China Hotels Reviews - What Our Customers Say about Hotels China Discovery Arranged

Dear Wonder,

After returning from our magnificent and wonderful China tour I would like to share our impressions with you. If you want you can use our comments as testimonial for you as well.

My wife and me took on March/April (at this time the different sites are not overcrowded and the climate is comfortable too) a 21-day private tour through China (mainly in the South) organised by Wonder, China Discovery. Wonder is an ideal travel consultant. He is highly competent, absolutely professional and flexible. Exept one also the local tour guides and drivers were very engaged and trusty. For travelling within China we used mainly the very efficient, very fast, comfortable and very punctual high speed trains. The selection of hotels (location and comfort) was also good. So, we were able to carry out our tour, which was quite ambitious and strict for our age (71 years), well. Only under these conditions you can have a pleasant tour through China. We can highly recommend China Discovery and personally Wonder. - Antal from Hungary, April 2024

Information just for you. The best English skills among the local tour guides had Derek (Hangzhou), Vicky (Dali), Bruce (Xian), Lobsang (Shangri-La) and Lisa (Luoyang). Jenny (Kunming area) was not really good. For example on the first day we could reach and see the sunset at the rice fields only because of our initiative and pressure. Otherwise we would have missed it. Attached I send you a few photos, which you can use if you want.

Finally I have a request to you. Would you please send me a China map with our travel route marked? (Beijing - Shanghai - Huangshan - Guilin/Yangshuo - Kunming - Stone Forest - Yuanyang/Hani rice terraces - Jianshui - Dali - Lijiang - Leaping Tiger Gorge - Lhasa - Luoyang - Beijing). I hope it is possible and I thank you very much in advance.

Antal

Dear Wonder,

Thank you for reaching out to us.

We got back to the UK yesterday as scheduled and without any issues.

The whole china experience was flawless and only made possible because of your diligent help with the exceptional pre-travel support and meticulous itinerary arrangements.

A special thank you to Jackson, Aria and Laurie, they were outstanding at their jobs, punctual, knowldgeable and genuinely cared about our experience and were very interesting people to get to know. The included lunch was an excellent addition to the tour, giving us an opportunity to experience local foods we might not otherwise have tried, this also allowed us time to spend time with the guides and learn about their lives, families and customs / traditions, and aspirations. The choice of hotels and their locations could not have been better, the city to city arrangements were perfectly arranged and executed by the local tour companies / guides / drivers.

Thank you so much for making our one in a life time adventure possible.

I would certainly recommend your company to anyone planning a private bespoke tour to China, we believe we got great value for money and so glad we didn’t pick a standard group tour, as the private attention we got was worth every penny.

Kind Regards,

Santosh

Dear Wonder,

Just to let you know that we had a wonderful time in Xian with Lee the tour guide. We also filled out the survey from China Discovery. The Terracotta Warriors and the hike on Huashan were amazing. It was an achievement to climb up Huashan and see the magnificent sights - highly recommended and worthwhile! The Eastern House hotel was also very good and convenient.

Looking forward to future trips with China Discovery after recovering from this one (unfortunately I tested positive for covid when I got back to HK).

Thank you again.

Kind regards

Jennifer

Hi Wonder,

We're having a wonderful time in Yunnan. Good food, nice hotels and scenic views! Thank you for booking this trip for us.

Wing

Dear Mr. Leo Li,

Thank you for arranging our wonderful China Discovery tour.

China is Amazing!.. It's a living legacy of the ancient, old, new and ultra-modern. Your english speaking guides always arrived at the right place and time and helped us understand the local sites, and your drivers expertly navigated the crazy traffic and toured us around safely.

From Beijing to Shanghai and everywhere in between, rickshaws on cobblestone roads to high-speed trains on elevated rails, China is full of cultural contrasts and lovely people.

Thanks for making our China vacation possible.

We appreciate you and your team’s support.

Xiè xie to China Discovery!

David and Mariann Steele

Hi Wonder,

Guide is great! Waiting too long to get entrance tickets in most cases. Indigo hotel is subpar.

Adrian

Hello Wonder,

Thanks for the arrangement of the tour. Everything was well arranged and we have a good time. The tour guide and driver were knowledgeable, patient and helpful. The hotels provided good service and comfort. The room were spacious and clean. Will highly recommend to friends and relatives who like to visit.

Alice

Dear Wonder

Thank you for your email. We are now back in UK after our amazing trip and we’re very happy to give you some feedback.

1. Is your travel consultant of our company fast enough to answer your E-mail and patient enough to answer your questions?
You have always been very fast in replying to us…….usually within 24hours. When you were going to be unable to do so because of personal commitments or the Spring Festival, you let us know and replied as soon as possible after that. We have been impressed with your efficiency and thorough answers to our questions. When we had difficulty in finding a suitable way to pay because of very different systems in China and UK, you gave us different options and provided all the information we needed. It has been easy to communicate with you and we have been very happy with your service.

2. How is tour arrangement, including the drivers,tour guides,hotels,etc?
Tour Arrangement: The itinerary was so interesting, varied and well planned. We were able to visit the famous places in your country such as Tian’anmen Square, The Great Wall, Terracotta Warriors etc but also places that are less well known to people in the West. All the journeys between cities were carefully arranged and the timing was good. The train journeys were excellent but we found the stations a little confusing, particularly Wuhan. It would have been really helpful if the Guides could have come into the stations with us as we speak no Chinese. Sally in Yichang helped us enormously by writing out in Chinese all the information we needed in Wuhan. We were able to show this to a member of station staff who helped us find the train. It was a very busy 10 days and it might have been good to have a little more ‘free time’ but then we would not have seen as much!
Tour Guides and Drivers: The drivers were all good and helpful. We found the Buick cars quite difficult to get in and out of, particularly from the back seats. The Guides were all great and their English was extremely good. Jack (Beijing), Johanna (Pingyao) and Timo (Xi’an) were fantastic. Their knowledge about all the places was incredible and they were able to explain it all well. They were helpful in explaining and ordering lunch and in understanding our needs eg finding an ATM. They were also flexible in helping with problems eg when our friend needed to see a Chinese Herbalist. We enjoyed talking with the Guides very much.
Hotels: The hotels in Beijing and Xi’an were very good. David and I liked the hotel in Pingyao because it was different and less Western. However, we’re sure that some Westerners would not have liked it and it might be good if you told guests in the itinerary that this was a more typical Chinese hotel. There was no Western-style coffee at breakfast there. The Yangtze Gold cruise ship was ok but we saw much smarter ships on the river. The cabin and facilities were acceptable. We can see that the ship mainly caters for Eastern guests and their cultural expectations which we were happy to accept for a few days but it would be worth noting that Western guests like more flexible dining times, better entertainment and a greater sense of luxury. As all the ports where the ship stopped (except the final port) were deep in the gorge and there were many steps up from the river, this should be noted in the itinerary as some people would not be able to climb up.

3. Would you like to recommend our company?
We would be very happy to recommend China Discovery.

4. Points that your company might find helpful for Western guests.
• It is VERY expensive for Westerners to use their mobile phones abroad so most travellers prefer not to make or receive calls. They do not have wifi unless they are in a hotel etc so communication with Guides is difficult when travelling etc. Western guests might be advised to have a VPN or buy a Chinese SIM card. They might also be advised to download WeChat for easy communication.
• We do not use Alipay or WeChat in the West so this is an unfamiliar way of paying/transferring money. However this is essential in China as most places do not accept western credit cards.
Thank you.

With very best wishes

Sue and David

Dear Wonder

Thank you for arranging our holiday in China which was both educational and extremely enjoyable. I address the questions you ask on behalf of Jean and myself; I expect David and Sue will respond separately. I am not the photographer in the family. Jean will select some photographs to send you.

1. Is your travel consultant of our company fast enough to answer your E-mail and patient enough to answer your questions?
You always fully answered our questions overnight UK time so we had the answer the following morning. You were equally prompt when we were in China.

2. How is tour arrangement, including the drivers, tour guides, hotels, etc?
The tour arrangements were excellent, as were all the guides. Jack in particular was outstanding. The one criticism we would make was I your guide in Wuhan, with whom we had no contact, should have given you better advice to pass on about our the layout of the station at Wuhan. We didn’t realise on arrival for some ten minutes that arrivals and departures were on different floors in the manner of an airport. We ended up cutting it extremely fine to catch the train. We could well have lost it if you had not had the foresight to ask Sally to give us questions in Chinese which we took to the service desk.
The accommodation was excellent., although it might be advantageous to advise clients that the hotel in Pingyao is a historic building ,which is full of character but lacks the amenities of a modern hotel which they may prefer. The one disappointment was the boat, which was in need of refurbishment. While the quality of the food in the buffets was good, it was seldom other than lukewarm. There was a very limited range of equipment in the gym. It was difficult not to feel envious of passengers on Victoria Sabrina which we accompanied downstream.

3. Would you like to recommend our company?
100% - without hesitation. I am sure you personally will be approached by our friends for assistance when they visit China, which we will encourage them to do.

Thank you again for your arranging a memorable holiday.

Best wishes

Barrie

Hi Samantha,

Thanks!

We are enjoying China very much. You made us confident that we would have the experience we wanted. That is why we booked with you and we were not disappointed.

We had a good day with Timo. Timo would have exceeded our expectations if Peter had not set our expectations so high. Timo is a very close second place.

Peter is great! Peter suggested we hike this afternoon when it is more clear and we agreed.

Lunch at Bravo Hotel was good; enough left over for dinner. We walked around the lake across from the hotel this afternoon. It is a pretty area.

Having Fun!

We are happy with China Discovery and would recommend them to others.

Joseph

Hi Zeva,

All four days of attraction were fantastic and offered much variety.

The hotels were comfort to our accommodation, the beds and amenities were efficiency and very comfort to us. breakfast at hotel was satisfying and fruity.

The range of food was plentiful and we both very full after each meal. we enjoyed a range of the location and have food on time.

Thank you so much to David, amazing tour guide for taking us around Zhangjiajie for the last 5 days. He was an amazing, knowledgeful our guide, we are going home with so much more memory and experience. Zhangjiajie has been an unforgettable trip!!!

Transportation was efficient, reliable & punctual, the driver was safe and the wan we were taken around in was very comfortable + clean.

Everything was excellent!

Eve

Hi Leo,

Sorry for just replied your email. We just reached home safely.

Thanks for reaching out. The China trip was great. I loved the hotels we stayed in, they were all really comfortable. Everything was well planned and the guide and driver even got out of the way to bring us around and night for dinner or other activities like onsen even though it was quite late.

I would also like to thank you for your prompt responses and ensuring that the trip itinerary is properly passed on to the guide.

One feedback I would like to give is probably the meal section of the itinerary. There was a slight misunderstanding as the guide thought that no lunches were provided, even though it was stated in the itinerary. However, it was cleared up after a quick phone call, which we were quite impressed by it.

Overall, it was a great and smooth experience and I would love to engage your team again.

Best regards,

Isabel

Dear Leo,

We enjoyed our hHongzhou trip very much. Guides were professional and accommodation was good. Thanks for your help.

We are planning for another few days to China maybe from 11-13/2 departing Hong Kong. Just wondering if you have any suggestion where to visit during the Chinese new year to avoid the crowd and open?

Cheers

David

Hi Rita,

Tour arrangement goes accordingly. We have completed as per itinerary. The local tour guide & driver did a great job. Tour guide (Jim)/Driver (Lu) - Wulong/ Fairy Mountain tours express their further service by sending us to have dinner at downtown as our Hotel in Fairy Mountain is out of the way. Tour guide in Zhangjiajie (David) are very knowledgeable and polite. Lastly, thanks to you (Tour consultant), who has try your best to monitor our train arrangement when our berth are not together. Wulong to Zhangjiajie and Zhangjiajie to chongqing. you managed to get us together (with my hubby) on last min. We really appreciate it.

Jessie

Hi Leo,

We were very satisfied with all your arrangements & your drivers & guides. You have shown that you are totally reliable & responsive to all our requests, & a real asset to your company !

We are tempted to explore further into China & we will definitely be using your services again in the future.

Catherine

Dear Wing,

Apologies for the delay in writing to you. We have been very busy since our return and China seems like a long time ago.

Thank you so much for all your help in making sure that our trip was truly magical.

As first time visitors we were very much in your hands and your advice was invaluable.

The accomodation throughout was excellent and the breakfasts always had a good selection. Transport was always comfortable with tickets and admissions well arranged.

The guides were very attentive and helped us to navigate through the culture and history as they showed us around. I would particularly like to mention Angela. Her knowledge and enthusiasm kept us going on some long and quite tiring days.

I think our favourite moments have to be on the river and that charming hotel Yangshou Mountain Resort. I have enclosed a morning picture from our room. Quite beautiful.

We are now preparing for Christmas with the family so again very busy.

Wing once again we thank you and your team for arranging a marvellous adventure, I'm sure we will return.

With very best wishes

Jane and Jon

Hi Leo,

Thank you again for helping us plan a wonderful and stress free vacation. I was grateful for how patient you are when answering our questions and especially when we try to make our payment through a local bank. On the tour itself, the hotel we stayed at in Xiamen was the Jingmin Hotel. It was a lovely hotel with courteous and efficient staff. Rooms are clean, breakfast is delicious with a lot of food options and different cuisines. We were glad we opted to try their dinner buffet. It was both delicious and value for money with abundant shrimps, oysters, scallops and crabs. We are particularly happy with our Xiamen tour guide Cathy who has been a fountain of information and pointed out interesting people, places and events. She also made sure my parents have priority queues (where possible) and provided alternative sites when the tour would take us to places my parents cannot walk/climb. Of course, she still leaves the final decision to us. We really appreciate how Cathy and our driver Mr. Wong assisted my aging parents and made the trip very comfortable for them. Mr. Wong even provided water for us, which is very thoughtful of him. Cathy's service is really above and beyond when she helped us book bullet train tickets (this was after their tour and not inclusive) which was way out of our league since we didn't speak nor write Mandarin. Next time we're going to China, I'm just going to book a tour all the way! The second part of the tour was in Wuyishan, where we stayed at Honglin Hotel. It was also a lovely hotel with courteous and efficient staff except they don't serve dinner and breakfast wasn't that nice. This is the main reason why we truly appreciated our guide Cherry. Upon learning that our hotel doesn't have a restaurant that serves dinner, Cherry immediately called a nearby local restaurant and managed to get them to serve us dinner. The food was delicious! Actually, all her recommendations for places to eat were heavenly. So much so that we didn't go for our free hotel breakfast on the 2nd day, and just asked Cherry to introduce us to a local breakfast joint. All in all, the entire experience was fun, educational, comfortable and worry-free. I'll definitely come to you and your company again when I come back to China.

Jamie

Hi Leo,

My Summary Comments:-

I must admit it is good fortune to be able to work with Leo to plan and arrange a short tour of preferred sights which I have not done before or to revisit from my previous visits around the Guilin area. Leo’s unfailing promptness to respond to my impromptu emailed enquiries and queries is commendable and helpful to effortlessly facilitate a fulfilling itinerary.

I have now completed a comfortable and absolutely satisfying three days trip with helpful and friendly guides and drivers and comfortable transport together with pleasant hotels accommodations.

Thank you Leo and also to your Chengdu Bamboo International Tours Co.Ltd.

