Eco Backpacker Hostel have two kind of dormitories, mixed dorm and female dorm. All comes with the same price per night. I chose the second one bcs I thought it would be more comfortable to stay with the same gender in a room. Both dorm will cost 6 USD per night. That really fit into my budget so yeah I simply said yes. You would be asked extra cost for locker and towel. My room consisted of 10 beds and I was placed on the upper bed at the corner. This is really a splendid hostel which I never regretted to pay. Though I stayed in a dorm but they provided every guest with kind of bed capsule so guests can still manage their privacy. I also saw the bathroom really clean and smelled so good. I don’t know if that is because the female guests tend to be more appropriate user than men or whatever, I never went to their mixed dorm. The hostel provided free wifi connection. This was like a heaven to me in the first step of my journey because it made me possible to contact my brother and friends in Jakarta. Though as I felt comfortable laying down on my bed and thought what I would do tomorrow, the wifi getting suck. The connection was oftenly unstable. I could happily send messages to friends but minutes later I was kind of ‘shit, what happened with the connection?'. Oh, time revealed my curiosity about why I found some people sitting down on the stairs and holding their smartphones there. They apparently tried to seek the better wifi outside the room.
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nice bed can bring you into good sleep
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| No one can see you so sleep as the way you always do |
I had nice experience in Eco Backpacker Hostel. That was the start when I finally found the same solo woman traveler from other part of the world. I met them coming from Austria, England, Holland, and even Fiji Island. They went all the way by themselves and made new friends in each country they visited. It was really opened me up. I once asked Katerina from Austria why she decided to go solo and I asked her too about safety and etc. She said she was really scared at the first and HCMC was his first place too so she just already started. She told she was getting sick just few days before the trip began bcs she was scared and worried but knowing that she was gonna be okay so she just went for it. I also got envy from a woman which I never knew her name was. She came from Fiji and have been to India alone. She seemed to have traveled a lot and knew most of countries especially in Asia. I actually only overheard her conversations with Katerina. God, how could she be so brave wandering around India? I was like maybe admired her in any kind of reasons. You know what? Stories about that finally made India as my next target. India, a country that has never been on my list but now, I'm willing to try.
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Bathroom sink I always use to brush my teeth
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two showers and two toilets for one dorm
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| does anyone pay for the locker? |
The receptionist of the hostels speak English well. They tried to explain about hostel rules and everything. Since I was always picked up by my friends everytime we went out, the receptionist always phoned me via the room telephone. I was firstly shocked there was phone in my room. This is what my roommates felt too bcs the first call to me happened when I was having conversations with some roommates and the phone rang. A girl from Holland picked up and said 'who is staying in bed 205?' Okay then I raised my hand. While she continued with 'how do I never notice that there is a phone in this room?' So, she should thank me for make her realize, shouldn't she? haha.
My most favorite receptionist belonged to the only guy there. Not because he is a guy, c’mon haha but it was because he was the one whom I saw giving wide smile to me everytime I came in and out. So, there were 3 young receptionist there. 2 women and 1 man. The woman who welcomed me in the first night was quite good, so-so I mean there was nothing special but she was good. Second woman I will tell you later. The rest, was this guy. On the third day I was in HCMC, Amalia and Baptiste left to Da Lat but he day before, I had debt to Amalia and I asked them a favor to charge my power bank (The plug in my hostel didn’t fit with the charger of mine). That’s why I had to meet them before they left but their bus departed at 6 am which I assumed I couldn’t wake up that early. So, I asked for help to the receptionist man. He was really helpful with the wide smile and nice expressions. One thing good I could also find from Eco Backpacker Hostel is their location. It is not really far from the the main intersection in Pham Ngu Lao Street where you could see the bus stop even from the close sight when you standing up in front the hostel. While for you guys who would like to try the popular places near HCMC like Da Lat and Nha Trang, you can go buy your tickets in any travel agents but then most buses will be available just few meters away from Eco Backpacker Hostel. It is right in the intersection I was talking about.
Somehow, something quite bothered me when I checked out from hostel. There was this receptionist girl who thought she really knew my name. I came to her and said wanted to check out. Then she took a file which was written “Hue” on the cover. I didn’t really know what it meant. Two things on my mind. First, Hue was a guest name so she could’ve been wrong to get that file since my name wasn’t Hue. Second, Hue was Vietnamese for ‘girls’ so, in this case I thought hostel split the name of the guests based on their gender. Then she asked me to pay for 20 USD. I was kind of what????? I’ve paid all the total cost in the first time I came to this hostel. She said I stayed for 2 days in dorm and moved to private room the next day. Fick lah. I admitted that I once confused about how long I would stay. I told her that. I booked dorm for 2 nights then when the girl gave me the key, I said to her to finally stay for 3 nights. So, I thought she already changed and fixed it. She kept saying I should pay 20 USD and I asked her too let me know the receipt. I saw it was receipt under the name of Hue. I said to her ‘my name is Isti, could you just please check my name first?’ and dangggggg she thought I was Hue. Pret.
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Traffic jam even happened downstairs
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| The electronic card consisted of room floor, bed number, and wifi access |
Traffic jam is also a problem of HCMC but luckily it is not as bad as Jakarta. In the last night I stayed in HCMC, I took my time to stare everything from the balcony, just wanted to see everything I could. It was more crowded than nights before. Katerina also felt the same way. I thought it was because Saturday night and Valentine's Day at that time so everybody seemed to go out, had dinner, be with people they loved.
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