#Sochi2014 by Twitter: hotel curtains are a luxury, toilets have instructions

So Russia is popular this week. The world turned its attention to the country as the Winter Olympics kicks off, but the news coming out of Sochi hasn’t been very sports-focused. Instead, most of the attention’s been on the good (well not really) time journalists have been having in their hotels.

Russia has some pretty hectic rules and most them have to do with their bathrooms, water and just general hotel hospitality. Journalists have been tweeting some of the appalling conditions they’ve found in their hotel rooms. These include a distinct lack of the basics and no access to drinkable or usable water. Only a few hotels are ready for the media and apparently there are a lot of stray dogs around and the other hotels are still under construction.

It seems Sochi may not be ready to host the Olympics after all but that’s all too late now. Here are some of our favourite tweets from the dramas at Sochi.

This is the one hotel room @Sochi2014 have given us so far. Shambles. #cnnsochi pic.twitter.com/RTjEkmyan3

— Harry Reekie (@HarryCNN) February 4, 2014

People have asked me what surprised me the most here in Sochi. It's this. Without question … it's … THIS. pic.twitter.com/1jj05FNdCP

— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) February 4, 2014

Cozy Russian twin toilets in the lobby of my hotel #Sochi2014 pic.twitter.com/FxJ1NX8FCw

— Lucy Nicholson (@lucy_nicholson) February 4, 2014

For those of you asking, when there's no lobby in your hotel, you go to the owner's bedroom to check in. #Sochi2014

— Mark MacKinnon (@markmackinnon) February 4, 2014

Water restored, sorta. On the bright side, I now know what very dangerous face water looks like. #Sochi #unfiltered pic.twitter.com/sQWM0vYtyz

— Stacy St. Clair (@StacyStClair) February 4, 2014

#sochi good news , I have Internet , bad news, it's dangling from the ceiling in my room… pic.twitter.com/WPp560Nr5c

— Simon Stanleigh (@Stanleigh77) February 2, 2014

Unlike some, I have curtains in my hotel room. #sochi2014 #sochiproblems pic.twitter.com/gMb1Nm7z3K

— Sally Jenkins (@sallyjenx) February 7, 2014

Well that's interesting… Sochi rules in the bathrooms!! #haha #olympics pic.twitter.com/xacSVimwXY

— Sebastien Toutant (@SebToots) February 1, 2014