Sum

Dear Rita Jiang,

Thanks for your message. We have just landed back in Santiago and we are a bit "out" at the moment. We will come back again to you with some photos and more detailed comments. Now, just a summary: it was great, everything run smoothly and we are very happy to have arranged the travel with you. The problem with the hotel was just a human, understandable mistake and anyway it was arranged very promptly and well: the new room was also very good and the Maria´s guidance in Beijing was outstanding. The only "black spot" on the whole tour was the room in Shanghai: the hotel was great, very well located, breakfast very good, but the room they assigned to us was old, small and not in accordance to the hotel category. I think it was even small for a single person and the shower was just an old fixed thing inside the bathtube with cheap plastic courtains. I guess that is more a failure of the hotel itself, but we wanted to let you know. Anyway ,we had a very good time in Shanghai.

Jose

Hi Jack,

at last here are some remarks on our another remarkable trip with you. We were very lucky and had wonderful weather throughout the trip.

At Fanjingshan I reached the Mushroom Stone and the monastery on the two peaks on a lovely day with excellent views. It gets foggy fast and I can only recommend to start as early as possible, also to beat the crowds.

It might be a good idea to stay closer to the park itself. On our way back we stopped at a pretty village with nice guest houses. The Holiday Inn in Tongren was a very noisy place with groups bumping doors and smoking happily throughout the place. On our arrival the guide showed us the new “old town centre” of Tongren which was very interesting.

We liked Fenghuang Gu Cheng a lot. Unfortunately in the evening it changes into an assembly of karaoke bars quickly and leaves quite a different impression, we did not find a quiet spot.

At Zhangjiajie we enjoyed the first day in the southern part of the park a lot. There were not so many people around and it was a pleasant hike in the valley and up on the top. The second day with the more famous rocks is more like a 2 ½ hours bus trip interrupted by site-hopping with lots of people and time lost in queues waiting for the next bus. The Pullman hotel was very good. It takes some time to get an idea on the location of the park(s) and I only got a decent map on our departure.

At Guilin and Yangshuo hotels they gave us quiet rooms and the service was good. The Li Jiang cruise is a fantastic experience. As the weather was very good we decided not to visit the cave. We could easily have stayed a day or two more in Guilin or Yangshuo but as were on a tight schedule it was just right.

All in all at least 9,5 out of ten ;-), you did very well at very short notice.

Best regards,

Johannes

Phoebe,

It has been a long-time ambition of mine to visit your country and as I was invited for a work event this provided the opportunity for me to extend my stay. Your help with the journey planning ensured that I maximised the limited time I had available and achieved my objectives. The panda keeper experience day was incredible and hugely enjoyable, it was an honour to be able to assist in even a small way with the care of these incredible animals.

The local guides that were provided in the different cities were all excellent with great local knowledge and advice.

I would like to thank you again for coming along on my final evening to meet with me, the panda memorabilia was a lovely surprise and is much appreciated.

I have attached a couple of photos, one from viewing Leshan and one on the Panda Experience day, the memories that this trip has provided are truly magical.

Kind Regards

Denise

Hi Jack

We had a great trip. The scenery was beautiful. Steven was an excellent guide and Yan was a good driver. We enjoyed the whole trip. Our favourite hotel was the Baike in Ping An which was stunning.

Best regards

Ken

Hi Tracy

Hotel- we loved the size of rooms, swimming pool and staff were very friendly

Driver- very smooth driving

Guide- very knowledgeable! 1 small thing I have to criticise is his photo taking technique is not that good.

We enjoyed of course Terracotta Army but kids really enjoyed making terracotta! Really good experience!

Schedule was perfect!

Finally thank you for organising perfect holiday!

Aya

Hi Leo,

Overall our trip is very convenient, all the trip went smoothly, the guides are helpful. However if you need me to choose which city and guide services i prefer, i think like beijing the most and for the guide, Linda and the driver Li. They're super kind, me and my mom are more comfortable with them

For the cars , i think both are great. They are very spacious and super comfortable. Even our car in shanghai had a back massage and heated seat feature, very very convenient.

Overall my trip with your company's services are very satisfying

Helena

Hi Wonder,

Yes, we arrived home on Friday night. It was a long trip Lhasa-Xi'an-Katmandhu-Doha-London. The only problem with the return was in Xi'an. Because we had no internet (SIM card) we could not download the health declaration when we left, so it took 1.5 hours to check in and get some help. I would recommend that anyone going to Tibet/China is advised to get a SIM card, or to download the health declaration when they are in the hotel.

Apart from that, everything went very smoothly. Guide and driver were good and we had an amazing time. Hotels were all very good, but we struggled some evenings to work out where or what to eat.

No issues with the Mt Kailash kora and we were lucky with good weather.

The guide gave us a feedback form to complete and I have attached this.

We are very grateful for you helping plan an excellent and unforgettable trip and we are very happy to recommend you and Tibet Discovery to other people. if you would like me to write a short testimonial for your website, please let me know.

We are starting to think about next year..... Mongolia is one of the options. Do you plan trips there?

Thanks again for perfect planning and a great holiday.

Regards,

Paul & Laragh

Hi Rita,

I would like to thank you and your team for a wonderful time in China. Jeff and Jessica were great tour guides and provided us with enjoyable experiences. One recommendation would be to provide a little more information for the overnight experience when staying on the mountain. A brief explanation that a small backpack with a few items for the overnight would be helpful in preparing for the mountain.

The hotel accommodations were excellent and the drivers were professional and timely.

Shanghai: We met Jeff in the morning and planned to visit the Yu Garden but it was not open because of scheduled maintenance on Mondays. We were able to visit the Yuyan Bazar and the Jade Buddha Temple. Jeff assisted us in the purchase of an item at the bazar. Jeff treated us for drinks at Starbucks for compensation for not being able to visit the garden. Walking on Nanjing Road and the Bund was a great experience. In the evening Jeff took us for our evening river cruise and were amazed with the lights displayed on the buildings throughout the cruise.

Huangshan: Even though it rained most of our time on the mountain we were able to have spectacular views when the sun peeked through the clouds. The walking experience on the paths were phenomenal and provided stunning views. Jessica was fantastic as our guide throughout this portion of our trip. She checked in with us to ensure we had everything we needed and also helped us with questions about the hotel and dinner. She escorted us into the train station and ensured we were at the correct gate. She was absolutely lovely.

I would like to thank you for your input and guidance in preparing for an amazing experience in China.

We would highly recommend China Discovery to anyone.

I have attached a few pictures.

Steve

Hi Leo,

All in all I want to say that the trip was really nice and well organized.

Guides very professional, Lily as well as Cathy shared a lot of useful information for the various tourist spots.

The program was very tight and fully packed with beautiful spots, so it was a little stressful sometimes.

But actually we wanted it this way, so for us it was ok. During the long drives and train rides we usually slept and recovered.

So, depending of the purpose of the trip, which was to get to know as many places as possible, it was perfect.

Looking forward to the next trip organized with you!

Take Care

Bjoern

Hello Rita,

everything good, hotel is very modern and nice! ... today I went to Xizhou ...

Hi Jack

Hotel was perfect, which I also wrote you earlier - just the kind of place, we wanted. With charming atmosphere, friendly staff, lovely location in the hutongs and varied breakfast buffet

Our guide - Kai - was like a walking encyclopedia ;) His knowledge about Beijing and Chinese history in general was almost overwhelming. So, a little advice to Kai would be to let go of his role as lecturer and allow for a bit more conversation and dialogue. Otherwise, it can be difficult to take all the information in if you are not allowed to talk about it Lastly, our driver, Mr Gin, was always on time and a very responsible driver.

The amount of time spent at the different sights was also well planned. Except we could have spent more time at the Summer Palace

Good evening Wonder,

We finished our tour this afternoon. Thank you for organizing it for us. Both, driver & guide were great. The driver had a great knowledge of the roads, and we were able to combing using highways and local roads to avoid most tunnels. I will definitely recommend you to my friends. Thanks again.

Hi Wonder,

thanks again for arranging our trip, we had a nice time! Kevin was great, the driver…sceneries,hotels…foodI will definitely recommend China Discovery to my friends.

Vivien,

Good morning! Yes-everything fine. Yesterday it was wonderful-nice weather! The Hilton is a nice hotel. Staff can speak limited English-but they are very helpful. Rooms are a bit noisy because walls are thin.

Natascha

Dear Echo,

First of all we want to share with you that has been an amazing trip, one that we will not forget. We definitely loved it! Going into detail: :

• Guide: Gary was outstanding, he had a very positive attitude and he had never lost the smile although travelling with kids can be challenging. He was willing to help beyond his responsability, flexible when needed and passionate about his job. Simon, was a good guide and help us when asked for his support although it was a bit difficult to understand. The only thing that it could be improved was that when we went to Dunhuang for the private dinner in the desert, nobody spoke english there and Simon didn't come with us so it was a bit difficult in the beginning.

• Driver: He was good and drive very safely.

• Hotel: Generally speaking all the hotels were ok but the hotel in Dunhuang was not really what we understand as a 5 star hotel (breakfast was very chinese, no decent coffee, issue with the heating, no english,...). Hotel in Jiayuguan was very good although the rooms were a bit small. Hotel in Zhangye was very good, they had a lot of details (our family room was customize for kids, little presents every day in the room, dinner was very nice and they had the best coffee of the 3 hotels in the breakfast, they try to speak in english).

• Hotel: Generally speaking all the hotels were ok but the hotel in Dunhuang was not really what we understand as a 5 star hotel (breakfast was very chinese, no decent coffee, issue with the heating, no english,...). Hotel in Jiayuguan was very good although the rooms were a bit small. Hotel in Zhangye was very good, they had a lot of details (our family room was customize for kids, little presents every day in the room, dinner was very nice and they had the best coffee of the 3 hotels in the breakfast, they try to speak in english).

• Hotel: Generally speaking all the hotels were ok but the hotel in Dunhuang was not really what we understand as a 5 star hotel (breakfast was very chinese, no decent coffee, issue with the heating, no english,...). Hotel in Jiayuguan was very good although the rooms were a bit small. Hotel in Zhangye was very good, they had a lot of details (our family room was customize for kids, little presents every day in the room, dinner was very nice and they had the best coffee of the 3 hotels in the breakfast, they try to speak in english).

Cristina

Dear Vivien,

Please let me give you more detailed feedback on the Silk Road trip:

1) Driver in Xining was outstanding, very attentive and also supported for check-in etc. So definitely recommend for future. The driver for the second part was also very polite and a very calm driver.
2) Guides:
a. Shawo was very knowledgeable and could provide lots of information. Probably based on her professional background working in university.
b. Lisa was very passionate about her job and anyone who wants to know details about Chinese culture should go with her.
c. Andy was from my pov the least engaged guide. For logistics he organized everything well and no problems. For the cultural parts he could provide information, but I personally did not perceive him as too motivated or passionate about guiding. So for groups who just want the logistics done, he’s fine. He did share some personal insights on how Dunhuang changed from his childhood to now which was super interesting.
d. English level of all guides was soso.

3) The Badain desert was my personal highlight extremely impressive nature and really great Jeep drive through the desert! Our Jeep driver was the best, I would always recommend him again for further tours! Second highlight were the rainbow mountains both for sunset as well as sunrise in the morning. To make this happen, the Kaoshan tents are necessary as it is so close by walking distance.

4) The national geologic parks were also interesting ad the nature was different in different spots, a guide who has more geologic knowledge would have been desirable.

5) Mati Temple was way too crowded. Dunhuang desert was also very touristy and crowded, so not the scenery I would have wished for.

6) Hotels were very good standard, I was actually surprised of the level offered!!! In Jiayuguan a bit dirty, but overall good. I did not like the mongol yurt in the Badain desert though, if it is basic standard, I would have wished it to be less touristy, but it was yurts, yes, but all else was just mass tourism. Something I know now I just have to accept. I had hoped for a remote small local touch experience, which it definitely wasn’t. Also, there was a group partying with loud music and fireworks in the morning. So I would prefer a hotel (and I now learnt it even exists) in the desert as the local experience is not given anyways.

Norma

Echo,

My Experience was quite exciting and wonderful, the tourist guide (May and Cherry) had strong knowledge of every place, history and Culture. The drivers were on time and very respectful, the hotels were so beautiful and well located and the food was very delicious, I hope I can come back again, thank you very much for your service

Emilse

Hey Leo.

Sure. I liked the trip very good. The organization and the hotels were good

And my tour guide Ann was awesome i had a great time a and good discussion.

Simon

Good afternoon, Vivien!

We had a great trip to Ningxia (Yinchuan and Zhongwei). The tour guide, Mavis, was very nice, efficient, and helpful. We appreciated her flexibility about making slight modifications to the schedule based on how my group felt. Sometimes my friends wanted to sleep later because of drinking so much delicious wine the day before, and Mavis helped to make adjustments as needed.

The driver was also very good and safe, which we appreciated.

Attached please find some pictures, including landscapes. It’s beautiful, right?

Thank you for another excellent tour.

Best regards,

Jeffrey

Dear Vivien,

Now at the end of the tour please let us give you a bit of feedback:

• The tour locations and sightseeing fully meet our expectations.

• The hotel accommodations meet our expectations. The locations were chosen very well.

• The tour guides were all very friendly and tried hard to provide good service.

• The lunch arrangements ranged from very satisfying to others just bare minimum to some not good at all. In our case the request for vegan food was not understood by some tour guides and certainly not by the restaurants. They all seem to be surprised by our request? You indicated prior to the trip that vegan food would be “no problem” We were hoping for at least some (vegan) local food which is usual really no problem anywhere in China, but that didn’t happen.

• From the company standpoint a simple request for vegetarian or even vegan food seems to be beyond your capability. The communication in that regard needs to be improved and you need to work on that going forward.

A suggestion from our side: If your local hotel partners cannot provide 4 Star breakfast arrangements (and we understand that) than don’t offer breakfast within the tour package but rather make it optional so that people may go out and find their own food. (specifically for the local brand hotels)

We certainly would have been served much better with that option.

As a summary: We had a wonderful trip with great sites to visit, very good and ambitious tour guides and safe drivers. We would gladly recommend your tours to others without food restrictions.

We would like to thank you for your and everybody involved for the great preparation and flawless execution of this trip. We are very grateful for this wonderful travel experince and with your permission we will contact you again for our future travel planning.

Please take this as a compliment and feel free to share this information with your management and others as you wish.

Respectfully

Paul and Heather

Hi Vivien,

Trip was great. We enjoyed a lot :)

Only comment I would make is that hotels were not located in the centre but rather outside, especially in Lugu lake. But the rest was fine.

I have few more trips on my mind to do in following months. I would start with a day trip to Suzhou from Shanghai. Are you also organizing that? If yes, I would love to have a car, driver and guide organized for a day trip on Saturday.

Let me know if that can be organized by your organisation.

Thank you.

Regards.

Katja

Hi Johnson,

I still owe you some feedback about the fantastic trip to Qinghai and Gansu province.

The whole service and organization was again flawless and very convenient. We felt very well taken care off.

Highlights

• We really enjoyed the bike ride along the Qinghai lake. Our guide Sally chose the best bike rental. We got really good and robust bikes and could easily ride along the lake on the dirt road. That was a super nice experience. We stopped wherever we liked to take pictures.

