Hi Judy and Brenda,

I should begin by saying that we were thoroughly satisfied with the services provided by Travel China Guide. We had some problems but they had to do with the flights of China Southern and were not your fault. Perhaps the itinerary we asked you to arrange was too ambitious.

Meeting and greeting. Perfect: from arrival at Guangzhou to departure from Beijing we were met and seen off at airports and railway stations promptly and politely.

Hotels. Xian excellent, Dunhuang fine (though they refused to give us a drink with the lunch we had there). Turpan was fine. Because of late planes (we arrived at Kashgar at 06.00 instead of 22.25 the previous evening and had four hours sleep at the hotel there; we got to Urumqi at 03.00 instead of 23.00 the previous evening and spent three and a half hours at the hotel there) it was hard to get much of an impression of hotels in Kashgar and Urumqi. Bamboo Garden in Beijing is pure delight.

I would suggest that if you have a late arrival from Kashgar and an early departure from Urumqi the next day you should use an aiport hotel rather than the Grand Xinjiang which is fine but about 25 minutes from the airport.

Guides. Three out of four were A+. Miss Zhang in Xian, Miss Shan in Turpan/Urumqi and Mohammed Ali in Kashgar were first class: spoke good English, were helpful and knowledgeable and did not keep steering us to factories and shops. The only disappointment was David in Dunhuang who is very pleasant but his language skills were yet to be improved.

Meals varied from the excellent to the adequate.

To be honest when you are travelling and after a big hotel breakfast you do not need much lunch: often too much was provided. One meat plate, some vegetables, rice/noodles is really enough. Westerners eat less than you think, perhaps.

But overall we have nothing but praise for your organisation and we would be very happy if you want to use us a reference.

Thank you again.

For our information the French agency Voyageurs du Monde charges US$1944 just for the Xian-Dunhuang-Turpan-Urumqi-Kashgar-Urumqi trip (six days, five nights) with two people sharing.

So your prices are very reasonable.

We hope to return to China soon and will unquestionably use Travel China Guide.

Very best wishes

Stephen Jessel