper, a kettle and cups are provided.
The room decor is functional, if dated, the bedside lamps (above) are dusty and the bed sheet is pockmarked with cigarette-butt burn-holes. Toilet paper, a kettle and cups are provided. ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
The room decor is functional, if dated, the bedside lamps are dusty and the bed sheet is pockmarked with cigarette-butt burn-holes (above). Toilet paper, a kettle and cups are provided.
The room decor is functional, if dated, the bedside lamps are dusty and the bed sheet is pockmarked with cigarette-butt burn-holes (above). Toilet paper, a kettle and cups are provided. ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
Clara Lock
Travel Correspondent
Updated
Published
June 2, 2019 at 5:00 AM
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Flies buzz around my face, there are gaping holes in the comforter, and are those bedbugs making my legs itch? Lying awake at 1am, I resign myself to a night of very little sleep.

I am spending a night at the Golden Dragon Hotel, in the heart of Singapore's red-light district.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on June 02, 2019, with the headline No passport required: A night at one of Singapore's worst hotels, according to Tripadvisor - is it really that bad?. Subscribe

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