• We LOVED the night in the yurt. The tent is very spacious and convenient, and the shared bathrooms were super clean and well maintained. And in the evening we had dinner sitting outside beneath the stars being surrounded by the Rainbow mountains. This was a fantastic experience and we would not want to miss it.

• Your best recommendation was the two days in the desert. This was a mind blowing experience. We have never seen a landscape like this. The driver made us feel very safe and we could stop for pictures everywhere we liked. And staying overnight in the headman’s house was also a very special experience and allowed us to get up for the sunrise. If guests have enough time, I would definitely recommend it.

• The open air show in Dunhuang was very nice. We had dinner in the Silk Road hotel on the roof terrace before. I would recommend this show for other travellers.

• We also especially want to mention our guide in Gansu province: Spring . She adjusted the program to our wishes. She was always there for us with tips and support, but also gave us our freedom and room to explore on our own. She was really listening to our wishes and always made it happen (for example flexible lunch breaks, flexible timing, recommending Chinese food, reduce the program when we were tired). She adjusted to us which was highly appreciated.

Hotels

All hotels were fine except for the Jiayuguan Hotel (Guancheng Silk Road Culture Expo Park). That was really old and not very clean. I know you only had to book it because the other hotel was cancelled. Just for future guests we don’ t recommend it.

We liked our hotel in Dunhuang a lot (WanSheng International Hotel), because it was walking distance to the night market. We went there every evening. Another good hotel option would be the Silk Road Hotel (close to where the open air show is) with the roof terrace overlooking the sand dunes.

Do different next time

The boat tour on the Qinghai lake was not so exciting. You can only stay inside the boat. The little island we went to was nice to explore on foot and take some pictures, but our expectation was more about the boat tour itself, so that we would probably not repeat a next time.

I hope this feedback is useful for you.

Wishing you a good week.

Best regards,

Christine

Dear Echo,

Peter! Thanks for an amazing tour in Dunhuang/Jiayuguan and Zhangye! We had a great time. Appreciate your planning and coordination over the last 5 days…

Hi @Peter 张  Thank you for a wonderful trip in Gansu. You helped us keep to the schedule and ensured we enjoyed sunsets at the sand dunes and also at Danxia. You also helped us understand and appreciate the culture and history of the places we visited. We enjoyed local food and sightseeing. The car ride was comfortable too. Thank you once again! Rajshri, Vinay and Kabir

The hotel at Jiayuguan was a good one - very spacious, clean, comfortable and good breakfast too. The hotel at Dunhuang was a little dusty and view was not great - breakfast was good though.

Thank you so much for an amazing 2 days in Qinghai! We loved the stops around Qinghai lake. It was simply amazing

Qinghai lake area was beautiful, biking and some walks / picnic around. Amazing!

Vinay

Hi Leo,

Overall Experience:

Overall we had a fantastic trip! While we have always been more independent travelers, the changing status of restrictions due to COVID made us reluctant to book our own trip – we wanted to have someone we could call and/or have by our sides to help address any concerns, at least someone with a better fluency than ours. We loved everything about Ping’an and hope to return to see the terraces in a different season. We loved the Yangshou and hope to return there – it’s an easy train ride from Shenzhen.

Transportation:

The train was super comfortable, all pick-ups and drop-offs were good, the van was comfortable and the driver was safe.

Lodging:

We loved the atmosphere, the room, the people, and the food at Longji One Art Hotel. One of our favorite places, we hope to return and stay there. The Family Room had ventilation issues upstairs in the loft, but the room A/C was awesome.

The Shangri-La in Guilin was our least favorite. The room was stuffy and hot, and even with a fan that we requested, it was uncomfortable to sleep. The theme was amusing – as a family room, it had a tent, but the bathroom accessories were for an infant, not an 11-year old. We would not stay there again, nor recommend it to friends.

The Bamboo Leaf outside Yangshou was really great. By fate, we knew a fair amount of people staying there, from Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The food there was FANTASTIC! We definitely plan to return to Yangshou and would stay at the Bamboo Leaf. We would go just for the dinner!

Sights:

Longji Rice Terraces – incredible beauty! So few people were there, we had the whole area to ourselves. We would like to return to see the terraces in a different season. It FAR exceeded our expectations!

Guilin – we live in a big city, so seeing another city is less than a thrill. Reed Flute Cave and Xiangbishan were cool, but not awesome.

Li River – we were the only boat on the river – the sights were amazing, well worth the trip. The provided lunch was actually quite good.

Yulong River / bamboo raft – we liked the more intimate setting, some great pictures.

Comments:

I would recommend you and the tour company to others - everything worked as planned and promised. We appreciate your help, and had the comfort knowing that if the situation changed due to travel restrictions, etc., we had someone to help us. It was a curious time to travel, as cases were picking up in other areas.

Small Things:

It would have been better to know about packing ONE bag to take up to Ping’an. While it wasn’t a terrible inconvenience to unpack/re-pack in a parking lot, I wish we had known.

Peter did a nice job. He wasn’t the best guide we ever had, but he was OK. Very friendly and polite, his English was fantastic, and he shared a lot of his knowledge. However, I would prefer not to use him again.

Leo, if we need help with another guided tour the Fall, I will reach out to you!

Many Thanks.

James

Hi Wonder,

This was a very good hotel. Other guests might like it. Right on the water edge, it is quiet and can hear the lake sounds in the room. Easy to walk into the town.

This one is called Fancy's Little Kitchen, and is Naxi cooking. It is in English, French or Chinese and is in a nice kitchen. Some of your future guests might enjoy. We really liked both cooking experiences. Our son loved cooking in the Bai house and learning about the three teas.

Stephen

Hi Johnson,

Good morning, Well arrived in chengdu. Hotel Rhumba very good. Much better than Sofitel. Rhumba room infrastructure is newer, modern and well maintained. Breakfast is very good with a lot of choice, western and chinese food.

Up to now, two best hotels are le Meridien and Rhumba.

For your info, Sofitel despite its French Brand and 5* has aged and Howard Johnson was well below a 5* standards.

Sorry, haven't read and reply to this message. Mobile internet most if the time switched off to spare battery.

Regarding Grass land, upon our arrival at Chengdu airport, we have been mislead by the first taxi driver who said that after having seen Jiuzhaigou, it was not worth seeing Huanglong on the second day as it is similar to Jiuzhaigou. He praised instead to see the grassland depicting the beautifulness of the blossom flowers. Frankly speaking, it was not worth at all. I guess that the first taxi driver never saw Huanglong and recommended the grassland with the best intention.

Today, we are on the way to day 8 tour with Jane.

Tours we have done since we started our journey are wonderful.

We will send you pictures of Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong are the most beautiful sites to visit. We will send you pictures.

We took very few pictures of Grassland, not worth to see at all for foreigners. The main attraction given by Tibetans people is horse riding up to the hill to have an overview on the grassland. The guide said price for the horse trip to go up the hill is about 300 rmb. For us, it was not worth it.

Tibetans are also preparing BBQ lunch for tourists. Besides, that nothing else. We didn't take lunch so can't tell about the BBQ.

We will also send you the few pictures taken which give an idea. There were groups of Chinese tourists coming by car or bus.

Ping & Paul

Hi Wonder,

Yes it was great … we had a camel ride in the evening and enjoyed the Sunset on a big dune … had a good sleep and climbed the Mountain to see the sunrise this morning ! Was a Good decision to change the hotel …. More convenient ;) we are back in the Little town and wait for our driver to Zhangye to get our rental car … Thnx!

The transfer to Zhangye is not so great … better I would have taken the rental car and go on y own … the driver in the desert was very Good!

Oliver

Hi Wonder,

The trip to Xian and Luoyang was great. It helped us to know what to expect on the long trip and what to prepare. Excellent: drivers, guides & tours. The arrangements were efficient and timings good. We enjoyed the balance between tours and rest. The hotels were good. Only 1 disappointment: we could not keep the entry tickets to the Warriors. Kai explained the reason but I wish we had known. Those tickets were important souvenirs for us so we would have paid to avoid Kai having to use the ticket to claim the expense. Thoughts for the next trip: we will need the guides help to get food for the meals not catered for in the trip. For example, on the river cruise where can we buy food/snacks? Will there be a shop and restaurants on board? Will all the hotels have a kettle to boil water? And finally, could you tell me if any of the hotels have a swimming pool or gym facilities? These are not essential so it's ok if not but we will pack according.

Gillian

Hi Wonder.

Dali is doing good and we will be taking the train this evening to Kunming. Want to keep you informed that the hotel in Dali was the best and it is very good. You should recommend your guests more to this type of hotel.

For our tomorrow's flight to Shenzhen, requesting you to block our two seats in the front row (one window and one middle next to each other). Thanks.

GM. We are at present in the stone forest. FYI, the hotel in Kunming was very good How are the arrangements for the flight..: hope no more changes.

Gd eve. Just got into taxi and on our way home. Everything was smooth. Thanks for everything. Will get I. Touch with you next week for upcoming October holiday to Tibet, if situation is good.

The trip was wonderful Wonderful. Thanks for making good arrangements and hotels.

Only one negative is the hotel in Lijiang which is not considered a boutique hotel but a bed and breakfast type suitable for backpackers and youngsters! We had a tough time climbing up and down foe 3 days in that place!!

Sivarama

Hi Tracy,

Sure. We have been very happy that everything worked out, given the constant changes in requirements. Our guide Tashi did everything possible to make it a smooth trip, he reached out to his contacts and other tour guides proactively to find out about potential new changes/requirements, also where to get Covid Tests and would follow-up with the hospitals while we were at our hotel to get the results in order to not loose time the next morning. He also is so knowledgeable about all the sights, speaks great English and overall is such a nice and humble person. I would totally recommend him to any group visiting Tibet. Our driver was also very good. Calm and safe, would also fully recommend to others.

Sights are all great, there is nothing to add/change. The route is straight forward and doesn't allow for much alterations anyway.

Hotels in Shigatse was much better than expected! Same goes for the monastery guest hosue at EBC. We had a double room, while expecting to share room with other people. The only thing I would recommend to add is that persons who are picky should maybe bring their own bed sheet to cover the existing heating blanket/mattress, as they were not 100% clean. We are easy with such things, but I know other opinions. Dinner was also great up there (hotpot).

Restaurants on the way were all good except of one between Lhatse and EBC, which had bad service and mediocre "Western" and Indian food. As I'll other foreigners also were brought there, maybe it's a thing for groups visiting from outside China when there is no pandemic. We were better off with local food, noodle shops etc.

Lars

Dear Tracy,

We came back from our wonderful Yunnan trip yesterday, so I thought I would just give you some detailed feedback. My expectation is to use you whenever we go travelling in China as long as your prices are competitive, so I think it will benefit us both to give you feedback each time.

First of all I would like to say, that this is one of the best trips we ever had as a family - we really enjoyed it.

Dali

Nancy is the best guide we have had in China so far - she is so sweet and really good in explaning our different sightseeing options and telling relevant interesting stories. She also gives advice to us on the day we did not have anything scheduled.

The hotel in Dali was nice, ok breakfast and pool - although a little cold.

We enjoyed both the cycling trip and the Cangshan Mountain. The trip to Shibao Mountain we felt was a little rushed. We would have preferred to have more time here and done some hiking in the beautiful surroundings. It felt like a lot of transportation for a very short walk.

Shaxi

This city is fantastic - and we loved the hotel. The breakfast was perfect, the best breakfast we had at any hotel in China.

Lijiang

Evan was ok as a guide. I wrote to him to get a restaurant recommendation before coming to Lijiang, and his first question was which hotel we stay at. On the day we were going to the Tiger Leaping Gorge hike, he was not really informed about our programme it seemed, and wanted to cut two hours of the hike. I really appreciate when the guides know our itinerary, so we do not have to give him information.

As our first two days in Lijiang was on out own, it would have been nice with just a 2 minutes introduction from his side, when we met at the hotel. For example that there are both a Shuhe old town and a Lijiang Old Town. No one at the hotel spoke a word English, so it was difficult for us to figure out how to best spend the days.

The day in the snow mountain was fantastic - but I had to ask for the yak meadow. I would have liked him to explain to me the options at the snow mountain, so I could make a decision based on that, not my own research. Our friends who came two days later, also travelling with China Discovery, went all the way to the gletcher. We did not even know that was an option.

The hotel in Lijiang was the best on our trip - nice rooms, pool and gym. And I have to say their service is AMAZING! I got the wechat of one of the staff, and he helped us with everything, I do not have his English name, but can send his Chinese to you on WeChat. He should really be recognized for his efforts! The only thing about this hotel was, that their breakfast is really bad. It seemed strange because this hotel is so beautiful and amazing, but their breakfast seems to belong to a one star hotel. I have to say again, that their service is really good - so when we complained they made scramble eggs for us and something that resembled bacon. So the staff did everything they could. But a hotel like that should have better breakfast - maybe they should visit the hotel in Shaxi.

Tiger Leaping Gorge

So everything on this trip was amazing!!!!! We loved the hike and the hotel was like a small piece of paradise. The room, the pool the spa - it was just perfect. Also we really liked Pema, our guide.

One comment is that our friends, who did the hike two days later, had their suitcases brought all the way to this hotel. Why were we not offered this? I know we have paid the same price for the trip.

Shangri-La

The two hikes and visit to the monestary was very good, Pema had a good feeling of what our family liked and he was very sweet to our kids.

We did not really like the hotel that much. Actually I prefer the often much more charming boutique hotels. You properly chose it because of the pool, which I know I wanted. But the water at the pool was 13 degrees - so not really something we could use.

So that was all the feedback I had. I hope it is useful to you! I will send you the name of the employee at the Lijiang hotel, he deserves extra credit.

Kind regards.

Signe

Hi Lyn,

Please find hereunder our assessment about our trip in Qinhai:

1. Program: it was well made:

- Qinghai lake and Chaka lake were as expected. We liked them and liked the road trip, with a little disappointment because we were hoping to enjoy the wild nature and instead we had the feeling to be in Disneyland for the two main attractions.

- Kambula Park: beautiful! It was beyond our expectations. We really had the wild nature for ourselves with no tourists and breathtaking landscapes.

- Bingling Cave-temple: fantastic! It was the highlight of our trip. We didn’t expect such a marvelous combination of natural settings and buddhist statues and carvings, It was raining with few tourists. We were soaked to the bones but we enjoyed every moment.

- Visit of Wutun and Longwu monasteries. Wonderful! No tourists. Thanks to the guide who knows the monks in Wutun, we could have a private visit, possibility of taking pictures, explanations of the different paintings and statues,…

- Visit of Ta’er monastery: it is a must! However, because there were so many tourists, many things that we could do in the previous smaller temples were not allowed (taking pictures,…). If I have to choose, I would choose the smaller temples. However, the museum of butter sculptures in Ta’er is extraordinary, much better than the one we visited last year in Labrang.

- Visit of museum of Tibetan medicine and civilization: good. The world longest thangka is really impressive. The other elements of Tibetan art, medicine, utensils, … are interesting.

2. Hotels:

- Wanda hotel in Xining: top hotel. Excellent. The second night with the upgrade to executive floor, it was really good.

- Hotel in Chaka: correct for Chaka. Breakfast: no western food, not even coffee. We are used to western breakfast.

- Hotel in Linxia: correct. Breakfast not too good but better than in Chaka

- Hotel in Xiahe: below our expected standard: room too small, breakfast of bad quality, including the Chinese food!

