Jun 1, 2005

Photo offered by our client Mr. Edward Balduf

Vicky,

Thank you for a great trip. We had a wonderful time. All the arrangements worked out great. We would like to thank the local guides as they put in a lot of time and effort to make sure we were well taken care of.
We loved the configurable group sizes you work with. Our group of 6 was a great and we were continually reminded how difficult it could have been to travel with a large group, by some of the other tours we bumped into through out China.
For those of you reading this to try to decide if you should take a tour with Travel China Guide, I would highly recommend it. The arrangements were flawless. I arranged our trip completely over e-mail and only met Vicky when we visited Xian.
Here is a collection of our thoughts good and bad about the trip (in no specific order).
- I want to say that our guide (Lhapa) in Lhasa was great, and contrary to what I had read, having a Tibetan guide we great as was his English.
-Terracotta warriors were amazing and the highlight of the trip. Pictures were allowed contrary to what some of the guide books say.
- The guides and drivers were very professional and knowledgeable. Their English skills were first rate.
- If your concerned about not getting enough or good food on this trip, you will be surprised how much and how good the food is.
- The hotels were all very nice, with western amenities and great western breakfast. The Lhasa hotel was the one exception, as it could use a little updating (which may have been ongoing while we visited).
-The shopping excursions were ok, I would suggest that perhaps you might want to think about putting them on the trip schedule. One of the things that did not go over the best with our group was that we ended up at 2 pearl stores, because we requested to visit one early on in the trip and didnt realize we would be going to another one later in the trip. We also attended 2 sessions on Chinese painting and no Jade store or Tea ceremony.
-The Tang Dynasty Shows food wasnt the best, and I know we discussed over e-mail changing to another restaurant, but somehow some it didnt work out that way. The food at the show wasnt horrible, but it definitely wasnt on the same level as the other food provided.
-The Beijing schedule can be a little taxing. Our trips visit to Beijing may have changed somewhat because of some protests going on in Tiananmen square the day we visited. The guide did a great job of handling that aspect, but the schedule was a little crazy. I would suggest next time the following order Tiananmen Sq, Forbidden City, Temple Of Heaven, Lunch, then Summer Palace, Dinner and finally the Opera.
-I would suspect there is more to see in Chongqing, so spending more time there might be nice. We stopped for a couple hours to see the Pandas in the Zoo and have dinner before embarking on our cruise, I suspect theres more to the city than we saw.
-The day in Wuhan was not scheduled well. We arrived on the Boat at 12 noon, and had a 4:30pm flight which didnt leave time for Lunch and the Sights scheduled. We did the best and once we convinced the guide to alter the Lunch location (upon our request) to the airport, it worked out Ok.
-I would suggest possibly reducing the number of palace and museum visits. I dont know what to add (see below for one suggestion) but by the end of 19 days we had seen enough palaces and museums.
-Once possible suggestion to add to the trip would be somehow to experience more everyday Chinese life. I dont know how to do that, the hutong tour is one possibility. Maybe you could take people for morning Tai Chi.
-I would suggest to the guide in Beijing that she present the option for a Hutong tour earlier in the day. When she did suggest it, we needed to make a decision at that time, and we choose not to go. I wish we would have after thinking about it and reading some information. Perhaps you should consider adding it to your normal tour.
-I would suggest that you disclose when people book early that there may be some changes in airline schedules, and that you may be forced to change the order of cities or charge slightly more for connecting flights. It didnt bother us, but I could see it being an issue for other travelers.
- I would suggest possibly using a hotel closer to downtown ShangHai. The Hua Ting hotel is beautiful and next to a subway, but somewhat away from the active downtown. We did take the subway an it was navigable by western tourists.
- I would suggest adding the Maglev train in Shanghai to the itinerary (we asked the guide to take us and we paid the extra), it was cool.
- Anyone else taking this trip, you may want to consider adding a free day to Shanghai, we would have liked more time to explore on our own in Shanghai. Make sure to consider the hotel advice above if you add the day.
- We really liked the 2 days in YongShuo where we were without a guide. We had a good time, and were happy to be on our own for a bit.
- For other travelers, definitely rent the bikes in YongShuo and visit the Banyan tree and Moon hill, it was fun, and riding on the roads wasnt as bad as you imagine when you first see Chinese traffic.
- Lastly take a lot of memory for your camera or an iPod to copy pictures too. We took a LOT of pictures.

Overall, a great trip! I would recommend it to anyone. If you have questions, please write I will try to answer if I have time.

Thank you very much.
Ed