China Travel Reviews - What Our Customers Say about China Tours?

Hello, Wonder!!! 

We did greatly enjoy our trip! It was wonderful!  I'm sorry about taking a little bit to respond. .. I had a little stomach trouble and then very busy work to jump into! :)  

We loved the tour.  We definitely enjoyed the trip under your arrangement.  We hope to be able to take many trips in the future.  We are also happy to note that we can reach out to you specifically, as well.  :)  

Just for our planning purposes, we were wondering if you could give us some ideas?  For instance, we were happy to note that Guilin/Yangshuo is open to foreign tourists now.  What is the best time to visit the rice terraces and the Li River?   We have already seen (now) the "summer rice terraces/ green terraces," and we were hoping to see additional rice terraces at a completely different time/for a completely different "look."  

Also, when would the best time of the year be to visit Dali and surrounding areas?   

What is the best time of the year to visit (once it becomes safer to do so) Xian and Beijing?  

Are there any places open during Golden Week (early October)?  We know this time is a national holiday. With our work, we get both US and Chinese holidays, so we were curious about whether there is a good potential location to visit inside China during a Chinese national holiday (that is not too crowded and also still open).  

Thank you for any ideas.  This is not time sensitive -- as we cannot book right away.  But if you happened to have some ideas, it would help with our planning.  China has so many beautiful locations, we are hoping we can see them. :) 

We loved the trip!!!!  I wrote as much on the survey that Tom gave us at the end of the trip.  The only thing I wanted to let you know is that our experience with the Jianshui Linan Hotel was not the same as the Oness Resort Hotel. 

The Oness Resort Hotel was fantastic!!! At the Oness Resort Hortel, we experienced beauty, comfort, and polite/courteous staff.  Never once did we feel like we were treated differently from being "foreigners."  They asked for our passports and our health codes, and after that, they were satisfied.  

Our experience with the Jianshui Linan Hotel was different.  It was very obvious that they did not want foreigners staying there, and they gave us a hard time.  They took photos of every piece of identification we had.  This included Chinese government identification that we have been issued.  It was surprising that this didn't even convince them.   They took photos of every passport entry/exit stamp.  They had Tom write down on paper, after seeing our passports, every place we visited in China, including the night before at the rice terraces.  They took photos of letters we had indicating why we were in-country. They saw our health-codes and then took pictures of those -- while also making us do another QR health code.  Tom tried to argue on our behalf, highlighting that this was all pre arranged, but they were persistent. (we really appreciated Tom's attempts) Through every step of the way, they made us feel like they did not believe what the prior piece of documentation had stated -- that we had been in China for 6 months.   When they finally gave us a room, we believe they gave us a room that they felt no one else wanted: it was heavily a "smoker's room" [they did not ask us if we wanted smoking or not], next to construction (drilling, hammering).  The fridge was unplugged, so it appeared that, because it was next to construction, this room was designated as a "do not put people in" room. . . which is why we received it.  I do realize that we live in a sensitive time, but the experience was so drawn out, and so different than the Oness Resort Hotel experience, that I wanted to highlight it to you in case you have any other foreigners booking a hotel in Jianshui.  We were just thankful that we stayed two nights at Oness, and therefore, our hotel experiences were mostly good! :) 

I am answering your survey questions below.  We are okay with you posting our survey response (the italicized text below), if you would like.

1. Is your travel consultant of our company fast enough to answer your E-mail and patient enough to answer your questions?

Wonder of China Discovery was exactly as his name implies "wonderful!"   When we first contacted China Discovery via the information provided on their website, we did not know what to expect.  However, Wonder provided thoughtful and immediate responses to our questions and concerns.  He followed up to ensure we were satisfied.  He explained what the tour entailed. He gave us solutions when original plans did not work.  He was up front about what the payment of the tour included and the payment policies.  When we paid, he also immediately followed up to let us know that payment had gone through and was well received -- which is always an important and nervous thing when a foreigner is paying a foreign company in a different country for a future trip.  During the planning of the trip, he was always in contact with us at least every two or three days, just to "check in" and let us know what part of the itinerary he was working on. We were very satisfied with Wonder. We hope to plan more trips in the future and we hope to be able to reach out to Wonder to do so.  He left us feeling very confident and happy with our experience!!  

2. How’s the service of the tour guides during your whole tour?

We absolutely loved our tour!!!  Tom and our driver were amazing. From the very beginning when we arrived at the airport, Tom and our driver, Mr. Han, were always on time, always knowledgeable about roadways/etc to stick/meet our itinerary (there was a lot driving on our particular itinerary), and flexible.  Mr. Han was a most-impressive driver: he always drove alert with fast reflexes. His skill around the switchbacks up in the hills cannot be matched.  I always felt like we were in safe hands.  He was also always courteous and respectful.  Tom, our guide, was a great conversationalist.  He gave us multiple cultural and history lessons, which is what my husband and I enjoyed and hoped for.  He was also flexible, so he always helped us adjust to whatever predicament came our way: bad weather, road construction, etc.  When a particular hotel was closed in a town that hosted the best view of the rice terraces, he wanted to make sure we had the best experience possible -- so he personally called the hotel owner so the owner could open up the hotel's terrace and we could have the most magical view.  The hotel owner then made us some breakfast: one of the best bowls of rice noodles I've had.  That is just one example of how impressed and happy we were with Tom.  For the meals that were identified as part of our itinerary, we were always more than well fed.  We feasted!   The stops on our itinerary gave us insight and experiences that could not be matched.  We came away from our experience feeling like we really had the opportunity to take a glimpse into people's lives.  We saw small towns that we would never have stumbled upon otherwise.  Tom never took our photo without asking.  He never forced us into a shopping-stop.  He talked to locals at every stop to give us more insights and used his skill as a tour guide to make sure we could get into sites, get little tastes of a variety of foods, not stand overly long in lines, and learn little extra cultural tidbits along the way.  He always asked us if we needed restroom stops.  Actually, one time, he called and asked another hotel owner in another small town if the owner could open a closed hotel so that we could use the nicer restroom.  He never did anything that made us feel uncomfortable and he always made sure we were in agreement with a plan before he pursued it.  He also made sure we had every minute possible to enjoy all aspects of our itinerary.  If given the opportunity, we would go on a tour with Tom again!   It was fantastic.  Thank you to Mr. Han, Tom, Wonder and China Discovery for such a wonderful and positive experience.  

Thank you, Wonder!

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend and we hope to hear from you soon (about the potential future ideas for trips)

take care, 

Keena