毛祿生

BACKPACKING IN WARSAW

Poland offers many cheap options to travel around. It has a well connected public transportation and special discounts for students under 26. Buses are quite cheap and special offers are abundant on Internet. Cheap accommodation is also wide-spread. Youth hostels are increasing in numbers and surprisingly very close to hot spots. I was surprised to see the number of places for backpacking nearby a Hard Rock Café! Finding a good place to rest might be a nightmare in different major cities but in Warsaw is quite the opposite. Youth hostels are run by a very enthusiastic crew who are always welcoming foreigners in the city. I have been in many youth hostels before but staying in Warsaw was different. When we arrived to the city, we did not have a room on the dormitories so we spend some time at this funky place called Oki Doki Hotel.

This was a fascinating experience. The youth hostel was pretty much at heart of Warsaw, two minutes walk away from a supermarket, very close to a MRT, to the Palace of Culture, and around the largest department store in the country. The hostel was run by a Serbian guy who was taking out all the people at hostel. He took us for a Czech schnitzels version on Monday, Old-Polish folk karaoke on Tuesday, shot bars on Wednesday and for some cultural trips as the old Jewish neighborhood and to Holy Cross Church were actually Frederic Chopin's heart is kept.

Farther more, I think the people that come to that hostel were special. Many, many backpackers just gather around to enjoy the bar, come together on the kitchen or plan trips to the city on comfortable puffs . They offer the cheapest beer on town, and there are a lot of amenities like topic-parties. You have this impression that people actually know why they are there. Most of them were not the first time there as well. People just come back to the place to know what is around. The hostel is nearby many places where you could exchange money without your passport, get fresh vegetables at the midnight or head to a sophisticated place for coffee.

However, people just love gathering around to tell stories about the places they have visited. Visitors feel like they are at home, even hosting newcomers. Many people used their third floor for cooking and having a beer around six o'clock. There were people for all around the world, most of them traveling around the region. You could get to know places and tips that you would not hear about in a travel guide. I enjoy sharing dinner with people all around the world and knowing their stories. For instance, there was this French girl who was studying at Budapest. She likes to play the guitar and eat cereal all the night long. She travels back to Poland just to enjoy what she called the 'Chopin trip'. She is into music and love to get into all the places where actually Chopin played. Also I remember this Irish script writer who was travelling the country before heading back to work. He have very interesting opinions about the future of the region and was enthusiastic about being part of its evolvement. There were also two American missionaries for Peace Corp that just finished their work in Ukraine. They were having some holidays after her duties and make very insightful comments.

生活報告

生活報告