China Tour Testimonials

Many thanks for the flexible organization of the tour. It was a really good experience!

Dear Sandy,

I am very well and getting packed for flying back home tonight.

The tours were both very well organized, and your help was great in setting my participation up without any efforts. Many thanks for the flexible organization of the tour. It was a really good experience! 

I also heard from some co-travelers that there is a night tour of Beijing on offer and it sounded very exciting! Are you offering this tour, too? In that case I will book it the next time I come here.

I hope this helps for you to evaluate the trips. If you need any further information just let me know.

Looking forward to future travel with you!

Have a great day,

Best,

Christine  

Booking Code: VOC-090424-S
Client's information: Christine,Germany
Tour Starting Date: April-24-2009
Tour Destination: Beijing,

We could not ask for any better treatment, both by the guides and the drivers.

Good afternoon, Sandy.

Booking Code: VOC-090418-S
Client's information: Ruth Ann Sheppard,USA
Tour Starting Date: April-18-2009
Tour Destination: Beijing, Xi'an, Chongqing, Yangtze Cruise, Yichang, Shanghai,

Just to let you know that if I ever visit to China I must contact you to organise our trip. We feel very good about your company's honesty and openness.

Hi Sandy,
 
It is very nice to hear from you. Since I returned from our overseas trips I was very tired and sick too. Now is much better.
 
I just like to say that I was very happy with your guide "Helen" at Beijing. She treated us like her parents. We could not believe that a lady who does not know us at all but treat us so good. She also gave us her contact to keep in touch. Is was a touching memory. She even waited for us at the Beijing station until we gone to our train for boarding, which was 3 hours waiting. We thought that she was our daughter. She took so much care of both of us we can not expect more than that. Over all she was fantastic. You must keep "Helen" on board with every tourist who book with you and keep up your good reputation. She is an asset to your company.

Andrew was our guide in Shanghai. He was such a nice young man. He even came to our train to receive at Shanghai train station. It was such a nice feeling. Andrew also treat us so well we have preserved a memory in our heart. He is definitely an asset to your company.
 
He suggested us that we should see Shanghai acrobat show. We thought that it was one of our lifetime memorial event. It was such a thrilling show that we never encounter before. He also came and pick us up after the end of the show and dropped us at the hotel. It was really a good feeling about that young man.
 
Just to let you know that if I ever visit to China I must contact you to organise our trip. We feel very good about your company's honesty and openness.
 
I have not printed any photo yet. Definitely I will email you some of our photos.
 
Appreciated your help and good by now.
 
Regards,
Samir Bhattacharjee

Booking Code: VOC-090411-S
Client's information: Samir Bhattacharjee,Australia
Tour Starting Date: April-11-2009
Tour Destination: Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai,

Our China trip was so good that it's hard to know where to start.  Overall though Sandy, this was an excellent tour and I will send a letter of recommendation to both Trip Advisor and The Lonely Planet.

Dear Sandy:

Please accept my apologies for the delay in writing to you to both thank and praise you for organizing such a superb trip for us in China.

We are still travelling and have not arrived home yet.  But we have been busy with work in Europe – hence the delay in writing.

Our China trip was so good that it's hard to know where to start.  But, then the obvious start is with you.  Sandy, you did an incredible job working out all the details of the tour and spending so much time going back and forth with me about the itinerary, the hotels, the travel arrangements, etc.  I was extremely impressed by your organization's ability to respond and cater to our very specific interests while in China.  Hence, we ended up with a spectacular customized tour.  (Actually, our tour was so good, you might think about incorporating parts of it for other visitors.)  In any event, you get top marks Sandy for doing such an excellent organizing job.

Secondly, I want to say how fantastic the guides were.  We developed a very soft spot for all of them (except one).  They all (except one) spoke excellent English.  I know that Zhou who spent the longest time with us, spoke the absolute best English, and was always happy to share his knowledge about China with us.  He really is a “top-notch” guide.  (I know that Zhou was concerned that we did not have time to fill out the forms and we did promise to write a review of him and send it to you directly).  Anyway, we really were extremely impressed with Zhou.  He made the trip so special for us.

Most of our other guides (Li, Aiyma, Emily and Gina) were also excellent and we very much appreciated their minority status and their willingness to discuss their minority customs with us.  This was an excellent insight into the Chinese minority cultures.  The only weak link was Amy in Lijiang (weaker English, a bit tired and lethargic) although she explained that she wasn't feeling well and this could have been the problem.  In any event, we only had her for one day. 

We found all the travel arrangements very well organized and the guides were extremely helpful in getting us to our travel on time.  We got a lot of assistance – something we are not used to as we are usually independent travellers!  It was a welcome change.

