Review of Yangshuo Youth Hostel by makarios (0), 21 août 2008

There are many things about this hostel that make it the worst place I've ever stayed.  My room was clean, but the rest of the hostel is very dirty.  The kitchen and bathroom are poorly cleaned, and the rest of the common areas look like they may never be cleaned.  Considering how few guests there are, there are probably months worth of empty beer bottles everywhere, and there are also dirty dishes, hair in the bathroom.  The shower is not warm.  The beds are hard (like wood with a thin pad on top).  There was no A/C in the room (only a complaint of mine because they say they have A/C). 

There is one computer for internet, it is usually off, and all of the peripherals are unplugged.  So to use it, turn it on, plug everything in, and then find the right icon in chinese to connect.  If it's not off, someone is using it and you should give up until later.  It is posted as free, but is only free between 7PM-12AM.  After 12AM (or even sooner, really), good luck getting around the hostel because the different sections are closed by big metal gates that you can't open.  You can probably yell for the people sleeping at the front desk, but chances are they won't speak English. 

The most unacceptable thing, was that on my first night there the manager said he would take me out to a bar.  I thought this meant with other foreigners or guests, but it was just us two (it made sense to me later when I realized how empty the hostel was).  Afterwards he wanted to show me the river, bringing me to a very dark place by the river.  He tried very hard to kiss me, even using some force.  After I steadfastly refused and tried walking away, he concluded that I must not have been drunk (implying that he was trying to take advantage of me).  This is not a great thing for a solo female traveller to experience.

The worst thing was their dishonest business practices.  They will try to cheat you of your money from the moment you arrive, to the moment you leave.  They wouldn't give me my deposit and a refund on a cooking class that I never got when I tried to leave, without me having to insist for a while.  I booked a plane ticket with them, and they lied about the price, overcharging me 120Y (way more than an acceptable booking fee even).  If you try to book any activities through them, they will cost about 3x the actual price, so do it yourself.  They even tried to charge me to write down the chinese characters for me to help me find a place to buy medicine. 

 About every minute of my stay here was bad, and I couldn't wait to leave.  I recommend to others to try one of Yangshuo's many other hostels instead.