Customer Reviews
Private Itineraries
2007 Customer Reviews
- Clients: Mr. Stephen Jessel & Ms. Jane Jessel
- Country: France
Dec 29,2007
Hi Judy and Brenda,
I should begin by saying that we were thoroughly satisfied with the services provided by Travel China Guide. We had some problems but they had to do with the flights of China Southern and were not your fault. Perhaps the itinerary we asked you to arrange was too ambitious.
Meeting and greeting. Perfect: from arrival at Guangzhou to departure from Beijing we were met and seen off at airports and railway stations promptly and politely.
Hotels. Xian excellent, Dunhuang fine (though they refused to give us a drink with the lunch we had there). Turpan was fine. Because of late planes (we arrived at Kashgar at 06.00 instead of 22.25 the previous evening and had four hours sleep at the hotel there; we got to Urumqi at 03.00 instead of 23.00 the previous evening and spent three and a half hours at the hotel there) it was hard to get much of an impression of hotels in Kashgar and Urumqi. Bamboo Garden in Beijing is pure delight.
I would suggest that if you have a late arrival from Kashgar and an early departure from Urumqi the next day you should use an aiport hotel rather than the Grand Xinjiang which is fine but about 25 minutes from the airport.
Guides. Three out of four were A+. Miss Zhang in Xian, Miss Shan in Turpan/Urumqi and Mohammed Ali in Kashgar were first class: spoke good English, were helpful and knowledgeable and did not keep steering us to factories and shops. The only disappointment was David in Dunhuang who is very pleasant but his language skills were yet to be improved.
Meals varied from the excellent to the adequate.
To be honest when you are travelling and after a big hotel breakfast you do not need much lunch: often too much was provided. One meat plate, some vegetables, rice/noodles is really enough. Westerners eat less than you think, perhaps.
But overall we have nothing but praise for your organisation and we would be very happy if you want to use us a reference.
Thank you again.
For our information the French agency Voyageurs du Monde charges US$1944 just for the Xian-Dunhuang-Turpan-Urumqi-Kashgar-Urumqi trip (six days, five nights) with two people sharing.
So your prices are very reasonable.
We hope to return to China soon and will unquestionably use Travel China Guide.
Very best wishes
Stephen Jessel
I should begin by saying that we were thoroughly satisfied with the services provided by Travel China Guide. We had some problems but they had to do with the flights of China Southern and were not your fault. Perhaps the itinerary we asked you to arrange was too ambitious.
Meeting and greeting. Perfect: from arrival at Guangzhou to departure from Beijing we were met and seen off at airports and railway stations promptly and politely.
Hotels. Xian excellent, Dunhuang fine (though they refused to give us a drink with the lunch we had there). Turpan was fine. Because of late planes (we arrived at Kashgar at 06.00 instead of 22.25 the previous evening and had four hours sleep at the hotel there; we got to Urumqi at 03.00 instead of 23.00 the previous evening and spent three and a half hours at the hotel there) it was hard to get much of an impression of hotels in Kashgar and Urumqi. Bamboo Garden in Beijing is pure delight.
I would suggest that if you have a late arrival from Kashgar and an early departure from Urumqi the next day you should use an aiport hotel rather than the Grand Xinjiang which is fine but about 25 minutes from the airport.
Guides. Three out of four were A+. Miss Zhang in Xian, Miss Shan in Turpan/Urumqi and Mohammed Ali in Kashgar were first class: spoke good English, were helpful and knowledgeable and did not keep steering us to factories and shops. The only disappointment was David in Dunhuang who is very pleasant but his language skills were yet to be improved.
Meals varied from the excellent to the adequate.
To be honest when you are travelling and after a big hotel breakfast you do not need much lunch: often too much was provided. One meat plate, some vegetables, rice/noodles is really enough. Westerners eat less than you think, perhaps.
But overall we have nothing but praise for your organisation and we would be very happy if you want to use us a reference.
Thank you again.
For our information the French agency Voyageurs du Monde charges US$1944 just for the Xian-Dunhuang-Turpan-Urumqi-Kashgar-Urumqi trip (six days, five nights) with two people sharing.
