Down On Dorms - Crusties In China

Hostels are the standard places to stay for the budget oriented backpacker and I’ve stayed in plenty of them over the years. They’re a great place for meeting other travelers and getting information on where or where not to go. Usually there’s a nice common area and the atmosphere is usually very social. It’s not uncommon for a solo traveler to be sharing food and drink within couple of hours of arriving.

The best value is the shared dorm option. A dorm usually consists of 4 to 10 beds with shared bathroom facilities. Often times hostels offer single, double, and triple options but it may or may not be all that great of a value. Outside of camping dorms are the cheapest accommodation option. In China you can stay in a nice hostel dorm for $3 to $5 USD a night. A lot of the hostels are well set up so it’s a great value.

The downside to staying in a dorm is that you never know who you’re going to be sharing a room with. Most of the time it works out well aside of someone snoring or coming in late making lots of noise. I’d say 9 out of 10 who stay at hostels are reasonable normal people traveling on a budget. About 1 out of 10 are a little different but fine nonetheless. Occasionaly you run into some really odd ones.

When I arrived in Kunming I was quite tired after a long train ride topping off a little over two weeks of travel. I met a couple of other western backpackers on the train. One is a 63 year Spaniard by the name of Jose. He had already been to Kunming and knew of a good hostel to stay at so on arrival I just hopped on a bus and followed his lead. When we got there I first requested a single room but none were available so I chose to take a chance on the 10 bed dorm. After all, the hostel is quite nice with a splendid roof top restaurant overlooking the main square in the middle of the city. It’s a really cool place and the location is great.

Those sharing the 10 bed room included 4 Israelis, 2 Swedish girls, Jose, myself and one sketchy crusty character from Glastonbury, England. He was still sleeping when I tossed my pack on the top bunk at 11:30 am. His stuff was all over the place and I sensed the guy was a bit odd.

Later that day I met the character from the bunk below. He very nicely introduced himself with a friendly faraway look in his eyes. He bobbed around with an expressive scruffy face while soiled denim shorts tried to slide down his rear. His legs looked as if he hadn’t showered for quite some time. His feet adorned heavily worn croc sandals with a thin layer of dried splattered mud. When he removed his crocs his feet were coated with black grunge and cracked dry skin was peeling outward. Unbelievably, he did not stink. I asked him how long he had been here and he said 3 or 4 weeks. I then asked him what he had been doing. He enthusiastically expressed how he was meeting locals, eating lots of good food and having a wonderful time. I secured my stuff and stashed it in a locker below the bunk. Oh, well, it’s only for a night and the others seemed to think he was pretty harmless.

The wacky Brit went out in the evening and came in late. Morning revealed a much worse impression than the day before. His sheets were heavily soiled and more or less brown. His stuff was even more all over the place and he was partially covered with crumpled sheet in nothing but his underwear. The crusty Brit was grossing me out. I had to get out of there.

I had originally decided on staying one night and should have been packing my stuff to go but was feeling a certain kind of indecisiveness I feel when I’m fatigued... I figured I’d see if I could move into a 4 bed dorm. Still, no single rooms available.

I was happy to have the option to switch rooms later in the morning because I really didn’t feel like dealing with a travel day. I just wanted to walk around Kunming and take it easy. A little after noon the hostel staff gave me a key to a 4 bed dorm. Problem solved, so I thought. I was a bit disappointed to meet my new roommate. Only slightly better than the wacky Brit. He’s a 60 something mess of man from Denver, Colorado of all places. He’s obviously hard of hearing and has a confused expression when I try to converse with him. I don’t think he leaves the room much as I sense he prefers to lose himself inside a paperback novel. He has a nice stack of soiled clothes next to his bed along with a mostly full bottle of some kind of alcohol. He too has dirty feet and his fat round pot belly disallows for his pants to stay up properly. I can almost guarantee you he snores like a freight train but I hope I’m wrong. I asked him what he was doing here but he didn’t provide a clear answer. Apparently he’s an English teacher looking for a job. He said he was traveling with someone else but that someone else is not staying in the room. He’s an odd one for sure. Oh well, it’s just for a night, I safely locked my stuff in the locker below the bunk. Not sure who my other two roommates will be.

Up until now I’ve been happy with all of the places I’ve stayed and although the hostel I’m at in Kunming is quite nice it’s not a good choice for me. As is par for the course when you travel there will be times you stay in places you really wish you hadn’t. I’m now kicking myself for going against my gut feeling not to stay in the dorm but I was quite tired at the time and didn’t feel like roaming around in search of a another option.

Aside of the bad luck of having to share two separate nights with two odd characters I’m just not that into the hostel scene. Ok, I’ll admit I had a nice time last night sharing drinks with fellow travelers and the English speaking staff makes it very easy, however, I’ve felt somewhat disconnected from the China experience and distracted by some people I’d really prefer not to be around. Chain smoking western twenty something’s talking politics, partying, and discussing general nonsense along with crusty odd balls are not who I want to spend my time with. I’ll leave that for the café’s of France and chance encounter along the way. Ok, No more dorms…….