Vivien Li - Our Professional China Travel Consultant

Dear Vivien,

Now our vacation is over again. It was a very nice three weeks in China, but it was also very tiring because of the heat. The trip with the Victoria Jenna was excellent. Everything was well organized, the care from the staff and tour guides, the cabin and the food were impeccable.

We are very positively impressed by China and its development.

We wish you and your child the best of health.

Kind regards

Ursula and Dieter Brose

Hi Vivien,

Good morning, we are 6 members are already on the 吳先生 bus to the airport. Thanks for all your wonderful services. 后会有期。God bless

Teh

Hi dear Vivien,

our journey is about to end. We are on our way to Guilin airport. It has been an awesome trip indeed. Each destination was well chosen and everything went smoothly. I am super happy for my sister and me to be able to experience such a wonderful travel through the most stunning landscapes in China. Thank you for the perfect organization. And thank you for the nice gift we got in Guilin. Really appreciate it.

My sister with her fan. We also got a beautiful stamp and ink. Thank you very much!

Francesca

Hi Vivien,

just want to record our thanks to you for your good planning, coordination and arrangement for our recent holidays to Dali, Lijiang and Xianggelila. The tour guides and drivers were warm and friendly and we felt safe, and enjoyed the trip very much.

All the best to you.

Janet/Richard/Claire

Hi Vivien,

Thank you for the arrangements for our short visit to Guangzhou. Wanda and Mr Chan has been fantastic in their service.

And thank you too for recommending the places to visit and really prompt replies and actions.

Meanwhile please take care and keep up this good work.

Siew

Hi Vivien,

Thank you so much for arranging such an enjoyable trip! It was just right for my elderly sister, not too exhausting, Michael , the tour guide and the driver, Mr. zhang were both very caring and understanding! Pushing my sister in the wheelchair !

The biggest surprise for our whole group was the VIP welcome from Anshan school principal, staff and the little students received us with a warm welcome, followed by a visit to ancestor’s home and meeting with our cousins and aunts!

We thanked Michael for his amazing organization abilities and care!

Meanwhile please take care and keep up this good work.

We also enjoyed the Anshan Fort visit in YongAn and the Zhongshan rd stroll in Xiamen as well as Gulangyu!

This is a very memorable trip for my elderly sister, my niece, my brother , Michael and his wife Jenny . Lucy and I both love the village meal in YongAn and Anxi!

Thank you so much, Vivien for handpicking these wonderful venues to visit!

Warm regards.

Vivien Lee

Hi Wing

you are a great at getting back to me with all my queries. All the arrangements were organised really well with tour guides helping me onto the trains and waiting for me at a given spot on arrival. I have already recommended you to some friends who are looking to come to China in the future. Great company trustworthy and deliver what they promise.

June

Hi Vivien,

tks for the well and comfortable arrangement during my trip in Xian.Your tour guide and car driver is very pleasant and I do like to thank them for their service rendered.Once again thank you

Lee

Hi Vivien,

Many thanks for the tour today. It fully met our expectations.

Everything went smooth and on time. Very pleased.

Alex

Hi Vivien,

Happy New year !!

We're back in Australia. We enjoyed our China trip with lots of nice memories & photos.

Our guide in Beijing ( Justin ) was excellent. Justine can speak very good English, very friendly, informative & always helpful. Even went out of his way to help us with our big luggages onto the train. Very happy to have Justin as our guide.

Bill

Hi Vivien,

How are you? Hanna & I arrived back in Sydney last Thursday. We would like to thank you for all the help you gave us for the trip. We got to see what we wanted. We were able to experience and at the same time explore the cultural aspects of each city. I would highly recommend your company for future China travellers.

Andrew

Hi Vivien,

The experienced was great , the iteneray are all amazing , we love the snow town village very much , the ice festival , the ice sculpture , Volga Manor , Sophia cathedral etc. Our driver and guide are all friedly and accommodating, I will recommend discovery china definitely with my ftiends. Sharing you some of our photos.

Mercado

Hi Vivien,

We are on the train and all good so far

We love the ship and our rooms

We had a great trip thank you

Jen

Dear Vivien,

Just wanted to thank for all the patience and attention you had with me.

Cruise was great, i was even upgraded

Train trip was also very smooth and on time, easy to connect between two stations in Changsha.

Thank you once again!

