Sunday, 20 January 2019

Motel 6, Tempe, AZ: An Scary Place

I usually don't write in much detail about the places I stay in but this time I am going to because I had never had this kind of experience.
I made a mistake and booked a room in Motel 6 in Tempe a suburb of Phoenix. I regretted that the minute I saw the place from distance and I promised myself that I would never do such a thing in any travel, ever again! As I was approaching the place, driving northbound on a main street of Tempe, I checked the GPS and it referred me to the left. The so-called motel was right on the edge of the road! I thought: How the hell am I going to sleep! I should have probably cancelled it but I drove in the parking lot and went to the reception. There was a tall, looked like either Black or Native guy whom I talked to. First I thought he had a medical condition because it looked like his left cheek is swollen(!) then I realized that he had something big in his mouth and was just talking to me like that. How respectful and nice! He gave me a room in the back but just going through the parking lot and looking at the so-called guests, I realized that I had a mistake, for the second time in the past 10 minutes!
There were two Black guys listening to their favorite(!) music and smoking Marijuana at the other side. Other guests, unfortunately, looked like people who chose cheap places to live. I, however, parked and checked the room out. Tiny room with almost everything that any other room in a different hotel might have but I didn't try anything! No TV! No Shower! Not anything else! I tried the Internet though and it was damn slow. I stayed in the room with the deadbolt on, as that was what the note on the door said and then decided to have a walk outside and check the businesses. What I found was interesting:
1) There was this little cafe, with no customer the entire time I was around, named Bikini Beans Coffee! I was walking by and at the corner of my eyes I thought I had seen girls in shorts or something! and I said: Wow! I got closer and there it was: Two girls in bikinis inside the little store. The store looked like it was for the staff only because the side door(!), which means there is no front door(!), had Employees Only, written on it very big! The front is a sort of window, like a drive-thru, where customers order and receive their stuff! This, apparently is for the safety of the staff because the people I saw in the motel were one step away from being a defendant! When I notice that there was no entrance to the store, I said to myself: What's the freaking point?! If anyone wants to see a girl in bikini, he simply can go to a swimming pool or beach or the way some of the girls dress these days is no different from bikini! So why the hell would he go to a cafe with no door(!) and spend money for a beverage to see the girls from distance?!
Then just a little further there was an adult store but it looked rundown and I was afraid going in! It was a huge store! Probably the size of a McDonald's! At the other side of the street, North Scottsdale Road, there was a nice hotel, a gas station, a Dunkin' Dounuts and Food City
I went inside the big store of the gas station. This type of store, in the US, are huge compare to the Canadian ones. Then I went inside Food City and I have to say that it was interesting. It looked like that the majority of the customers, as well as the staff were Hispanics. What was interesting was the type of food and the prices! Even for me who had Canadian money turned to American, some of the stuff seemed cheaper. There was only $0.75 for 1 American dollar at the time. I, however didn't buy anything because I didn't have anything like plate, fork and knife with me and the place is just repulsive(!) in a way that you don't want to stay in and eat! I eventually decided to go back to the damn motel and sleep because staying out requires spending money and I had already spent enough money!
(Photo: The only picture I'm posting here is this one which shows how affordable this great fruit(!) is in Arizona at the moment. You have to pay at least $1.99 for one. Any photo from the damn motel would be depressing!)

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