- Sofitel Xining: top hotel. Excellent!

3. The car: Renault Koleos. A bit old, small and under the standard I expected, but overall correct.

4. The people:

- Driver Han: very helpful, a bit bad tempered sometimes but overall good.

- Guide Lee: excellent. I really like his knowledge of Tibetan culture and religion, he could answer all my questions on any subject (I have a lot and I usually exhaust my guides). His friendship with the monks in Wutun was great. He is definitely one of the best guides I ever had!

Conclusion: I am very satisfied with your arrangement.

Best regards

Andre

Hello Rita,

Hope you had a good weekend.

Well, my time here has come to an end and I have had "THE" most amazing trip; and seen so many wonderful things in China that I would never have been able to do without your help. The itinerary that you put together for me was perfect and fantastic. Thank you so so much. Every hotel was delightfully comfortable and just right after each full and busy day. The breakfasts were delicious and catered for many different tastes.

The guides and drivers were all increadible. So obliging and flexable....willing and able to meet our every need, politely, patiently and professionally.

I will strongly recommend China Discovery as a tour agency of choice.

Many, many thanks; wishing you only the best throughout this difficult COVID period and the future.

Warmest Regards

Ceresa

Hi Lyn,

We appreciated very much our tour. Accommodation was very comfy and well located. The second hotel in zhangjiajie was a bit less convenient due to reduced restaurant service, but otherwise it was a great hotel. All guides were great though we didn't spend much time with Fay.

Elodie

Hi Riley

Thanks again for your help with booking our trip to Chengdu, we had a lovely time!

Everything was very well organised. The airport transfers and drivers for the rest of the weekend were always punctual and helpful. 

The hotel was comfortable and although not super modern, the room was plenty big enough and catered for our needs. The kitchen was also useful. Breakfast at the hotel was good with enough choice and staff were quite helpful. The location of the hotel worked pretty well for us too.

Our tour guide Jane was lovely. She was very patient and helpful with our two young daughters, particularly the older one who asked her lots of questions! She was helpful in buying our tickets and ensuring that we were able to navigate the city and its sights. 

All in all we had a very good trip and would recommend China Discovery to others.

Thanks and hope this helps

Lindsay

Dear Zeva,

Beijing: We had the Great Wall all to ourselves. Fantastic experience. Had a fantastic day.

Guide was amazing, driver amazing, hotel amazing. All 5*

High-speed Train: Looking forward to it. Business class is amazing.

Xian: Today was such a special day, one of my dreams came true, to see for myself the Terracotta soldiers and horses. I was in awe. I cannot find the words to express how amazing an experience it was. Our guide made it even more special, he shared interesting knowledge with us. I am so grateful for this opportunity.

Today’s highlight, biang biang noodle and Chinese burger, very delicious

Xi 'An trip was fantastic. Timo was an amazing guide. Looking forward to the next leg of our journey.

Guilin: Hiking up the Longji rice terraces today was like entering a magical world. The 93% humidity did not deter us

Today was a gastromical delight. The local cuisine at Longji is 5*. The highlight was seeing our vegetables being picked in the garden and then cooked for us. The taste was unbelievable and the icing on the cake a bottle of Portuguese wine. The local wine is great too, more a desert wine. I'm in heaven.

Today had many highlights, visiting the Yao village, where women have hair over 1 meter long, seeing the amazing Reed Flute caves, seeing the sun and moon pagodas and of course my birthday. Its been a wonderful day. Thanks to all who made it so special and for all the birthday wishes. I am so blessed.

Wow, another fantastic day. Li and Dragon river.Wonderful scenery, delicious food, great company and more birthday presents. I am eternally grateful.

Our trip to Guilin was amazing. Alice was a wonderful guide. The only downside was the attitude of the staff at the Armari hotel. They seemed a little uneasy as we were foreigners and even wanted a covid test. Alice handled the situation very well though. The hotel room and facilities were great.

I would give a rating of 5 for the hotel room, facilities and location but 3 for customer service.

Yangtze River Cruise: Its been a great trip.

What better way to finish a holiday than a cruise on the Yangtze river. The staff on the Century Paragon ship made it a journey to remember.

Our final trip before returning home. The three gorges dam, magnificent and powerful.

We had a great holiday. The whole trip was well organised, the guides anazing, everything was perfect. Thank you.

Hi Wonder, back to Shanghai, it was an amazing trip, and the driver is just a great guy who really help us from the beginning to the end. Thank you for everything.

Here is my review about the trip to Guilin, it’s just our point of view so there is nothing bad about what I will say.

At first we had an amazing driver, friendly and always helping us for everything, and very good and safe drive.

Day one was great, not really a lot of things to see or do in Huangluo Yao village, but it’s ok, by the way the restaurant the driver bring us there was very great, best Chinese food we had in China. Ping’an Village is just wonderful, walking in the middle of the rice terrace with an amazing view was perfect. The hotel was nice too (sorry to disturb you this day, but after I realize the woman playing with a kid on the terrace was working for the hotel, at the beginning I thought she was a client), by the way, it was great, she really took care of us, and again excellent food, the view from the room is great too.

Day two was great too, thousand layer terraces is a place to see, and the cable car is very useful, Ping An is better cause we really are in the middle of the rice terrace with all the farmer around, it’s really local, 1000 terrace is more for the view and we really enjoyed it.

Visit of the Tea farmer was interesting.

Then back in Guilin, we went to the city to the pedestrian street near a lake with two beautiful towers, and also went to a park near a hill. Guilin is a nice city but it stays a city, the hotel was great too, but all was a little bit too much “metropole”. I think it should be better to stay in a more local place like small village close from Mopanshan. Nothing bad about this Wonder, but we come from Shanghai who is a big city, and when we go out from a city it’s nice to be in the country side. The hotel was perfect too, but it’s the kind of hotel I go during some business trips, by the way we know Guilin now.

Day 3 was very very very great, the cruise is amazing, the bamboo boat very great too and the country side of Yangshuo is just wow, so beautiful, we have rented a motorbike from the hotel and wend around in the afternoon, just beautiful, we really enjoyed. The hotel was perfect too, all the staff speak English and are very friendly. In the restaurant, Chinese and Western food was nice too, in the evening we went to see a show in Yangshuo, they knew we should come back late and they manage everything so serve us after 10pm. Very great hotel with a so beautiful view. This is the point, at the hotel at Ping An village or Yangshuo, in the evening we can enjoy the view from outside on the balcony of the room, drinking a glass and smoke a cigarette, it’s just empty out mind and we really enjoy this moment, thing we cannot do in Guilin for example.

Day 4, back to Guilin and go to Elephant Hill, it’s just a park like the 100 parks we have in Shanghai, nothing special to see, especially after seeing the rice terraces around Ping An and the beautiful landscape from Li River and Yangshuo. Reed Flute cave was just wow too, so so beautiful, that was the first time in my life I saw a so beautiful cave, really love it.

This trip was the best one we did in China, we both love it, just wish to have one more day in Yangshuo. If I need to give a note I will give 9/10, Thank for your great work.

Hi Wonder,

We are at the train station now. We all have had a wonderful journey to Inner Mongolia. You organised everything I asked for and Tom and Sky were excellent. We have eaten amazing food and stayed in wonderful hotels. I certainly would give your company 10/10! Thank you.

We all said that we could not have asked for a better organiser. You did everything we asked and we are all going to be passing your name along. Thank you. I have learned so much.

Good morning Jack,

Lee was excellent. Very personable, very professional. Your drivers were very good. The pace of the trip was good. We enjoyed seeing both reconstructed and old wall. It gave us a much better appreciation of the work to not only to build but to maintain as well .We would caution that knowing in advance what sections of the wall are closed would be helpful. The second day it seemed we spent more time hiking in the brush than visiting the wall itself. Plenty of water and bathroom breaks were offered. Li was very knowledgeable about the wall and history. He gave us information in the van and allowed us to enjoy the wall without interruptions. Great job on his part The water town hotel was very enjoyable. The room was clean, air conditioner, and felt traditional but clean and new. Li did a great job of preparing us and getting us through the security points at the square. The local farmhouse restaurants were decent and the people very kind.

Xi'An: Tomi was good. He had a less engaging tour so our interaction with him was less but still enjoyable. He accommodated our request to spend time with friends that were in the area as well.Muslim street was very small and not as unique as I thought it would be.The bike ride along the city wall enjoyable. Better first thing in the morning or late afternoon. It would have been too hot for a mid-day visit.We stayed at the W in Xi'An. Great place to stay. I would visit that property again. We ate dinner at a new Turkish restaurant called The Chill right outside the hotel. Would recommend.Warriors was amazing. Tomi's knowledge very much appreciated. We were two and half hours early to the airport so timing was a bit off.All said, we would definitely use China Discovery again.

Overall the 敦煌，张掖，嘉峪关itinerary n hotels are good. Guide Gary is very professional and passionate about Chinese history (he was previously a middle school history teacher). 西宁 hotel & guide Daniel were good too. Suggestions (1) Chaka lake is very nice but due to flight timings we only spent 30 min at the lake itself. (2) I think if we were to recommend friends, we would ask them to cut the 阳关，玉门关，汉长城 and spend more time in Xining (there is a nice temple near train station) and Chaka lake. (3) You should strongly recommend that guests spend at least 2 hours at Chaka lake itself excluding the traveling (once you reach there, you need to take bus n train to reach the lake, that itself takes almost one hour including waiting for passengers one way). Thanks

Jack, you have been professional and always trying to find a “yes” for your customers. You responded positively to some negative feedback (from my friends) and offered good alternatives. I will certainly still recommend you to others.

To whom it may concern:

My husband and I have recently taken a vacation to Zhaoqing and Qingyuan.

It was all organized by this Agency and the tourist agent Leo Li. The tourist guide was Matt

We want to express our gratitude for all the organization as well as the actual trip.

Holtels were just like we asked for, in fact they (2 hotels) were very nice. The places we went were gorgeous and everything well organized. Thanks.

We will keeping using this agency as we have been done in the past for more than 4 trips within in China.

Kind Regards.

Janislene & Floyd

Hi Leo,

Thanks for your email and apologies for not getting back to your earlier but its been a busy return to Beijing.

Verity and I were extremely happy with our tour with Bree. She and the driver went above and beyond waiting for us at the airport until the early hours of the morning as our flight was delayed.

In relation to Bree, she was a great guide. She obviously knew her stuff, was friendly and expertly navigated us around the sites. What we really appreciated was Bree taking us to places that were a little bit out of the way to take us away from the crowds so we could experience the spectacular scenery and views without too many people around us.

In relation to the tour and the schedule, we were really happy with the places on the itinerary and the time we were able to spend at each. Throughout the trip we did not feel rushed nor that we had too much time at any place and were really happy with being able to walk around some really beautiful places.

The choice was hotel was good as it meant we were close to the park which meant less driving in the morning and we were happy with the room.

In addition, the support we received prior to and during the trip from you and Bree was greatly appreciated. We have already passed on the details for the tour and your company to several friends of ours and we are already looking at when we could reschedule our Huangshan trip.

In relation to the Huangshan trip, we were wondering how much notice you need before booking? For example, if we decided on a Monday to do the trip, could we start it on the Friday of that week? We recognise that you require time to lock in hotel bookings, guides, tickets etc. but were wondering how much time was required.

Thanks once again for all your help.

Cheers

Marko

Hi Jack.

I love it!!!It was worth each cent.The guide was incredibly knowledgeable, it made a huge difference to have him showing me the places and explaining all the history behind it.The timing was very well managed and not rushed and the best part was avoiding huge crowds.I am very, very happy with your services.Thank you very much.I am already trying to get some days off to plan a trip to Xian with you guys.Thanks for everything!The only problem was that hotel. I have travel all the continents, stayed in multiple hotels. That hotel IS NOT a 4 star hotel. It is terrible. But the issue was managed.Thanks one more time.

Hey Rita,

I have arrived back in Wuxi and heading back to Suzhou now. Thank you for arranging another great trip. The weekend was very enjoyable. The guide, Nick, was friendly and helpful as was the driver, Mr Tang. The hotel was nice, very comfortable and clean. I really enjoyed Xiamen.

我非常满意！现在天波府和乌龙寨也封路了。但是没问题，有的时候有这样的变化。而且张家界很大，如果我们去不了我们原来打算去的地方，我们还可以去别的很美的地方。对导游的服务和安排的酒店也很满意。

Dear Echo 

Sorry for my late reply but I passed the evaluation form to Johanna, did you get it? We love Yi De hotel very much including its restaurant. Johanna and the driver are very nice and helpful too.

Now my husband and I are planning for the next trip and we would like to seek your help also ~ private tour for two, Zhangye/Jiayuguan/Dunhuang, for about 5-7 days, during the period between May 18 and May 28, and we will fly from Beijing. I think May is good season for visiting these places? Your thoughts/proposal is highly appreciated.

Thanks and regards

Amanda 

Hi Wendy,

Sorry, i forgot to reply you. Yes the trip was wonderful. And i have a great time, all thanks to nancy. Hotel provided were great and nearby the place i wanted to visit.

Hi Vivian.

Tour was good, the guides both very good. Gulangyu island, shenzen tower and Tulou in Nanjing County were the highlights

Hotel outstanding 

Second one really perfect with good breakfast and view from rooms

Overall vacation was a bit expensive, I wonder what would have been the cost with private car only for the day we went to the County?

Hi Echo 

We had a great holiday in Guilin. A place we would like to revisit before leaving China. 

The hotel in Guilin was quite good. Spacious room with a lovely view and a great bar. The breakfast was mostly Chinese, but we still haven’t found a hotel with great western breakfast yet. It was okay - but not amazing.

The hotel in Yangshuo was more simple but the service was good and the surroundings were amazing. I could imagine that it would not be so good if it was colder since the room wasn’t isolated. There was air conditioning/heating so it was okay for this season. I think it will be great in to sit outside by the river in the summertime. 

The guide was nice and friendly and so was the driver. But my husband couldn’t see out of the windows in the car since he is quite tall. So he missed out on the beautiful scenery when we were driving. 

On the Li River Cruise we sat at a 6 persons table - we would have preferred a 4 persons table - but otherwise it was a great trip.

Best regards,

Sanne

Hello Tracy!

Thank you for the good arrangement on our trip.

Let see your questions:

• Guide (Chongqing and Yichang):
  • The guides was good and hade good knowledge about the subject/area.
  • The food was really good (Lunch).
• Cruise.
  • The ship standard ok.
  • The included restaurant to crowded and the food was “little too much Chines”.
    • But this was easy solved, we upgrade to the “wester restaurant” to get our own table and less people.
    • I think you shall recommend western people to go for that from the beginning
  • The included sighting was good and the guides was good, had good knowledge about the subject/area.
  • Over all good cruise.
• Hotels.
  • Both hotels really good standard.
  • Good location on both hotels.

Overall we are really satisfied with the trip you have arranged for us also this time.

It’s so convenient when you have arranged the trip with pic up from air port and deliver to the next destination with some interesting things to look on between.

So now the big question is where to go next time?

I have at least one more year in China (hopefully more)

Best regards Per

Hi Wonder,

Our trip has ended and it’s time to complete the evaluation form.

We found China Discovery on line while looking for a reputable company in China to plan our holiday.

