When looking at guide books the best place for backpackers to stay in Chengdu is always Sim’s cozy Garden Hostel. This hostel was established by a Singaporean surnamed Sim and his Japanese wife Maki. This is a hostel built with backpackers in mind. It doesn’t feel luxurious like a hotel but it is a great place to stay here. As they say it is a home away from home.
We had quite a bit of trouble finding their new place. They just moved to a different location when we arrived and we had a tough time finding them. Even the taxi driver didn’t know where it was, even when looking at a map. As we found out, maps are never drawn to scale. The fortunately, there was a small print-out of their name stuck just outside their door, no wonder everybody misssed it.
The best way to get there is to tell your driver to just bring you to the Beimen Bus Terminal 北门汽车站. It will be a short walk from there. At the time, they didn’t have the big sign so we didn’t know where it was. When we finally found it, we were thoroughly satisfied with their facilities. The bedrooms were clean and tidy. They even have a heater in the bedroom in case the weather was too cold. I didn’t like using the heater though since it felt like I was having a fever or something. The toilets are western style thankfully and the showers come with hot water.
They now have a much bigger place with places for guests to relax and enjoy the day. There are lots of spaces just to bum around and talk to fellow travelers. I like this a lot since it give guest a place to get to know the other travelers. You can always order food and eat it anywhere. There is a terrace outside to admire the nearby apartment buildings, which are unfortunately, not interesting at all.
There is a garden at the ground floor where one can meditate and just relax in the garden atmosphere of Sim’s Cozy Guesthouse. Sometimes the hostel will hold events like Christmas parties and all that. It is an interesting way of involving the guests in things other than sleeping in.
They have an excellent travel center where you can arrange for trips to Tibet and other places in China. They can also help guest book train tickets. Unfortunately, they weren’t that much help with bus tickets. However, it was easy enough to get to Chadianzi Bus station from here. Best of all the travel center staff spoke great English. I’m sure my friend was very happy to be able to speak to someone else other than me. The staff is very comfortable speaking with foreigners and would gladly give advice on how to go about their itinerary. We quickly made use of their travel service by booking a train ticket from them, we would get it in the next day. So convenient. They also heard about our troubles going to Jiuzhaigou, but there was nothing they can do about it though.
As for food, they have a nice bar below where people can order even non-Chinese food. There is also an internet surfing station for those who need to be connected. If you have a wifi enabled device you can also connect to their network for free.
I would seriously recommend Sim’s Cozy Garden Hostel to anyone visiting Chengdu. It is truly a home away from home. It is not intrusive enough to make you forget you’re in China but the travel center and the staff’s great English speaking skills are a great thing to have. They may be a little more expensive than the others but this is great value nonetheless.
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