Yan Ying Youth Hostel

 October 3rd, 2011

I have never stayed in a youth hostel before as I have always been accustomed to hotels. So you could imagine my trepidation.

My home for two nights

A hostel offers low priced accommodation that provides a bed, pillow, blanket, and bathing facilities, usually in dormitory style.  Many hostels include a free breakfast in their nightly price, have low priced meals available, and/or have a kitchen available for guests to use.  Most hostels require that you have your own sheets and towels.  If you do not bring your own, it may be possible for you to rent those items from the hostel. Some people recommend that you bring your own towel, sheets and pillow. I looked up the hostel and saw that it was unnecessary for me to bring those items.

I walked in the Yan Ying Youth Hostel and was greeted by two people at the desk. It reminded me of a university residence lobby with “goddy” artefacts, graffiti on the walls and stains on the carpet. I received my key and made my way up a labyrinth of stairs.I quickly realized that I wasn’t at the Hilton. The smell in the hallway was not fresh fully clean either. But it was where I was to stay.

My room

I opened the door and to my amazement, I saw a big bed, a desk, a TV, a bathroom with a shower and a sink. 

Yan Ying Youth Hostel is located in the south square of Big Wild Goose Pagoda,a  new growing centre of Xi'an. 

This way

                                 
                                 Overall I found the facilities decent with clean rooms. We chose this hostel because I could reach many attractionsons by walking. If I wanted to go to any other places in the city, taxis and buses were nearby.

Quite nice I thought. I got settled in and made my way downstairs and went out for lunch with Al and a young man named Jan who he had just met.

lady who made my lunch

We were hungry, so we set out on a trek for food. We saw many back alley cooks and decided on noodles. There were so many to choose from. These people seemed to have the “cleanest” establishment. “Cleanest” was used as a relative term here.

After lunch, we parted ways with Jan and began our adventure in X’ian.