Delyan

Dear Vivian,

I am at a loss for words to express the immense joy I experienced on this extraordinary trip, encompassing the enchanting destinations of Beijing and Guilin. From start to finish, the journey was an absolute triumph, leaving me with a profound sense of fulfillment. I am delighted to affirm that the trip was an unparalleled success, achieving a flawless 100% rating in every aspect. Your exceptional skills as a trip organizer shone through, as you stood by our side until the very last moment, ensuring a seamless and unforgettable experience. I am truly grateful for your unwavering dedication.

Please convey my heartfelt appreciation to Smaily for her exceptional work. She went above and beyond to make every moment memorable, and her efforts were truly outstanding. Her profound knowledge, unwavering commitment, and tireless efforts to showcase the very best of each destination made the entire trip an absolute delight. Without a doubt, she deserves the highest accolades and recognition.

I must also commend the driver, whose gentle and respectful demeanor added a touch of grace to our journey.

Reflecting on the overall two weeks in China, I am filled with an overwhelming sense of awe and wonder. The meticulous planning and flawless execution by China Discovery Tour left an indelible mark, and it is without a doubt that you, Vivian, were the shining star behind it all.

With deepest gratitude,

Mohammed

Dear Vivien,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the great tour plan you provided us with. The itinerary was well-organized and allowed us to visit all the important landmarks and attractions in the area. I particularly enjoyed the historical sites and the insight they provided into the area's rich heritage.

I would also like to express my gratitude to Mrs. Maggie, our wonderful tour guide who made the experience even more memorable. She was incredibly knowledgeable and went above and beyond to ensure that we had an enjoyable and educational experience. Please let her know how much we appreciate her efforts and that we wish her all the best in her future endeavours.

Last but not least, I would like to thank our courteous and friendly driver for his exceptional service. He was always ready to assist us and had a positive and cheerful attitude throughout the tour. Please convey my gratitude to him as well.

In summary, it was an outstanding tour, and I would highly recommend your company to anyone looking great travel consultant.

Mohammed

Hello, Vivien!

Thank you very much for the tour!!! We're really grateful to you, the guide and the driver.

We finally got home safe though already early in the morning. Thank you again for organizing this wonderful journey for us!

Katya

Good morning Vivien!

there was no problem at all, we loved Lily, she even took pictures and videos of us and then edit them to make a small compilation video of the things we did, she was great we loved all the trip

Dear Vivien,

Sure. We had fun! Thanks so much for organising it. Hoping to go back!

Hi Vivien,

Actually, we liked the trip a lot, and I am even planning to go there again for a study

Vivien,

I want to thank you for your work. Everything worked well.

Dear Vivien,

Happy Chinese New Year. The trip was really nice. Our family enjoyed it.

Dear Vivien!

Thank you very much for our tour! We'd like to express our particular gratitude for our guide Bruce who has demonstrated excellent professional skills and assistance The only thing that surprised us was the location of the breakfast restaurant (in another building), but everything else was perfect. Thanks again!

Hi Vivien,

Very good trip! Fun and interesting! Tour guides are also very good!

Yitian

Hi Vivien,

Okay, thanks for an amazing trip, we will definitely be doing more traveling with you.

Elisa

Yes – Vivien responded promptly, was friendly and helpful.

We really enjoyed the trip, it was well organised took us to some places we would have found difficult to access independently.

The guides and drivers were all very friendly and welcoming. Thy thought of lots of great extra touches, like providing a useful travel pouch and lots of water.

It was certainly lucky we used the guide system during Covid-19, as the health code and testing system in Inner Mongolia was very different from where we live in China. We had many problems that we would not have been able to solve by ourselves. We usually travel independently, but we are glad we had a guide on this trip.

Mary and Xiaowang in particular went above and beyond to make sure we could get covid tests done in time. Lisa was also very friendly and helped us to take lots of great photos.

The museum being closed on Monday was the only disappoint, as we couldn’t go to the museum, we wished we’d spent longer that morning in the grassland.

Ewan

Hello Vivien,

Feedbacks: Vivien was exceptional with the level of customer service she provided during mine and my partner’s three week stay in Sanya. There was a late minute change but Vivien handled it professionally. All our travel needs were met. We have recommended Vivien to our friends and will be contacting her for future travel plans.

Fais

Hi Vivien,

We felt very comfortable during the whole tour which was very well organized!

Thank you for taking care of us so well during our holiday and for reacting so quickly to our situation this help us a lot!

We are very happy that you are accommodating us with the costs. It has been a nice holiday despite illnesses! Thank you for the excellent support!

