Nicole and Dora,

First off I would like to apologize for waiting so long to reply. After our tour we stayed a few days in Shanghai then returned home completely worn out( a good thing actually ). Then returning to work there was a lot of catching up to do, BUT it was all well worth it !

We are very pleased with our tour only wishing you did tours in other countries. Having always traveled on our own or with family members we were apprehensive with having to deal with a group situation. Your small group arrangements were wonderful.

I have no real negative comments to make. As to the meals I found them unlike the Chinese meals here in the US. This was a little surprising but not in a bad way. Personally I like to try most different foods ( I have eaten insects in Thailand). All of the meals were quite tasty and there was always lots. A minor criticism was that most of the time the rice was served just before the desert and most people would have liked it to have been served at the beginning of the meal. I believe it is an Asian and Western cultural difference. The only other slightly negative comment about the food was the Peking Duck dinner. Most of our group found it to be greasy. I have eaten duck before and I had a similar dinner after the tour in Shanghai which I feel was less greasy and actually presented better ( it was carved at the table). As far as one meal to recommend I have the opposite reaction. I have only one part of one meal not to recommend, that is the Peking duck.

The guides were most interesting. If I had to pick a best one it would be two. The two guides in Guilin (Rebecca and Evelyn) would be my choice. I felt comfortable from the very beginning with these two guides. All the guides were conscientious and knowledgeable.

The transportation was great. One of my worries about an escorted tour was not being able to be comfortable while riding. I am rather big (6' 2 at 280 pounds) and usually find leg room on buses to be lacking. The size of the tour allowed us all to take up two seats if we wanted. There were several buses which had enough room for my legs without having to take up two seats. The drivers were great with very good attitudes. I have driven some large vehicles in my day and I was impressed with the ease the drivers appeared to maneuver those large busses in tight spaces.

I also must congratulate you two personally. I had many questions before the trip which you skillfully answered. It was a very nice experience to be able to meet you in person.

My overall comment is Thanks for a job well done and a memorable tour !!!

Dee and Dale Snyder
Raleigh, N.C. USA

Dear Sophie/Nicole,

Meals were in general great throughout the trip. Our favorites were the Sichuan food both in Beijing and Lhasa and the dumpling banquet in Xian.

The only disappointing meal was in the Gyangtse Hotel as the “hot buffet” was cold and hence the food selection rather poor for what we expected of a hotel.

In our opinion, the food selection in Lhasa could be improved if there were more meals outside the hotel [or if this was offered as an option]. Lhasa has a reasonable restaurant range and more varied option choices (we were in a few good restaurants recommended by our guide).

The guides’ attitude during our trips and visits was excellent. All of them were always on time and were really attentive and knowledgeable.

The guides' English knowledge was very good and we had no problem communicating with them at any level. All of them were clearly very knowledgeable of the places we visited and the cultural and historical facts around them.

All cars were very clean and comfortable and the drivers very attentive.

The attitude and service of all the guides was really excellent.

We were very touched by Linda, our guide in Beijing who welcomed us with a bouquet of roses to congratulate us on our wedding.

We have to highlight the English skills of both the guides in Xian (Rita) and Shanghai (Rebecca) and the knowledge of Tibetan history and religion of our guide in Tibet (Tibet was one of the highlights of the trip).

Another highlight was the Guilin cruise on the Li river and the bike ride in the countryside (absolutely fab!)

The organisation of the trip was excellent.

All the scheduled visits were carried out as expected and the guides were very attentive and knowledgeable.

Our luggage didn’t appear on our flight from Lhasa to Xian and the agency was extremely helpful.

Best regards,

Maria & Guy

Dear Abbey and Ruby,

How are you? We have been home for a week and are slowly getting back into our daily routines, also looking at the 4000 or more photos and videos we took. I wish I could send you a video of one of the young pandas at Chengdu, but it is too large to send by email, unfortunately. That panda had put on an acrobatic show and the crowd was very thrilled to watch him (maybe "her") and you can hear a lot of laughter in the background; it seems that he knew he was entertaining us, while all his other friends were either sleeping or munching on bamboo shoots, totally indifferent to the performance! If I can figure out a way of sending you that video, I will do so in the near future.

