We had a fantastic time in China - unbelievably eye-opening. As experienced travelers, I can say that this was the best tour we have ever had (though it is the only tour weve ever had) beginning with my experiences with you in designing the custom visit through to the 16 days of sightseeing. China as a country is absolutely amazing! It is blessed with a lot of natural wonders not found anywhere in the world. Its people are impressive in whats been accomplished in relatively short order. We could never have built over 1000 high-rise buildings (over 40 stories high) from 1990 until today. My husband is ready to move to China.

We wish to thank you for making all the arrangements to ensure that we had a truly memorable trip to China. We especially thank you for helping my brother with the return of his fanny pack with everything intact including over $900 in cash.

My parents, who are 84 years old, felt very proud to have their whole family with them along with some very good friends. Everywhere we went, they were able to confirm that your arrangements were top-notch and you provided us great value. I am very glad that I found your web site. I know that we have a partner in China whom we can rely on for tour assistance. I will pass on your details to all my friends and family.

The overall itinerary: First of all I want to thank you for always being so accommodating during the design of our tour and also during our visit. Your overall organization was extremely helpful. My family and friends are very demanding and you worked with us very flexibly. I know that we may have been an unruly group with some of your local guides and, for the most part, they worked with us to make sure that we were satisfied.

We planned our whole trip over the Internet communicating with you and with all the members of our group through emails. This turned out to be a very efficient way to agreeing arrangements. And, I created our personalized guide book off your website I that I then distributed to everyone on the trip.

On the whole, we greatly enjoyed our visits to historic sites but often they were too congested. Perhaps better planning or staggering visits through the lunch hour could have alleviated some of this. A number in our group felt that they were being pushed too hard to buy jade, pearls, rugs, etc at the government-sponsored stores which were all a lot more expensive than I remembered from years ago. Haggling and negotiating were expected but not all of my friends are used to bargaining. China also needs to do something about the street people selling postcards and other junk. They were very aggressive, some almost scary.

We should have allowed for a little more downtime for people to wander on their own schedule. I will make sure of that next time around.

Local itineraries: We changed our local itineraries here and there as we wanted, and, I think to our advantage. I think that we could have coordinated a little better across cities with a bit more custom tailoring of sites and schedules. Our itinerary included a few too many temples and gardens.

Our trip to Beijing, Guilin, Shanghai, and the Yangtze River cruise were all so memorable for different reasons. In Wuhan we had a banquet that our family arranged for 140 people that was wonderful and it was so much fun to meet cousins and extended family. In Beijing we had the same experience with our family at another banquet that you arranged for us.

The Yangtze River Cruise was one of the main highlights of the entire trip. We think about our visit in thirds - pre-cruise, cruise and post-cruise. The Shennang River pea pod boat trip was very special and so much fun. The acupuncturist and the massages were a real treat and great value. We were disappointed that we were eating dinner when our boat went by the new dam. I realize that the Regal China had a schedule to keep but we missed out on an important site.

The guides: For the most part we really enjoyed our guides. Except for one, they all had excellent English. The best ones were good companions as well, not just guides. The outstanding ones were: Harry in Beijing, Susie in Shanghai. Wei in Suzhou was fun. She knew how to handle even the most rebellious in our group. Wendy in Hangzhou was very flexible in working with us to satisfy our food demands.

We were impressed that we were met and delivered everywhere right on schedule, with one exception, on our return trip to Shanghai.

Transportation: As you know, we had three flights and one train ride. They were all fine. Our guides made sure that our luggage and we were checked in and then escorted us to Security after passing to us our boarding passes and baggage claim checks. This treatment plus picking up our luggage at the hotel made traveling around quite painless.

Hotels: Overall the hotels were definitely 5-star hotels. Shanghai Huating did not meet our standards nor was it in a convenient location. The Guilin Sheraton was a little tired and old. On the other hand, the Sheraton Suzhou was a beauty - looked like an extension of the temple next door and the grounds and the gardens were gorgeous. The Kerry Center and the Wuhan Shangri-la were both very comfortable with great service. And who wouldnt be happy in a suite at the Hangzhou Shangri-la. The hotel upgrades the entire party. The Wuhan Shangri-la had the best breakfast buffet though they were all pretty good. Massages in our rooms were the best value throughout China in all the hotels and on the Regal China cruise ship as well. A standout therapist was Dr. Pin in Hangzhou. She was the best I have ever had and I take massages every week.

Food: We had some great meals, particularly those at the restaurants chosen by my local family and friends. The Peking Duck Restaurant in Beijing was excellent - five Beijing ducks for our party. We did not like the tourist restaurants catering to the large crowds with bland food served in large quantities. The worst of these were in Shanghai where there is no reason for such a bad meal to happen. We begged our guides to avoid these places. In Suzhou at least our guide took us to the Chinese part of the same restaurant instead of the western buffet. In Hangzhou, after much pressure we went to an outstanding local restaurant that was serving a wedding. We had an excellent dinner with several local specialties.

Generally speaking - the meals were definitely not 5-star ? too touristy and too much of it. Not all Americans want large quantities of food. You should include more local restaurants ? Dim Sum and Noodle houses. You might consider designing meals that fit visitors food sophistication. For example, a group from NY might have much higher expectations than a group from some other part of the world. Just like you offer us choices of hotels you should offer us choices of restaurants. We would have been happier if all the restaurants were of the same quality as the Peking Duck Restaurant. We would have been happy to pay more for better food.

All in all we had a truly memorable time. Our group of 15 adults (plus three children) took over 4000 photos that Im sure well enjoy sharing with each other, reliving the trip together again and again. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask. Also, feel free to post my feedback.