So your prices are very reasonable.
We hope to return to China soon and will unquestionably use Travel China Guide.
Very best wishes
Stephen Jessel
- Clients: Maria Vranken & Anais Waumans
- Country: Belgium
Dec 26,2007
Dearest Sally Si & William Ye,
Thank you very much for taking good care of this wonderful 'China Experience' we had during this trip. The planning was -as the overall comment- very good ! It was also very nice that we were able to meet you (shortly) in Xi'an and we were happy so meet 'the face behind our emails' :-) We are happy to give our comments so that you can help other customers in the future with your services. You can publish these comments on your site if would like to do so. If you would need more information, don't hesitate to contact us.
general :
The communication during the planning of the trip was comforting and to the point. You always gave very accurate info on the planning and the changes. Pricing was very fair and followed correctly. We had no surprises during the trip, which was a very good 'low-stress' factor. All of the local guides were at the meeting point (airport, station) and they had a good name-tag in their hands. They clearly knew who they had to expect. All of the flight (train) tickets for the connecting travel were given in time and correctly. All of the drivers we had in all the different places were very professional and friendly. Another big PLUS for the organization is the provision of some bottles of water during the day. Many thanks for this complete service !
Beijing :
The local guide was formal and correct. Sometimes she was a little bit too fast in showing us around, but she had a very good understanding for us having our 2year old daughter with us. She took good care of her while we were taking some pictures. The Hotel was PERFECT ! The peking-duck diner and the peking opera was for us a little bit disappointing; The show in Xi'an was much better !
Datong:
Here was the local guide miss May (English name) and she was very, very good. She had a very good knowledge of history and society, she was discrete and yet always there when we needed her. She also gave us good tips for having a dinner in the evening. It was a real pleasure having her as guide and we would like to recommend her to all the other visitors of Datong ! The hotel on the other hand, was poor and we would like to recommend you to choose an other hotel in the future.
Night train:
all went wel, but it was a little bit late (23.30h)
Xi'an:
The local guide was very professional. The tour program was changed (upon our approval) and this was much better : first some history in the provincial museum and after that all the sights to visit. A good point of the guide. She took us also to another restaurant than planned (again with our approval) and this turned out to be a very good thing to do (The Prince restaurant is absolutely great). She also combined the Tang dynasty show with the dumpling dinner at that same place which was OK for us ! The show was very beautiful ! The Hotel was good !
Night train:
a great experience
Guilin:
Here we had William as guide. He is also a TOP guide. He is gentle, well informed, gave good information, gave us options for the day (the water in the Li-river was rather low so we could not complete the whole cruise). We like to recommend William as the guide to ask for when visiting Guilin. The hotel was good but perhaps a little bit too 'western' for a China-trip.
Kunming:
Here our local guide was the young Linda. She will be a good guide but still has a lot to learn. Her background information is not yet so big. She also took us to 3 'obligate' shops (Pearls, tea, local collector) because she 'had to'. (This to our big surprise, but she seemed very honest). She was very friendly with our daughter and took good care of her (we trusted her).
Thank you very much for taking good care of this wonderful 'China Experience' we had during this trip. The planning was -as the overall comment- very good ! It was also very nice that we were able to meet you (shortly) in Xi'an and we were happy so meet 'the face behind our emails' :-) We are happy to give our comments so that you can help other customers in the future with your services. You can publish these comments on your site if would like to do so. If you would need more information, don't hesitate to contact us.
general :
The communication during the planning of the trip was comforting and to the point. You always gave very accurate info on the planning and the changes. Pricing was very fair and followed correctly. We had no surprises during the trip, which was a very good 'low-stress' factor. All of the local guides were at the meeting point (airport, station) and they had a good name-tag in their hands. They clearly knew who they had to expect. All of the flight (train) tickets for the connecting travel were given in time and correctly. All of the drivers we had in all the different places were very professional and friendly. Another big PLUS for the organization is the provision of some bottles of water during the day. Many thanks for this complete service !
