Diane's Feedback on 7-Day China Tour

Dear Lion

We had a fantastic trip. Hotels were divine. All of our guides were great and I apologize for not having the names at the moment, but our guide in Xi'an was exceptional. She was clearly a bit older and more experienced and it showed -- but again they were all excellent. All of the guides were great at talking about life in China as well as the sights that we were visiting. Driving in China takes a bit getting used to but the drivers were all fine. One thing that I did learn from the trip is that I should have asked more questions about what we were skipping when we were planning the tour. Also, I think that we tried to squeeze in too many cities. We spent a lot of time on planes and if I were to do it over again, I would have dropped one city.

As for sights and organization, here are some of my thoughts. Again, we really had a wonderful trip, so please keep that in mind as you read these comments.

Orientation: what would be very nice is to start the tour and each city with a bit better orientation about the history that we are about to see and the physical layout of the city. Chinese history is complex and reminders about the time frames of the dynasties and relating pieces across cities would be very helpful. As for the cities, 10 minutes to acclimate us to the city -- what district are we in, where things are relative to each other, etc. would have been appreciated.

Shopping: would have appreciated a little more guidance as to where and when were good places to buy crafts and souveneirs 

Sites: the first day was rather short. Perhaps it was expected to spend more time at the first two sights. Sacred Road and Great Wall were outstanding. Ming Tombs needed a little more history and narrative to be well appreciated.

Chengdu: Du Fu Cottage and Wuhouci Temple were mildly interesting. The fact that the guide was good helped a lot. The street next to Wuhouci Temple was fascinating. I wish that we had been warned that we wouldn't see a number of those crafts again and would have done some shopping there. Our guide recommended that we have a hot pot for dinner and go to a show at a tea house. The evening was an excellent addition and I would recommend adding it as a base part of a tour. Chengdu Research Center and Sanxingdui Museum were outstanding. With hindsight, I wish that you had simply included pictures with the pandas in the package. I wish that you had suggested adjusting our schedule to see the Leshan Buddha.

While Guilin is a beautiful city and part of the country, that may have been a good tradeoff for us. Guilin: A beautiful area and the karsts are definitely worth seeing. Fubo Hill and the Reed Flute Cave were interesting and I'm glad we saw them. More interesting was the evening cruise through the lakes that our guide recomended. This was quite spectacular and again something that I would recommend adding to the tour. We took a tour through the countryside -- another piece I would add to the tour. We went on a small open cart, which worked well, but I understand that there are alternatives.

Xi'an: Terra cotta warriors were incredible: a must see. Big WIld Goose Pagoda was very good. Much enhanced by the information that our guide provided about the temple and Buddhism. Xian City Walls: we had a quick visit. It would have been more interesting to plan an extended tour around the walls either by bicycle or mini-bus. The evening show was very good.

Again, overall a memorable and enjoyable trip.  Thanks again for all your help.

Diane