YesInn Hostel - A solo traveler's haven

As of January 2013, I have been to Hong Kong four times. The first trip was a touristy tour with my best friends, while the last three were for different segments of an exam. I had no problems with accommodations on the first trip since I was with friends, nor did I have any difficulties on the second trip as a family friend had got me a bed at a flat that served as a sort of transient home or meeting spot for overseas Filipino workers on their days off (the cheapest stay I had so far at HKD 50 per night). It was more like a boarding house with no permanent boarders.

The problem with the boarding house was that it was soooo far from everything, being in Tai Po in the New Territories. Cheap, yes, but too out of the way.

So I figured I'd find something closer to the center of everything on my third trip there last June of 2012. I had a checklist of things to consider before settling on accommodations:

1. SAFETY. I was traveling alone yet again, and to a foreign country at that. Granted I had been there twice before, but this time, I was well and truly by myself. It had to be in a safe location, with good staff and security.
2. PROXIMITY. Considering that it took about an hour by bus from Tai Po to Kowloon on my last trip for the written part of the exam, I wanted to be nearer to the city this time around. It also had to be near an MTR for ease of access.
3. PRICE. Ah, yes. I've never really splurged on any trip, especially on accommodations. I didn't want to be too cheap and compromise comfort, but it had to be worth the price I would be paying for it. As a rule, I didn't want to go over HKD 200 per night (decided on upon comparing different guesthouses' prices for single bed rooms).
4. FACILITIES. It would be a miracle indeed if you managed to score a guesthouse in Hong Kong that offered free breakfast. I was fine with free water. There also had to be WiFi since I needed to go online for some YouTube videos for review, and to be in touch with family, as well as with an old elementary classmate who had moved to Hong Kong with her family after our second year in high school who I was planning to meet up with after the exam. It had to have clean bathrooms as well.
5. ACTIVITIES. No, I wasn't planning on attending any soirees or whatnot, but there had to have been something near the accommodations for me to look into or visit after the exams were over and before flying back home. Since I was already there, why not visit some other places of interest that I had not covered on the previous trips?

With all those to consider, it was pretty hard looking for a guesthouse for myself. They were all either too pricey, too sketchy, or had way too many bad reviews on TripAdvisor.


Fortunately, I stumbled upon the YesInn Hostel, the Causeway Bay branch (which was the newer one). They offered all of the above, plus free water, coffee, tea, chocolate, and luggage storage. They also had a kitchen where you could prepare food for meals. It had more or less positive reviews from backpackers from all over the world, and one Filipina solo traveler even posted a blog on her experience at this hostel. I hadn't wanted to stay at a hostel since I didn't really want to share a room with strangers, but reading more and more stories about other people's stay there convinced me to go for it. And it was certainly cheaper than a single room in most well-rated guesthouses.

So I went on their website, and booked a bed in an all-female 9-bed dorm. Not the cheapest option, but I figured sharing a room with girls was better (and less stinkier - no offense!) than staying in a room with some guys in a mixed-bed dorm. But hey, to each his own! :)

I made reservations for 3 nights, and had to settle a 10% down payment online via credit card. It was as simple as that.

But searching for the hostel at night didn't prove to be as simple, though.

For one thing, day buses stopped operating at 1AM, and you had to take the night bus if your flight comes in after that time. It would have been a lot easier to find the hostel had I been able to take the A21 bus as stated on the instructions from the hostel's website since they also provided a sketch to help you out, but it was confusing to take the N21 bus to Causeway Bay. It took one hour of dragging my trolley around (and getting into one taxi only to be told he wasn't going that way) before a taxi driver was able to point me to the right direction (kudos to him for not taking advantage of my situation, even insisting that I walk since it was very near). Fortunately, Hong Kong is a relatively safe place to walk around at night, and especially in Causeway Bay.

It turned out that I actually did get off at the right bus stop, but instead of going left, I went right - which ended in me going around in circles. :P

And it wasn't even easy to find the entrance to the building once I got the building right! The Nan Yip Building was right in front of the main road, but the entrance was on the side of it, in a small alley. I checked their website recently, and the directions have been edited to be more specific by including the fact that the hostel is above the NCB Bank and that the entrance can be found on Tang Lung Streen. It was so not as detailed last year and I have the email to prove it!