Beijing :
The local guide was formal and correct. Sometimes she was a little bit too fast in showing us around, but she had a very good understanding for us having our 2year old daughter with us. She took good care of her while we were taking some pictures. The Hotel was PERFECT ! The peking-duck diner and the peking opera was for us a little bit disappointing; The show in Xi'an was much better !
Datong:
Here was the local guide miss May (English name) and she was very, very good. She had a very good knowledge of history and society, she was discrete and yet always there when we needed her. She also gave us good tips for having a dinner in the evening. It was a real pleasure having her as guide and we would like to recommend her to all the other visitors of Datong ! The hotel on the other hand, was poor and we would like to recommend you to choose an other hotel in the future.
Night train:
all went wel, but it was a little bit late (23.30h)
Xi'an:
The local guide was very professional. The tour program was changed (upon our approval) and this was much better : first some history in the provincial museum and after that all the sights to visit. A good point of the guide. She took us also to another restaurant than planned (again with our approval) and this turned out to be a very good thing to do (The Prince restaurant is absolutely great). She also combined the Tang dynasty show with the dumpling dinner at that same place which was OK for us ! The show was very beautiful ! The Hotel was good !
Night train:
a great experience
Guilin:
Here we had William as guide. He is also a TOP guide. He is gentle, well informed, gave good information, gave us options for the day (the water in the Li-river was rather low so we could not complete the whole cruise). We like to recommend William as the guide to ask for when visiting Guilin. The hotel was good but perhaps a little bit too 'western' for a China-trip.
Kunming:
Here our local guide was the young Linda. She will be a good guide but still has a lot to learn. Her background information is not yet so big. She also took us to 3 'obligate' shops (Pearls, tea, local collector) because she 'had to'. (This to our big surprise, but she seemed very honest). She was very friendly with our daughter and took good care of her (we trusted her).
- Clients: Mr. Jerome Libbin and Ms. Raquel Libbin
- Country: US
Dec 24,2007
Hi, Maggie and Ruby,
Thanks for your great help! We have a wonderful tour in your country. Both the guides in Kunming and Xian are excellent, who are friendly and knowledgable. Very sensitive to our demands. All arrangements are perfect. We have enjoyed everything. Beijingtrip has done a wonderful job.
My best regards to you and those two guides.
Thanks again.
Tom Li
Thanks for your great help! We have a wonderful tour in your country. Both the guides in Kunming and Xian are excellent, who are friendly and knowledgable. Very sensitive to our demands. All arrangements are perfect. We have enjoyed everything. Beijingtrip has done a wonderful job.
My best regards to you and those two guides.
Thanks again.
Tom Li
- Clients: Mr. Tan Eng Beng, Mr. Ho See Jui and other 10 members
- Country: Singapore
- Email:
Dec 24,2007
Photo offered by our client Mr. Tan Eng Beng
Sorry for this late reply, as I just returned from Shanghai yesterday afternoon. Thank you for the excellent arrangements for our vacation, and everyone in our group enjoyed themselves very much. We will certainly go through your company for any future customised itineraries we need in your country :)
On the specific areas that we have comments on:
1) Meals - the food was good and the the variety of dishes very wide. There was more food than we could finish every time :) We liked the chance to try the local dishes, and every meal that you catered for gave us this opportunity. It was unavoidable that after 7 to 8 days, some of the children craved for their own Singaporean food, but this is unavoidable on any longer trips :) If there is one meal that we have to highlight, it was the dinner at Lijiang on the second day there, on Tues 11 Dec 07. The deep fried (or barbecued) meat slices was especially tasty :)
2) Guides - we spoke in Chinese throughout, and occasionally the guides do use the English terms where they find that we are unfamiliar with a particular Chinese term. We are very happy with the services provided by all the guides, and the trouble they took to fill us in on the local history, culture and customs. Special mention must be made of Yanmei (Dali) and Mr Tuan (Lijiang), though the other two also gave good commentaries and were helpful towards all our requests. Please convey our regards and appreciation to them, and can you also give all of them my contact should they wish to contact us or come by Singapore in future.