After contacting Mr Wonder Wang ( through online email and WeChat ) we found his level of support, information, communication, patience and understanding to be very professional. He was quick to respond to all our questions and accommodating in all our requests.

The tour arrangements were to our liking. Wonder worked closely with us to determine our touring preferences. The transport schedule was not too strenuous, the tours we encountered were interesting and our accommodation was to the most very comfortable.

As far as recommending China Discovery, we would be happy to introduce anyone keen in touring China to this company.

Our tour was conducted in the early part of the year under the curtain of COVID and in the midst of Chinese New Year. Wonder and the guides helped us with all our medical requirements and arrangements and a holiday that could have been disjointed flowed with out any problems.

Wonder gave us contacts to all our guides and they were accessible and helpful.

The drivers who accompanied the guides were also friendly and safe.

The guides were all good - supportive, jovial, attentive and knowledgeable.

The best in our opinion were May, Michael and Steven.

Our accommodation The Gran Melia was very good in Xian and the nearby area was interesting to explore by foot in our free time - the park area across the street from our accommodation and Grand Tang Mall nearby.

The Sofitel in Chengdu was comfortable, the breakfasts were wonderful and the assistance we received from their restaurant manager for dinner one evening was exceptional. The only negative was that the hotel was a little dated.

Our stay in Le Meridien Emei Mountain Resort was very nice.

Our stay in Old Town Lijiang at The Ivy Garden was located well. The hotel had a traditional appeal. We arrived at night so we were surprised at how cold the room was. There was a heater on but not adequate and extra linen should have been available.  There was no choice given for breakfast and it was not to our liking.

The Gurong Boutique was very comfortable and breakfast was minimal but nice.

The Cachet Hotel in Kunming was kind enough to change our room because of ‘smoke odour‘ and it appeared to be an upgrade.

Their kitchen staff were helpful and made us a basic breakfast pack to take on the fast train to Guilin.

The Shangri-La in Guilin was a wonderful stay with a beautiful view. The breakfast and dinner selections were vast and very tasty.

The Amari in Yangshuo was comfortable and well placed. The small ‘fairground attraction’ outside our window was slightly noisy up till about midnight.

All in all, the entire trip was an amazing experience we both enjoyed immensely.

We found it helpful when the guides would initially state what our plans were for the day ahead and go through the itinerary so we were reminded and understood.

Occasionally we did not do something on the schedule and it wasn’t clearly explained to us why not, for example the Pearl Museum and also the option we had to make a terracotta soldier.

We understand that some venues were closed because of COVID / Chinese New Year and in these cases we were informed and alternative arrangements were made.

We were blessed with good weather, good organisation, wonderful guides, good drivers and a beautiful and interesting country to explore.

Thank you to Wonder and your diverse team, we would definitely look at using your company’s services in the future.

Kind Regards

Mario and Angela Crivelli.

Hi Riley. No problem. Happy to provide feedback. 

Zhangjiajie is beautiful and there are so many activities - I will definitely suggest it to our friends, though perhaps when it is a little warmer. Favourite activities include: Yellow cave, Tianzi Mountain, Golden Whip Stream, Glass Bridge and the walk along the bottom of the canyon, river cruise in FengHuang.

Lily was lovely and very accommodating. We enjoyed her stories about the local customs. Her English is excellent - as is the driver's. Both made sure we had no problems checking into the hotels and made our flight - even though it meant they had to wait at the airport for 1.5 hours. 

The tours were great, and we were really grateful to have Lily guiding us. The only thing I would change would be to include some breaks in a warm place with a cup of tea. The activities meant a long time walking in the cold. I would prefer to walk faster and therefore have more time to rest. Also the lunches were very late some days. 

We were hoping for a slightly more relaxed holiday, so I would take out some activities (e.g. going to the base of the big hole and going up to Huangshi Village). It would be helpful to have some estimated times for how long each activity may take so we can decide if we want to do it or not.

FengHuang was really cool. I wish we had spent one more night there. Lily had excellent knowledge of the history of the town. However, the historical sites we visited were not really that interesting to us, particularly as a lot of it related to quite recent history. For us that time would be better spent exploring the lovely winding streets - especially as it was a sunny day.

The accommodation was very lovely and very comfortable and warm. The only thing I would like, and it may not be possible, is to have some western-style breakfast options - toast, cereal, English Breakfast tea, orange juice.

Finally, we are so grateful to you for rearranging our flights when they were cancelled so late. We would not have enjoyed the stress of trying to find and book new flights ourselves. That is a really valuable service!

I think that covers it. Overall it was a really lovely holiday. Zhangjiajie is an amazing place and it was great to experience some of China's natural beauty and impressive infrastructure like the cable cars, glass bridge and outdoor elevator.

Thanks again for organising it for us so quickly! We will be in touch when we are ready to go on our next trip.

Regards,

Rachel

Hi Wendy,

Yes, We had a great time. Hotel was perfect. Warm rooms, comfy beds, good enough breakfast. Van was very comfortable. Guide was a nice guy. Driver drove safely. I liked that we were given options for meals. All attractions good but would have liked to see more of the city described on day two. The shopping street part was after sunset and we walked and walked - too much.

Overall, very happy with the trip and will recommend it to friends.

Hello Wonder!

I am so very sorry for taking so long to get back to you!  It was such a busy week last week, that every time I sat down to write to you, I kept getting distracted and having to focus on something 

So, first, it was a wonderful trip!  Of course, we wished that COVID didn't interrupt some of our itinerary.   . . . but even with the pop-up-health-concerns in Beijing, we felt very well taken care of.  We really appreciated the fact you frequently checked in and kept us updated.  In addition, we believe Linda was probably the best person to be on a tour with during a health scare, because she took care of us like we were her little kids.  :)   In English, I told her I felt like she was our "mother hen," always making sure we were taken care of!  She also always picked THE BEST food.  One could tell that she has had a number of western tourists before, because she also always tried to find food that not only represented Beijing, but that would also fit with our western palate. :)  

Also, when we went to the Great Wall, we completely lucked out: there was no one there!  For a great part of it, it was as if the Great Wall was our own private wall! :)  Definitely amazing.  Definitely memorable.  Many of the tourist sites were like that: due to COVID fears and the cold, they were nearly empty.  For the western tourist, the emptiness made the tourist sites even more memorable.  :)   Linda provided great context.   It was very cold, but Linda was a trooper -- always trying to make sure we saw what we wanted to see!  

I will say, even the Beijing Public Hospital, despite being a very busy hospital, went fairly smoothly, all things considered.  So, hey, now we can mark that off our list of things we have done in China. :) 

Hotel was nice, but due to Covid, many of the amenities were shut down.  Breakfast was superb, though! :)  Also, Mark and I were trying to be safety cautious, so we did not explore outside the hotel much. There was a lot of extra app scrutiny, which I'm sure you can imagine.  Also, people seemed very nervous. 

Linda also stayed with us all the way until we boarded the train.  She was very thoughtful and considerate.  Our driver (Mr. Lee), was also very kind and considerate during the entire trip.  He was very quiet, but we felt like we were safe in his hands. 

Bruce, in Xi'an, was also fantastic.  Such a different personality, but perfect for Xi'an.  He was enthusiastic about history (great for Mark), and had a passion for the food in the Muslim Quarter (great for me!).  You know, one day, your company should consider incorporating a food tour in Xi'an.  The food is so different than anywhere we've been in China . . . and so tasty!  In a way, I bet Bruce could run the food tour!  By the way, riding the bikes on the wall was a nice extra touch.  We didn't expect that!  Thank you for arranging.  Mark and I would have never thought we would have enjoyed it so much, but we definitely did!  It was also fairly empty. . . and with the sun setting, it was quite magical. 

Sheraton in Xi'an was also a very nice place to stay.  Great choice! :)   

We really enjoyed ourselves, Wonder.  Thank you for picking great tour guides, checking in, adjusting our itinerary, and making sure everything worked smoothly.  In fact, we enjoyed ourselves so much that Mark and I have already started thinking of our next trip!  

Mark and I will have some additional leave coming up in May.  Mark has gotten approval, but I haven't yet.  Either way, we are thinking of a fairly large trip, that would at least include Chengdu (definitely including food-related itinerary) and part of the silk road (the Qinghai to Gansu trip).  I particularly am interested in the grottoes and the desert.  As we get more details/approvals to take leave, we will let you know.  Of course, we will want to work with you, since you are our favorite tour organizer! :) 

Thanks for checking in!

Take care, 

Keena (and Mark)

Hello Wonder,

Our trip were very well. 

Harbin:

The driver who picked us in aeroport, the train and in our visited to city was fantastic. He drove very well and my family felt safe.

We liked all places we visited and the time we had in these place. The city is very clean and so different of Nanjing. We lliked the experience of food and the restaurant.

The guide was amazing and he have a good english.He explained a lot of facts of city very interesting and the place we visited. He gave space for we had good moments in family. It is very good. 

Yabuli:

The hotel Club Med for us was wonderful.

 I m going to talk the hotel by steps:

1- Bedroom:

The bedroon was very big with 2 individual beds for our children and a room for us with a big and confortable bed. The bathrooms were ok. It was very clean and with a lot of space to put our clothes. In the bedroom they have a smale space with a fridge, a cups to drink coffee, tea and bottles of water. we didn´t pay anything that we consumed in bedroom and everday they putted what was miss. All nigths they opened the bedroom and cleaned the garbage bins and offered some gifts(orange, cherries)

2- Food

 They have 2 restaurants one workes like buffet and another workes in the evening with hotpot dinner that we need to booking. We didnt try this restaurant because the buffet restaurant was so good and all time they have western food.

The buffet restaurant the food like I said was good and different everday. The problem of this restaurant was noise because were a lot of pleople there. In the evening of New Year they had a different menu with a lot of seafood and gourmet.

For adults they have a good wine and beer.

They have food all the time for the guest in the bar or in the restaurant that workes in the evening.

This is the hotel with all inclusive very good.

3- Animation and activities

The animation for the children were wonderfuly. They started at 8:30am and finished at 5:00pm. The children can lunch with staff or with parents.

The ski class for children start at 9am and they have like 2 hours in the morning and 2h in afternoon. If they don´t want making ski they play in the club med with staff and they can do climbing too.

For a 1^st January the kids staff prepared a show with the kids very nice.

For adults they have ioga class in the morning and afternoon, dance class, ski class and another activities.

The ski class some teachers speak a little bit of english and if they don´t speak someone translate for us or we saw the teacher to do ski and we can understand. I think it is easy for a foreign do ski in this class.

They have class for all pleople, they have a rent material good and if we prefer buy it is possible.

The hotel has been prepare for pleople don´t want to do ski and enjoy a relax moment in the mountain.

They have a club for families doing activities together they call amazing family.

All evenings they have a show or some activities for guests. 

In the evening new year they had fire works, a party and a show. In the first day of year like I said they did the children show and then they had a candyland to offer the guests.

4- Space

All space of hotel was clean, big, with a beautifull decoration and moderm style.

The swimming pool is big and it is nice have a good moments in jacuuzzi outside with snow and cold.

The gym is ok and they have a spa too. 

5- Language

It is easy to find someone that speak english. I think the hotel is for foreign pleople or chinese pleople who like the western style.

We liked a lot our holidays, we were able to relax and have a good moments in family.

I hope this description of hotel help you. If you need more informationa please contact me.

Best regards

Ana Oliveira

Hi Echo,

Super great! Yenny is fantastic! And my room is humongous, the bed is like twice as big as my bed at home. Which is awesome, because I’m 198 cm tall. So I will sleep great!

Hi Tracy,

Yes, we are back in Guangzhou where it is much warmer than Beijing!

Feedback:

Hotels – both hotels were excellent; the staff were very helpful, breakfast was very nice and the rooms clean and well maintained. The hotel in Beijing just won as they upgraded our room when we arrived to a King double.

Guides/Drivers: Edward was good in Harbin, even though there is obviously less to talk about than if he was in Beijing. He was always on time, very helpful with buying tickets, showing us around and he took us to a great restaurant for our evening meal in the city. The driver (sorry, can’t remember his name) had a good car and drove very carefully in icy conditions.

Kai really made the trip for us. He was very knowledgeable, kept us very interested in all of the history that Beijing has and told an excellent story – on top of being very organised, very helpful with the health codes and so on. Mr Jao the driver was punctual, very helpful and as a team they worked very well. I would recommend them to any of my friends who were going to Beijing.

Activities: it was more difficult to fill two days in Harbin, especially as it was so cold. The snow sculptures were impressive, the ice sculpture park truly amazing and the tiger park (which I was a bit worried about) was more acceptable than other animal attractions I have been too (and there were lots of tigers!). Apart from that, we enjoyed the walk down the ‘Russian street’ but the cathedral was a little underwhelming and we visited the old part of town at a very quiet time of day.  

On the other hand we could easily have spent more time in Beijing; Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace were places where we could have spent much more time exploring, but the highlight was the Great Wall which was fabulous. If we ever get back to Beijing we will definitely go to another stretch for a longer walk. Sadly for the tourism industry, but good for us, it was nice to not have too many people there as well.

Overall we had a great time; everything was well organised, pick ups were punctual, we got to see some of the top sights in China and would definitely consider going back to Beijing in the future. Thanks for all your efforts as well (flight cancellations, letting us know about the situation in Beijing), everything went really smoothly and we will definitely consider getting in touch with you again about future trips.

Hope that you have a prosperous New Year

Best regards

Martin and Debbie

Dear Vivien, I think Linda has already provided feedback to your website. A couple of additional notes from my side:

• The trip was well organized, with the appropriate balance between personal time and time used for guided tours
• The hotels were good, great locations, we would have preferred more ‘continental’ options for breakfast/dinner
• Our guide (Evelyn) was great. She was extremely nice and willing to go ‘the extra mile’ to help us living a great experience
• ...last but not least, one comment on your support. Our decision to travel with China Discovery come from your initiative to contact me and follow up a request that I made months ago. When I received your email I was almost ready to confirm the trip with another agency. What made the difference was the quality of the program you offered but also the very professional way you interacted with us. We appreciated the ‘tone’ that you used in your messages or in our phone conversations. We appreciated your ability to follow up on our requests in a short timeframe, your depth in checking what was concerning to us.

Thank you, we look forward to our next trip together!

RF

Good evening Lyn, hope you well. I am back at the town Hotel all freshened up! The room is much better and fresh than before. I appreciate all that you and the staff have done to accommodate me.

Both Howard and Bruce were fantastic I am really happy to have met them. It's been an incredible experience overall. Going to order a pizza now and rest up for tomorrow's journey back to Changzhou.

Thanks for being such a STAR.

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

Dear Ms Zeng,

So I am now back home in England and already I am very much missing China!

Overall my tour was excellent and I would be very happy to recommend your company to my friends and family.  In fact I have already done so

Here are my comments about the tour in more detail:

Xi’an 

The train connection went smoothly and I was met at the station by my guide, Crystal

Hotel: The Holiday In Express was good, clean and friendly.  The location is excellent because it is right in the centre of the city.

Guide and driver: Crystal (and the driver) were excellent. Crystal was very well informed, very friendly and great company.

Tour: The places we visited were interesting and I really enjoyed seeing the terracotta warriors.

