Horsepen46

The first youth-hostel style guesthouse in the ancient town of Shaxi.

Horse Pen 46 is the first youth-hostel style guesthouse in the ancient town of Shaxi. Owned and operated by experienced backpackers, our guesthouse is designed for the young adventurous backpackers, independent travelers, and traveling families alike. Our owners are experienced travelers like yourself, so we try to turn Horse Pen 46 into a comfortable home away from home for all.

Built in an authentic Bai minority courtyard, Horse Pen 46 mantains the traditional look and feel of the local architecture, with minimum modifications to the original structure. Following sustainable development practices, the construction and renovation of Horse Pen 46 used as much local resources as possible. With the exception of the toilets and showers, which was not possible to manufacture locally, over 72% of the construction material invovled was from a local source, and we used 100% local labor. We use engery-saving bulbs in all of our light fixtures. We use on-demand natural gas water heaters to provide 24-hour hot water to our guests. Solar water heater was ruled out because the locally available solar technology is insifficient to supply enough hot water to a guesthouse full of visitors. We use and re-use any items or materials from the original courtyard and from the locals daily life in the decoration of our guesthouse as much as possible. For example, our flower vases are pots used by the original inhabitants of this courtyard to store rice and flour; our trash cans are small weaved backets that the local women use like a backpack to carry produces and other supplies.