3) Buses and drivers - we spent most of the trip with Yang Shi Fu (Dali to Zhongdian), so it is natural that we have a deeper impression of him. He was most helpful and humorous in his own way :) We really appreciated his company and useful advice from time to time. We spent only one and a half day with Wu Shi Fu in Kunming, in far more challenging traffic conditions, so it is hard to compare the two.
In conclusion, the services you have provided is the best way we could have travelled and experienced the local sights and rich culture in places such as Yunnan, where it would have been difficult for independent travellers like my group to move around on our own. The features, such as a local market and traditional houses, that the guides introduced to us gave us a much deeper understanding of the land and peoples we move through than we could otherwise have known. I attach a group photo of the 13 of us at the Erhai Park at Xiaguan (Dali), on the day we arrived.
Thanks again for you assistance and efficient service and best regards.
- Clients: Ms. Lina Ngo and Mr. Christopher Pellarin
- Country: Canada
Dec 18,2007
Hello there,
Here is the completed comment sheet. Please DO NOT publish my email address, but yes, it is okay to publish any comments I make.
We had one guide (York) and a driver during our whole Tibet tour and both were excellent and treated us very well. York's English was good and we did not have any problems communicating. He was knowledgable about the places we visited.
The driver's attitude was great, and he helped the tour guide point out different things every now and then. The car was very clean and we had no problems. It was very comfortable.
Our tour guide, York, was very helpful and we especially enjoyed his ability to bargain for us at Barkhor street. Being foreigners, we knew that we would be overcharged for things. York helped us and told us when we were being overcharged and tried to help us bargain and lower prices, which he did effectively. We bought a lot of souvenirs in Lhasa and were able to get more for our money with York's help, which we appreciated very much. He was very patient when we stopped to take hundreds of pictures!! Never appeared annoyed or impatient, he was a very good tour guide. When we told him our meals were not very good for dinner, he tried to arrange with the restaurant manager a guaranteed good meal for us on our last night and ordered different dishes that we would like. We appreciated his efforts, but are sorry to say that although York did all he could to ensure a good meal, the restaurant did not and what York placed on our order was not what was served to us.
Overall we enjoyed our trip to Lhasa, Tibet and will remember it as a once in a lifetime amazing trip!
Thank you, if you have any more questions, please feel free to email me.
Lina Ngo
Here is the completed comment sheet. Please DO NOT publish my email address, but yes, it is okay to publish any comments I make.
We had one guide (York) and a driver during our whole Tibet tour and both were excellent and treated us very well. York's English was good and we did not have any problems communicating. He was knowledgable about the places we visited.
The driver's attitude was great, and he helped the tour guide point out different things every now and then. The car was very clean and we had no problems. It was very comfortable.
Our tour guide, York, was very helpful and we especially enjoyed his ability to bargain for us at Barkhor street. Being foreigners, we knew that we would be overcharged for things. York helped us and told us when we were being overcharged and tried to help us bargain and lower prices, which he did effectively. We bought a lot of souvenirs in Lhasa and were able to get more for our money with York's help, which we appreciated very much. He was very patient when we stopped to take hundreds of pictures!! Never appeared annoyed or impatient, he was a very good tour guide. When we told him our meals were not very good for dinner, he tried to arrange with the restaurant manager a guaranteed good meal for us on our last night and ordered different dishes that we would like. We appreciated his efforts, but are sorry to say that although York did all he could to ensure a good meal, the restaurant did not and what York placed on our order was not what was served to us.
Overall we enjoyed our trip to Lhasa, Tibet and will remember it as a once in a lifetime amazing trip!
Thank you, if you have any more questions, please feel free to email me.
