Yummy Bagpackers Hostel, Pakse

Yummy Bagpackers Hostel is run by a group of Indians, so the atmosphere and customer service you find here will be slightly different than what you would find all over Laos. The place is comfortable and has air conditioning, but it is quite haphazardly furnished and decorated and it is quite unattractive in general.

The Location

Yummy Bagpackers Hostel is located just above Yummy Indian Restaurant, which you will find just as you turn off the Souphanouvong Bridge. This area is the main tourist hub of the otherwise quiet Pakse and you will notice that everything around here caters to people in transit for Cambodia and Thailand. Therefore, you have many tourist agencies, money exchange bureaus, and Western-style cafes and restaurants as well. This is a nice tranquil location, so a good night's sleep is definitely guaranteed.

Rooms and Bathrooms

The peculiarity of the rooms is that they don't have walls on one side and are only divided by a curtain from the corridor. The rooms all have four individual beds inside. However, while some of them have five electronic plugs next to them, others have zero, which can be quite annoying. There is also a locker in the rooms but only with three spaces. Therefore, if the room is full, guests have to decide who is going to give theirs up. The rooms are cooled by air conditioned, but it is only turned on at 9 p.m. There is a little balcony belonging to the dorms that is ok for smoking for not big enough for much else. There is only one bathroom per floor, which encompasses the toilet, shower, and sink. This is really inconvenient, as this means long queues in the mornings. The bathrooms are old and dirty and the one on the second floor only has one water temperature.

Common Spaces

This is a massive drawback of the hostel; apart from the restaurant on the ground floor, guests have nowhere to socialise. The balcony can only accommodate a maximum of three people, but there are not enough chairs outside and the corridor is too narrow for such purposes. As most people only stay in Pakse for a night, it is ok, but given that there is almost nothing to do in the town in the evenings, the lack of common areas can get quite frustrating.

Summary

Yummy Bagpackers Hostel makes sure that it offers the cheapest dorm prices in Pakse. However, you do get what you pay for! While it can be an ok choice for a night, do not stay here longer, as the lack of common areas and the overall rundown condition is not what you want to have in a place where there is really not that much to do outside.