Oct 15,2009

Full evaluation follows.

1. Meals were fine although the one in Kathmandu was just OK. The meals with Java in Chengdu were very good, but it may have been because we enjoyed being with Java which made the food seem better;

2. Java (tour guide) in Chengdu was better than excellent. She was knowledgeable about nearly every topic and her attitude was a perfect 10. We loved her and would like to bring her to America to work at our business. She is everything you could hope for in a tour guide (or any other job). She always looked out for us whether we were in the car, in a crowd, at a site, or dining. Great English. Attractive and fashionably dressed. Always on time. Great attitude and always positive. She is simply the best. You need to hang on to her. The car and driver were also very good.

In Tibet we were very happy with Bamba as he was almost as good as Java although that would be next to impossible. Bamba would be given a 9.9 rating as we reserve a perfect 10 for Java. Bamba was also everything we could hope for in a guide. He had excellent knowledge of every topic, was always courteous and helpful, and made us feel very safe and at home in Lhasa. Our tour of the Potala Palace was fantastic and he did an exceptional job of pacing us on the many stairs so we were never winded, and he worked us through the crowds so we always felt like we had time to see everything. The Brahmaputra Hotel was excellent. The reason you may have felt it was not good as there appears to be 2 identical Brahmaputra Hotels right next to each other. The one on the left is mostly for workers and is only rated 2 star; the one on the right is for upscale tourist where we stayed and is close to a 5 star rating. The hallways are full of museum pieces, the lobby has beautiful works of art and locals playing musical instruments, the staff is first class, the room was very good although they need to put in 100 watt bulbs instead of 40 watt bulbs so you could actually see at night, and the food was very good. We really liked the hotel (especially the great attitude of the staff) and would highly recommend it although it is not as close to the city center as other hotels. The first night both my wife and I got ill from the altitude change and used the hotel Dr. to help us. He did a fine job of assisting us and personally brought us an oxygen tank to our room and helped us get it hooked up. We believe it did help us get over our severe headaches and by the next morning we were nearly back to normal although we did continue to have a slight headache the 2nd day.


3. Cars: Car in Chengdu was very good; car in Tibet was OK but a little worn out; car in Kathmandu made us feel unsafe as it appeared the shock absorbers were worn out and we were a little concerned for our safety and we would not use that car again.

We would highly recommend TCG Tours to any of our American friends and will definitely use TCG Tours when we return to China. We were treated with complete honesty and fairness in all dealings, and they made our trip into Tibet very easy. In fact, we waited until the last minute to book the tour due to the failing health of my wife's 99 year old Father which resulted in us being unable to get the economy air fare to Kathmandu. Instead we had to buy the business class fare which was more money. Then, a few days later and to our surprise, TCG emailed us to let us know that 2 economy seats had come available and we could save money by switching from business class to economy! How many times will a tour operator do something like that? TCG showed their integrity by allowing us to switch. However, we did NOT switch and were glad we paid more as the business class seats on the right side of the airplane from Lhasa to Kathmandu gave us a better view of Mt. Everest. It is scary to go into a foreign country with only some electronic tickets and the promise that a travel agency will have hotel rooms, guides, tours, cars, airline tickets, etc., all waiting for you. TCG did just that. The scariest moment was when we (the only Caucasians) arrived in Chengdu at the train station with 25,000 Chinese crowding all the platforms, walkways and exits and trying to find our guide. However, as soon as we walked out of the station there was Java ready to take our hand, another seamless transition thanks to TCG.

We give TCG our highest recommendation.

George & Kathleen B. Rancho Santa Fe, CA