呼和浩特乾康客栈

Anda provides a very important service because it is the only one in Hohhot (other than Hostelling International) catered to independent foreign travelers. My friends and I chose Anda because we prefer to support a local family-run business. And at first, we thought we made the right choice -- the staff were super friendly, the tours were exclusive and to beautiful, isolated locations. However, some problems emerged soon enough and the owner's attitude changed from friendly to being unapologetic, mean and downright rude. The first problem to arise was that they had forgotten our reservation 2 weeks in advance for a desert tour and we got relegated to smaller tents instead of the main tent -- fine, we thought, at least we were still able to go for it, so we didn't bring it up. Then we got to the desert and realized 1. no stakes for our tent, 2. the TINY rain flaps were completely useless in addition to them not packing us any flashlights or have a plan to build a fire despite us being in the middle of nowhere with forecast for rain. If my friends weren't trained scouts who knew how to build a fire and someone had a lighter, we'd be forced to go to bed at 7pm. There was also very little food packed for the trip and we would have starved if not for us stopping by a rest stop and we decided ourselves to pack a bunch of chocolate and crackers just in case. There was also a lot of communication issues between the boss and his staff. The night before our trip, we discussed our expectations and he promised certain things. And then, much to our surprise, when we brought it up to our guide after we had already left, the guide was completely clueless to the requests because the boss had not told her about them. We expressed our frustrations to our guide who felt very sorry for the situation and promised to make amends but when she communicated it to the boss over the phone, she came back to the room looking upset as she said "the boss is now angry at us" and it apparently became "their fault" even though it wasn't. Also, most of the activities they arranged for us were ridiculous: 1. horse ride through the grasslands -- of all wonderful routes they could pick, they brought us to a group that led us through a muddy, completely un-scenic path. After the hour was up, and we complaint about wanting to ride through the more scenic areas, their solution was easy -- just pay us for another hour! Also, they refused to make the horses go a little quicker and ignored our various requests just to speed things up a little. A 70 year-old grandmother could've walked faster. 2. Desert activities. We wanted to drive a jeep and ride a 4WD but they told us, sorry, you can sit in a jeep and ride on the back of a 4WD even though the SIGN said 自驾 -- drive on your own. We felt cheated. The worse part was when we returned to the guesthouse, we had the courtesy to wait for other guests to be out of earshot before approaching the boss. Not only did he not take responsibility for the various problems, he yelled at us "What's your problem! What's your problem! I am very tired. I don't want to listen to this! Write me an email. Goodbye!" His poor staff stood by the side looking apologetic, they had felt bad and agreed that they've done a bad job with our tours and even promised to learn and improve their services. But really, with a boss like that, I wouldn't want to work there. In a nutshell, the Anda boss is taking advantage of an easy business because his is the only type of guesthouse that provides such a service in Hohhot. He needs to learn better customer service skills -- listen to customers and improve, hire and train tour guides (he seems to think hiring young Mongolian fresh grads with good English abilities is sufficient but most of them are inexperienced), and just not be such an A$$ to his own customers.

We were 4 ladies from Aussie, aged between 55-45 and we found the staff at Anda very friendly and helpful. The hostel is close to great eating restarants, and easy public transport but best of all, we had a fantastic trip out to the Grasslands, staying with a wonderful Mongolian family and again, ate great food. Our guide was a lovely young lady, with a beautiful singing voice, so get her to sing to you when you go for a horse ride!!! This is cheap accommodation so please don't expect luxury, but our 4 bedroom door was clean and adequate and we had a wonderful stay. Thanks Anda

We booked 2 beds in a 6 bed-dorm in this G.H. in July 2011 (at Y60 per bed) as it was the “Top choice” of the Lonely Planet (new edition 2011). It's the most expensive hostel we have paid in all China. For this price, we expected something comfortable and clean but the beds were a bit hard and the common bathroom was old style and not clean! The staff seems very nice but they are not very helpful if you need information about the things to do around and how to reach sites by public transport. The common room is small but the atmosphere was great as every guests were nice (Cable TV, Tea and Wifi are available for free). Location is near a big restaurant street, but in a quiet street, a bit far from the train station. We wanted to do a tour in the grassland as we wanted to taste a bit of Mongolian Culture and landscape. The description of the tour (sleep in a yurt and share life of a mongolian family) and feedback of tourists found on internet were great so we decided to do it, even if the tour was expensive (Y380 par person for 2 hours of van, 3 typical meals and 1 night in a yurt). We left Hohhot at 9am and arrived in the “camp” at 11:30 am. We were a little surprise to see 2 small yurts (placed on a concrete base) with a house just nearby. In fact the family who “host” us was living in the house, and the fake yurts were there only for the tourist. The yurt had nothing of a mongolian yurt. We slept inside during the night : 7 people in the mini yurt, it was really small to fit all of us inside! Our feets were in contact! Our first meal was served directly when we arrived at 11:30 am : chicken and potatoes in a soup, with some fresh veg. It was good but not really typical (no chicken or veg in the typical nomad mongolian food!). We were also very disappointed when we realised that the family was eating in the same time in another room (in front of the TV)! We expected some contact with them but this didn't happen during all the tour. Our “guide” didn't explain anything and was really able to answer any of our questions. Some persons in the group wanted to do horse riding (Y65 extra, per hour!), but the horses were not ready before 3pm, so we had 3hours to spend, which can be long in a grassland. We decided to walk around, but as the landscape is very similar everywhere around and also because of a strong wing, we come back after 1,5 hour. The other persons of the group were waiting/sleeping in the yurt! The guys who made horse ridding were a bit disappointed as the horses were not really reactive and tired (in fact horses had other rides before!). When they come back (after 1 hour), we had some activities: play with bow and arrows, catch dried cows poos to make fire with them. Unfortunately it rains in the evening so we go to beds at 9:30pm. To summarize, the only good thing in this tour is the beautiful landscape (if you like grassland), but all the rest was fake and really really overpriced! It cost lees than Y100 to the GH to do this tour, and we don't think that the “mongolian” family receive a lot of the huge amount of benefits that Anda GH makes! And don't expect to learn about mongolian culture. It was very disappointed! So, except if you have time and money to spend, don't come here!

