The hostel (Templeside hostel, we booked ours from hostelworld.com) looks and feels more like a B&B. It's a beautiful, privately owned house (apparently one would typically set you back USD 500k), lovingly restored (it is immaculate) in traditional chinese style and very well run. Bobby the manager rents and manages the place with his wife. He is (or rather has been) the quintessential student traveller and so has made sure every detail from clean sheets to bus route information is there. The place is near an old buddhist temple and is really for the slightly more 'discerning' traveller (late 20s and above, we also had a couple with a young son), there's no bar or anything like that on the premises, so if you're looking for wild parties, go somewhere else.
There are 2 dorm rooms with bunk beds and the rest are double rooms. Toilets and bathrooms (1 toilet/bathroom, second bathroom with 2 showers and a second toilet) are however shared. As this is not a large house, it is rarely a problem.
They are very easy going and the manager doesn't try and sell you anything, rather we seem to go to him for help which he is extremely accommodating. Very straightforward, honest man (he helped us get our tickets to Xian and showed me the booking fee to have them delivered or us taking the subway to get the tickets ourselves directly from the train station would have come to nearly the same amount anyway). There are also other nice touches such as laundry (diy, but washing machine and detergent provided, 4 yuan per wash) and internet (4 yuan per hour) which you pay into a piggy bank set nearby (please don't shortchange the guy... he's such a nice man).
We spend the rest of the day playing with the 2 white cats, updating my blog (up till Mongolia at this point) and watching a chinese soap on tv which one of the girls taking care of us tries with exasperation to explain to me :>
Our hostel...
Street outside hostel
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