The Hostelling International group has helped me a lot in my trips here in China. More often than not their member hostels all have a higher quality of accomodations for a reasonable price. One of the best things going for them is that their members usually have excellent locations in their host cities. Take the Mingtown Hangzhou International Youth Hostel for example. This mouthful of a name of a hostel is located along the shores of the famous West Lake of Hangzhou. This is no different from the various Hostelling International affiliated hostels I have patronized.
The Mingtown Hangzhou International Youth Hostel is a bit different though, this one is composed of at least two buildings. It seemed that they have expanded recently and have more room now. But I was surprised to see the room to be quite tiny. I got a bed at a four bed room and it was like an attic. There was a window on top of the roof to let the light in. The room was completely covered in wood making it look like a log cabin. Unfortunately, I got the top bunk again but no matter, I am only here for a night before I leave Hangzhou.
The hostel has a large garden area where they set up tables for visitors to relax in. It is actually quite pleasant here. Bathrooms are at the end of the hall, clean, but may be a bit dark. There are some computers at the reception area where I was surprised to see someone surfing Facebook, which I thought could not be done in the country. Anyway, I rested for a bit before finally setting out to explore this ancient city of Hangzhou.
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