Nevertheless, I was finally able to check in at around 4AM - about 3 hours after I landed in Hong Kong. I missed the first N21 bus when I finally exited the arrival hall at the airport and thus had to wait for another one. I was drenched in sweat by the time I arrived at the reception desk after about an hour of walking around the area, and it didn't help that it was summer (summer in Hong Kong is HELL), and that you had to go up one flight of stairs before being able to access the elevator. I was so dang tired.

The reception desk, as viewed from the lobby/common room

I settled the remaining balance plus added a deposit of HKD 100 for the electronic key card (that served as both the room key and locker key). You have to present your passport for check in, since the hostel does not accept locals, only those with foreign passports. After a few minutes (and some reminders on house rules), I was told my room and bunk bed number, and given my key card. I proceeded to the elevator, got out at the 6th floor, and entered room 6A.

need a lift? :P

The electronic key card - for both the room and the locker

Hello, room-for-the-next-3-days!

It looked nice even in the dark. As everyone else was sleeping, I had to use the light from my cellphone to move around. I took out my pajamas, changed, stuffed my used clothes into the locker, and headed up to my bunk - which happened to be the topmost one. The bunk beds here are interesting. There are 3 levels, with the first level right on the floor (though they've remedied this now and have added platforms for the beds to be placed on instead of directly on the floor), and the second and third levels being held up by a pipe frame and accessible by a ladder. I don't think I can describe it properly to do it justice, so I'll just let the pics show you. :P

My bunk bed is the top-most one, bed number 1.

Those mostly belonged to this Singaporean girl who came with her friends to shop

The middle bunk, with the view. LOL.

Lockers 1 to 6. How come I get the top bunk AND the bottom locker..?!

Murals here, murals there..

The best bunk bed! Occupied by someone else.. tsk.. Bed number 8. :) Each bed had a pillow, a comforter, your own night light, an electric outlet, and a mini-curtain for privacy.

Mine :P

I only got to take pictures of the room and facilities - and made new friends! - in the morning. And it was almost exactly how it looked like in pictures! They added some knick knacks here and there which weren't shown on the images on their website yet, hence the "almost".

Lockers 7 to 9, and a "kitchen counter" that isn't really used for preparing food, since eating is not allowed here :P

Hair dryer for sharing - out in the elevator lobby of the 6th floor :)

The shower stall and toilet

The sink

Tissues and a dry rack

But it was clean and nice. It had this artsy thing going with the layout and decorations, and I was pretty amazed by how I managed to find this place. It was worth every HKD that I paid for it! I even made a couple of friends who I went out with on my last 2 nights there, and who are now my friends on Facebook. It sure beat the loneliness that I was starting to feel as a solo traveler.

The Kitchen area and computer stations - view from my seat at the lobby

Le couch

Writings from other travelers

Hanging out at the lobby

And they clean the rooms every day! So when I got back on the 2nd day after my exam, I found my bed made, and my PJs neatly folded on one corner.

guh-reat service!

The streetlights were so bright - I thought it was still afternoon when it was 8PM.

Hence, when I had to go back to Hong Kong for yet another exam last January (2013), I once again made reservations at the YesInn Hostel. I was worried I wouldn't get an all-female dorm again, but fortunately there were still some vacancies. Yey! This time around, I was assigned to a middle bunk in the middle of the room at 6B, just beside the room I had previously stayed in. There were some new stuff added this time around. For one, they now had a dedicated storage room where before it was only this huge cabinet-slash-divider which filled out quite quickly. Though anyone could just walk in and grab your stuff, I haven't heard such of incident happening yet. And there were always people in the lobby and at the reception desk.

My bed, middle of everything this time around lol :P

Room 6B, bunk bed number 5.

The smoke lobby - basically the fire exit staircase

Hello, stairs!

So would I recommend this hostel in Hong Kong? Definitely! Especially if you're traveling solo. Contrary to what one colleague of mine says, I think hostels are fun in that you get to meet other people from everywhere in the world, and if you find an awesome hostel to stay in such as the YesInn at Causeway Bay, you can be assured of a good night's sleep and a fun experience! :)

Check out their website below for more details:

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Hostel Information:

taken from the website

YESINN @ CAUSEWAY BAY
Address: 2/F, NAN YIP BLDG., 472 HENNESSY ROAD, CAUSEWAY BAY, HONG KONG
Contact Number: (852) 2213 4567
Fax Number: (852) 8338 6467
Email: reception2@yesinn.com