Most guidebooks helpfully classify types of accommodation into three categories: top-end, mid-range, and budget. This is most certainly an oversimplification: it fails to take into consideration that the budget category alone is home to a universe of different types of abode, ranging from the flea-ridden pit of hell, to the bog of eternal stench.

After eleven months of sleeping, almost exclusively, in some of the cheapest digs in Asia, I have begun to consider myself a somewhat of an expert in the subject, and yet I still come across hostels that have the capacity to surprise me.

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Angkor Wat is arguably one of the most impressive temple sites in the world. Unfortunately, its namesake lager, Angkor, will never win a comparable title in the world of beers.

Angkor is brewed by Carlsberg, and it tastes like it. It is not an awful lager (and miles better than the local upstart, Anchor), and it has a respectable 5% alcohol content, but it wont rock anyone’s world. The flavour is weak, especially the draught beer, the colour is pale, the head disappears quickly, and I am fairly certain most bars water it down (as you would too, if you were selling it as cheap as 75 cents). Some people complain of a nasty aftertaste. It will get you nice and drunk though. 5/10

We loved everything about Rabbit Island, and Rabbits Huts is no exception to this. $5 gets you a small bamboo bungalow on the beach, a mosquito net, and access to a shared, fresh water, ‘shower’ and toilet. Rustic might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but luxury has yet to hit the Island, and I hope it never does.

The owner of this place was great – he was a local guy with impeccable English and he charmed us both. All along the beach you will find similar huts, some with en-suite (presumably squatties), all with restaurants attached, but we think Rabbit Huts had the edge. At night the trees were lit up with gorgeous lanterns, cool tunes played out, and great sea food was served. As an added bonus we got to play with the cutest puppies in the world while we were there.

9/10

For a town that not so long ago was practically razed to the ground by a crazy genocidal regime, Kep is a bit pricey. Lida was the cheapest place we could find, at $6 a night for a tiny, dark, room, with a shared cold water bathroom. Located about 2k from the centre of town, with a staff that spoke literally no English, a nightclub underneath it, and no restaurant or food nearby, I can safely say that Lida was a bit crap. If you are on a really tight budget, this is the place, otherwise just cough up a bit more dough and stay somewhere decent. On the plus side, it was fun all round when the electricity cut out and a giant huntsman spider was found lurking in the bathroom. 3/10

Kampot was a lovely little town, and Pepper Guesthouse was a cute place to stay there. Originally we intended to stay in Blissful GH, but it turned out to be full and the owner pointed us a few doors down to Pepper. The room cost us $7 a night (without a/c, hot water or TV), and the café served decent enough backpacker fare at standard prices. The location, down a quiet side street, was central enough, and the staff were very friendly and helpful. They were quite keen to sell us tours, but did not pressure us and were not offended when we said no. They also gave us a free pot of pepper when we left. It wont win any awards, but is worth staying. 6/10

We arrived in Sihanoukville the day before the Cambodian Water Festival – the biggest festival in Cambodia – began, and were bummed to find that our first choice guesthouse and all the surrounding guesthouses were booked out. Our helpful moto drivers took us round several other places until we arrived at Lucky, where we were lucky (haha) to find it had space but less lucky to find the cheapest room was $10 per night (inflated from $8 for the festivities). Nonetheless, we took the clean, double room with a hot shower and cable TV. The beach was only a few minutes walk away and it was Halloween so we spent the minimum of time in our room anyway!

This was not our first choice of guesthouse in Phnom Penh. The guesthouse we were aiming for turned out to be twice the price advertised in our guidebook (good job, Rough Guide), and our tuk-tuk driver insisted on taking us to Okay instead. We should have said no, but we were tired, sweaty and fed up, so we went with him.

There were no glaring flaws with Okay – the location was not terrible, the food was average and not hugely overpriced (although I would recommend steering clear of the breakfast menu), and the room was not the worst we’ve had. But the whole vibe of the place gave me the creeps. There were a lot of staff, and they tended to stand around and stare at us while we ate. Our laundry got mixed up and they tried to give us someone else’s clothes (a deal which would probably been worse for the people getting our shabby old stuff), but we managed to get the problem resolved with the minimum of fuss. It cost $7. Overall: 5/10

We did not like Battambang. In our humble opinions, it was a bit of a dump with nothing to do and a smellier than average wet market. We spent one night here at the Royal, and it was anything but fit-for-a-queen.

In fairness, we did opt for the cheapest room on the roof with shared outdoor bathrooms (not a brilliant choice when it is bucketing down with rain, as we soon discovered) – the rooms we passed on our monumental climb up looked quite nice. Nowhere in this town looked like it would be pleasant to stay in, so you might as well go here: it was really cheap.

5/10

Accommodation in Siem Reap is abundant and generally of high quality. Happy Guest House is no exception. A charming little place located on an alleyway packed with guesthouses and restaurants, it has a nice teak-wood décor, pleasant veranda, and free wi-fi.  The restaurant was fairly average, but the staff were so helpful and nice that it was a great place to enjoy a cold drink in the afternoon heat. Other hotels offer free bicycle hire, which is useful if you plan to visit Angkor Wat using pedal power, so you might want to consider shopping around a bit.

7/10

Tat Guest House is in a quieter district in the centre of Phnom Penh with reasonable value rooms and a rooftop café. Our double room came with hot water, TV and a fan for $7 per night – not the cheapest place in the area but not bad considering the extras. The family that ran the place were friendly and helpful, but the whole place was let down by poor food in the rooftop café and a poor location – it will take a good 30 minutes to walk from here to the riverfront where the bars and restaurants are to be found.

We got our Vietnam visas organised at Tat for $35 each which, according to our guide book, is a pretty good price. 6/10