Hi Sandy:
 
Thanks for your emails.  I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to reply before now.  I am semi-retired in that I work very hard during the Canadian tax season for the months of March and April, but I am also available to clients throughout the year for any other accounting situations.  Having been away for July and August (which is unusual for us), I have had a lot of people wanting to talk to me about this and that once I returned home.  I am also trying very hard to work through 10,000 photos, picking out the best ones for my website, so I can let everybody know where to go and see the photos from our trip.
 
We do appreciate your efforts on our behalf.  We had a wonderful time.  It has always been my intention to write you a full 'report', which I still plan to do, but I need a little more time, so please be patient.
 
Pam

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Hi Sandy:
 
At long last I have a moment to sit down and send you my promised email.
 
First of all, I will give you our final report.  At the outset, we had a wonderful time in China and are most appreciative of the time and energy you put into arranging our trip to give us maximum enjoyment. There were a few negatives, which I will itemize.
 
1) The Chengdu hotel was sub-standard.   2) The hotels in Kaifeng, Luoyang and Chengdu did not provide an English breakfast, although the first two did manage to come up with something; only Chengdu was unable to provide even a cup of coffee.  3) We had difficulty, again in Chengdu, going up and down the stairs at the railway station with our suitcases.  This became a problem because of our age and the fact that I have arthritis in my hands.  We had to go up and over the tracks and there were no escalators, which meant we had to drag our suitcases up and down several flights of stairs.  4) We did get dismayed at times by the quantity of food provided – I assume that since we had paid for our lunches in our trip price, it was felt necessary to offer us several dishes, when really all we wanted was a bowl of soup, or something equally simple.  To see the excess food thrown into a bucket at the end of the meal was upsetting.
 
You must however relate the above to the many, many, many positives.  In particular, the guides we had were all excellent, especially given the heat of the summer, which made it more difficult for them.  Generally-speaking, our hotels were excellent.  Also, between the two us (you and me), we had perfected the an all-encompassing dream itinerary.  
 
As for my website, I have finally finished editing my China photos. Since we returned from China, we have spent seven weeks in S.W. US and so I have not had the time I needed to work on my photos. I have pretty well finished posting my ‘digital countries’. I do however have 80,000 slides from 35 years of taking photos before the digital era to sift through, scan and edit before I can complete the website, notably my European countries and the Caribbean. I also have to thin my China images somewhat.  I had originally decided not to use more than three galleries on any one country.  You will see that I have over six galleries for China, but then it is a big and diverse country.  Any comments would be appreciated!!  I also publish a book of the countries we visit, into which I put many extra photos than those shown on the website.
 
Wishing you all the best for the New Year.
 
Pam