Dear Ruby,

First, we would like to thank you for arranging a wonderful private China tour for us. We learned so much about the history, culture, architecture and beauty of China from ancient times to the present. Your advice in planning the trip and our guides made that happen. The recommendations you made regarding the daily itinerary allowed us to enjoy each place at a relaxed pace. It was a pleasure to meet you at the restaurant after our many e-mail conversations and we thank you for the TravelChinaGuide T-Shirts.

Regarding the details of our trip, I will provide you with our impressions as following.

MEALS:

1. All of the buffet breakfasts were wonderful. There was a wide variety of delicious Chinese, European, and American dishes to try and enjoy. (I really miss that as I have my bowl of cereal in the morning.)

2. In general, the lunches were good. There was always too much food. We understand that it is a Chinese custom to make sure guests have plenty. However, you might want to consider fewer dishes at better restaurants. We appreciated your approving our request to have two of our lunches at restaurants that had been recommended to us ( the Hakka cuisine at Ke Jia Cai near Beihai Park and the restaurant in the Yu Yuan Garden and Bazaar - we had memorable lunches at both.)

3. Dinners - The one meal we would recommend to family and friends is the Imperial Dinner at the Fangshan Restaurant in Beihai Park. It was a wonderful meal and experience. The reservation was too early (17:30) to really enjoy the food since we had had a late lunch. Another restaurant we would recommend highly was by our arrangement based on travel reviews - New Heights at 3 on the Bund in Shanghai. It is a bit expensive but provides casual cafe dining on a marvelous roof top terrace with spectacular views of the Bund and the river.

-Other meals that were quite good were the buffets at the Hyatt in Xian and the Holiday Inn in Chongqing.

GUIDES:

All the guides were fantastic. They were enthusiastic in conveying information about each place we visited as well as information about the many things that make their city special. They also shared something about their lives and their families. We felt that each guide had a very good command of the English language. If we used words with which they were not familiar, they let us know so that we could rephrase our question. If, on occasion, we did not understand because of their pronunciation, they were most interested in learning the correct pronunciation. They were also very patient in helping us learn to pronounce some Chinese words and phrases to help us communicate. I know we were not as good students of Chinese as they are of English.

One thing I do not understand is the guides use of English names. We have never been to another country where people changed their names to accommodate us. We did ask if we could call them by their names as they would normally be addressed.

CARS:
In general, the drivers were always pleasant, courteous, helpful with luggage and arrived promptly.

For the most part the vehicles were very clean, comfortable and appropriate to the size of the group. For some reason, the guides in Guilin/Yangshou and Suzhou thought we still had six people in our group and arrived with buses. In Suzhou when the guide realized we did not have 6 in the group, he arranged for a smaller vehicle for the next two days. We appreciated that since it was difficult hear the information he was giving us on the bus and the van was much more comfortable.

COMPLIMENTS FOR SPECIFIC GUIDES:

XIAN - We were of most fortune that our guide had participated in the archeological excavations at Hangyang. In addition to having been a teacher, she had an intimate knowledge of the sites we visited.

CHONGQING - Our guide Judy made sure we got to see Ci Qi Kou Ancient Village even though we arrived much later than expected because of a flight change. And instead of returning us to the hotel early after the Dazu visit, she offered to take us to a Guild Hall that has recently been opened to the public. We enjoyed that visit since it was different from other places we saw. She too is a teacher and only guides tourists on Sundays and Mondays.

HANGZHOU - Our scheduled guide was not available the day we arrived, his substitute went beyond what was required by offering to take us to see something of our choosing. We selected the Tea Plantation and enjoyed our visit there.

MEMORABLE TRIP ARRANGEMENTS:

Although many arrangements were memorable, we mention the two below because they are not part of your regular tour offerings.

Li River tour with stop at Crown Cave - Stopping at Crown Cave gave us a chance to get away from all the other boats, making the views more spectacular as we continued the trip. In addition, the boat we took had an upper cabin with seating which was available to us exclusively.

We also very much enjoyed the show - Impressions Liu Sanjie. It is a spectacular show unlike any other we will ever have the opportunity to see again. Even if other clients do not have the time to stay overnight after the Li River cruise, it is well worth staying into the evening to see this show.

Again, thank you for all you did to make our China trip very special. You may use any of the above comments in your testimonials should you wish, as long as you do not publish our e-mail address.

William & Beth O'Connell