Lili

Hi Vivien,

We are happy to answer your questions.

1. Our travel consultant, Vivien, was outstanding and exceeded our expectations. Due to covid travel restrictions, our trip had to be changed and postponed several times but Vivien dealt with this efficiently and respectfully despite at times having to change plans at the last minute. Without Vivien, we would have cancelled our wonderful trip. Every request we made was met and everything was highly organized and communicated with us downtown to the finest detail. The guides and drivers arranged were excellent and we felt relaxed throughout our trip.Vivien is a credit to the company and an exemplary representative.

2. Our tour guides had excellent English and were very knowledgeable. Especially appreciated was their patience and flexibility as I have a bone disease and often struggle to walk. They let me rest without complaint and went above and beyond in all regards even to Yenny ordering us some sesame rice balls to be delivered to the hotel because I had enjoyed them so much at lunch and Ellen taking us for hotpot for lunch at our request. Nothing was too much trouble.

3. We are leaving China this year and despite not usually using a travel agent when we travel, we hope to return to China in the future and will use China Discovery and hopefully Vivien without a doubt.

Vivien, words cannot express how grateful we are for everything you have done for us to ensure we managed a break away. Personally, we needed a holiday and you provided us with the most amazing trip.

Even though we have never met you and do not even know what you look like, you will hold a place in our hearts forever. You have truly been a blessing and we are eternally grateful for your patience, kind and caring attitude and professionalism throughout the last year.

Thank you so much.

I have attached some photos and you can use these if they are any good as well as our recommendations.

Val and Steve Hart

This feedback is for Vivien Li our travel agent at China Discovery has been long overdue. (Sorry for that Vivien). :

Vivien planned our first trip to the Silkroad in Summer 2021. Vivien has been a great support from the beginning to the end in organizing the whole trip and was always there to answer all my questions. Since we travelled with a small child she also put a lot of effort in our travel itineray and included the starting and end time for all our activities. This helped us a lot. It was the first time we had a guide with us and she found a great guide for us. We were really excited to start our Silkroad trip in August and it was a great trip. We enjoyed every minute. Unfortunately with few Covid cases coming up we had to return to Shanghai. During this time Vivien also was a big help in organizing a worryless trip back to Shanghai. With Vivien as our travel agent I know I have a reliable travel agent on my side I can fully trust.

I can fully recommend Vivien as your travel agent. Thanks a lot Vivien for your patience and your great service. Looking forward to our next trip to plan together.

Tutty and Family

Vivien,

Nice crew, nice program, nice good. Everything is wonderful.

Anastasia

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

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

Hi Vivien,

Ok, just double checking. Also thank you again for the driver yesterday. We had a blast. I wouldn't have been able to find my hotel with out him. He even contacted me this morning.

Elicia

Hello Vivien,

Thank you for helping to arrange our trip. We had a great time!

Can you please send through the fapiao?

Kind Regards,

Jonathan

Hi Vivien,

The trip is very good we like it very much.

Ljiljana

Hello Vivien,

All good. Thank you for organizing the trip. It was fantastic.

Natalia

Hi Vivien,

Thanks for you help. We had a great time. A very different type of trip. Saw some interesting sites.

Stuart

Hi Vivien,

Very nice trip. Thanks.

Ashley

Dear Vivien,

Thank you very much for organising our tour, we had a lovely time! The greeting package was very thoughtful. Our guide Eleen was extremely helpful.

Thanks again,

Emma and David

Hi Vivien,

I just wanted to email to say thank you for booking our river cruise. We had a brilliant time and the ship was great.

We will be continuing to travel for the next few weeks. We are planning to travel in Guizhou. Do you have any tours or information for this area?

Thanks,

Liz

Hi Vivien,

赵先生很周到。 (Driver in Chengdu)

May was a great guide. She got us incredible access to the pandas, she was flexible in accommodating our wishes, she chose a perfect place to eat on the last day, and she was very enthusiastic about Buddhism.

We'll send you our full feedback on Guilin as soon as we get to Zhangjiajie. So far, the Li An hotel, and especially the Caledon room, was SPECTACULAR!

感谢您帮我们安排这次去旅游！回家了我们继续想到那些好日子，好玩的时刻。

Adam

Dear Vivien,

Yesterday we filled out the guide’s form where we provided feedback. Here is the answer to your questions from the confirmation letter in blue. Best Norma.

