One of the biggest downsides of being a bit transient and renting fully-furnished serviced apartments is normally the furniture. For the most part none of this stuff is going to be quality. We are constantly subjected to Ikea-style chip-board stuff and uncomfortable sofas etc.
These can all be taken in stride but the real heart (and back) breaker is the mattresses.
As the ex owner of a guesthouse, I am well aware of how expensive "good" mattresses are and how just one guest can completely destroy them. Therefore a frugal owner's answer to this is normally to buy one of the "rugged" mattresses that exist on the planet and this normally means that said mattress is going to absolutely suck.
Mine was so firm / hard that honestly, I don't think it really served a purpose. It had the same characteristics as the wood that it is sitting on so I don't really feel as though It was offering any sort of comfort benefit. I found this out on my first night and the next morning when i woke up with my back killing me, I knew i needed to do something about it.
So I jumped on Lazada (it's like Amazon, but in South East Asia) and found a memory foam mattress topper for 1,700,000 VND (around $70.) This is a little more than i wanted to spend on it but in my experience, the "down" ones don't stay fluffy for very long so i figured i would splurge.
It came wrapped in like a million pieces of tape and for some reason i was trying to preserve the bag it came in as if i was every going to use that again. In the end i wish I had simply cut the bag open.
It fit the mattress perfectly and man oh man does it make a difference. It is like a totally new bed and last night when I laid down on it..... it was exactly what the title says... a "game changer."
In the end it passed the "me" test but there is one test that is far more important than what i think about it.
Fortunately, Nadi approved as well and she ended up making sleepies there for a lot of the day. Today I woke up without back issues and that is worth the 70 dollars on its own. I think this goes without saying but this is one of the most important purchases in South East Asia, if not the world. Owners of affordable housing are never going to spend a lot on your mattress - so it is up to us to make them decent and if that can be accomplished for under $100 - I'm happy.