Lina Ngo
- Clients: Ms. Tanaz Shroff and Mr. Yezdi Rustomji Shroff
- Country: Australia
- Email:
Dec 17,2007
We have had such a wonderful time. I have recommended you to 4 of my friends and they are going to come down in 2008. We had the best time and both me and my husband find this to be the most memorable vacation of our lifetime. Our guide Ray in Beijing was WONDERFUL. He brought the whole group alive and kept us laughing and amused. His knowledge is very vast and could answer all our questions. We also saw that he is proud of his country and was very happy whenever we asked him anything about China. Our best stay was ofcourse at the Holiday Inn....where we never for once felt uncomfortable. When we went down for breakfast at the "Salt & Pepper Restaurant" the staff were very very efficient, prompt and friendly. We loved every single day and thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the hotel.
Or stay in Xian was also very very enjoyable and the place was also very interesting. Our guide was young and had good knowledge. She did not have the same jovial nature like Ray but she was always smiling and friendly. She also had good knowledge of the places she took us to and the best part about her was the way she selected the food for us at all the restaurants in Xian. The hotel in Xian was good but not the service. When we went down for breakfast the staff were not attentive and gave us the impression that they could not be bothered if we ate or not. While at holiday Inn in Beijing the staff came to ask if we wanted tea or coffee or anything more than twice. We felt like strangers at the hotel in Xian.
We enjoyed the shows very very much. Guess what !!?? my husband, me and 4 of our good friends are going to do this tour ONCE AGAIN but will also include the other places like Tibet, Hong Kong and Macau. If you have a trip that includes all these places PLUS Beijing, Xian and Shanghai. Please forward the information to me.
Thank you very much.
Regards
Mrs Tina (Tanaz) Shroff
- Clients: Ms. Alysa Jayn Baker and other 7 members
- Country: Canada
- Email:
Dec 14,2007
Dearest Cynthia Xiao/ Irene Zhou,
Thanks for the excellent vacation you arranged for us. We did have a wonderful time in Beijing. Here I am pleased to provide our happy comments for you.
The meals that were arranged for us were ok but we would have preferred to choose our own options more. The best meal that we had was the one where we got to choose our own menu.
Our driver was very accommodating and the vehicle was always clean.
Our tour guide was Cindy and she was great and conscientious! She was very knowledgeable about the places we went on the tour. Her English was as good as native speakers and we definitely had no problem in communicating. She was also offered us advice on the things we wanted to do on our free time. It was great to have our own vehicle and to choose our own schedule. I would definitely recommend Travel China Guide to my friends and I would use it again in the future if I were to return to China.
Thanks for the excellent vacation you arranged for us. We did have a wonderful time in Beijing. Here I am pleased to provide our happy comments for you.
The meals that were arranged for us were ok but we would have preferred to choose our own options more. The best meal that we had was the one where we got to choose our own menu.
Our driver was very accommodating and the vehicle was always clean.
Our tour guide was Cindy and she was great and conscientious! She was very knowledgeable about the places we went on the tour. Her English was as good as native speakers and we definitely had no problem in communicating. She was also offered us advice on the things we wanted to do on our free time. It was great to have our own vehicle and to choose our own schedule. I would definitely recommend Travel China Guide to my friends and I would use it again in the future if I were to return to China.
- Clients: A client from India
- Country: India
Dec 12,2007
Dear Eileen:
Sorry for the delay in responding but have been extremely tied up.
I give below all my comments :
Guides: In order of preferance :
Xian - Lily
Shanghai - Ying
Beijing - Jason & Cindy
Guilin - Paul
Suzhou - Don't know the name
Lily was excellent. Very nice, patient, informative. She ensured that we got the entrance tickets to the places we visited as souvenirs. She was also particular when we were at the airport that we went in for immigration clearance and she left only after that. We were very touched by this attitude. Filled in the comments form.
Ying too was very good. He had a lot of knowledge and was willing to adjust to our needs / flexible which was very good. Like Lily in Xian he was particular that we were comfortable and had proper meals and ensured that we got what we wanted . Filled in the comments form.
In general all the guides were good, very informative and their English was easy to understand above all they were all very punctual.
CARS : Everywhere the cars were excellent very clean and the drivers were very good and efficient. Were given water everywhere. It was sufficient
SHOWS : All the shows that were recommended by you were excellent and I must say that the choice of seats were very good. They were in front and most of them were in the centre.