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

2. How do you comment your tour arrangements? Very nice and insightful. For future arrangements, please bear in mind that hiking for Western people is different from what is commonly considered Hiking (=walking/strolling) in China. However, we very much enjoyed the trip!

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

4. Your general opinion on us? Very patient and responsive to adapt schedules.

5. Do you have any suggestions on improving our services? Also run the fishing trips despite not speaking Mandarin :-D

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? Pictures not yet transferred.

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

Hello Vivien,

Going very well. Thanks!

Jeremy

Hi Vivien,

I’m happy to report that I had an excellent trip in Qinghai with my guide Sally and driver Mr. Li. I am now at the Kunming airport awaiting my flight to Shangri-La.

You were going to let me know the name of our guide in Shangri-La. Are you able to share that now? In any case, we will look for a sign with my name on it at the arrivals hall in Shangri-La.

Thank you.

Thank you for arranging a wonderful journey to Qinghai and Yunnan. Sally in Qinghai and Pema in Yunnan were fantastic tour guides.

I just booked flights for my next trip. It's very short (2 nights), but I heard that this place is amazing in July, and I wanted to spend a long weekend there. The flight details are below. Can you please arrange an itinerary that includes some of the following:

1) A short, 1 or 2-hour horse-ride around the Hulunbeier grasslands
2) Ewenki Museum
3) Manzhouli (Hulun Lake)
4) Enhe （恩和）
5) Shi Wei (室韦）

I understand it's a busy time, so I am flexible about what I might be able to see and the accommodations. It's just me.

Please let me know if you are able to arrange this trip as well.

Jeff

Hi Vivien,

Luckily the weather cleared a bit and we were able to set sail around 11AM on Friday.

The crew was really helpful, so please extend our thanks to them.

Also thank you for your excellent customer service.

-Jarno

Hi Vivien,

Xi’an was very nice. But I think two days enough. Good weather.

Thank you, was very nice location, definitely worth visiting it.

Hi Vivien, and I skipped the boat tour and went on the mountain, very nice. I can recommend. Nearly no clouds.

Yes, as an option. You even don’t have to climb, the view from the top station is already perfect.Pictures are taken from there.

Hi Vivien, sorry for writing late. We came home yesterday late and did some washing and housework today. Thanks again for the very nice trip. We got lots of positive feedback from our friends and some are considering to visit Xinjiang as well. Thanks again and have a good night.

Thank you Vivien and I know you will look after our friends trips, that’s why I can recommend you without any doubts.

Thomas

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

Hello Vivien!

All was great- super trip, very professional, Nick and the driver were extremely friendly and helpful.

Thank you for your service!

All best.

Martyna

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

Vivien,

We have arrived in Sanya and are on the way to our resort.  Thank you for arranging the very helpful guide and driver this morning. They were professional and prompt.  

Do you have a feedback form that I should complete or would you like me to write something in my own words?

I must tell you, the cruise was amazing!  I have never felt so much like a queen as I did on the cruise.  The staff was unbelievable, the accommodations were excellent by my western-standards, and the activities were splendid! Nobody wanted to leave the cruise!!  

The two boys enjoyed the unlimited “mocktails” drink package and flying kites on the sundeck.  The two girls enjoyed the “mocktails” and the variety of relaxing spaces on the ship.  Sometimes they wanted to relax in the Executive Lounge, sometimes they wanted to do karaoke.  It was wonderful that the children had easy access to any place in board that they might have an interest.

As you know, we already recommended you to my friend Sylbeth. We will continue to recommend your services.  If we have time for one more vacation before leaving China, we will definitely arrange it through you.

Thank you,

Wendy

Hi Vivien,

We really enjoyed the river cruise and all of the help you were able to provide us. The trips were very good. We thought that breakfast was too early every morning and if you do not attend breakfast we should have the option to get some food somewhere else on board.

Hi Vivien

I wanted to take a moment to thank you for everything. The cruise was amazing the staff were very welcoming and the birthday surprise was so special. Thank you!!!!!!

Most Appreciatively,

Tracy Edwards

Hi Vivien,

Wonderful! Sandy is a great guide. It's been a real pleasure.

We've just returned from our Chengdu-Xi'an trip. Thank you for such a wonderful tour.  

We are already looking toward our next trip.  We'd like to travel to Beijing from April 30 - May 3.  

