Dear Hebe and Freida,

Hello and warmest greetings in the New Year...I hope you both are well and getting a lot of work through the Olympics Games...

I'm sorry to take so long to get back to you, but my work at home is always quite demanding.

I hope my feedback is helpful for your company.

All the meals were wonderful... I regretted only one thing, which was there was always too much food for 2 persons... I actually put on 3 pounds because the food was too good and I ate too much... I was glad to find out that the restaurants sell the left over food to farmers to feed their animals ..other wise I would feel very bad in wasting the food... other westerners will feel the same about wasting food, so there is a fine line between being generous and offering too much...

it was all so good, I recommend anything except the duck soup served with the duck dinner.....

All the guides were great as well.. I will write a separate letter about one , Mr. Tang Ming of Beijing whom I think you should promote to any higher level work that you have, as he is the best!!!...

Another absolutely wonderful guide is MS Jien May of Luoyang ( Jamie)... she is a special person because you can really feel her warmth and care and she has a wonderful natural sense of humor... if you have openings for advancement in her area, I highly recommend her as she can do it...

The only guide I feel needs more time to mature is MS Sueashi of Xian...

The cars and drivers were always 100% on time , clean, helpful and kind... couldn't be better...

Now for some extra comments....

Most of the hotels were fine, the one in Beijing was the best, the one in Jinan was not so good...but not bad...

The acrobats and Chinese opera/Beijing opera are great, really wonderful... anything that is true and authentic Chinese culture will be appreciated by visitors I am sure...... not the performances that are influenced by the western "girlie" shows... (those kind of shows in China will make enough money from the old rich or not so rich Chinese men...)

I am especially grateful to you both and to our guide "Mr. Ben" of Qufu for helping me make contact to the place where my father was born... this worked out so well and it was a real education for me to see where my father came from. I was especially happy to be able to leave some of my father's ashes in the garden of the children's school that he actually attended...

I would also like to tell you that the overnight train from Beijing to Xian is a kind of disaster... It is impossible to sleep on the train, because the noise from the train tracks is not muted enough in the cars...so we arrived in Xian with having had no sleep... I think if you make this kind of arrangement for travelers again, put them on a day train, not the night train, or put them on a plane and charge them a little more if necessary...

All in all the trip was completely splendid and wonderful... I really have no complaints, only suggestions on where to pay attention for your next customers that do similar routes... your company is really the tops and I would recommend Travel China Guide to anyone asking...

I am sorry I cannot send any photos.. I had trouble with my camera after I came home and lost 1/2 of my photos, most of the best ones...

I will send a 2nd letter after this one concerning Mr. Ming Tang. please watch for it.

Thank you again for all you wonderful help.. I hope to return in 2010.

Sincerely yours and all the very best wishes for the New Year,

Marcia Shibata