GENERAL :
We enjoyed the meals in Xian both the lunches and dinners. The dumpling dinner was excellent and Lily had done the ordering and I must say the choice was excellent. One good thing was that we did not have to rush with our meals. It was nice to meet your representative and wish we had some more time to talk and give our feedback though this would be best at the end of the trip. I wish we had some more time to talk to you. The meeting was rushed and we could barely talk because there was a wedding function going on in the restaurant. Thank you very much for the t-shirts. The book that was given to us was excellent and very informative. Wish this was sent to us in India we would have had more time to read and plan better.
The soft train to Suzhou was excellent. It was a nice experience. We had a lot of spare time there wish you had included some other sightseeing places as well. We could have done some more of sightseeing and it was disappointing that we went till there and were unable to see the other sights.
Our farewell dinner was EXCELLENT.It was a very good restaurant. As a matter of fact we went there for dinner the next day as well. I would recommend this very highly for your other guests as well.
HOTELS:
All the hotels were good. The Holiday Inn at Beijing was very nice and so was their coffee shop - only thing is that it is not centrally located. The other hotels too - New World, Sheraton and The Bund too were very nice.. Especially the ones in Guilin and Shanghai were very well located and walking distance to the nearby places.
I would like to thank you once again for all your assistance and above all your patience.
Warm regards
Sorry for the delay in responding but have been extremely tied up.
I give below all my comments :
Guides: In order of preferance :
Xian - Lily
Shanghai - Ying
Beijing - Jason & Cindy
Guilin - Paul
Suzhou - Don't know the name
Lily was excellent. Very nice, patient, informative. She ensured that we got the entrance tickets to the places we visited as souvenirs. She was also particular when we were at the airport that we went in for immigration clearance and she left only after that. We were very touched by this attitude. Filled in the comments form.
Ying too was very good. He had a lot of knowledge and was willing to adjust to our needs / flexible which was very good. Like Lily in Xian he was particular that we were comfortable and had proper meals and ensured that we got what we wanted . Filled in the comments form.
In general all the guides were good, very informative and their English was easy to understand above all they were all very punctual.
CARS : Everywhere the cars were excellent very clean and the drivers were very good and efficient. Were given water everywhere. It was sufficient
SHOWS : All the shows that were recommended by you were excellent and I must say that the choice of seats were very good. They were in front and most of them were in the centre.
GENERAL :
We enjoyed the meals in Xian both the lunches and dinners. The dumpling dinner was excellent and Lily had done the ordering and I must say the choice was excellent. One good thing was that we did not have to rush with our meals. It was nice to meet your representative and wish we had some more time to talk and give our feedback though this would be best at the end of the trip. I wish we had some more time to talk to you. The meeting was rushed and we could barely talk because there was a wedding function going on in the restaurant. Thank you very much for the t-shirts. The book that was given to us was excellent and very informative. Wish this was sent to us in India we would have had more time to read and plan better.
The soft train to Suzhou was excellent. It was a nice experience. We had a lot of spare time there wish you had included some other sightseeing places as well. We could have done some more of sightseeing and it was disappointing that we went till there and were unable to see the other sights.
Our farewell dinner was EXCELLENT.It was a very good restaurant. As a matter of fact we went there for dinner the next day as well. I would recommend this very highly for your other guests as well.
HOTELS:
All the hotels were good. The Holiday Inn at Beijing was very nice and so was their coffee shop - only thing is that it is not centrally located. The other hotels too - New World, Sheraton and The Bund too were very nice.. Especially the ones in Guilin and Shanghai were very well located and walking distance to the nearby places.
I would like to thank you once again for all your assistance and above all your patience.
Warm regards
- Clients: Mr. Gail Anita Chukerbuti and
- Country: Maharastra, IN
Dec 11,2007
Dear Brenda and Judy,
Overall, we enjoyed our trip to china and your organization left a good impression on me.
