India House

Whilst definitely not best hostel i've stayed in in my limited travels it the India House would definitely have to be one of the most interesting. It was originally part of a small cluster of hostels in the area but the others are still in the process of being restored after last year's floods. It's a pretty nice old building with the dorm quarters in a couple of sheds in the back - they only provide one sheet and a pillow, which is okay because its so hot but after my bb experience in Gastown in Vancouver i'm always wary about any place that doesn't have a very comprehensive sheet policy. The array of crazy staff and clientele are no worse than anywhere else I've stayed (I'll take an alcoholic over a crack addict any day). The security seems to be non existent - there's usually someone at the front desk but they have no keys and the doors are always open, however, this could be because there's absolutely noone in the neighbourhood since the floods washed them away. The presence of a very cheap beer vending machine ($1) means that quite a few of the people staying never leave the hostel including one bizarre old man named Morrocco (he has another name which I couldn’t pronounce and therefore can’t rember) who hangs around the hostel all day wearing nothing but a dirty pair of jeans and does nothing but smoke cigarettes and drink beer (which everyone keeps on buying him). Apparently he's a great traveller who's seen the world and run hostels around the world and he has a lot of interesting stories I almost regret not staying anoher day to hear more of them) but he NEVER leaves the hostel. When he helped someone take some things to their truck across the street he was freaked out because it was the furthest from the property he'd been in over a month. Another guy, the swiss night manager, who doesn't seem to like us smoking 'funny stuff' needed Katrina to get him to leave the city for the first time in 14 years I'd recommend anyone who wants to stay in a hostel in new orleans to go there but three's no point because it's still the only one there and probably will be for a little while to come.