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Description
Ratings & Comments
2 Average from 3 Ratings
This is an open forum, and unlike other hostel guide websites we don't censor out the negative comments. We can't validate the legitimacy of comments posted on this site—so take what you read here with a grain of salt.
Comment by Robert, Britain
May 2009
Welcome to Taiwan You're in Donnybrook to work, there's no other reason to be here and thankfully there is a bit of work going around. We got a job within a few days of arriving and they sorted out our transport to work everyday ($5 everyday is a bit high) so everything is taken care of pretty well. The work roster is done very nicely and everything runs quite smoothly, the only problem was perhaps some of the rudest people I have ever meet on my travels. over half the hostel are people from Taiwan there to work and only to work, so they pretty much take over the hostel in an annoying way. The kitchen is impossible to use in the afternoons and theft was very common (I actually had my whole box stolen), there is always a massive queue for the showers after work with people washing clothes in the showers? In a room with Taiwanese you're made to feel like a guest in the room, if you're reading a book they will just switch the light off or if you're trying to sleep they will continue to talk loudly and watch movies on laptops -- that kinda of thing. anyway it's a nice hostel, it gets you work but it smells of burnt rice really badly.
Comment by Rudigor, Irish
September 2008
Not good! I stayed in brook lodge and worked on the orchards for three months to get my second year visa. While there I found the owners to be unfriendly, rude, and two faced! The Hostel itself had no heating or insulation in the rooms, I had to purchase a portable heater from a nearby second hand shop just to stay warm! The showers were cold most of the time so it was very hard to warm yourself up during the winter. The electricity kept going in the hostel leaving the place in darkness. The "two" kitchens which they brag about on there website are small and right beside each other, making just one average size kitchen for a hostel, and while I was there they had a lot of problems with the gas cookers and on several occasions there were at least twenty people queuing up to use just one hob! They have a licensed bar in the hostel which means you can only drink alcohol that has been purchased on the premises, which is all well and good except when the bar is quiet they close early or sometimes don't even open at all! Meaning if you want a drink your only option is to go to the pub, which I found to be quite expensive especially to a backpacker! If you are reading this you are probably wondering why I stayed for three months, well at the time my funds were very low and I needed to work, so I went to Donnybrook hoping to earn some money and complete the three months of harvest work necessary for the second year visa. My second week in the Brook lodge I was fired from the orchard I was working on because I was unwell, the farmer I worked for refused to pay me until the end of picking season and the owner of the hostel refused to find me any more work, so I had to go out a find a job for myself! If I could go back in time I would not have stayed at the Brook lodge or even in Donnybrook for that matter, I would have found somewhere else and I would advise you to do the same!
Comment by Anonymous
May 2005
A typical working hostel. The rooms are reasonably clean, but the kitchen is a mess. The only possibility to dry your working clothes is the log fire in the lounge, as there's no heating in the rooms — and it gets cold in Donnybrook in winter! The place is licensed, so you can't bring your own alcohol. The bar sells it at reasonable prices though. They also charge $4 for transport to work each day.
2 Average from 3 Ratings
This is an open forum, and unlike other hostel guide websites we don't censor out the negative comments.
We can't validate the legitimacy of comments posted on this site—so take what you read here with a grain of salt.