Beijing

Again the train transfer went smoothly, apart from me arriving at the wrong exit at the station (which you sorted very quickly - thank you!) Having your number for emergencies was a really useful on that occasion

Hotel: the hotel itself was good, clean and comfortable.  I just found the location a little “isolated” and would have preferred somewhere a bit more downtown, near the centre.

Guides: 2 different guides for the 2 days. I have already messaged you about Yuly who I thought was excellent. Informed, patient with the difficult tourists and good company. The guide on the 2nd day was also very good, well-informed and good company.

Tour: Beijing was incredible if very cold! I thoroughly enjoyed all the places we visited and found the guides to be well informed. The Great Wall was amazing!

Shanghai

Again the train transfer went smoothly and I was met on time at the station by the guide.

Hotel: the hotel was warm, clean and comfortable and well located near the railway station and the metro.

Guide: Frank was well-informed, well organised and fun to be with.

Tour: the tours were interesting and well organised.  I felt I saw the best parts of Shanghai

So overall I was very happy with the tour 

I should also add that your itinerary was very comprehensive and I constantly referred to it on my travels.

My only suggestion would be to include a link on how to use the Metro because the first time is confusing (or did I miss that link)

I am happy for you to include my comments in your marketing and I am also happy for potential customers to contact me if they want more feedback before they book.

I took over 900 photos but I have included my 3 favourite photos as they remind me that I have been to these 3 iconic places in China.  I am happy for you to use my photos

Thank you again for organising the tour, Ms Zeng

Best wishes,

Chris

Hi Mark,

Happy New Year!

Thank you for being so patient with us on providing feedback.

We shared immediate feedback at the end of every stop we had, but here are se add ns below.

1. How’s the hotel and meals?

Hotels were very good.

Only complaint would be hotel in Emeishan, as a window didn’t close and curtains were a nightmare to close – we had an issue with wifi, but its also on us as we did not go down to ask reception, thankfully it was only for one night, so not a big deal.

Food everywhere was very good with loads of options between local and western selections. I fell in love with the breakfast noodle soup, so was having that everywhere we went.

2. How’s the tour guides’ service and drivers?

Cant fault the drivers and guides on this trip. We learned a lot about the culture and the places we visited. Always had timely pick ups, cars were clean and very good. Sandy picked up all of our onward train tickets in one go, so we didn’t have to waste time on following days to get to train station, that was very helpful!

One comment that I’m not sure how to address is lunches, we really enjoyed our experience in China, and are open people and want to try local food in a sharing environment, we asked in all places if the driver and the guide will eat with us.

-        With Sandy when we could (as one day we were up the mount) both guide and driver ate with us, the restaurants were local and of very good quality and plenty of food to share and try as there were 4 of us on at the table, despite the language barrier it was very nice to eat all together.

-        In Xi’an, Vivian ate with us but the driver did not. We had to request specifically (as our friends recommended) to try Biang Biang noodles – they were awesome. The driver was very lovely and even bought us apples to have on the journey.

-        In Beijing, we ate alone, as Candy said that its company policy that driver and guide eat separately to guests when we were together. Was a bit strange for us to sit at 2 different tables, it wasn’t a big deal, just a different experience to the start of the trip.

We really enjoyed our time at all the places, saw and experienced loads of new places.

3. What do you think of your travel consultant’s service?

Its been a really well organized tour, we’ve seen loads in such a short period of time.

Everything ran smoothly with no hiccups (at least we didn’t see any).

4. Will you recommend our office to people around you?

For sure, already have been, if anyone is planning a trip to china they should definitely use your company to organize everything.

Kind Regards,

Hi Jack,

Sorry to the late reply. Sandy supposed to send you the feedback and I didn't know she still hasn't done yet. Or she will send you in a few days.

That's a great tour. For such short time, I can see both Huangshan and Zhangjiajie. The tour guide at both area is great, friendly and knowledgeable. Hotel is good. Only one thing that the meal included in our tour was not that great, a lot of vegetable but not enough meat. We love meat and most people live in US love to eat meat.

Next time you can have some suggestions that we stay one more day to explore a little bit of Shanghai even though we all have been travel to Shanghai. Every night we went back to shanghai so late. We only can go to the bund to take picture and then come back to sleep.

Lastly, we are very appreciate your arrangement, we can see what we want to see. Thanks a lot. I definitely will recommend you and your company to my family and friend.

Toni

Good morning Mark,

Thank you for all your support. Here are the answers to the questions:

1. Very good service: Patient, good arrangements, great hotel suggestion in Yangshuo (Li River Resort), answered all questions. Would recommend!

2. Drivers were all perfect. Tour guides were too, and Dickson had been very flexible due to rainy conditions, appreciated.

3. Guilin/Longsheng/Yangshuo is outstnading.  Jinshanling Great Wall should be one of the 7 wonders of the world.

4. All was great. A suggestion for hikers like us: Offer either optional lunch or take-out lunch as we often want to hike/explore on lunch time and not spend 1 hour in a restaurant in the middle of the day, especially when sunny.

I will plan to do the TripAdvisor recommendation when back at home.

Many thanks and best regards,

Dear Lily,

We have now returned to Australia after the holiday you organised for us in The Guilin and Hunan areas and are happy to provide some feedback on the service you offered.

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

Lily was efficient and polite and always got back to us within 24 hours of our contacting her.  She was very patient, particularly when the first trip we planned had to have major changes made due to our personal circumstances.

2. How do you comment your tour arrangements? 

The tour was everything we expected.Timing was excellent and the attractions we visited were beautiful. Your country has spectacular scenery.

Some things are worth mentioning:

• The Guilin Park Hotel, while comfortable, was not really 4-star. The bathroom was very old, with mouldy wall tiles.  We would not recommend this hotel to others, although the location was perfect and the exterior and foyer looked beautiful.  The restaurant was uninviting, and the bar was not operating at all.

• The One Art Hotel in Ping’An was superb, and the family operating the business were very friendly and welcoming. This hotel is highly recommended.
• If we had our time over again we would have liked 2 nights in YangShou.  It was a lovely town and small enough for us to wander at our leisure
• The bike ride along the Yulong River and then to Moon Hill and The Banyan Tree was great fun
• There were long car trips involved in our visit to Fengshuan.  Perhaps we could have made a return trip from Zhangziajie by train and then flown from Zhangjiajie to Shanghai.
• Steven was an excellent guide and he provided advice as to where we should eat for our evening meals. He also suggested things for us to eat.
• Kevin was good, but perhaps not as helpful as Steven. He tended to rush us past things we wanted to see and we often had to ask him to slow down. 
• It was difficult for us to order from restaurants in the Zhangziajie area.  There was very little English spoken – and I had not downloaded a translation service to my phone before I left.  I was not able to access this once I was in China as access to Google was blocked

3. Are  you  willing  to  recommend  our  service  to  your  people  who  also  have  an  interest  to  visit China?

We certainly are. This is the second time we have used your service and have no complaints whatsoever.  It is an excellent service and Lily is a pleasure to deal with.  We only wish we could have met her personally to thank her.

 4. Your general opinion on us?

5 star!  Well done

5. Do you have any suggestions on improving our services?

2 suggestions: 

Perhaps you could advise future customers to download translation app before they arrive.

Your guides could have with them a simple menu in Chinese/English that customers could refer to when in a non-English speaking restaurant. 

6. Can we use your comments of our service, the photos or other images that you took on the tour for our websites, brochures, marketing and publicity? If yes, could you please send us some of your photos by E-mail?

See attached photos

7. We sometimes have requests from potential customers who would like to inquire from or our ex-customers. May they contact you for advices?   

Yes, of course.

Thank you once again for a wonderful itinerary,

Warm regards,

Lovely Villages and Beautiful River in Hunan and Guilin

Dear Echo,

We have now returned from our China visit and I want to thank you for your assistance in providing excellent guides, drivers and hotels for our trip away.

We were most impressed by the professional manner in which they conducted themselves. Never did we feel uncomfortable and that is a great recommendation for any guide!

We would gladly recommend your company to others looking for a more personal way to travel without the bother of a large group booking.

Thank you once again. It has been a pleasure to use China Discovery.

Kind Regards,

Echo,

I finally have the time to say how thankful Valerie and I are to you for putting together a wonderful excursion.

Everything went very smoothly and we would certainly recommend you and China Discovery to our friends.

Ruby and Waldner were very knowledgeable about Chengdu and Xi’an and the places we visited. Both spoke very good English which made Valerie and I very comfortable. They were particularly very helpful at the airports and train stations.

The drivers also were very helpful and skilled.

You did a great job in selecting the Hotels and setting up the logistics of meeting with the guides.

I would like to let your supervisor know what a wonderful job you and the guides did.  If you send me a name an email address I will let them know 

Sincerely

Hi Wonder!! How are you!!

Sorry for the late response, it has been a bit more time demanding coming back home than I expected!!

We will gladly write a review in trip advisor. Actually Rubi and I worked on a review for you that you can find below, it is written both in English and Spanish if that helps you with the Spanish speaking countries. Also for your information we are sending you our comments of hotels and guides, but that is for you only.

Wonder Wang was fantastic since day 1, he always replied very quickly to our multiple emails and questions. He worked in record time to provide us with a perfect itinerary that adjusted not only to our wishes, but as well to our budget.

As many customers have pointed out, thinking of paying for your trip to a chinese company many miles away could be nervewracking. Nevertheless, you have nothing to worry about, we did the payments through paypal and Wonder and China Discovery fulfilled all our expectations, always going the extra mile.

As an example, once our itinerary and plane tickets were booked, the Chinese government informed that the Forbbiden City was going to be closed in order for the 70th Anniversary preparations. That was very sad, but Wonder informed us right away appending the official communication and with lots of new proposals for us to choose from. Kudos Wonder!!!

Both the guides and drivers were fantastic, they took us to really nice places for lunch with plenty of food and gave great recommendations for our dinners. The vehicles were impeccable, and they always greeted us with water bottles. Thank you Jack in Beijing, Lucas in Xian, Lee in Guilin and Nini in Shanghai.

We have nothing but gratitude to Wonder and China Discovery they managed to make our trip a hassle free no worries holiday, in a challenging country. Definately we will be booking our future China trips with them.

Wonder Wang fue fantástico desde el día 1, siempre contestó rápidamente todos nuestros correos y nuestras dudas. Trabajó en tiempo record con nosotras para poder lograr un itinerario que fuera perfecto, que no sólo se ajustara a nuestros gustos y deseos si no también a nuestro presupuesto. 

Como todos lo han dicho, el pensar en pagar vía paypal a una empresa china a tantos kilómetros da nervios. Sin embargo, no tienen nada de que preocuparse, Wonder y China Discovery cumplieron todas nuestras expectativas!!! y siempre fueron más allá atentos a nosotras y a lo que pudiera pasar. 

A modo de ejemplo, cuando ya habíamos organizado todo nuestro viaje, el gobierno de China informó que la Ciudad Prohibida estaría cerrada por preparativos para el 70 Aniversario. Wonder inmediatamente nos comunicó esta triste noticia, adjuntando el comunicado oficial y con miles de propuestas de visitas. Muy bien resuelto!

Los choferes y guías fueron espectaculares, los lugares a donde nos llevaron a comer deliciosos y sus recomendaciones de lugares de cenas muy buenos. Los vehículos siempre estuvieron bien cuidados y limpios. Todos los días nos recibieron con botellas de agua. Excelente atención!! Gracias Jack en Beijing, Lucas en Xian, Lee en Guilin and Nini in Shanghai.

No nos queda más que agradecer a Wonder y a China Discovery por permitirnos disfrutar inmensamente de nuestras vacaciones, resolviendo todo lo necesario. Definitivamente para nuestros siguientes viajes a China buscaremos a Wonder Wang de China Discovery sin dudarlo.

Now Wonder about your questionnaire, yes you can give our contact details to customers. And finally here are our personal comments on hotels and guides for you:

Beijing:

Jack was a fantastic guide, he knew a lot, he always had great information to talked about. He took us to great places to eat and gave the most wonderful recomendations for dinner. We had a great time with him! 

Sunworld hotel: excellent location, rooms are ok, it is true it is a bit old hotel, but staff was great, the room was clean and of good size for 2 people for a couple of days is good. For this hotel our only concern was the restaurant, it is not big enough for the amount of guests, so unless you wake up really early, it will we difficult to find a place to seat at rush hour. Food choice was good and ok for a couple of days.

Xian:

Lucas was really funny, he had cool fun facts and made the visits were interesting. He also took us to really delicious restaurants and was very attentive to us and our needs. He knew the museum was going to be crowded so beforehand he showed us lots of great pictures and information of the most representative pieces on his ipad so we could appreciate them calmly. We loved that!

Xian Park Hotel, was one of our favorite hotels, room was large and clean, staff was really attentive and the breakfast was great with lots of options to choose from.

Shanghai:

Nini was really sweet and kind, she explain lots of interesting things about the chinese culture and about her and her family. She was our first guide so we didnt know what to expect. We found it odd that on the museum she took us to the top floor, explained to us one jade piece and then left us on our own to explore the museum. We didnt know if this was what we could expect from the guide, but Lucas did it different because he stayd with us through the whole visit to the museum and explain the most important pieces which was nicer than us going alone. The restaurant she took us was nice, clean and with lots of food although it wasnt the best of our trips the other restaurants were tastier.

Sunrise on the bund: our first leg of the trip we thought the hotel was great, the room size and bathroom were great, the breakfast was amazing and the staff very attentive. We thought it was a bit far away, although metro station was close. What shock us the firs time was that one of the beds had holes and hairs between the mattress and the sheet. But our last day the room was better situated and had no problem with the linen. 

Guilin:

Lee was such a nice guy, he was very attentive, he taught lots of cool things and took great pictures of us!! he took us to really nice restaurants and was very helpful with everything we needed.

Guilin park hotel: from our perspective it is not possible to compare the Guilin Park and the Sunworld as the same category 4 stars. We think the Guilin park must be a 3 stars or less. Or maybe it was just bad luck for us the room we were in. The staff was attentive and the location was good. For us the problem was the room, the carpet was dirty, the wallpaper was coming off on several places, the bathroom had damp and mold on ceiling and on the shower, the tv only had 1 channel in english. All the corridors and the room next to us smell awful of cigarette. And the breakfast had very little options and was not nice in taste, we actually bought some food and decided to have that as breakfast for the second day instead of what was offered in the hotel. 

We decided not to bother you with this during our trip, because at the end we knew that we had a tight budget and the first thing we decided to do was to pay less for hotels, and because we could survive it for 2 days. But if we were going back to Guilin we now know that we will be willing to pay more for a better hotel.

If we were to go back to all the same places we will certainly stay at the same hotels except for the one in Guilin, as we say for us it is very far from a 4 stars.

Finally Yangshuo Mountain retreat: was everyhing we wanted and more, rooms were great, food was excelent as well as service!!!

Well Wonder I hope all of this information is good and useful for you.

Once again thank you for everything and we will keep in touch!!

Did you like the mezcal??

Regards

Dear Jack 

I would like to thank you for arranging a wonderful once in a life time China trip for us. We thoroughly enjoyed our tour. You have a good team of guides and drivers throughout our tour. Hotel were very good and comfortable. We will certainly reccomend your company to our friends who would like to do a similar tour like ours. My wife Manjula and Myself Ramniklal varu , Amita and Chandrakant Chandarana would like to thank you and your team for a lovely trip. It was lovely to meet you in a hotel and thanks for the lovely gifts. 

