Dear Sissi,

Thanks again for everything. I enjoyed the noodles and the village and your company. 

I first got in touch with Sissi Chen and VisitOurChina when I was searching for a Silk road tour which would cover both the North and South parts of the area.  Sissi has been very helpful with helping us create our own itinerary and because of her assistance, I contacted her with regard to organising a trip to Guilin for me.  I also wanted to include Longshen and Yangshuo.   A day trip by van was organised to Longshen on my first day and this included a concert in the hall of the Long Haired Women followed by a lunch which was pretty special and included something I have never had before - sticky rice in bamboo.  I highly recommend it.  The road to Longhsen from Guilin was not the best as there are roadworks being conducted and they seem to go on forever.
 
 The following day incorporated my seventh trip up the Li River to Yangshuo.  It was lovely and peaceful, as usual.  I stayed for one night at the Aiyuan Hotel which is at the top end of West Street and a fair distance from the river but it was a very pleasant place to stay and close to the local bus depot and post office.  Shops surround the area so you don't have to walk far to find something of interest.   The local bus took me back to Guilin the following day and back to the Grand 733 hotel which was very comfortable and convenient to everything - even the night markets.  Sissi excelled herself with her choice of hotels which were clean and comfortable and also quite inexpensive as hotels go.
 
From Guilin, I flew to Shanghai and spent the day with a guide Sissi had found for me.  He took me shopping at Qibao water village and then to Qi Pu Lu markets.  The latter is rather a difficult place to cope with because of all the people trying to sell you watches, bags etc.   Who are they to assume that a person wants a bag, watch, suit or anything.  They would sell a lot more, in my opinion, if they just left the shoppers to their own devices being able to pick and choose as they liked.  I asked my guide "Cloud" why they had sent a man to help me with shopping rather than a woman and his reply was that men are stronger.  He must have expected having to carry quite a load of purchases.  Cloud managed to keep away those pushy people at the markets and it was a very enjoyable experience. 
 
My thanks to Visitourchina once again and thank you Sissi for all your help.  I hope that towards the end of 2013, I will once again enjoy the benefits of the knowledge and help from the Visitourchina company when we take off on our exciting journey along the Silk Road!

All the best,

Anne