Youzhu Hostel (Shuhanludong Subway Station)

(For context, I was a black female solo traveller) Location On a long street with many restaurants and shops along the street and a self service ATM 5 -10 min walk away, including a small market in the mornings. It is a residential area, so you will most likely be the only foreigner, but people are extremely friendly and helpful, albeit the stares. The entrance faced the main road and was well lit. There is a flight of stairs that you will need to go up to get to the hostel area. If you have not tried hot pot, I would def recommend going to the Haichiniu Xianxianqie Beef Self service Hot Pot place which is around 5 mins walk down the road. Quite far from the centre of the city however it is extremely easy to get to. During the day, there is a close proximity to the underground around 10 min walk, and there is a bus that I took from the city centre to right outside the hostel door where the bus stop was. If you are going through the night/early morning, it is extremely easy to catch a taxi through apps and it is quite cheap (around 40- 70 yen) and the road is very well lit. I felt completely safe in the area. Service Chu, the hostel aunty is warm and helpful, and gives you a sense of being home away from home. This included being made some home made dumplings to celebrate Golden Week which tasted delicious! She gave recommendations on places to go and made sure that I kept safe when out. As another review said, it can be a bit difficult communicating if you don't know Chinese as no English at the hostel or around the area is spoken and it can get quite draining/ mentally challenging at times for us, however Chu still tried her best to communicate regardless and I really appreciated the effort. To get around this and to make your stay more enjoyable, I would be sure to have WeChat set up prior so you can use the chat translator and have your google translate app out ready. (N.B Make sure you are able to set up the account and get the WeChat validation/security text through your HOME sim/data roaming as opposed to attempting to set up your account on your E-sim which won't work). Facilities It is a hostel that provides what you need. The things that took my British head some time to get around was the shower situation and the bed; namely the shower as it was more typical of an advanced bidet than standard shower. However, it was kept exceptionally clean after my first day there and I did my part of keeping it clean by bleaching it down. The bed is quite sturdy, typical of Chinese beds, so I would recommend bringing a blanket or similar to lay on the mattress so you can get to sleep. There is an upstairs area where you can use the washing machine or wash your clothes by hand and an open area to hang dry your clothes. Make sure you have some cash ready to give to Chu to use the machine. There is a vending machine that you can buy snacks for using the your WeChat pay. There is a seating area at the top where you can sit down and eat, smoke and chat. Once you are used to the different products used (i.e remembering the slippers, using the shower etc.), it becomes second nature and a very comfortable stay (funny story: I was sitting on a desk chair outside my room and being use to the chairs in the UK being quite heavy, I swung myself around and ended up falling off the chair LOL!). Cleanliness Like I mentioned above, the hostel is kept exceptionally clean and I had no concerns around hygiene once I got used to the shower situation. The cleanliness is what I can say was a huge benefit to the hostel. Considering how large the place is and Chu is the sole host, it is kept evidently very clean and Chu will be sure to tell you to tidy up too lool. People in China are not a fan of strong smells/ fragranced things so you will not smell bleach or such products but after seeing a storage room, I can assure they are being used! The photos in the other reviews capture it exactly so you will not be surprised when coming to the place.

Rooms are cleaned but toilet had stubborn waste stains. Far from any metro