So, I’m in Kaohsiung for the first time, using a Lonely Planet as my guide, and I ask the cabby to take me to International Youth Hostel IYH, which Lonely Planet says is at 120 Wenwu-1 Rd. I get there, and I see a building with a sign with that name, but no entrance, no way to get in. I called the number Lonely Planet gives, but it’s defunct, apparently. Has IYH moved? Or gone out of business? If it’s the latter, anybody know the address of a cheap hostel in Kaohsiung?
Indiana Jones uses Lonely Planet to find his way around and stays in youth hostels? That’s it, the world is now officially devoid of adventure.
Sorry, Indi, can’t help you. Our man Juba may be able to give you some advice, and there’s a guy here called bobepine who rescues animals down there. Maybe you should PM them and hope they get back to you before it’s too late.
Also, look in the restaurants forum to see where people hang out. At least you may be able to find someone to ask for advice in the pub.
You can find a complete list of youth hostels in Taiwan here:
yh.org.tw/English/eng_hostel1.htm
Note some of them are just hotels that offer discounts to YHA members.
I was in the same boat just a few days ago. I arrived in Kaohsiung looking for a cheap place, with the same book as my only guide. I walked to the IYH and saw the sign with no entrance. There were people outside though and they showed me where the entrance was (I believe on the south side of the building, around the corner from the sign). One of the guys tried phoning the number but the owner was not home. I called a few hours later and she said that there were no rooms available. This was about 3 or 4 days ago. For some reason I had a hard time getting through with the phone # as well. Just keep on trying and you’ll get through eventually, although it might be full. You can try Kaohsiung 202, a new hostel along the Lover River. They should have rooms available, I know you can get your own single room for I believe 250 or 350 NT. Their phone # is 0938020304. It took me quite a few tries to get though to them too, but eventually I got ahold of a guy, and he speaks English.
Sorry to inform you a group of politico-academic hacks took over the Chinese Taipei Youth Hostel Association in a coup and all the original people were unceremoniously dumped - including me, without so much as a thank you for all the years of effort I put in there. The handbook and VCD I translated were never distributed except by me and boxes of them may still be mouldering somewhere. The hostels in Gaoxiong are not the same ones as before. I will try and find some up-to-date info for you.
Should you venture to Tainan City: I stayed at the China Youth Corps student hostel twice. They put me on my own in a 4-bed dorm and it was very pleasant.
Update: I ended up staying at Kaohsiung 202 my last night in KH. The rooms and bathrooms aren’t what I’d call clean, and the rooms are about as bare-bones as you can get. But on the plus side, the price is right (NT$350/night), it’s in a great location (202 Guangfu-3 St., just east of the river), and you can use the Internet for free. And the manager (a foreigner named Marcus)'s a nice guy. They serve food too, apparently (Western items like burgers, Mexican food, German sausages), but I didn’t eat there so I can’t comment on its quality.