Client's information:

  Hi Nicole and Ruby,

As promised, here are some more detailed comments regarding the tour I recently completed with your organization:

Hotels: Holiday Inn Central Plaza in Beijing, Grand New World Hotel in Xi'an
Both hotels were great quality, with excellent breakfast provided. We only stayed 1 night in Xi'an, and we had no problems - the room and bathroom was clean, enough space, beds comfortable, no problems at all. The Holiday Inn in Beijing was absolutely fantastic - the service was very professional and friendly, the hotel top class. Room and bathroom were just perfect - very clean, extremely nice decor, and lots of space. All in all, all our accommodation was excellent - no complaints.

Transport and Drivers
We have no complaints regarding the transport provided, both in Beijing and Xi'an. The vehicles were both in good condition, the drivers pleasant and accommodating, and we were both very comfortable during all our drives.

Meals
Cuisine was excellent. I had some friends who had been to Beijing before, and they all said that the food was not much to their liking, and warned us that we would not enjoy it. However, we were pleasantly surprised - we did not have any meal that we did not enjoy. The Peking Duck dinner in Beijing and the Dumpling Banquet in Xi'an were particularly enjoyable.

Evening Activities: Peking Opera in Beijing and Tang Dynasty Dance Show in Xi'an
These were very pleasant surprises for us, as we thoroughly enjoyed both the opera and the dance show. It gave us a great cultural end to those days, and we feel like we really experienced some of the true classical Chinese culture.

Tour Guides: Linda (Beijing) and Julia (Xi'an)
We MUST commend our tour guides for ensuring we had the best time possible. Firstly, Linda in Beijing was a real gem to have around. She was very accommodating and helpful, and assisted us behind the scenes with many things - just one example of many was her assistance with my travel colleague, who got his luggage lost on his way into Beijing (before we began the tour), on his way to Cambodia. He had great difficulty speaking with the airline representatives of China Air, but managed to leave instruction with them to contact our tour company in Cambodia if the luggage was found. When we came to Beijing from Cambodia to start our tour there, after not being able to get through to China Air for days, Linda assisted by using her own mobile phone and contacting the airline for him. The luggage had actually been sent to Cambodia without informing him. Linda persisted with China Air during our time in Beijing, and ensured his luggage was recovered and delivered to the hotel in Beijing.

Linda had great suggestions for us to do different things on the tour, such as the Silk Factory, the Jade Factory en route to Badaling Great Wall, and Wangjuling Street at the end of the day. Everything she did was very professional, knowledgeable, pleasant and good natured, and she was a very fun tour guide to have. We really enjoyed our time in Beijing due to having her around, and would specifically ask for her again whenever I return to Beijing, or would recommend her to any of my friends who might make a trip to Beijing.

Julia in Xi'an was also a great guide to have. We did not spend as much time with her, since our stay in Xi'an was very short, but she was also very knowledgeable in everything she took us to. She also made good recommendations for us in that very short time - a great example was that I had mentioned to her that I wanted a proper traditional Chinese massage, and was wondering where to go. She arranged our timings perfectly well and took us to the massage school after visiting the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, before the Dumpling Banquet and Tang Dynasty Show, where my colleague and I both had excellent full body massages.

The absolute highlight for me with Julia happened on departure. I forgot my camera in the vehicle, and only realized after checking in, and waiting at the gate to board the flight back to Beijing. Our phones were not working, so we had no way of communicating to anyone at TCG. I had accepted the fact that the camera was gone, since I could not see any way in which it would get back to me in time before I left, and was just grateful that I had dumped all my pictures from the camera every night onto my laptop. However, that day we had visited the City Wall and the Terracotta Warriors, and I was very dissapointed that I had seemingly lost the pictures that day - a camera could be replaced, but the pictures cannot. However, my flight had a gate switch, and when I moved to the new gate, one of the airline workers walked up to me and handed me my camera - I was totally amazed, and when I looked around for an explanation, I saw Julia waving to me from behind the check-in counter! I could only wave back, as I could not leave the area to thank her personally, so please express my sincerest thanks to her for going above the call of duty.

We could not ask for better tour guides, they were both first class, and really ensured we had a memorable trip.

Suggestions for Improvement:
We had a mini-van in Xi'an, wich was nice as we had some extra room - this would have been nice to have in Beijing as well, but I understand if this is more luck of the draw, rather than planned, given what vehicles / drivers are available.

There seemed to be a mix-up regarding our dietary requirements in Beijing. My colleague and I are both of Hindu religion, and do not eat beef, but we were served beef at the Peking Duck dinner. Luckily, we did not eat any of it before we confirmed that it was beef. Linda quickly corrected the dish, and everything was fine - she was not aware of any dietary requirements we had. I would suggest a more reliable method of ensuring this does not happen with future clients, maybe just make it standard practice for the guides to ask about this upon meeting the clients?

Regarding the evening activities, we were told that there were different options that were available - for instance, instead of the Peking Opera, we could have seen a Kung-Fu show instead. We did really enjoy the Opera, however, my suggestion is to list the different options to the client with a bit of a description of each, and maybe even your personal recommendation. I may have opted for the Kung-Fu show ahead of the Opera, had I known it was an option.

That's about all from my end now. My suggestions are really just what I think can assist in making your organization even better than it already is, and I hope I have not offended you in any way - if I have, I apologize. But I would just like to reiterate - our time in China with the tour guides was fantastic, and we have lots of memories and pictures to last us this lifetime. I have already recommended your organization to my colleagues if they are ever planning to visit China, and I would most definitely solicit your services again if the opportunity arises. TravelChinaGuide has exceeded my expectations on this trip, and I can easily see why TCG is the best in China!

I plan to make a trip to Tibet, maybe next year, and I plan to be in touch again with you all for assistance with this, as this past experience with TCG has been so rewarding.

Ruby, it was very nice to meet you in person, and thanks to both you and Nicole for all the assistance in planning this great trip.

Best of luck in the future.

Regards,
Varune Maharaj