We really like the "4 Days Beijing Family Tour with Kids Fun" itinerary, with some changes - Like removing the Beijing zoo and hutongs on the fourth day and instead moving Temple of Heaven to that day.  

Can we work on this trip with you, or should we request through the website again?  Thank you.

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 Vivian,

In general we were very satisfied with the service as everyone from staff was very kind. 

The scenery was beautiful and we liked specially the Wu gorge. 

Thanks for your support!

Best regards ,

Rafael

Hi Vivien,

We had a great trip, thanks so much.

I'll write up a feedback tomorrow and choose some pictures to send you.

Here are some of the photos from our trip. I’ve sent them in order of the places visited. I'd be happy to let you use the photos.

Hey, Vivien.

We arrived safely and have successfully checked into the room at the Holiday Inn Beidahu. It’s a beautiful hotel and the room is clean and spacious. Thank you so much! The trip was absolutely wonderful. Everything was smooth and our health codes remain green.

Hi Vivien,

I have a wonderful trip thanks to you and the guides.

Hi Vivien,

Very nice. Everything is great.

Hey Vivien!

Yes, we are safely home and having dinner.

The whole tour was very organized, the tour guide was very friendly and she had a deeper knowledge of the sights we visited, the staff at the hotel was really friendly and could speak a bit of English, which was helpful and the hotel itself was really comfortable and intimate. Overall I think the tour was a success and we are satisfied.

Hello Vivien!

They were both excellent. The driver John was awesome, his safe driving up the mountain was excellent. He also did a great job with the tour and information on the location. Xishuangbanna was also amazing. JohnKang was an excellent travel buddy, he did great with his driving and tour information. I definitely recommend them both for the tour job that they did.

Dear Vivien,

Sorry for the delay of my reply.

We have been very happy to make our tour with your travel agency.

First of all you have been very supportive and helpful not only during the preparation of the tour, but also during the trip itself. Your daily mails were very welcomed because we always felt you were virtually assisting us during the tour and this has been a great added value to the entire trip.

The place we visited were very interesting and the tour was very well organised. We could have both times for planned visits together with free time to rest or doing other things. All very well balanced.

Guides were very attentive and, although somethings could be made to improve some of their professional skills, the overall outcome has been beyond our expectations. Also all three drivers were very kind, professional and with very good driving skills.

Lunches included were good and beyond our expectation as well.

Last but not least, we found the total price paid, even with the 5s hotel options reasonable and competitive (we were quoted by Beijing tour operators for the same tour, transport and accommodation for much more money!)

Some minor suggestion:

We recommend you to remember foreigners that they can choose 5 star hotels for a little more expense, since the overall standard in upcountry Chinese hotels is quite lower than in big Chinese cities or western countries. And this was also true for the 5 star hotels, apart Sofitel in Kunming (a real 5 star in all its aspects) But Kunming is an international city.

The visit to Gino or Dai villages were the only places may be need to be changed, possibly choosing other more remote villages, were they may look more authentic and less “getto-like” places.....

Again, thank you so much for your kind attention. We definitively recommend your Company to our colleagues!

With kindest regards,

Yaowadee and Ezio

Hi, Vivien,

Thank you very much, it’s very nice. the nature here is breathtaking, we just came back from cycling, wonderful

everything went perfect again, thanks, and you provided perfect weather as well

Hi Vivien,

Just a short notice, we are absolutely enjoying our trip. Everything is very well organized, great people, great places, great food, we just love it.

And gifts arrived and kids love them.Thank you so much.

I will check when I have some time, to write something. Because the trip was really perfect. Thank you

Hi there!

I will be happy to do that. It was a great trip. We loved both tour guides, and we were able to see everything we wanted to see despite the high season due to their good planning.

Hi Vivien,

Yes it was great. Bruce handled everything for us including assisting us with our hotel arrangements and our transportation the following morning. The mountain itself was beautiful.

Hi Vivien,

It’s been great! We are really enjoying it. Thanks for booking everything for us.

Hi Vivi.

We had a great time. Thank you so much for arranging it for us.

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

Hello Vivien, 

Everything perfect up to now.  Evelyn is very nice and professional. 

Everything is going very well.  

Everything was good and we enjoyed a lot the trip.  Thanks for organizing and for asking

Thank you Vivien! This is very kind of you. I have passed along this information to my friends and family, and am taking serious precautions myself. I am glad to hear that things are getting better in China, and hopefully things will get better soon here too. I have fond memories of my time in China, and am glad I got to visit before the spread of COVID-19. Take care!

