"Our tour was most successful and we were pleased with the arrangements you made. All arrangements in Kunming were in order and to our satisfaction. The local guide Judy was very helpful. A spare half day to walk around the city and shops would have been of interest. We enjoyed Lijiang very much. The local guide Huang Huaihai we considered the best of our tour. The Guan Fang Hotel (5 star) was a very nice hotel however we felt that the Gelan Hotel being located near the entrance to the old city would have been more convenient for walking around and perhaps have more Chinese atmosphere. We missed going to the Yunshanping Pastureland. The day was partly cloudy however the biggest deterrent was the long delays to get on the chairlift. 1.5 hours on the way up and 1.5 hours again on return. 3 hours standing in a queue is very much a waste of half a days sightseeing. The tourist management should look at some system of reservation for tour groups to book allocated times to use the chairlift. The Dali sector was well balanced and all aspects satisfactory. The Jinghong sector was perhaps the most disappointing. The three day programme did not seem to be very well organised and there was a lot of spare time and duplication. The visit to the National Minorities Park etc on 29 May was good. The guide advised us that the Royal General Temple and the Buddhist White Pagoda scheduled for May 31 were what we were seeing in the Minorities Park Manting Temple and Manting park on 29 May. 30 May being specially selected as a Sunday we had expected to be able to see the famed Sunday early morning market at Menghai with its many colourful tribal people in National costume and jewellery. We were advised that this was not possible. It could easily have been scheduled as our only other activity for the day was to travel to Menghan and visit the Ganlanba and check in late at the Scientist Activity Guesthouse. The guide did take us to an extra market in Menghan however we do not believe this to be as colourful as the hilltribes in Menghai or Menghun. It would only have meant an earlier start for the day perhaps around 6am. 31 May the overnight stay at the Gardens was very good and we had a nice quiet inspection of the gardens before returning to Jinghong. The other activities scheduled for this day had already been attended on May 29 (above). We enquired why the return to Jinghong was the same route as the outward journey and not Via Mengyang and the Elephant Banyan Tree and were advised that although the alternative route was shown as a main road it was in fact a difficult road to travel with many large trucks! To tighten up this schedule a return flight to Kunming on the evening of May 31 would have allowed a free morning in the city of Kunming to shop and walk around on June 1.
All meals were upto the standard expected, Yunnan Air flights were all on time and efficient and the hospitality of the Chinese people wonderful."