Good, Cheap Beijing Accommodations

Last weekend I stayed at the Far East International Youth Hostel when I went to Beijing. My main aim was to save money. The hostel in Qingdao had been nice so I'd give this a try. I chose this hostel since they had single sex dorm rooms. I figured in a coed dorm room I could be stuck with a bunch of unruly college age drinkers. I thought with the single sex option I still might be, but it would be easier to deal with all women.

It turned out to be a terrific choice. It's one metro station away from Qiananmen, which I walked to on the first morning. The areas got lots of restaurants, music shops, book stores, and calligraphy shops. It's very picturesque.

It's a bit tricky to find. I tried to avoid any problems by calling to ask them which exit I should use to exit. Though they spoke good English, they just couldn't fathom why I needed to know whether I should take exit, A, B, C or D. (Answer: Because if you take the wrong one you're going north instead of south and probably won't know for  10-15 minutes. A Chinese woman who worked for an international company, noticed my difficulty and stepped in to clear things up. By the way exit through C and go right.)

The hostel is in a hutong neighborhood surrounded by several tea shops, fruit shops, laundries, and tourist agencies offering bookings for hikes and Peking opera and other shows. They've got a computer room, restaurant, coffee shop and the staff is helpful.

The real bonus, which merits its own post, is that I lucked out with the roommates. One, whose name I've forgotten, was finishing a long bike trip from Bangkok to Mongolia and she was now in China working on getting a visa to go to India. Then she'd return to Alaska, where she's done some creative work with indigenous people to curtail suicide, drug use, etc. So my fears of getting stuck with obnoxious roommates was unfounded.

I didn't avail myself of the restaurant since I'd been set on two Starbucks breakfasts and would be rambling around the city during the day. I have to go back to Beijing next weekend for a conference and have booked myself back at this hostel. What's cool is that most of the people there now aren't youth anyway, just people who do want to save on travel. I will say the showers and toilets down the hall could be in better shape. I'm fussy about that. The rooms though were nice. I'll try to remember to get a photo myself next week.