Peter

Dear Vivien Li,

thanks for your email. I have a good memory of China which I think is one of the countries that I liked most today for the courtesy of its inhabitants and the tourist beauties, as well as being one of the most advanced in the world.

You have dealt with the coronavirus problem seriously and with determination and you can be an example for many other countries.

In Europe we are not as good as you but we hope that our politicians will learn from you.

I hope everything will pass and I will still have the opportunity to visit your beautiful country.

Mario

Hello Vivien,

Thank you for your email, our family is well. Canadian cities are now under lockdown except for essential workers. Canada is a country with only 33 millions people spreading across a vast land mass. We have a good public healthcare system but it cannot handle a spike in COVID-19 cases. In order to keep the hospital available to the seriously ill people we all stay home to practice social distancing.  

In light of all the bad news around the world it is unlikely we’ll come to China anytime soon. Please keep yourself safe and keep in touch.

Regards,

Alona

Hi Dear Vivien

Thank you very much for the important information. Fortunately we the group are all well

Israel is a small country and we hope to succeed. 

At this stage Corona is present. We admire the Chinas success

Best wishes

Aron

Hi Vivien,

Thank you for your kind letter. I hope that you and your family are well. 

I can imagine how difficult it is for travel industry to go through this crisis. 

How long Wuhan has been under the lockdown? Are there any effective medication against the virus? 

We are now in a total lockdown. We’ll see how the UK will be effected by that. It is difficult for everyone. 

Stay well and healthy.

Best wishes, 

Nana

Hi Vivien,

Many thanks for your email, kind wishes and guidance documentation.

I will read with interest and forward to my family.  

I hope you and your family were not affected with COVID19 and it is good to note that it appears to be coming under control in China. 

Here in the UK our figures are gaining momentum and we have just moved into the “stay at home” phase with guidelines and key restrictions.

On a positive, we have very fond memories of our time in China last year and are so pleased we were able to visit.  We wish you and our tour guides all the best, continue to keep safe.

Kind regards 

Carol and Bill

Hello Vivien,

Thank you so much for your note and for thinking of us during these strange and difficult days. It is so encouraging to know that things are improving in China, and we hope they will soon here as well. I hope all your family is well. We remember fondly our trip on the Yangtze River!

Helen Mazarakis

Hello Vivien,

Thank you very much for your warm wishes and for sending this information. It is an interesting read and it does very much agree with the advice we are getting here in the UK. Yes, we are well but as we are in the early stages of the pandemic here in UK it remains a worrying time.

Of course, we have also been watching the situation in China and are pleased that things seem to be moving back towards normal. Our daughter Stephanie who works in Fuzhou was at home in the UK for a month following the outbreak and the closure of public schools in China after the New Year celebrations. She intended visiting for just one week but while she was home the outbreak spread around China and so she remained here. Her school have started teaching on-line and she has been able to do that.

Hearing that the situation was starting to get better in China, she was anxious to return and so she left home on the 15th of March. Unfortunately, she arrived in Haikou, en-route from Hong Kong to Fuzhou, and was caught by the 14-day quarantine for passengers arriving in China that started last Monday. She is now one week into her enforced stay before she will be allowed to fly to Fuzhou. However, although obviously a bit lonely, she is well and quite comfortable in the hotel, and is able to continue her on-line teaching. She is due to continue her travel next Tuesday, 31 March, and is now looking forward to re-joining her colleagues. And it does seem that she left here just in time as we are now starting a period of lockdown.

We do still have flights booked for a future visit to China in May but we have not made any plans yet because we do not know if we will be able to travel. If we can travel then we will contact you nearer the time to help with bookings – no doubt it has been a very quiet time for you recently.

It is a very difficult time for everybody. We are doing our best to heed the advice, as no doubt you have done. Thank you again for your message and we send you our very best wishes for the future.

Sincerely,

Chris & Jude

Thankyou Vivien and the team,

My mum and I are in Spain where I live and we have been in total lockdown for 11 days now and have at least another 19 days, we have to stay at home other than going to supermarket for essentials or pharmacy.

We loved our cruise and I actually wrote a blog about our whole trip so other people can do it and I added a link to your company

I am glad to hear it is improving in China and hope this passes quickly so next year we can come back to your lovely country

Saludos

Hi Vivien, thank you for your kind email with the attachment for handling Covid-19 on a daily basis. It is great to hear that you and people in your province are getting some normality back in their lives.

