Kevin's Feedback on 6-Day China Tour

Dear Leon,

My apologies for taking so long to contact you after our wonderful holiday in China in March 2012. Although we only had 5 days in China after our cruise, I must congratulate you and your excellent guides at China Highlights for organising a most enjoyable visit to your country.

In the first instance your prompt attention and the detailed quotation you provided gave us confidence that we were in good hands. That confidence was certainly justified in every way. When our ship docked in Shanghai on 14 March Valerie and I were delighted to see the smiling face of our guide, Jason who immediately helped us with our luggage and summoned the driver. He gave us an excellent tour of the Shanghai sights, from the magnificent Bund on the waterfront to the top of 101 Tower; the fabulous Yuyuan Gardens and the amazing Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition.

Our first meal in China at the Seagull Restaurant was a pleasurable experience and the food was great. We were also fascinated by the Silk Workshop. To see the manufacturing process from the raw silkworm cocoons to the final beautiful products was very interesting.

Our overnight accommodation at the 4 star Bund Hotel was very good. The hotel maintains high standards and our buffet breakfast was excellent. Our 2hr 30 min flight from Shanghai to Xi'an the next day was on time and again we were met at the airport by our guide, Chris, who proved to be an absolute delight. Her bright friendly personality and excellent English made our visit to Xi'an particularly enjoyable.

 

The highlight was of course our visit to see the Terracotta Warriors and Horses - what a remarkable experience this was! We will never forget the impact this amazing spectacle had on us. This was made even more interesting by our guide Chris whose detailed knowledge of the history brought the whole experience alive for us. We even met one of the, now elderly, farmers who accidently discovered the Warriors on his farm in 1974 whilst drilling for water. We were privileged to have him sign our descriptive guide book.

 

The other places of interest in Xi'an were equally fascinating. Xi'an is clearly very culturally significant in China. Its central location at the end of the ancient Silk Road has left a rich mixture of cultures and buildings. Not least of these is the Great Mosque founded in 742. We were fascinated again by the history and the amazing architecture. The Moslem Street food and product market was seething with activity and a truly colourful spectacle, also offering ample opportunity to barter. The Xi'an City wall is again one of the most remarkable ancient structures we have seen. Commenced in 618 AD it remains totally intact and is 13 kames in length - bicycles can be hired. We were satisfied with a short walk along the 14 metre wide walkway overlooking the city.

We experienced many other delights in Xi'an including an evening visit to a cultural music and dance performance by the local opera company. Chris organised this visit for us and again we were transported to our hotel afterwards. The Grand Noble Hotel in Xi'an was again excellent and very comfortable. We arrived in Beijing at 8.10 pm after a comfortable 2 hour flight from Xi'an. We were met by Rosina who was to be our guide for the next three days.

Again Rosina proved to be a wonderful guide and an amazing source of knowledge. As a graduate in Chinese history and with a good command of English, Rosina was able to fully inform and indeed educate us as we visited the many places of interest in and around Beijing.

After an excellent night in the centrally located Sun World Hotel we visited the famous and vast Tiananmen Square and then into the truly amazing Forbidden City. Rosina's remarkable knowledge of dynastic history certainly helped to overcome any concerns we may have had about the three hour tour of the Forbidden City. This was a fabulous experience and made totally absorbing by our guide.

After another excellent lunch stop we then visited the equally vast Summer Palace, Gardens and Lake covering a total of 2.9 square kilometres. By this time the temperature had dropped to zero degrees Celsius and many of the waterways within the gardens were frozen over. The many remarkable buildings, temples and artefacts from the Imperial days of the Empowers were again magnificent. We would love to see this place again in summer time in all its glory. Rosina organised an evening visit to a very spectacular acrobatic show which was well worth seeing. We woke the next morning to a snow covered landscape. It was very beautiful (particularly for us Aussies) but the journey to the Great Wall via the freeway was slowed by a multi vehicle accident in the icy conditions.

Our driver was extremely careful and we always felt safe while travelling, as was the case with all our drivers during our visit to China.

The Great Wall at Mutianyu was absolutely spectacular in the snow. Rosina said she had never seen a snow covered Great Wall before and we felt that we had a unique experience. We felt very privileged to be there on that day. The vast extent of the Wall was clearly visible in every direction as it snaked over the mountains. Truly one of the ancient wonders of the world. We returned to Beijing after another excellent lunch at a restaurant near the wall. That afternoon we visited the Olympic Games Complex. It was great to see the "Birds Nest" stadium and other sporting venues we had previously seen only on the television coverage of the games.

The following day, before being transported to the airport for our flight to Melbourne, we visited the beautiful Temple of Heaven and surrounding parklands. We were interested to see the various community activities taking place in the gardens such as, Tai Chi, dancing, various games being played, community singing and footpath calligraphy.

Our thanks again to you and particularly to our guides Jason, Chris and Rosina for making our visit to China a truly memorable and extremely enjoyable experience. We will look forward to visiting your country again one day.

I have attached some photographs. We are quite happy for you to use any of our remarks in your promotional material.

Kindest regards and best wishes.

Kevin