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February 12, 2014

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Home » City specials » Hangzhou

Low-cost hostels spring up near new train station

By Xu Wenwen | February 12, 2014, Wednesday | Print Edition

Eight months after the massive Hangzhou East Railway Station turned farmland into a high-speed rail hub, the surrounding area is still quiet in some ways. Few restaurants or shops have opened yet near what is expected with time to become a bustling part of the eastern Hangzhou urban sub-center.

The station, the biggest such hub in China and similar to Shanghai’s Hongqiao Railway Station, covers over 1 million square meters and handles about 60,000 passengers a day. It is expected that it will carry 100,000 to 120,000 passengers every day after 2020.

But the landmark station — built with a 9.8 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion) investment, and with 23 billion yuan invested in its surroundings — is attracting a booming lineup of hotels and youth hostels.

Some inexpensive, low-end youth hostels in the area have become way stations welcomed by backpackers from home and abroad. Today, Shanghai Daily profiles two of them to find out why they are so popular.

  Red Orange Youth Hostel(ºì³È×ÓÇàÄêÂÃÉá)

One cure for daily difficulties or frustrations is to buy a train ticket to a new place for a weekend, perhaps meeting new friends or trying new foods while there.

That footloose lifestyle is one that Miss Orange, owner of Red Orange Youth Hostel, finds attractive, and she has found the way to serve these travelers and make money by opening several hotels and hostels around train stations in different cities. One of them is the Red Orange Youth Hostel, three minutes’ walk from the new Hangzhou train station.

Unlike hostels in scenic areas, the small hostel is in an apartment building and provides very simple services — so simple that it’s do-it-yourself in some ways — with an affordable price of 40 yuan to 60 yuan per bed.

The DIY part means customers take their sheets, quilt cover and pillow slip from the reception desk and make their own beds. Then, they return the sheet, quilt cover and pillowcase to the reception when they check out.

The hostel does not take a deposit and provides such supplies such as a towel, toothpaste or shampoo only for an additional charge of 1 yuan each. A hot water shower is available 24 hours a day.

The hostel is looking at becoming more DIY, possibly replacing the receptionist with a box to collect money and having a security guard register ID cards.

The accommodation is simple and clean. All necessary facilities are available.

 

Address: Mansion No. 4 Hongjie Tiancheng Area (Turn right after leaving West Square at the railway station.)

Tel: 159-6710-4890

  Vagabondage RepublicYouth Hostel (Á÷ÀËÕß¹²ºÍ¹úÇàÄêÂÃÉá)

Vagabondage Republic Youth Hostel, even simpler than Red Orange, is in a large apartment in a residential building and resembles a place for couch surfers, or, as the hostel says, “vagabondages.”

The charge is 30 yuan to 50 yuan for a bed for one night. All guests stay in the 18-bed apartment, where they chatter, cook, eat and play board games together.

“I have traveled everywhere and lived in dozens of youth hostels, and here people don’t feel distanced from each other,” said Wang Huiqin, a customer of the hostel who has become a shareholder.

In fact, the person who started the hostel, known as Captain Zhou, is a famous couch surfer in Hangzhou who once accommodated 55 couch surfers in his apartment in two months.

Inspired by that, he started this low-end youth hostel, and surprisingly received help from several strangers who found out about the project on the Internet and volunteered to help the 24-year-old man design the interior and decorate it.

“I think it’s because I did something that others want to do but did not do,” said Zhou. They spent 15 days turning the unfurnished apartment into a youth hostel. Most decorations are second-hand — the bar counter is comprised of three recycled oil drums.

This low-end youth hostel provides wifi, hot water and clean bed clothes, but no bathroom supplies without a small extra charge.

Address: Room 1602, Unit 2, Mansion 4, District 3, Dong Gang Jia Yuan Community (Walk to East Square of the railway station, turn left and walk on Dongning Road for 300 meters until you reach the first residential complex.)

Tel: 135-6716-3234

 

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