Share our trip experience with you. The meals we had on tour were by and large very good except for the last meal we had in Bejing, on our way back from the Ming tombs. The best by far was the Peking Duck resturant we went to in Beijing. The best guides we had were Lobsang in Lhasa and Li in Guilin, these guides were genuinely concerned that we should enjoy ourselves and their english was very good. The other 2 guides in Beijing and Shanghai were average. The cars and drivers were good, the cars were very comfortable in fact. Above all, we had a wonderful holiday in China.
Thank you.Regads,
Gail Chukerbuti.
Overall, we enjoyed our trip to china and your organization left a good impression on me.
Share our trip experience with you. The meals we had on tour were by and large very good except for the last meal we had in Bejing, on our way back from the Ming tombs. The best by far was the Peking Duck resturant we went to in Beijing. The best guides we had were Lobsang in Lhasa and Li in Guilin, these guides were genuinely concerned that we should enjoy ourselves and their english was very good. The other 2 guides in Beijing and Shanghai were average. The cars and drivers were good, the cars were very comfortable in fact. Above all, we had a wonderful holiday in China.
Thank you.Regads,
Gail Chukerbuti.
- Clients: Ms. Jody Gomber and Mr. Jack Lou Hall
- Country: Canada
- Email:
Dec 11,2007
Hi Brenda - I am glad to provide some feedback on our recently completed China trip. Unfortunately, I have misplaced my notebook, so I am unable to provide the level of detail I had hoped, and I am missing some of the guides names. Overall, we were very pleased with the trip and with the services of Travel China Guide.
1. Meals - we appreciated that the information about Jody's dietary requirements had been passed to the guides and was taken into consideration in meal planning. Food was plentiful and quite tasty. We thought the à-la-carte meals were a nice touch.
We appreciated the opportunity to have lunch outside one time when the weather was nice in Lhasa, and would have liked to do more of that. Probably our most memorable meal was one we had on our own - Crossing the Bridge Noodles at the Brothers Jiang in Kunming. The noodles were delicious, and we would suggest that you consider adding this as an included meal to your Kunming itineraries, because it is not easy for Western tourists to navigate on their own. We tried unsuccessfully 3 times to figure out how it worked on our own, and even after our guide explained it to us the next day, we only managed to eat there that night with some difficulty and confusion.
2. Guides - we had a total of 16 guides (not counting the guides who led shore excursions on our Yangtze River trip). A number of them we would rate as very good to excellent, including Pudding in Hangzhou, Annie in Kunming, the second guide whom we had in Kunming (unfortunately name forgotten), Lynn in Shanghai, Jupiter in Hong Kong, Lhakdon in Lhasa, Stephanie in Guilin, Jim in Chendgu, guide in Xian (name forgotten), and the two guides who brought us to and from the Yangtze River trip. These people were all well informed and informative, enthusiastic and helpful, and had good English. Two other guides (James in Dali and Elspeth in Lijiang) were enthusiastic and willing, but they both need to improve their English.
3. Cars - the cars were generally clean and comfortable. Drivers were generally friendly and service oriented.
4. Hotels - generally, we were impressed by the hotels. They were well located (in particular, the Holiday Inn Central Plaza in Beijing, the Shangbala in Lhasa, the Bund Riverside in Shanghai, the Weilong in Kunming, the Paradesa in Yangshuo, and especially the Grand Lijiang in Lijiang and the Salisbury YMCA in Hong Kong). We appreciated the fact that we might not have found some of these hotels on our own, as some didn't appear in our guidebooks.
5 . Other - we were very pleased overall with the trip and with Travel China Guide's work on our behalf. We were especially impressed with how effectively Travel China Guide handled all the plane and train cancellations that occurred in the first part of our trip, which were disappointing to us, but which we realize couldn't be helped. Thanks especially to Brenda for her creative thinking around getting us to see the pandas in Chengdu when flight cancellations routed us through that city - that was one of the unexpected highlights of the trip, and also resulted in us having a better schedule for getting to the cruise ship than originally proposed.
A few suggestions that we think would make your services even better:
- Home visits - the home visits were quite interesting. The guides clearly do the same visits over and over again and know all the answers to the questions we might ask the hosts; however, we would suggest they refrain from answering themselves and act more like translators, so that the hosts can play a more active role in the visits. We found this varied from guide to guide.