Thank you.

CHINA DISCOVERY (CHENGDU CHINA): chinadiscovery.com Highly recommended.

The itinerary ; 16 days private tour in Shanghai Hangzhou Guilin Zhangjiajie Xian Beijing and group tour Yangtze Cruise (13^th Sept to 28^th September 2019)

If there is one word that best describes the flow of our 16 day long tour to China , the word is SEAMLESS. Our tour operator China discovery (based out of Chengdu China) were simply awesome. Right from the time we landed to the our last day they ensured we were cared for and made all efforts to make the trip memorable. It all started with an email to Leo Li (Representative at China Discovery). I’m sure he practices meditation coz he never lost his cool answering the several questions we had and innumerable changes we made before landing. He replied to my queries even whilst on his personal leave….that’s dedication. He guided me on the dates. We would have landed during golden week and that would have been a challenge with the local holiday crowds. Leo was also empathetic when we lost our perfumes, hairspray and swiss knife to security at the railway station in Xian (bear in mind you cannot have these if you are taking the bullet trains). He arranged to pick the confiscated items from the railway authorities and ship it back to us in Dubai. The level of service is par excellence. Having travelled extensively I can vouch for China discovery for the extra-efforts they put in to make it a great experience.

All tour guides spoke good English (Trust me you need one). I would like to mention KAI (Our guide in Beijing). He is an excellent story teller. Got us hooked to the history of China (Wish I had someone like him teach us in School). Then there were the other guides who gave us enough time as required, never overdoing the information bit. Answering the never ending questions we threw at them.

Our only setback during the trip was missing The forbidden city tour. The site was closed earlier than expected; as preparations were on for the 70^th National Day. However we were re-imbursed by the tour operator.

China has something for everyone. We chose the more scene route. Avatar mountains of Zhangjiajie are surreal, the rice terraces of Guilin, the Li river cruise , the lake city of Hangzhou and the Yangtze cruise were all a delight to experience. We insisted on a no-shopping tour.

Food can be a bit of a challenge to a few . Chinese food although popular may be quite different than how its made in a foreign land. If you are a vegetarian , pls specify this to your tour operator to help them guide you.

Hotel rooms were comfortable and locations were perfect. We could wander around the happening streets in every city and enjoy a dinner and a drink whilst taking in the local experiences.

People of China love to take pics with foreigners and its fun to share a smile , a laughter or even a hug with well-meaning individuals. Chinese parents encourage their kids to speak in English. So do indulge in a bit of a chat with the little one’s .

Tips :

When visiting China , ensure you give it at least 2 weeks. It’s a huge country, with every city/town/village offering different experiences.

Keep an eye out for what you cannot carry on train journeys or risk prohibited items getting forfeited.

VPN : Buy it to stay connected.

Have an offline app to translate your language into Mandarin (This is a BIG help)

Do not take offence if the Chinese don’t smile back at you. They are not being rude. It’s just my understanding that they do not know what to make of your smile. They do not understand your intent or it could be that they simply don’t smile often. They are lovely people if you get to know them .

Do not pack in too much for the day. Every location has lots to see, so a lot of walking. Shortlist your choices and finish the day at around 5 or 6 p.m . This way you are ready for the next day.

China will surprise you in ways you weren’t expecting.  This middle kingdom is indeed a sleeping giant as Napoleon Bonaparte rightly put. The country has had a remarkable growth economically. They have adapted to change .The transportation systems are super-efficient , the development in tourism is surprising and all these changes while keeping its traditions and culture alive.

China fascinates.

Hi Vivien,

Sorry for the late reply. We( 4 of us) still travelling in China.

The trip and the driver was good.  I was impressed with the tour guide for checking on the hotel that we booked ourselves before picking us up at the airport.

We enjoyed all the destinations that was organised. It was very beautiful and took alot of pictures.

Please find attached our group photo and the lady with the green bag is our tour guide Xiao Zhang.

Thanks and regards,

Our Great Journey with Local Guide

Riley,

No problem with the train although obviously better if we were together! The rest of the trip was excellent, the guides and drivers first class, the hotels very good and the landscaper around Guilin terrific and we really enjoyed Xian, if a little cold. In fact we saw everything we wanted to see. So we would not hesitate to book with you again in the future. Thanks again for all your help. Best Wishes for 2019.

Vivien,

Season's greetings to you and your staff as well. My apologies for the delayed response. I had a bit of catching up to do when I we got home, as well as getting ready for Christmas .

I want to Thank-you very much for all the work you did planning our travels in China . It was a lot of arranging I am sure . Much appreciated.

Our guides were all very good. They were very prompt , and really made sure we were aware of plans the next day as well as the itinerary . I am so glad that we had guides meet us at the airports and get us to our hotels . Special thanks to Kai in Bejing - He was our first contact for a tour guide and we certainly enjoyed his great knowledge of the area and the Dynasty"s lineage.  Layla in Guillan was also a patient and caring person. We appreciated Bruce's enthusiasm and interpreting skills as Ernie had to talk to many locals and farmers we met. Please pass on a note of gratitude to all our contacts. The drivers were very good as well and I was amazed at how they managed in traffic ( especially during rush hour ) . The cars were very comfortable and appropriate for 4 people. We were a little tight in one car in Xian (but it was because of our long legs) and the driver certainly tried to adjust for that by trying to adjust the back seats further. I appreciated the extra care that the guides showed with arrangements for the trains . They all made sure we had our tickets, knew where we went , and what to watch for , and the process of getting on the train. The high speed trains were amazing . Wow.

The food was excellent and very tasty. We did enjoy eating at the very local restaurants . Certainly gave us a opportunity to eat food that locals eat. We did like the meals made in private homes .

Our destinations and sites we saw were above our expectations .. and everyday was fantastic . I cannot say which were my favorites as they all were . The amount of travelling we took on was worth it. I can tell you that a few places are now off my bucket list - The Great Wall, Terra Cotta Warriors, Terraces, Forbidden Palace, a burial tomb, Three Gorges, Li River, and Shanghai. The artistry of all the architecture, jade and marble… and so on.

Our hotels were all very comfortable and the staff was very helpful. Our night in the village on the hill at the rice terraces was a particularly fond memory. It was amazing and I am impressed that I made the trek up that hill. The view was spectacular - so thank-you for that arrangement.

All in all a fabulous trip . We are looking forward to showing picture to our family during the holidays.

Again Thank-you. Great job and Thank-you for all the effort involved in planning and arranging this tour . Wishing you well.

Hi Lily,

Thank you for your good wishes! We have very good memories of our cruise on the Yangtze River, the crew and guides were very good, we liked our room, the food was delicious.

Thank you again,

Hi Stephanie,

Great Holiday, thank-you.

Very Happy with Wanda Hotel and its location, great swimming pool was an extra treat.

Answers to you questions in red below.

1. Yes, great job thank you.
2. Guide and driver in Harbin did a fantastic job.  (only item to note: would be good if driver did not smoke in car whilst waiting for us to attend events, but a very hard place to get out of the car and go for a walk to have a smoke)
3. Yes, we will recommend your company. Thank you.

Regards

Peter

Hello Wing,

Well we all found the tour very satisfactory in every respect including the sunshine( most days) . I think it might be useful to give one more idea about what to expect on the train. Thankfully we left our main baggage in the Radisson Blu so we had no problem. Also it possible it's more comfortable beyond row 1 on the train. 

Yes indeed it was a great tour and we loved the hotel chosen. We might see you next time.

Best regards!

Bill

Dear Lyn,

We have returned  home yesterday and are still a little bit jet lagged, but we would like to express our great thanks to you for organizing for us such a wonderful tour through China and Tibet.

All arrangements have worked out perfectly and at no point we did not feel unsupported by you and your team of guides and drivers. All your regional guides were friendly, knowledgeable and spoke good English and committed to make our stay interesting. All hotels were very comfortable (obviously a couple hotels in Tibet were a bit cold but this is to be expected in the winter in such altitude and in the low season), all cars comfortable and clean and all drivers very good and kind. We cannot possibly find anything we could complain about. All your arrangements worked brilliantly from the moment  we step off the plane  in Hong Kong to the moment we step into the plane in Chengdu.

We will have lots of great memories and photos to remember our trip and are considering visiting China again at some point in the future.  If we do we will certainly use China Discovery again without hesitation. 

Many thanks for all your help, advise and care and we will recommend you to all our friends wishing to visit your wonderful country.

Kind regards and best wishes,

Alena and Roger

Hi Ian, 

Good afternoon. Thank you for arrangement made for our Huangshan tour. Both Eric and myself enjoyed very much for the trip. 

The Tour arrangement - Hotel, transport was all well organised and no waiting time at all. Quick respond on email, excellent service on our hotel request at Baiyun Japanese Queen room. Yes, definitely we will recommend your service to others when visiting China.

Michelle Lau

The following pictures were shared by Michelle.

Michelle Visited Tibet

Hi Mr. lan wei

I want to thank you for the fantastic tour arrangement, your effort and your time.

every thing is good, and suitable for me.

Thank you

Dear Isabel,

A wonderful trip amongst wonderful people and a lovely country.

I real eye opener. New Zealanders could learn so much in terms of respect and pride from your countrymen and women. I think we New Zealanders have a long way to go toward civilization.

Your guides were excellent. I would not like to single anyone out but Jenny was exceptional. I fell in love with girl at Zhengzhou (Vicky Gee) who worked on reception at the Hotel. Vicky had the most radiant and beautiful smile I have ever seen in my life. I will never forget her. The sites we visited were all excellent but the road trip from Zhangjiajie to Jishou was also a stand out feature. The accommodation in Jishou was excellent. Although we primarily came to see Engineering and construction which were mind blowing, to me the most outstanding feature were the people.

Everything ran like clockwork.

When I come back I want to spend most of the time in the countryside and mountains. I would not be concerned about having 5, 4  or even 2 star accommodation. To me the countryside is what a land is all about. I am not a city fan. I have not downloaded any pictures as yet but will sort some out for you. In Xian Bruce picked us up in a minivan. This was not suitable for the long day out to the Terracotta Warriors and then the drive to the Zhongnanshan Tunnel as the windows were very low and we could not see out of them. Bruce remedied this and provided a 22 seater which along with the rest of the transport was very good.

Thank you so much for organising this trip and your support.

Kindest regards

vince

Hi Laura,

Despite of my husband had said almost everything about our trip I'd like to give a feedback from a mother who was worried to take her kids to a country with a very different culture from ours.

The wonderful experience we had in China is mainly due to your care with our family. Starting with the excelent neighborhoods, the great hotels, the comfort vans, the great guides, the wonderful tours... You really did an awsome job!

Thank you very much to make this dream come true to our family!

Best regards,

Eliane Melchert

Hi Laura,

We're very well!! The trip was outstanding!!! and YOU super outstanding!! Everything you planned worked very well.

I've forwarded your email to my wife because she wants give you a feedback too. I'd like just to highlight two points: The first one is praise the work of our guide Eben. He did an outstanding job! He knew very much about Chinese culture (something that we were expecting). He understood completely our needs in terms of sightseeings, restaurants, shoppings and everytime he was searching for things to meet our expectation. The second point is that Eben "raised the bar" for what we should expect about a tour guide. So based on it I'd like to share an opinion as an opportunity of improvement. When we arrive in Beijing our expectation was not so high, in fact we didn't knew for sure what expect in terms of accommodations, restaurants and sightseeings. So, everything that was happening without any problem was ok for us.

For sure, we'd like to come back to China, invite some friend and be in touch with you. You were so excellent in all steps of our trip.

Xie Xie Ni!!!

Eduardo

Dear Isabel,

I am sorry that I am replaying after long time. As i landed back in India lots of pending work to done and that's how this delay.

Well first of all my sincere thinks to you and your entire team.

Really saying this was one of our most enjoyable trip. In Beijing, well we enjoyed as the group there was grate but from there on all the hotels were good and at good location, the car which was provided good condition the drivers nice and polite, and on top of that your guides were extremely superb. We got emotionally involved with them. Timo at Xian and Arther at Guilin and further are the best one you have got, don't" loose them they are the asset of your company.

what to say more. Yes, very special thanks to you who arranged it so well. I have told so many friends and they will contact you, give them good deal.

Thanks and Regards

Pravin Karkhanis

Dear Jack Li,

We had a great time in China!!! And I am very glad that I chose China Discovery to take us in this tour.

Me and my family were very pleased with everything, hotel, guide, private car... I have a special thanks to Candy our guide in China, she was really awesome and sweet like her name. She made our tour really easy and interesting. She understood our needs and met all of our expectations.

We will remember China with great respect for the culture and people.

Thank you and thank Candy,

Best regards

Renato Soeiro

Hello Isabel,

We would like to thank you for wonderful tour organized by you to our preference. Very good guides hotels food flights. Thank you for your excellent service.

Amira and Rami Danieli

(The following photo was shared by Amira and Rami Danieli)

Amira and Rami Danieli visited Xian in July 2015

Dear Wendy,

After a fascinating amazing trip to China, we arrived yesterday early morning back to our home. Me and my children did not want to leave China, we enjoyed so much and one week Was not enough !

I would like to thank you for your arrangements and follow up during our stay in China. Would like to comment few points although I did submit feedback paper to your guides in each city.

1) both guides in Beijing and Xian were very helpful. They had good knowledge and was very flexible in all situation. because of my bad back,....they made us rest and take break whenever necessary without any problem.  Very kind and helpful also in the restaurants when we needed to order food.  I have no complain about the guides at all. You should be proud of these guides and keep them in your company because it is not easy to find a honest good people.

2) About the hotels, if you make a comparison, the hotel in Xian was much much better than the one in Beijing. The hotel in Beijing was in a best location, easy to go everywhere. But I think the room was little tight for three persons. The hotel in Xian was super deluxe. The room was very very big. We had space everywhere! 

3) About the tour during sight seeing, I am sure each guide did their best to choose a way not to make us tired in the same time to see as much as possible to enjoy the place. I wrote in the feed back paper for the Beijing tour but will mention it here again for you to know. As for the Rickshaw ride in Hutong, I felt it was rather short for riding. We went rather early maybe so we did not see other rickshaws too. The guide did explain main points about the Hutong and its history. But it would have been nice if we visited local school, to visit local home that has a typical Chinese courtyard to take some pictures.

And at last again, I would like to thank you again for everything. I hope you will receive my small Gift from Egypt as soon as possible, And I will definitely let you know if we want to go to other cities in China in the future, I will contact you again.

Thanks again for everything.

From Akiko Iseki

Hi Isabel,

thank you for organizing this trip for us.  Overall we were very pleased with all elements of our vacation.  

Here's what was great:

The food! Each province has such delicious local cuisine.

Huangshan, Mutianyu Great Wall, Jiuzhaigou, Yangtze River, Zhangjiajie, Li River and Longji Terraces were the highlights.

Momo, Shila, Waldner, and Alex were our favorite guides as all four had excellent English and great personalities. The 4 and 5 star hotels were nice and comfortable. The drivers/guides who would provide us with unlimited free bottles of water to drink each day.

Your helpfulness during the flight delays and cancellations was great appreciated. We'd certainly recommend your services to others.  Looking forward to reviewing the thousands of photos we took and reliving our memories.