Some of our favorite events, besides the cities and historical sites themselves, were performances. Some of them you had pre-arranged, such as the Tang Dynasty Show in Xi'an and the Acrobats' performance in Shanghai, but we also really liked Dynamic Yunnan, the dance performance and the Classical Music concert with ancient instruments in Lijiang. The only optional performance we did not like was in Chengdu, it was a sort of cabaret performance, and we thought that the caliber was not professional, as for the other performances.

In the meantime, within your questions and request for information, I have put in my answers. I will try and be as precise as possible, but you should feel free to ask me more questions. It's my way (and my husband's) of thanking you and Travel China Guide for making our vacation so unique and so memorable. Feel free to publish or include any of my remarks on your website: you can also give my email address to potential clients.

If you have other questions or need further comments, let me know. Again, thank you for making this such a memorable visit to your beautiful country and its lovely people. Many other events took place, unplanned ones, which will remain engraved in our memories. I am not exaggerating my praise of your work and your professionalism. I am sending a copy of this to Mrs. Liuba Beauvais who recommended your services, just to let her know how successful everything was.

All the meals were excellent. We especially enjoyed how the restaurants prepared vegetables, and we ate a lot of them: the cooks managed to keep the bright colors, and to keep them crunchy. We enjoyed chicken and prawns or shrimps, whatever the preparation. I liked the addition of peanuts to several meat dishes, as it offered a nice contrast in texture. In general, there was too much food, and we felt guilty to waste so much and not to be able to eat everything. Our favorite meal of all was the farewell dinner at the Central Hotel in Shanghai, it was more refined and more elegant than the others.

All our guides were not only very professional, but they went out of their way to help us appreciate the different aspects of their city or region. They all had a great sense of humor, and we laughed a lot together as we compared our respective cultures; we felt, in each case, that Gloria (Beijing), Julia (Xi'an), Rodney (Lijiang), Nancy (Kunming), Sandy (Guilin), Susan (Chengdu), and Sean (Shanghai) could have become personal friends, had we remained in China to live for a while; they were very easy to get along with, and made every aspect of our visit beautiful and interesting. Their knowledge and their patience were astounding.

Our drivers were superb, even amazing: I would have been afraid to drive in city traffic in China as it is quite crazy, but they made us feel safe, and we were very impressed. One special driver deserves a unique mention: Mr. Wong, in Beijing. As I had told you, my husband and I especially admire contemporary architecture, and because Beijing was foggy on several of the days, we never got to really look at the Bird's Nest and at the Cube. As our last day in Beijing was clearer, on the way to the airport Mr. Wong drove us by both buildings; we were touched and very appreciative of his thoughtfulness, and we will never forget him and his initiative.

It is almost difficult to single one guide out as particularly outstanding. In Lijiang, Rodney shone as he helped us manage our overweight luggage: as there was only one check-in line, we waited 45 minutes, and Rodney thought it was ridiculous and let the gate agent know that we were all very upset; the gate agent felt guilty and let us go through without paying extra for the overweight luggage (we had already bought too many souvenirs I think!). The three of us laughed a lot at the incident and at Rodney's wonderful way of asserting himself for our benefit.

