"Yes it was my intention to further brief you on our observations with the tour. On the whole things were pretty well organized although there appears to have been an internal lack of communication.
It had been our clear indication that we wanted to spend a maximum time at the Imperial palace and not to be rushed through. When we went there it was very soon clear that this would not be the case and that the driver had been arranged to pick us up at 11:00 at the northern gate. Earlier we had indicated to our guide that we wanted to see the permanent exhibitions at the palace only to be told that there werent any. On the day itself we had to adamantly insist that this was what we wanted to do and which exhibitions we wanted to see. This was reluctantly agreed to because she was not sure whether a deviation of the standard tour was permitted. Generally if we wanted something that was not preprogrammed down to the level of having a cup of coffee when the opportunity presented itself, opposition was encountered.
The visit to the Beijing Art Museum did not eventuate as your Beijing office did not find out where the museum was nor whether it was open or not. This lead to further frustration so we had to reorganize our schedule and went that afternoon to the Temple of Heaven and the next day to Song Qingling House which was interesting within itself and we would otherwise not have seen, however that does not alter the fact that the organization left something to be desired.
It was only on discussing with the manager the arrangements for visiting the Taoist Temple and our request to see a geomancer that it became evident that no proper attention had been given to our request. Ultimately after some discussion this matter was remedied but only after resistance had been overcome.
Similar rigidity we experienced with the venue for the lunches. These were not chosen with respect to the itinerary to be taken and we would have to back track after lunch to visit the next part of the tour. Such additional unnecessary travel is not appreciated particularly when the restaurants are typical tourist stations with little Chinese character, we could eat in such establishments in any country in the world. The only lunch that was memorable was the one that we had at the Beihai Park but this was after we made our feelings about the chosen venues clear.
In a situation where one organizes what is in effect a private tour, we do expect flexibility and to have our expectations met and it would be advisable that after arrival in China the local office takes the trouble to go through the schedule in detail to know exactly what is expected such that it can make the appropriate arrangements. Our observation is that these were not quite to our expectations.
Having lived in overseas countries for many years now, we know that it is often difficult to get staff that is proficient in English and in this case also we would suggest that Barbara needs to put in a concerted effort to improve her language proficiency as often questions were not understood and answers did not give the required details.
However all-in-all we had a very memorable experience by visiting Beijing and its exceptional sites with the weather cooperating to a large extent with only some dust at the beginning and again at the end of our visit. "