By Political Editor Duncan Garner in Vladivostok / RadioLIVE
For so much of his political career he's been in hot water - but Foreign Minister Murray McCully is being kept in the cold in Russia at this year's APEC meeting.
Russia has spent more than US$20 billion getting Vladivostok ready to host APEC, including building new roads and billion-dollar suspension bridge, but Mr McCully's accommodation had no hot water.
Mr McCully, who is staying on Russky Island where the conference is being held, was given a room with only cold water and there was no hot water in the taps or shower, says Prime Minister John Key.
Mr McCully, along with other ministers, prime ministers, presidents and delegates, is staying at the newly built Far Eastern Federal University campus. Mr Key is also staying at the campus, and it's understood his room has hot water.
The media delegation is also staying on the island, and travelling journalists have all confirmed they have hot water too.
It's been suggested amongst the Prime Minister's delegation that the Russian official who put Mr McCully in his room is in hot water, but Mr McCully is unlikely to see the joke.
After a year battling Foreign Affairs officials over his bungled restructuring plan, there may indeed be little sympathy for Mr McCully amongst the officials and workers he was seeking to sack.
Leaders from around the world were also lead on a two-and-a-half-hour wild goose chase because their shuttle drivers, brought in from Moscow especially for the forum, got lost on the way from the airport.
3 News / RadioLIVE