Unfortunately, due to my husband's brief illness, Sandy especially stands out: this does not mean that the other guides would not have been just as helpful, but circumstances gave Sandy a chance to rise to the occasion. When we asked the hotel to call a doctor, Sandy joined us to help translate and to accompany us to the hospital nearby: the doctor herself was superb and thorough; at one point, she said that it would take a couple of hours to get the results of the blood test, so she sent us back to the hotel to rest and promised to call Sandy on his cell phone as soon as she had the results. Sandy stayed in the hotel lobby waiting, we went upstairs; as after two hours Sandy had not heard anything, he went back on his own, to the hospital and got what we needed. What a professional way to approach his role as guide... he was more a guardian angel than a guide, and it was very reassuring to be able to count on him. By the way, my husband discomfort abated very quickly thanks to the prescription the doctor provided, and the rest of our trip went on perfectly. Finally, again, Sandy showed his ability to negociate and be helpful to increase our enjoyment: I had seen and liked the China knot that I had see in several places during the holidays and thought that I would like to buy one; on the evening cruise on the Lijiang River, the ship had a large red knot hanging in the ship pilot's area. Sandy asked if I would like it, I said yes, and he offered to ask the pilot for it; his negotiations were very successful, and the knot now hangs at the entrance of my house in the United States!

Your services before the trip and during were the most outstanding we have ever encountered in all our travels around the world; I happily authorize you to publish any (or all) of my comments, and as indicated, do give my email address to anyone who has questions.

Warmest regards to all at Travel China Guide,

Danielle
Danielle Santal, Travel Consultant
Journeys, affiliated with The Adler Travel Agency

Hello There from Bob and Marion Smith:

We apologize for the late reply, we have been busy back at work and planning our trips for next year!

Our China and Tibet trip was amazing in every way. We consider this trip to be one of the best we have ever taken. We were initially hesitant about signing up with a travel company based in China given we were booking and paying out of Canada. However, we found your company to be the BEST we have ever dealt with - organized, respectful, efficient, communicative, and friendly.

The itinerary was well planned and executed. Each day was excellent right from the start and we commented at the end that it seemed that each day was better than the one before! Our only suggestion would be to only book tourists into the one hour Shanghai boat tour...the three hour tour had too many industrial sights.

The meals were exceptional and plentiful. We ate in a variety of excellent restaurants and sampled many different regional foods - just as your itinerary stated. We gained far too much weight!

The guides were friendly and knowledgeable and spoke excellent English. We especially found Xie Lin (Beijing), Lily (Xian), Lu Ping (Guillin) particularly engaging and fun to be with. These three ladies were the guides who truly went over and above and made our stay in those locations particularly enjoyable.

The drivers were prompt, courteous and kept their vehicles clean. We would recommend that a cooler is kept in the trunk so that cold water can be served to Westerners (who prefer cold water).

Thanks again for an awesome trip. We really appreciated all of your work from the beginning to the end and we are already recommending your company to friends of ours. We have attached some photos for you.

Bob and Marion

Abby / Ruby,

Here are my comments from my trip to Xian last week.

1. Meals - The only meal that came with the tour was really good, I was able to order extra food at a minimum of additional cost and the service and quality of the food was great.

2. Guides - Again, I only had one guide for my tour and that was Carol. She had good spoken English was knowledgable about the Terracotta Warriors and was a very good guide.

3. Car - No problems with the car. I liked the fact that there was a cool box with water that we could have during the tour.

I would prefer that you would not publish my e-mail address on your website. Thanks.

Best regards,
Dave.

The meals were of uniformly high quality and it is difficult to choose one above the others. But my favorite was the excellent meal in Xian served at the dinner theater.

Our two guides were excellent. Each focused on looking after us, and worked very hard at doing so. Both had good English language skills, so that communication was not a problem. Both were very knowledgeable about the places on our tour.

Both cars were well maintained by the drivers. The drivers were excellent in traffic which would have bothered me a lot.

Your services were excellent. The arrangements proceeded without any difficulties, and all of the visits which were scheduled took place. There was never a time when we felt that we were not being cared for in the best fashion. Both of our guides provided excellent service, but my wife Carol and I felt that Brian was especially outstanding. I have no hesitation in recommending your service to my friends, and indeed I have done so since our return.

I am happy to be quoted. I would prefer to not have my e-mail address published.

We do have digital photos but Carol and I are still learning about transferring them to the internet, so I am not able to send them to you at this time. If we do figure it out I will send you one or two of the better ones.