Dunhuang International Youth Hostel — Hotel in Jiuquan

We stayed five nights here and the biggest positive of this hostel is the location. It is just over 5 minutes walk from the night food market, five minutes walk away from a supermarket and close to the train and bus station. We contacted the hostel before arriving asking if they could pick us up, they didn't reply despite our many attempts so we assumed this wasn't an option. They do provide instructions of how to get there from the train and bus stations. We arrived by a sleeper train and as soon as you exit the train station you are bombarded with over 20 taxi drivers all wanting to take you somewhere. We had the address is Chinese and easily found a taxi, be careful to barter down the price (the hostel quote 30Yuan as a standard price) we didn't, yet found that the other people who were sharing our taxi (which is quite common) only paid 15Yuan! It took around 10 minutes from the train station. When you arrive the only sign is one for the YHA and you enter through doors which look like they enter conservatory. The reception is immediately on your left and on the wall to the right you'll find a sketch maps of the area and what tourist attractions are nearby or how to get to various attractions. Checking in was easy and you pay in cash with a 100yuan deposit, our first night we stayed in a private twin room, it was clean and cool and the air conditioning worked well. There are no toiletries provided and only a small amount of toilet paper, once used up you will have to provide your own. The beds are comfy enough and you are provided with a kettle, bedside table, TV and you can open the windows if you want to. You are also provided with two big towels. The bathroom is quite small and the shower is over the toilet but there is a shower curtain, however there is no door to the bathroom. All the private rooms are open the 4th floor so be prepared for the walk up, however you get access to the balcony area- where you can hang out washing, it is dirty with broken glass and the photo-thermal solar panels take up most of the space, it isn't somewhere you would hang out. The second night we were moved to a double room and I wish we hadn't. It was exactly the same as the double room, except it had a double bed and it was South facing- the air conditioning was no match for the sun and the room was unbearable to be in from midday until 8pm! Avoid south facing rooms if possible! This wasn't our only issue with the room, it wasn't cleaned the whole time you stay there and this means your bins aren't emptied- including the bathroom one! Not pleasant at all! And to top it off, after the third night we awoke to ants all over our floor because the bins hadn't been emptied! So we put the bins outside our room door and asked at the desk if our room could be cleaned, to make sure they understood the issue we asked a Chinese friend to translate for us. We were assured that our room would be cleaned that afternoon. It wasn't cleaned and the bins weren't emptied until the night before we left. On the reception there is one member of staff who can speak good English, the rest you will need a phrase book and some help. There is a washing machine you can use and it worked well. There is a good and cool chill out area on floor one, with sofas however this gets very busy. You can also buy drinks from the hostel. If you are staying in a dorm room, they will give you the sheets for your bed when you check in and you're expected to strip your bed before leaving. The hostel also organises a one day trip of the main sites of Dunhuang for 120yuan, it doesn't include entrance fees but friends who went on it said it was worth the money. Lastly there have been come comments about the hot water from other reviewers, you can get some hot water very early in the morning around 6-6.30am but it's more like warm than hot, then you will need to wait until 3-4pm for the photo-thermal solar panels to heat up enough water. We did experience two power cuts during our time at...

Dunhuang has Mogao Grottoes: arguably the best Buddhist ancient marvel in Cathay; also the Singing Sand Dunes: among the biggest on the planet. Clear warmish blue sky stretching across the Taklamakan Desert of November. A perfect day. Until you try to find any budget place to kip. There's the rub of early evening's chilly shoulders. And the Shazhou night market is as sad as a steamless dumpling. ||||Wander into this place - almost a mini-conservatory - 5 mins walk from the green #12 minibus that connects town with Caves, train station & airport (all within 20 mins). Back in positive frame of mind.||||Staff have limited English - could be slightly friendlier, but probably more of a language frustration than anything. A pool table (after the deprivations of Korean hostels, a welcome beast; even if my standard of play has dipped). A nice hot kettle stove to sit around. Pleasant enough company with Chinese tourists and the occasional friendly Dutch longtrip traveller called Lars. A huge comfy refectory-type area through the curtain (must get busy in summer). WiFi pretty ok.||||Comfy enough clean dorms (only Y30 is ungrumblable value don't you think) just up the stair, so no noise pollution/please-be-quiet-people-are-sleeping factor (aye a good facet when hostels have those split facilities). Bathrooms could be better maintained - not exactly tlc pristine - but seen a heckuvalot worse.||||If it weren't for this lifesaver, Dunhuang station would have beckoned, with long waits and more overnight hard seat comforts for hours & hours & hours. Not necessary....

I stayed two nights. The owner could do it much better with the place...||+ Good location. Close to restaurants and the long distance bus station.|+ Dorms are clean, with AC, big lockers, lamp and power socket at each bed. Don't take a room facing to the street!|+ Owner knows how to go around the area such as the sand dunes and Mogao caves. He booked an English tour for me online as well.||- Cat pee smell in the lobby and socialising are, but dorms are ok. |- Toilets and showers were not cleaned properly. |- Some small things were a little bit annoying, such as making the bed by yourself and toilet paper was not included in the service (original quote by the owner!)|- The owner did his job but expressed an "I don't mind attitude"...