这次去内蒙古的旅行让我有点紧张。自从我开始乘火车旅行以来已经有9个年头了,但我从没有去过这样一个我原以为很荒凉的地方。 在我的印象里,把呼和浩特构想成一个荒凉的边远小镇,就好像美国西部电影中的一样。我想象着呼和浩特只有一个带有餐馆和酒吧的小客栈,还有一家邮局,客栈门口的柱子上拴着家畜。 天哪,是我错了吗!当我看见平坦的大道,两侧的路灯和路上的汽车时,我被惊吓到措手不及。我从没有想象到呼和浩特竟然还有麦当劳或者肯德基。但它们确实在那儿! 然而,呼和浩特对我来说仍然是个陌生的城市,我仍然很紧张着客栈主人会不会来接我,就像他们在邮件里说的那样。但是当我看见一个年轻的女士举着一块写了“安达客栈”还有我名字的牌子的时候,所有的紧张不安都不见了。我非常欣慰。 格日勒和她的司机载着我到了客栈。在从南京到呼和浩特一共22个小时的火车旅程后,我做好准备真正洗个澡,拥有一张一真正的床。 我一踏进客栈的门,就受到了安达的欢迎,他是安达客栈的老板,还有那些正在到处晃晃的我的旅行伙伴也欢迎了我,他们给我提供了点喝的,有茶或者啤酒。因为我不懂得当地的文化,我决定要啤酒。 我立刻注意到的事是,安达对于作为一个蒙古人所具有强烈的自豪感。 安达以自己是真正的蒙古人感到自豪。他一直在践行自己的这种说法。他在车里听蒙古音乐。他想要客人们学习如何在占有主导地位的汉族人国家里做一个蒙古人。他想要客人学习蒙古历史。事实上,他喜欢开玩笑的说,长城是为了阻止他的祖先--蒙古人进入中国而建造的。 他甚至要求他的服务人员也要是蒙古人。所有人要能掌握蒙古语的听说读写。他们也必须分享他作为蒙古人的激情,他们必须要有很牢固的蒙古历史和文化知识。对于像格日勒那样的导游来说,他们必须还要会说、读和写英语,还要有很好的英语交流能力。 但是作为蒙古人并不意味着安达抵触其他的文化。事实上安达非常开放,喜欢学习其他的文化。我喜欢这样的事实——他知道西方人怎么旅行和他们喜欢什么不喜欢什么。他,和其他的导游,不像一些典型的中国导游(嗯~~这么说对吗?),仅仅带着旅游团去旅游景点游玩大概2个小时左右,然后就带他们去20个外销商店买东西拿回扣。我被允许按照自己的步调去我想去的地方,而且价格也还算合理。 因为我是个自助旅行者,我可以选择去加入其他的团队,或者我可以雇一个向导。如果我是唯一报名去旅行的人,即使他们宣传的是三个人一起去,安达仍然会带上我。结果,我从每件事上都得到了一点点好处,我有私人的草原行和长城行,还加入了其他旅行者去了沙漠。 我也曾和一些内蒙古人打过交道,但是从来没有当面见过。我想要在这次旅行中见到他们。所以安达也能接纳我的新朋友们。我和鄂尔多斯有过联系,他住在沙漠附近。安达就告诉他我们在哪里吃午饭,这样我就能见到他和他的妻子了。 我还见到了另一个沙发客,她住在呼和浩特,不过是从香港来的。我很高兴把安达和他的客栈服务人员介绍给她,因为她刚到这里,希望能够学习更多的关于蒙古文化的东西。即使她不一定会是客栈的客人,安达仍然带她到处参观或者让她参加旅行团。 另一件让安达客栈显得很特别的事儿,是这里就像个大家庭。我认识了相当多同行的旅行者。我和两对法国夫妻共享早餐。我和另一个来自旧金山的美国人华人一起参观呼和浩特。我说服两个美国伙伴和一个英国伙伴加入我,骑着骆驼进行沙漠之旅。我们还在一起包了有传统蒙古特色的饺子。我还遇到了两对来自德国和澳大利亚的夫妇。 对于安达客栈,我有唱不够的赞美诗。刚到这里我是个陌生人,可是离开的时候却像一家人一样。因为安达客栈的经历,现在我对像蒙古人那样的少数民族有了更好的理解,理解了他们的生活习性,以及他们与汉族人是如何相处的。

这里太让人失望了。脏兮兮的,没有自来水,房间没锁、没床单、没手纸!员工一点都不礼貌,毫无用处,总是想捞点好处。之前说的组织的活动是骗人的。经理很粗鲁,有次出门半道上要加钱,我们没同意,竟然威胁说把我们仍在荒郊野外!有些“房间”其实是仓库,我们住的就是,价格还挺贵。我这辈子都没住过这么烂的地方!