Dear Maggie and Sally, you will find my replies following each of your questions below. Thank you for your excellent services, I definitely recommend Travel China Guide as travel guide.

The time in general seemed short, we were usually in a hurry and very little time was allowed to enjoy at more leisurely pace. I understand that it is very difficult when you want to cover so much in so little time. In Beijing, I commented that I did not enjoy the Ming Tomb, and would have preferred more time in the Great Wall, or the Forbidden City. I recommend that the visit to the Great Wall be very early in the morning, maybe there is a little less people, and it is not so hot. I would also skip the Pandas, its not worth the time. I would have enjoyed more a visit to the Olympics site, which we passed by. I also mentioned I was very dissapointed that the Mao Dsedong mausoleum was closed for repairs, although you have no control over that, but I was looking forward to it. I would be interested in seeing hutong, although David comented that this was eliminated because people did not like it. We feel that we wasted much time the day we disembarked from the Yangze cruise, and had to wait for the flight to Shanghai, I also understand that it is not under your control, but maybe you can think of some way to overcome this. Maybe you can skip the visit to the Three Gorges Dam project, and leave Yichang the night the cruise finishes. I saw the Itaipu Dam in Brasil, which was much more impressive to me, they have educational program, which made the Three Gorges Dam seem less interesting. Too little time in Shanghai and Hong Kong, I think the time in Guilin can be shortened by a day, the Reed Flute cave and the parks were not too interesting. Maybe an earlier flight to Hong Kong would have been better.

I liked the food in Guilin was one of the best, it was Sichuan cuisine. Also the dumpling feast in Xian was very nice. I would like to recommend that you provide more information to the people about what we are eating, to understand Chinese cuisine better. It seemed a little repetitive, maybe it is possible to provide more variety in the different meals, to allow people to try different things. I did not get sick at all.

All the guides were excellent in their attitudes, language, knowledge and service. Very friendly, efficient. We felt we were in good hands.

The hotels were excellent. The cruise was excellent. Keeping the total of people in the group small is essential, it facilitates coordination, and everyone gets to know each other. The guidelines provided were very helpful, and everything went smoothly. Providing bottled water is very good.

Sandra Macksoud