I have just come back from the most amazing 4 day visit to Guilin and Yangshuo that was organised by VisitOurChina. It was my first trip to China, and researching everything online felt daunting and overwhelming until I communicated with Lisa from VisitChina. She planned my entire trip and thought about every single detail. She even noticed that my flight arrival time wouldn’t allow me to take the train from Guangzhou to Guilin, so she organised a very convenient hotel for me to stay in so I could catch the right train the next morning. Little details like that made my trip completely carefree. I trusted Lisa, and she did not disappoint — she planned everything perfectly.

My guide, Janet, spoke English very well and was a wealth of knowledge, which made travelling in a foreign country so much easier and more interesting. Without Janet and our driver, I would have had so much difficulty getting around. I really would have been frustrated and lost without her. Janet made the whole trip easy and enjoyable. She was friendly, patient, and always willing to help us with anything extra we needed or any additional places we wanted to go. She was so knowledgeable and gave us interesting information as we toured the places. That’s something I wouldn’t have got if I had organised a trip on my own.

We visited Reed Flute Cave, Fubo Hill, Elephant Trunk Hill, and Janet took us to a local place to try the famous and delicious Guilin rice noodles. On the second day, we went to see the spectacular Longji rice terraces and visited the traditional Yao village. On the third day, we went on a cruise along the majestic Li River and stayed in Yangshuo, which became my favourite part of the trip. The bamboo rafting along the Yulong river was the highlight — such stunning and serene scenery. This morning, we visited Xianggong Hill to see the spectacular view of the Li River and the karst mountains. Now I am on the train and Janet had come into the train station to ensure all was good for our trip back…such a simple act but very helpful indeed when we didn’t understand how things worked in the train station and not knowing the language.

December was also a perfect time to travel. It was off peak season so it wasn’t crowded. The weather was surprisingly pleasant. I expected it to be far colder but I enjoyed temperatures of around 15 to 20 degrees which was lovely.

It was a truly memorable first trip to China thanks to Lisa, Janet and our driver.