This week the Australian Government has banned all International travel to and from Australia. In Australia we have had over 400 people test positive to Covid-19 with six deaths so far. We will get through this by being cautious and sensible and following your guidelines.

I can’t wait to visit your beautiful country next year!!

Stay safe, regards Trevor    

Trevor

Vivien,

Thanks a lot. Msia is in movement restriction now. I have been working from home since Monday. Hopefully things will be back to normal in a another month or so. I just can’t wait to go travelling. My husband & I have been visiting China once or twice a year since the last 10 years or so. 

Regards

Patricia

Dear Vivien,

Thank you so much for your consideration for our well-being. 

We are glad to hear, and very reassured, that you are well and that life is starting to return to normal. It gives us hope, when we are at the early stages, that we can get through this. My partner and I are retired so it is not difficult for us to stay at home and we are well just now. But it is more difficult for people who are losing jobs and are struggling financially.

Thank you for the information. China has learnt so much and it helps to share information. We are following the guidance to prevent transmission and can only hope that everyone else is, too. So far there are only a few known cases in Scotland. Most are in London but I expect that will change over the coming days.

Keep well and safe and thanks again for your kind consideration.

Yours

Doris

Hi Vivien,

Arrived in Yangon!  We had a great trip in China.  Thanks for everything!!!

Hi Vivien

Was caught up with work after coming back from holidays

We all enjoyed the tour very much. Thank you for putting in so much effort to organize such a great tour. Will definitely seek ur services again :)

Hi Vivien

We had a lovely time in Huangshan - thank you very much for arranging the tour!

The trip was very well organised, Alex is very helpful and great at showing us all the sights and is very knowledgeable about Huangshan. We had a very enjoyable trip and want to thank you and Alex for making it happen.

Kind regards

Jeannette

Vivien,

It was a great trip. Candy was a wonderful guide. The van was extremely comfortable and made the one day trip very easy for my family. We would definitely use her again in the future and recommend her to others.

Thank you once again for helping set up a memorable trip.

Ryan

Hi Vivien,

All is well and we enjoy very much in Harbin. Many thanks for your fantastic service.

Regards

Marcus

Hi Vivien,

Yes, we did receive your gift (Panda Bears soft toys). It was truly very sweet of you. Thank you so very much. Yes, our Yangtzi River Cruise was awesome. We loved it. I posted a review in TripAdvisor and spoke highly of you and your services. Thanks again. I will contact you in the future for all of my China tour needs.

Sincerely,

Shuvo Dutta

Hi Vivien,

Thank you so very much for organizing this tour for us. We thoroughly enjoyed it. I received the Pada Bear soft toy gift that you had left for us with the receptionist. It was such a sweet gesture from you. I loved it. Thank you very much for all you did for us. I enjoyed the trip very much. I will refer your company to my friends who would wish to visit China in the future.

Kind regards,

S. Dutta

Hi Vivien,

I am going back to US today and I will send you a review when I got back to the States.  Overall we had a real good time. 陳慧 is a very pleasant lady. We enjoyed her a lot. I will give you a more detail evaluation when I get home.

Jenny

Hi Vivien,

We enjoyed the cruise. The new ship was very nice and the staff were wonderful. The arrangements you made for us on the trains and the cruise perfect. I appreciated your advice. Thank you

Hello Vivien,

First ...many thanks to my amazing travel consultant Vivien Li. Actually this was my third times joint her arrangements’ tour , she always available to help us during times of trouble and attentive to our demands. I applaud her for her quickness in finding routes and alternative destination. She also are quick to respond & responsibly, if there is a problem or anything that inconvience us as a grouble.

I would like to also say that despite our large group size of 20 people and the majority of them are eldery tourist Vivian aptly provided them with access to convinient wheelchairs as well as arranging the easiest possible routes for the eldery. I commend Vivian for her great job because our group is difficult to manage and she made our trip enjoyable and convinient.

We also like to thank you Moon (Kunming) and Nyama (Shangrila) our tour guides for helping the tour going smoothly and make it less stressful for our tour members. Thank you for the clear and concise explanation of the landmark and famous place of the tours. We also like to thank you to Mr. Deng our driver who take us safely to our destination despite the difficult terrain also his friendly & helpful attitude. 

Finally I would say that this tour is great and beautiful. It worth your every penny to go to Yangtze River cruise, Zhang Jia Jie and also Kunming , