Journalists at Sochi are live-tweeting their hilarious and gross hotel experiences

[jsr]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/02/04/journalists-at-sochi-are-live-tweeting-their-hilarious-and-gross-hotel-experiences/

Journalists at Sochi are live-tweeting their hilarious and gross hotel experiences

Harry Reekie @HarryCNN
This is the one hotel room @Sochi2014 have given us so far. Shambles. #cnnsochi


Kevin Bishop @bishopk
The reception of our hotel in #Sochi has no floor. But it does have this welcoming picture.


Greg Wyshynski @wyshynski
People have asked me what surprised me the most here in Sochi. It's this. Without question ... it's ... THIS.


Stacy St. Clair @StacyStClair
My hotel has no water. If restored, the front desk says, "do not use on your face because it contains something very dangerous." #Sochi2014


Jo-Ann Barnas @JoAnnBarnas
Watch your step @Sochi2014 -- I've noticed on walkway and on sidewalks that not all man holes are always covered.

[pangaia]

1. I was listening to the 'news' on NPR on the way home from work

around 5 ish. and heard a reporter in or near Sochi asking Russian construction workers why the hotels weren't ready yet?

What a joke..

[liberal N proud]

2. I fear this could be the worst Olympics in modern times.

[Art_from_Ark]

23. It would be hard to beat 1972 Munich as the worst Olympics

[malaise]

24. Remind me about Atlanta please n/t

[MattSh]

45. I was there...

I thought everything was fine. Except for that bombing, of course.

I think the Atlanta Olympics got a very bad rap. But I haven't been to any others, so I can't really compare.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

33. Perhaps "worst-planned" Olympics is the correct phrase...(nt)

[JaneyVee]

44. Those hotel rooms could really benefit from a gay interior designer.

[cally]

3. The toilet paper in the garbage bag is not uncommon in many

countries. The green water is horrible.

[riderinthestorm]

5. +1. Very common.

I'm wondering how worldly that reporter is if this is some kind of "new" experience.

[FSogol]

31. Agree. Very common in South America too. n/t

[steve2470]

6. is that common because of sewage systems ?

Maybe I'm forgetting some of my travels

[riderinthestorm]

8. Yes. The pipes are too small to accomodate the paper which clogs the system nt

[Heywood J]

25. When your pipes are hundreds of years old in a historic area, I understand that.

When they've just finished spending $51 billion to construct all of this, I expect the pipes will take toilet paper...

[Egalitarian Thug]

9. No bidets? I just always thought that Russia would use them.

[kestrel91316]

10. Probably explains why used toilet paper gets tossed onto the floor

in so many public restrooms here in Lost Angeles........

[Hekate]

17. I encountered that on Crete in 1999; it's a dry place and water is not wasted

By the same token, I never noticed an objectionable odor, probably because of the dry air and because of good clean-up practices.

I agree -- that "water" in the Sochi hotel looks really scary.

[JCMach1]

41. TP issue is a common thing... some pipes are not built to take it...

it will just clog...

[davidpdx]

54. South Korea and China both do it

I have lived in Korea for 10 years and China for 1. Personally I think it is disgusting.

Both countries also still have a lot of the old squatter toilets (I call them shitters). I won't use them as I'm vertically challenged (don't ask). They are less common in Korea as the old buildings are disappearing. I still see them in the schools (I teach in public schools and universities).

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

4. Should be interesting how NBC will cover this.

if these are the rooms the media are getting,what will the rooms for tourists be like?

I heard a report that hotels at the higher elevations aren't finished yet.

[Skeeter Barnes]

7. I actually kind of enjoy that these reporters are upset. I hope it gets worse for them.

I can sympathize with people who actually paid their own money for a room but these network reporters are getting paid good money to cover a major sporting event featuring amazing athletes and they're whining like a bunch of babies.

I would trade jobs with any one of them right now but I don't imagine Harry from CNN would be able to handle my garbage truck route. He'd be ready to run back to his room with the crooked curtains (gasp!) after some of that trash water from the bottom of the can sloshed up on him.

Hopefully our athletes represent us better than these crybabies have so far.

[El_Johns]

14. +1. They're assholes. Oh, they didn't get their luxury room. Too bad. Especially the one about

the TP in the bin. I experienced that at various places in Europe. Am I really more "international" than the "international press"? Me & my little post-college trip? Really?

[cali]

30. uh, you don't get it. clearly. this is about corruption. plain and simple

I can't believe anyone is missing that.

and actually, it's a story when guests at a hotel at the Olympics are told not only not to drink the tap water but not to use it for washing either.

this isn't about your little trip post-college. It's about the most expensive Olympics (or any sporting event) in history.

The Vancouver Olympics four years ago, cost $7 billion.

Sochi? $51 Billion

[El_Johns]

37. Toilet paper in bins isn't corruption. The reporter says that was what was most surprising.

"People have asked me what surprised me the most here in Sochi. It's this. Without question ... it's ... THIS."

If the reporter found that surprising, the reporter hasn't travelled much. Perhaps a little basic research, being that they're a reporter.

The plumbing systems in the former Soviet Union and a few southeastern European countries also were not designed to handle paper. There should be a small waste bin next to the toilet, place used paper in there. If there is no waste bin, then use your tissue paper sparingly, put it in the toilet, and flush it vigorously. Then deny all knowledge of the event.

The bowl-bin dividing line, the "Paper Curtain" if you will, divides the former Soviet Union plus a few of its client states from the west.

Paper goes into the bin, not the bowl, in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, and anywhere continuing east and south across the former USSR, all of Asia, and the Middle East, and continuing south through Egypt and undoubtedly beyond there through most of Africa.

http://www.toilet-guru.com/bowl-or-bin.php


The state of hotels may be about corruption, but that's not what the article is talking about. The article is posting pictures of "hilarious and gross" hotel rooms and going "ewww".

Maybe you should post an article about corruption.

[FSogol]

43. That's true in parts of South America too. n/t

[davidpdx]

55. There have been plenty of articles about the corruption in Sochi in the media

and posted here. Maybe you should go look yourself.

[davidpdx]

56. One of the rare times we are in agreement

The whole thing is a big clusterfuck. People who choose to look past the whole thing don't give a damn. Plenty of news stories about the residents who have been fucked over as well.

Brazil will get a chance to top in 2 years from now. If I were a betting man, I'd say it will happen.

[Hekate]

18. Would YOU drink that water?! Do tell. nt

[justiceischeap]

29. Yes because reporters shouldn't expect decent living conditions for the next two weeks

I have no love for reporters (though I have soft spot for photojournalists) but come on, walking into a room that's already occupied, not having reservations, yellow water that you're told not to touch your skin... this isn't about being cry babies, this is about reporting that $51 billion seems to have been wasted or, worse yet, fleecing people's pockets. If these is happening to reporters who can actually report on it, what's it like for the athletes? Or their families.

[Skeeter Barnes]

38. None of the reporters they quoted mentioned corruption. They were only concerned with their own

discomfort. I would trade jobs with any one of them right this minute and would have a great time over there getting paid good money to cover world class athletes. I doubt there would be any take me up on it, though.

They could always just stay home where everything is perfect. Like places in West Virginia where you can't drink the water.

[justiceischeap]

39. Because apparently you aren't curious enough about where the money went?

When I started seeing these stories, I started to investigate what was going on.

http://cpj.org/reports/2014/01/media-suffer-winter-chill-in-coverage-of-sochi-oly.php
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/1/23/intimidated-journalistsinrussiahesitatetocriticizesochigames.html
http://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/la-sp-sochi-corruption-20140203,0,7720747.story
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-02/the-2014-winter-olympics-in-sochi-cost-51-billion
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2013/oct/09/sochi-2014-olympics-money-corruption
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/threats-sochi-olympics-whistleblower-drowned-blood/story?id=22270000

I could continue posting links but I won't.

Which journalists would you trade places with? The high-paid anchors or the grunts that have to work 18 hour days? And you'd look forward to having to worry about being in a very real potential terrorist attack zone? 'Cause they're all worried about that. Then there are the reports of getting your information hacked almost as soon as you turn on any kind of device that has internet access. Yep, sounds like a dream assignment to me. The only better place I can think to be a journalist is in the middle of a war zone... but wait, if the terrorists actually attack during the Olympics... well, you can see where I'm going with that, can't you?

[Skeeter Barnes]

42. I am aware there is corruption at every Olympics. How curious I might be about it has nothing

to do with the OP. And yeah, I work long hours, too. Whenever there is a holiday, we work double shifts. Two routes in one day to make up for the lost time.

[davidpdx]

57. Christ another blind one

There have been plenty of stories about the corruption in Sochi. That IS part of the problem. Why do you think the fucking construction isn't done?

[snooper2]

36. Are you the dude that keeps ramming my can against the fence?

LOL

[treestar]

40. What do you do for a living?

We can see if we despise all persons who do that.

[Fumesucker]

58. According to the post you are replying to, Skeeter drives a garbage truck

One of the more dangerous and unpleasant but vitally necessary jobs around.

A lot more vital than reporting on the Olympics.

[Cha]

11. Wow!

thanks jsr!

[xfundy]

12. No wonder cancervatives suddenly love Russia so much.

[cyberswede]

15. I would be freaked out about bedbugs.

[Brother Buzz]

19. These are brand new rooms

and it looks like the press is beta testing them. I suspect the mattresses haven't even arrived for some of the units, let alone bedbugs.

[go west young man]

16. Been to Russia 7 times now.

Some hotels are amazing and expensive as hell...and some are shite....not much different than the US. They're new shopping malls, on the other hand, blow away anything I've seen in the states.

[Sognefjord]

21. What cities?

[go west young man]

47. Mainly Voronezh, Moscow and Lipitzk....

my wife Elena is from Voronezh so I made a promise we would go back each year for her to see her family. Russian hotels are quite impressive in some places. We've stayed at a few in Moscow and Voronezh that are modern retro chic and would look like they fit in in LA. Others are pretty much like the pics presented here... definitely a diverse range over there. Then again I'm in Georgia in the US now and the Economy Inn on 1-95 looks quite crap next to the Cloister over on neighboring Sea Island.

[Sognefjord]

52. Thanks.

I live in Iowa and we have Siberian weather.

[LordGlenconner]

49. That's because shopping malls are a 20th century thing

And we're now in the 21st century.

We've moved on.....TO THE STRIP MALL!!

Which I expect to see popping up all over Russia in about 20 years as their gleaming new malls die on the vine like they are here in the US.

[go west young man]

50. Possibly true....

but now is now and 20 years is along time away.

[LisaL]

20. Oh the horror of it all.

[leftynyc]

22. The toilet paper thing

not putting it in the toilet is actually more common than you would think. I go to Mykonos island in Greece every summer and it's the same thing there (and is the case on all the islands and even parts of the mainland). Bothers me for about 1/2 a day and then I just get over it.

[woolldog]

51. You go to Mykonos every summer?

lucky you.

[leftynyc]

53. Yes - usually the first

two weeks of July. There are not many places that can practically guarantee beautiful weather for 2 weeks straight. And no humidity. And the nicest people. And the food. All those things make the toilet paper thing nothing but an afterthought.

[a kennedy]

26. Keith on his show last night was talking about this.....

he also wants to be first on your list for boycotting the games. I think you can listen here:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnradio/podcast/archive?id=9594536

[SidDithers]

27. DU rec...nt

Sid

[William769]

28. Putin's russia. What more needs to be said.

[LisaL]

32. So before Putin it was just perfect?

[William769]

35. Not perfect, nothing is perfect.

But you didn't have people getting the shit kicked out of them in public. Oh wait yes you did (but that was awhile ago, until putin again).

Watch the video below, but be warned that it contains violent, graphic images of brutal antigay assaults.

So is it safe to assume you won't comment on that right?

ETA: So I guess you know what you can do with your rolling eyes.

[stevenleser]

46. :-( + infinity

[B2G]

34. These are hilarious, but

it really doesn't bode well for how this is going to go down...from logistics to security, this could be a disaster.

@sochiproblems

[BlueCheese]

48. The lesson here...

If you don't want bad press, you should make sure not to mess things up for reporters.

Seven years and $51 billion to prepare, and this is what they've delivered. I heard that the venues are ready, so the actual competitions should be okay.