Hi Emma and Ellie,

It was very nice to meet you in Xi'an and again, thank you for all your help with our trip.

As you requested I have some feedback for you.

Firstly can I say that we all really enjoyed our holiday to China. We had never been on a guided tour before and were happy with the service we got. However, we were also very happy not to have a guide or be on a tour on our last few days in Shanghai as we all wanted some time to ourselves. I can see that from your view you want to fill up each day with activities and sightseeing, but it is also important to allow people time to relax and unwind also.

Our guide in Beijing (Leo Wei - perhaps the wrong spelling...) Maggie, was just lovely. She was really friendly, very obliging, her English was great and her knowledge extensive. Our schedule for Beijing was very enjoyable, (except for the Opera which we all found to be far too high-brow and exhausting at the end of the long day sightseeing.) The Holiday Inn is a good hotel, although the location was not as central as we would have liked. Whilst the hotel has good facilities, we felt the room was very small for 3 people - but in general we found the hotel very good, comfortable and friendly staff.

We went to the Great Wall at Mutianyu and not Badaling as advised by friends here in Ireland before we left. We were very pleased by our decision and would recommend that you bring all your visitors to that part of the wall - far less touristed and therefore so much more enjoyable.

Our guide Lin Jiu (Linda) in Xi'an was also great. She looked after us very well for our 2 days there. The hotel was lovely also - excellent room and food was yum! The food in all of the restaurants we were brought to over the whole period, was very good. In fact often there was too much food served which isn't necessary.

The river trip was very enjoyable Emma. The boat is a good size, the food was good and the staff were very pleasant and the guide was very able also. We met a great bunch of fellow travellers and had a laugh over the four nights. The only negative comment I have is that the entertainment that is provided on board was very amateurish (no wonder - the crew / staff also double as singers, dancers etc). I felt that the cruise company would be better advised to either provide professional entertainers or none at all (and in my view none is the best option). The excursion down the Shengdong river was a great experience and definitely a highlight of the trip.

All our connections went very smoothly and without any problems.

In short we really enjoyed our trip of combining the tour with free days to enjoy the cities without a guide. To any would-be travellers I recommend combining Travel China Guide tours whilst also leaving some time to yourselves. That way you let Travel China Guide do all the work booking hotels, flights, trains etc, you have a guide to bring you through the main attractions and you still have time to go shopping, check out the markets to walk in the parks and people watch, or even, God Forbid, sleep late, hang out at your hotel and
relax!

Thanks again to our guides Leo Wei (Maggie) in Beijing, Lin Jiu, (Linda) in Xi'an (apologies for bad spelling!) and again to Emma for doing all the behind the scenes work.

Regards,

Niamh