Brandon

Dear Jack,

First of all I would like to say that the trip was really fantastic. We were impressed with the organization and the guides who cared for us. We have told our friends about the trip and China Discovery in the highest level of praise. I will put these comments into the Trip Advisor link. And we were especially happy with your responsiveness during our planning and travel stages. I have to admit that I was not so optimistic while we were planning the trip just mainly because my husband found your company online. I am always cautious since there are so many scams that are easy to pull through over the internet. We have been to hotels that were presented online as gorgeous places but which was photo-shopped. So when the trip began and everything went super well, I was extremely happy. Thank you Jack for your excellent service!

The Tibet part of the trip was the highlight. The guide was very responsive, the hotel was so nice as was the service, prices, etc. Do not change anything there!  We were lucky in having a very nice man join our tour which made things very interesting and fun. Tibet is amazing. And the train ride to Beijing was so interesting and the organization between guides excellent. So you can read that we were very happy with our tour.

I wish you all the very best!

Sabrina and Klaus Gerland

Mr Wonder Wang

Thank you for the email. I meant to email you as well, to thank you directly. We were very impressed by your organisation of the trip and would definitely recommend you to our friends, if they were to visit China. The transport and accommodation were all excellent, we were very happy. The high speed train was very impressive. The delay in the flight from Guilin to Beijing was nothing to do with you.

The trips were very interesting, albeit the last day was very busy, with perhaps too many things to do and we had to cut out the bike trip to the Bunyan Tree and Moon Rock, in truth we could have omitted the Pearl factory but that is the only change we would make. We definitely would recommend a bit more time on Xi'an city walls, we took a bike for an hour but could have spent longer there.

The guides were really good, Gerry was excellent. He was very well informed and very polite. Jayne was very nice but got a bit pressurised on the last day trying to fit everything in. These observations aren't meant as a criticism, we appreciate that China has so much to offer and the time is very short to take in what we did in the six days.

Thank you again, you and your company were brilliant!

Regards

Stuart & Julie Kyle.

Hi Isabel,

Thanks you for arranging the tour. We had a wonderful time. Our guide Steven was very informative and helpful. He had provided us with great service. The driver is good also. Hotels in general is quite good too. Overall we enjoyed ourselves a lot. Of course we thank you also for the whole arrangements.

Dear Laura,

We want to really thank you very very much for arranging an awesome holiday for us. Everything was so very well organized, on time and professional. The hotels, site visits and the local guides were absolutely brilliant. A special word of thanks to all our guides, they went all out to make us comfortable and to share their knowledge about your beautiful country. The food was exceptional …even the local snacks!

Although we love our country and our people, we were very sad to end our journey, we were humbled by this experience and your rich culture.

We will definitely comment on trip advisor.

We would love to welcome you or any of your colleagues to South Africa, and we would be more than welcome to assist with accommodation or any local traveling arrangements.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Curtis & Tersia

Hi Isabel, 

Back to work in singapore, feel so tired. It was a great trip in sichuan last week. The scenery is fantastic and the guide is very accommodating. Was expecting jiuzhaigou to be very beautiful like what many singaporeans say but it was just alright and way too crowded and squeezy. In fact i felt that huang long and er mei shan was much nicer and peaceful as there are less people. 

The hotels were great and our favorite is fraser suites whereby we slept very soundly. The guide is very nice and accompanied throughout our hike. The driver is a very cautious and good driver. It was a very pleasant experience as compared to my other private tour to xi'an and luoyang back in november. 

Really appreciate the fact that you called to check on us when we were in Leshan. Your correspondence via email and call was great and recommendable. Really appreciate your help.

Regards 

huihua

Hi Ian,

All are well for our day one in chengdu.  Mr. Rosky and Ger are very nice.   Hotel is great and we had a good chat with the general manager of the hotel.

We would like to request that you kindly organize a day trip for us to visit the bamboo sea/forest on Friday 10 April.  If rosky,ger and car could be prepared for this trip.  We will pay you for any additional costs.

Thank you very much and wait to hear your confirmation.

Best regards

Hi Tiger,

In general, Guilin is very scenic and we enjoy the tour very much. We like the tourist spots at Li river, rice terrace, bamboo water rafting, silver rock cave and national park.

The hotels at Shangri-La, Lotus Green and Longji one art hotel are very nice and comfortable. Longi one art hotel is strongly recommended, next to rice terrace field, the views are fantastic.

The bus driver and the tour guide are very professional and knowledgeable. All the tour programme were properly arranged according to the itineraries.

Appreciate very much of your patient and advice on the proposed itineraries. Overall, it was a well organised tour. Hope we can join your company again for future China tour.  

(The following photo is shared by Steven)

Hi Wonder,

Sorry I have taken so long to get around to writing to you to give you our feed-back.

Firstly, let me say that we were very happy with the way you organised our China trip for us.  Your service to us was of the highest standard and we thank you sincerely for that.

GUILIN:

Guide - Linda - a very pleasant young lady with very good English language skills.

Hotel - Bravo - good quality, clean, comfortable, good location.  Breakfast - both western and chinese was quite awful.

Driver/Vehicle - both very good - no improvement needed.

Guilin to Kunming (soft-sleeper train) - I realise that this is outside of your control however I will still advise you of our experience.  Our compartment was used and dirty when we boarded the train.

KUNMING:

Guide - Wayan - very personable, friendly, and knowledgeable young man.  We very much enjoyed his company and the information which he shared with us about Kunming, its surrounds, and China in general. Wayan chose good restaurants and local dishes for us to enjoy.  He made us feel that he was always doing his best to ensure that our time with him was the best he could make it.

Hotel - Jinjian - good quality, clean, comfortable. Although the hotel was handy to the railway station it was not a particularly good location. Breakfast was the best that we experienced during our time in China. 

Driver/Vehicle - both very good - no improvement needed.

LIAJIANG:

Guide - Sophie - very personable, friendly, and caring young woman.  We enjoyed her company and her bubbly personality. 

Hotel - He Xi - clean and comfortable in an excellent location.

Driver/Vehicle - both very good - no improvement needed.

JINGHONG:

Guide - Mike - our least experienced guide but by far our most enthusiastic.  Mike is an outstanding young man who with experience will prove to be a major asset to your company.

Hotel - Tai Garden - good quality, clean, comfortable, with OK location.

Driver/Vehicle - both very good - no improvement needed.

All in all a very satisfactory experience.  One suggestion might be, for groups such as ours who are responsible for finding their dinner each evening, you might provide a list of suggested local restaurants. Perhaps a short tour of the city area would help your guests to orient themselves with regard to their hotel and its locale. We found Guilin and Lijiang relatively easy for this but Kunming and Jinghong were more of a challenge.

Thank you for all of your assistance.

Kindest regards,

Paul Hamill

Hi Olivia,

I just wanted to let you know that I tried to submit a review to TripAdvisor but they did not approve it - I'm not sure exactly why. If you read my review below it is not really any different than any of your other outstanding reviews on TripAdvisor.  Please advise.

My review - 

"We had a wonderful time travelling on a 2 week tour of China.  We worked with Olivia for over a week planning and customizing our 13 day tour.  China Discovery handles all of the logistics of travelling throughout China - including domestic flights, airport transfers, hotel accommodations, and of course our awesome tour guides and drivers.

They really make it easy for first time travelers to China as we didn't speak any Mandarin or Cantonese (Hong Kong).  Their guides really make a difference as they not only pick you up from the airport, but they also help check you into your hotel and also into your next flight when they drop you off.  The guides and drivers were extremely professional and were always on time and courteous, even when a couple of our flights were delayed by 2-3 hour.

Our tour began in Hong Kong with an extra day in Macau and then continued on to Shanghai, Guilin, Xian, and Beijing.  Hong Kong and Shanghai gave us a glimpse of the city life in the bustling Chinese metropolis.  Guilin was definitely a favorite spot as the majesty of the Li River scenery made us awe struck for the entire 4 hour cruise.  The city of Guilin is beautiful and definitely understand why it's one of the most popular domestic tourist destinations in China.  Xian was amazing - so much history yet so much city and population growth.  You've got to see the Terracotta Warriors of course but don't miss out on the Muslim quarter.  Its chaotic bliss in the Muslim quarter as you're surrounded tuk tuk scooters and awesome street food.  Beijing was magnificent as we spent the Lunar New Year there and was fortunate to see it snow in the Forbidden City.  It was certainly an amazing and memorable time to be there.

This tour was just an appetizer and with a 10 year visa, I definitely plan on coming back and plan another tour with China Discovery.  I highly recommend them!"

- Dave

Hi Jack,

Thank you for providing wonderful service!!!!

Thank you for making our changes quickly and efficiently!! Due to the north east weather and personal circumstances!

Thank you for the wonderful guides and drivers you have provided!!

You are amazing at your job and really care about your guests!

I said a prayer for you and your family and all your guides and drivers and your company at the Buddha Temple. Wishing you all a Happy, Healthy, prosperous life. 

I can't wait to write my reviews when I return to the United States. You and everyone at your company have gone above and beyond to make this the best family vacation.  We have traveled the world and you and all of your staff by far have been the best. I would recommend your services to anyone.

Mike and Autumn in Shanghai, Mr Wong and Jenny in Xian and Mr Wong and Lily in Beijing were all the best. The drivers were safe and amazing in the traffic and the guides did not recite memorized scripts but knew the history about every site and could answer all our questions with great knowledge. The hotels were clean and the staff was nice and all of their breakfasts were fabulous. I loved how lunch was included on the tours and how great the restaurants were. I really appreciate the guides suggestions on food choices. We were never disappointed.

You may use my comments and name if you wish for publicity.

With Sincere Thanks,

Barbara and Monica Vandehei

Connecticut, USA

Hi Laura,

It was very good! The service from Mary was excellent as well as the driver.

We really enjoy all the tour and specially your help to accommodate us so fast and pick up the money. Thanks again a lot also to Mary who was very patient, kind, and with enough English as this is not easy to find in China!

thanks!

Monica Izquierdo

Hi Isabel,

Happy New Year to You!

The trip was wonderful, we had a great time thanks to all your arrangements :) All the hotels were comfortable and in good locations. The food was generally good with a wide choice  of both western and Chinese choices for breakfast.  The room sizes even with the extra bed for Jessica were also fine. All the tour guides were very good.  I think Evelyn was our favorite, her english was excellent and she had a relaxed manner and was flexible about finding things we wanted to do.

I think my favorite parts of the trip where:

- The rafting trip from Jiuxian, that was so much fun and I would highly recommend it.

- Riding bicycles on the city wall in Xi'an

- Pingyao

- the Great Wall, we were so lucky with the weather, the skies were clear blue and we could see forever, plus as it was the day before the big holiday there was hardly anyone on the wall.

- the acrobats in Shanghai.

It was all wonderful really but those were especially enjoyable.

We did not anticipate how important the New Year holiday was and just how many Chinese people would be out touring during the week of the holiday. Or that restaurants would book up or even close over the holiday. However that was only a problem in Beijing and Shanghai.

We would definitely recommend your travel company to others wanting to visit China. The arrangement were excellent and I really appreciated the way you worked with me as we set up the itinerary. All the information you gave me along the way was helpful and accurate and everything went very well.

Thank you again, and I hope this rather long report on our trip answers all your questions.

Anna McHale

Hi, Wonder

We had a great time during the tour. You did a great job, he replied fast and diligently all the concerns about the tour. It is a well organized tourism office, offering a variety of options to the costumers and the prices are according with the activities, locations and transportation. The chosen cities and the activities were very good. The guides have a pretty good English level and they know what they have to explain.

Someone recommended me your service and I’m willing to do it as well.

Thanks a lot,

Juana

Hi Ian,

Thank you for organizing our trip in China; this was a great experience and we enjoyed the trip very much. My overall impression of the services provided is excellent. We had no issues with hotel reservations, flights, guides, etc. 

All our guides, especially those who we had a chance to spend more time with (Guilin, Chengdu, Lijiang, Zhangjiajie) were great. Always very accommodating, punctual and attentive. The drivers were good. The hotels in the big cities (Chengdu, Chongqing, Shanghai) were excellent.

Chongqing - Dazu Rock Carvings were a great suggestion. It was a little far, but well worth the trip.The Yangtze River Cruise accommodations, cruise and tours were great. The only letdown was that we passed one of the gorges in complete darkness so could not see anything at all. I am still glad I chose this cruise and got to see the Three Lesser Gorges. Also, on the cruise we paid extra to dine at a smaller dining room and based on what we heard from other travelers, this was a good option. The tours in Chengdu were great. We did not get to see the sunrise on Mt Emei, but the night we got there, it was crystal clear and no people. It was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. Lijiang tours were great. I highly suggest Tiger Leaping Gorge for those that want a more active vacation - it's beautiful and peaceful. In Zhangjiajie we were able to visit Tianzi Mountain and Huangshi Village on the same day. We had enough time, but I suspect it was because we did not have to wait in long lines anywhere.

I also appreciate your prompt e-mails and your answers to all my questions during the entire time you were planning this trip and I appreciate you checking in with us a couple of times during our trip. It's been a pleasure working with you and I look forward using your services again some day when we visit China. I hope you find my comments useful. Please let me know if you would like me to go into more detail about any part of my trip.

Thank you and take care,

Zane

Dear Rita,

This is what I wrote on TripAdvisor. "I am only addressing the organizing of a customized tour of the Hunan province of China.

I totally lucked out as I found the most astonishingly responsive, capable and so nice travel agent I have ever had the pleasure to deal with. Rita Jiang of China Discovery out of Chengdu. I sent out the same email to 3 companies who arrange custom tours to China.

I wrote them where I had been on my previous 2 trips to China, my age and my physical condition - which is excellent. I wrote I wanted to travel alone seeing the great sight of Hunan and listed a number of places I wanted included and that I wanted to spend approximately 17-19 days on this tour.

The very next day I got a fully described day by day itinerary along with hotels, type of transportation and guides and the complete price for this 15 day trip. Rita made suggestions as to what other sights I might want to include to bring the trip up to 19 days. I looked up all the places she described on line as well as the 5 star hotels she included.

I wrote back that evening asking how much I would save staying in 4 star hotels, and information on including the places she recommended seeing outside of Hunan. Next day again got all the details including travel arrangements getting there. Next I asked her to arrange my domestic and international air as well. Again the next day an email from Rita with the Domestic flights & their costs. She urged me to get my own International flights she said I'd do better with the price than she could arrange.

I then asked she detail the length of getting from one sight to the next for each day. Again next day all info furnished. When I saw that the train travel involved in seeing those sights outside of Hunan were 14 & another 21 hours long and they involved sharing a 4 person sleeping compartment, I wrote back saying I would skip those sights and just go to Shanghai & stay there for 3 days. Would she please inform me what the new price would be. The only time I did not hear the next day is over a weekend. Her responses were unfailingly complete very friendly and I am looking forward to the trip of a lifetime.

Re the other 2 companies I had sent the original email request - one wrote back about 4 days later and said they were trying to get information from their Chinese vendor. Never heard from them again. The other sent me a totally incomplete itinerary about a week after I sent out my request. It came without no hotels, no prices or info on transportation etc. I wrote back saying I found their response was inadequate. They said I needed to supply more details.

As I said I feel I completely lucked out. My next post will be to let you know if the trip measures up to the marvelous agent who has put it all together."