- Overnight train - we had a real problem on the second overnight train we took because there was nowhere to put our luggage. It was too big to fit under the berths, and too heavy to lift into the space at the ceiling. We ended up sleeping curled up with our suitcases at the end of our berths. I don't know what the solution is, but thought it was worth mentioning. On our first overnight train, we had the whole compartment and put the luggage on one of the other 2 berths. Perhaps when you ask clients if they want to buy the whole compartment, it might be worth mentioning this as a consideration.
I have no objection to our comments being published on your web-site, along with my e-mail address.
Jody Gomber & Jack Hall
1. Meals - we appreciated that the information about Jody's dietary requirements had been passed to the guides and was taken into consideration in meal planning. Food was plentiful and quite tasty. We thought the à-la-carte meals were a nice touch.
We appreciated the opportunity to have lunch outside one time when the weather was nice in Lhasa, and would have liked to do more of that. Probably our most memorable meal was one we had on our own - Crossing the Bridge Noodles at the Brothers Jiang in Kunming. The noodles were delicious, and we would suggest that you consider adding this as an included meal to your Kunming itineraries, because it is not easy for Western tourists to navigate on their own. We tried unsuccessfully 3 times to figure out how it worked on our own, and even after our guide explained it to us the next day, we only managed to eat there that night with some difficulty and confusion.
2. Guides - we had a total of 16 guides (not counting the guides who led shore excursions on our Yangtze River trip). A number of them we would rate as very good to excellent, including Pudding in Hangzhou, Annie in Kunming, the second guide whom we had in Kunming (unfortunately name forgotten), Lynn in Shanghai, Jupiter in Hong Kong, Lhakdon in Lhasa, Stephanie in Guilin, Jim in Chendgu, guide in Xian (name forgotten), and the two guides who brought us to and from the Yangtze River trip. These people were all well informed and informative, enthusiastic and helpful, and had good English. Two other guides (James in Dali and Elspeth in Lijiang) were enthusiastic and willing, but they both need to improve their English.
3. Cars - the cars were generally clean and comfortable. Drivers were generally friendly and service oriented.
4. Hotels - generally, we were impressed by the hotels. They were well located (in particular, the Holiday Inn Central Plaza in Beijing, the Shangbala in Lhasa, the Bund Riverside in Shanghai, the Weilong in Kunming, the Paradesa in Yangshuo, and especially the Grand Lijiang in Lijiang and the Salisbury YMCA in Hong Kong). We appreciated the fact that we might not have found some of these hotels on our own, as some didn't appear in our guidebooks.
5 . Other - we were very pleased overall with the trip and with Travel China Guide's work on our behalf. We were especially impressed with how effectively Travel China Guide handled all the plane and train cancellations that occurred in the first part of our trip, which were disappointing to us, but which we realize couldn't be helped. Thanks especially to Brenda for her creative thinking around getting us to see the pandas in Chengdu when flight cancellations routed us through that city - that was one of the unexpected highlights of the trip, and also resulted in us having a better schedule for getting to the cruise ship than originally proposed.
A few suggestions that we think would make your services even better:
- Home visits - the home visits were quite interesting. The guides clearly do the same visits over and over again and know all the answers to the questions we might ask the hosts; however, we would suggest they refrain from answering themselves and act more like translators, so that the hosts can play a more active role in the visits. We found this varied from guide to guide.
- Overnight train - we had a real problem on the second overnight train we took because there was nowhere to put our luggage. It was too big to fit under the berths, and too heavy to lift into the space at the ceiling. We ended up sleeping curled up with our suitcases at the end of our berths. I don't know what the solution is, but thought it was worth mentioning. On our first overnight train, we had the whole compartment and put the luggage on one of the other 2 berths. Perhaps when you ask clients if they want to buy the whole compartment, it might be worth mentioning this as a consideration.
I have no objection to our comments being published on your web-site, along with my e-mail address.
Jody Gomber & Jack Hall
