Xian City Spring Hostel

Comment by Susan from Hawaii

October 2005

The hostel itself is really great. However, their travel service Three Gorges River Cruise is a HUGE SCAM. Do not book a cruise with the travel service in this hostel unless you want to be ripped off. I booked the cruise from Yichang to Chongquing with a company called Jackie's Travel Service, which was recommended by the hostel. In fact, one of the hostel staff took me to the travel office. I paid almost 500 RMB for a bunk in a non-smoking 2nd class cabin on a so-called 4-star boat, which ended up being a filthy, fly and flea-infested garbage scow. The boat's name is Zhong Shan. Do not get on this boat!!! Of course it was not close to being as nice as the class of boat or room "Jackie" showed me pictures of when I booked. I put a deposit on the ticket in Xian and then traveled by train to Yichang, where I was met as promised at the train station to collect my cruise tickets. However, I was taken to a hotel, which ended up being 5 km from the center of town. Of course the expectation then was that I would stay the night in this hotel, since they would not have my cruise tickets until the following morning and then would take me to the boat. Since it was clear I could not get my boat tickets any other way, I got the best rate I could in the hotel and stayed the night. The next morning the local travel agent did take me to the boat and of course I knew immediately it was not the right boat and complained. Of course she only said this was the boat for which she was directed to buy a ticket for me and showed me to my cabin, which was small and filthy. After I continued to complain she promised to make a call and sort things out, but she ran off and disappeared quickly before I could follow her and of course never returned. So I was stuck on the boat or I could have just left, 500 RMB poorer. I decided to give it a try since I wanted to see the Three Gorges. A tour of the boat revealed how really dirty it was. Heaps of garbage and old food were everywhere. The cooks in the galley were filthy and smoking away over the food they were chopping. Those crewmen re-fueling the boat, with a fuel line passing through the lobby, were smoking as well. After getting underway, I found out there was no real place to eat on board. Twice a day the "cooks" would put out big bowls of indistinguishable slop on a table and the Chinese on board would descend upon it like a herd of swine and spill it everywhere. Then they would spit copious globs of mucous on the floor, throw all leftover food and paper plates on the floor and leave. I never went in there again, the food was inedible. The only other foreigner on board tried it and ended up sick the rest of the trip. There was also no potable water on board. The "heated" water onboard was never thoroughly boiled so it still needed to be purified to drink it. For three days and three nights, I survived on soda crackers and bottled water. Excursions off the boat were extra money. There was never a trip offered to the dam site or to the little three gorges, only a river trip and a few temples. The real Three Gorges I never got to see, as the boat sailed through all of those at night. Frequently, the doors to the outer decks would be padlocked so you could not go out for fresh air. Other times when they were unlocked, they actually wanted to charge 2 RMB to go out. No way; I just went out. My three roommates ended up being chain-smokers. They would just laugh and continue smoking away. By the time I got off the boat, all of my belongings reeked of smoke. This was the boat ride from hell!!! The Bell Tower Hostel needs to take responsibility for directing people to this tour company, or should I say con men.

Xian City Spring Hostel

Xi'an