08-21 Paton & A. from United Kindom

Tourist nationality: United Kindom

Tour itinerary: 12 days Beijing / Xian / Guilin / Yangshuo

Tour Reviews:

Back home now but thank you for organizing our trip to China so well. We have many fantastic memories. It is sometimes hard to put honest and full feedback on the sheets provided by the guides - because they are still with you and you do not want to be rude - so I thought it might be useful to let you know what we really thought of the tour.

In Beijing our first impressions were very good. We were met efficiently by a friendy guide and good driver and taken to a very nice hotel.

Our guide (Grace) was excellent. She was happy to answer questions, help us when needed and when we wanted more time at the Great Wall she was only too happy to accommodate us. The trips were well thought through (although too much time in shops and factories but I think this is the case in many tours.) and a great introduction to China. She looked after us right up until out train left the station! This was much appreciated at a very busy and confusing station.

We didn't think we could have a better guide than Grace but when we came to Xian our next guide, Jessica, proved if anything even better. She was knowledgeable, interesting and able to answer all questions especially about history. She clearly was concerned to make sure we felt happy and were enjoying our trip right up to the airport where she only left us once we were safely through check in... Again we had just the right amount of time at the Terracotta Warriors and enough time on organized activities. The hotel again proved very good indeed. 

Guilin was interesting - esp. the cruise to Yangshuo, however our guide Alice was nowhere near as good as the other two. For one thing she was trying to persuade us to do extra activities from the start (which we would have had to pay for) - when we were tired from the airport. Then on the first day she persuades us that we needed an early start to fit the programs in - (we were happy to start later). Then the program was rushed through and finished by lunchtime - (it was supposed to last all day). At this point she tried to persuade us to do another activity (a cable car ride) which we did not want to do and would have cost us more money. This was on a rainy day with no visibility. When we were concerned about the slight problem with the flight times she had no interest in trying to check what was going on or what we needed to do to adjust our travel plans.

The Yangshuo (New Century) Hotel though had the most friendly staff and was very pleasant indeed - a great place to finish our tour.

1) We had a fantastic time - your itinerary was great and the hotels were comfortable.

2) You were always extremely efficient polite and helpful dealing with queries immediately.

3) The places we visited were all very interesting.

3) 2 of the 3 guides were fantastic - better than we could have hoped and really worked to make our trip as good as it could be. 

I hope these comments prove useful. Thank you again and we will recommend your service to others visiting China!

Yours 

Chris Paton, Anna Frank.