Hotel vs Hostel

[Duomi]

Hi all,

I'll have a week or so before I can move into my dorm room at Harbin Normal Uni. I'm staying in a hotel my first two nights (Ibis Hotel.) Would you recommend staying in a Hostel for a week, or are they too unreliable/theft prone? Any recommendations on particular hostels? I've looked at the two listed on Hostelworld, and they have OK reviews.

The plus of a hostel is the money saved; but if they are too noisy or wild, then it might not be worth it.

Any ideas would be great,

thank you!

[变形金刚]

Give it a try for a night or two and see what you think... I spent a good amount of time at the 卡兹 hostel on 通江街. Not as comfortable as the Ibis Hotel, but it is safe and cheap and right next to 中央大街. Most of the guests seemed to be Chinese tourists and business travelers with some foreigners here and there, which made for a more interesting environment than hostels that I stayed at in larger cities.

[WestTexas]

ehh I think theft for hostels is just a stereotype. Obviously if you leave your laptop sitting in the lobby or something stupid like that, it might walk off, but if you lock your valuables up it's not an issue.

[Duomi]

Thanks for the responses. Texas, I should have added, "common sense aside" to my question. But yeah, you're right.

Any suggestions for the names of local dishes? Or just common staple dishes?

[abcdefg]

In Haerbin, you need to have jiaozi 饺子。This is jiaozi country.

[WestTexas]

+1 on the 饺子。 There are a lot of good restaurants on the side streets off Zhongyang Dajie, but on the street itself the food is overpriced and not great.

My favorite types of 饺子:

三鲜

猪肉茴香

牛肉韭菜

驴肉

羊肉青椒

Of course not every restaurant will have these flavors. Pretty much every restaurant that sells dumplings will have 猪肉酸菜, which is not bad either.

Also, dumplings should be cheap. If you are paying more than 15 per plate (half a jin, about 20 jiaozi) you are getting ripped off, unless they are seafood dumplings. In the town where I work you can get half a jin of any of the above types for 7-10 yuan.

[Duomi]

West Texas,

Thanks for the tip. Might I as what type of work you are doing in a rural area of Dongbei?

[pancake]

Any suggestions for the names of local dishes? Or just common staple dishes?

You must try 锅包肉: deep-fried pork with shredded vegetables in a sweet, sour and gingery sauce.

[WestTexas]

Might I as what type of work you are doing in a rural area of Dongbei?

I'm a warrior, bro.

[Duomi]

I thought dragons were the stuff of legend, no?

[Lao Che]

They generally aren't noisy and wild, and oftentimes you can get single or double rooms in hostels if you really need privacy and quiet. If you don't speak the language well hostels would be a good choice - their stuff are often totally fluent whereas many hotel staff cannot help you beyond the basics. Further, hostels are filled with foreign travelers and people interested in meeting others, so if you are interested in doing a bit of sight seeing and meeting interesting people, hostels are by far better. Generally, hostels are more suited for foreign travellers: free wifi, in-house restaurant serving a mixture of Chinese and Western foods, lots of information for backpackers, ticket purchasing service for a small fee, cheap laundry service, etc. Most hotels cater to domestic tourists and businessmen and certainly don't have the communal advantages hostels do. I've stayed in a lot of hostels in China. As long as you read the reviews first and have a brain (keep your valuables locked up!), you wont' be in any danger and may in fact have a vastly superior experience. In many of the hostels I stayed, there were foreigner students living semi-permanently in them. I thought that was a somewhat bizarre arrangement, but I suppose it may make financial and social sense for certain people.

[andysun731]

You must try 锅包肉(guō bāo ròu), which was invented many years ago in Harbin and only authentic and delicious in Heilongjiang Province. Many foreigners like this sweet and sour dish.