After a nice stay in Shanghai, we were off to our last destination- Hong Kong. We flew from Shanghai to Guangzhou (thanks to plans from the Grand Pacific Travel Agency), and then got a train from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. The train was interesting; the seats were more comfortable than an airplane, and we actually got to see the surroundings which was interesting. There are parts of China that are absolutely breathtaking, and other parts that are just dirty and gross. I suppose that goes for any country, but it seemed like there were really stark differences. We arrived in Hong Kong and tried to get to the Alisan guesthouse (hostel).
Now, we had stayed at hostels before, both here and many of us in other places. However, this was like no hostel I'd seen. It was small, which was to be expected, but the best part was how we got there. We were to call the owner when we were in Guangzhou, and let him know when we'd be arriving in Hong Kong. He advised me over e-mail to then call him, and take the free shuttle to a fancy hotel that's a couple blocks from where their hostel is. We were to use the free phones on the right side of the lobby- we were to NOT GO TO THE RECEPTION DESK- and then they would come and get us. Um, can you say sketchy? The numbered door we were to enter to get to the hostel was just a normal door to an apartment building. We were being housed in a residential apartment- so there were obviously other people in the halls, and other people's stuff in the halls, and I was convinced that there were critters.
We checked in - the process took almost a half an hour- and then we were brought to our rooms, only one of the two was ready. The line we were given is that it was a busy morning and they were a little behind as they were short staffed as well. It was after 5 pm. hmph. I knew immediately that the room was not going to work. We were on the last leg of a darn near 6 week trip, and we wouldn't have been able to even open our luggage in the room. So, after dinner we set out for different accomodations. After we settled with Tommy, the owner of the Alisan guesthouse- and it was only Amy's skilled negotiation that saved us having to pay for all three nights without having spent more than 15 minutes in our room- we were out of there. At any rate, I don't have an issue with hostels, anyone who travels understands what I was going through. We were tired, and overpacked already- and we needed space to truly relax. We stayed at the South Pacific Hotel which was much more our comfort level at this particular part of the trip.
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