We also appreciated having a few days “off” from a guided program so that we could explore different places on our own.  This made our trip feel much less programmed than if we'd been “on program” every day. 

We particularly enjoyed hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge and would recommend this to future travellers.  We are both in our sixties and although slower than some of the youth hiking the route, we are not extremely fit (just average fitness), I have vertigo in most height situations, but we both managed the hike very comfortably, thoroughly enjoyed it and I didn't have a problem with vertigo at all.  We also had excellent weather.  Consequently, the path was intact and not washed away as it is in some instances, I understand.  In fact, we took less time hiking the gorge than we anticipated so we ended up having a very relaxing day at Sean's Guesthouse  which I can really recommend (treat yourselves to the best room with a fabulous bed (softer but supportive than normal Chinese beds) with slate bathtub , marble tiles and spectacular views – well worth the extra cost).  The food was good there also.

All the hotels on the tour were good, but some were better than others.  The very best hotel was, surprisingly, the Holiday Inn in Beijing.  It turns out that this is the #1 popular hotel on Trip Advisor and I can certainly understand why.  The hotels in Dali, Lijiang and Shangri-La were particularly good – more 4* than 3* I thought.  However, the hotel in Yuangyang (Yunti) was pretty grim: dirty floor coverings, cracked bathroom appliances and uncomfortable beds.  I understand that there is not much choice in Yuangyang so perhaps your company can put some pressure on somewhere to build better hotel facilities in the area – it will, I understand, soon become a World Heritage Site.  The hotel in Xi'an (Xi'an City Hotel) was very unexceptional although well located; the hotel in Kunming was well located and had comfortable facilities.  Breakfasts everywhere were very good, especially if you enjoy Chinese breakfasts.  If not, you might find the breakfasts lacking.  But we now prefer to eat the good Chinese breakfasts rather than the attempts at imitating western dishes.  Of course, in Beijing (Holiday Inn), Dali (the Landscape Hotel) and Shangri-La (Songstram Hotel), the buffet breakfasts were excellent for both Chinese and western tastes. In Lijiang the hotel's restaurant was under renovation, so we ate at the Lamu Cafe across the street which was very nice.

I should also mention that the food organized on your tour was superb throughout the tour – and we were able to sample such a wide variety of typical Yunnan dishes.  Excellent! 

The negative feature of the tour was the numbers of Chinese tour groups everywhere we went.  This was particularly true in Lijiang which was just packed with tourists.  Of course, I'm not suggesting that Chinese tourists have less right than me to be there – quite the opposite – but just making you aware that some places were just too crowded for western tastes.  Perhaps it's time to explore more “off-the-beaten” track routes in this vast country.

Overall though Sandy, this was an excellent tour and I will send a letter of recommendation to both Trip Advisor and The Lonely Planet.

Once again, my apoligies for being so late in writing, thanks for all your efforts, and I hope you are well.

Kind regards

Sue Colley

Tour Details: http://www.visitourchina.com/tour/21_days_yunnan_natural_scenery_depth_leisure_tour_with_beijing_and_xian.htm 

Booking Code: VOC-090411-S(A)
Client's information: Susan Anne Colley,Australia
Tour Starting Date: April-11-2009
Tour Destination: Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, Diqing(Shangri-la), Kunming, Yuanyang, Xi'an, Beijing,

We have been telling all our friends here about our holiday and how it all went so smoothly – thanks to you great organisation.

Hello Sandy

Thank you so much for your email and photo!

We have been telling all our friends here about our holiday and how it all went so smoothly – thanks to you great organisation. I think our best day was at Snow Mountain in Lijiang – it was just such a fantastic feeling being so high up and it was all so quiet. We felt like we were at the base camp of Everest and Callum (age 7) said it was the best day of his life how about that for a compliment.

I would be happy to write a short testimonial – but I need a few more days to write it.

I have attached some photos of our guides and of course when we met you in Guilin. Please feel free to put on the web site it you want to.

Thank you again and please pass on our best regards to Lily.

Regards,

Caroline

Tour Details: http://www.visitourchina.com/tour/16_days_overall_china_tour_with_beijing_guilin_lijiang_and_shanghai.htm 

Booking Code: VOC-090408-S
Client's information: Caroline Kerridge,Australia
Tour Starting Date: April-8-2009
Tour Destination: Beijing, Xi'an, Guilin, Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, Shanghai, Hi Sandy
 
We had a great time. Attached are some of our photos for your website.
 
Regards.
 
Ming Heng 

Booking Code: VOC-090404-S
Client's information: Elizabeth and Ming Heng,Singapore
Tour Starting Date: April-4-2009
Tour Destination: Yangtze Cruise,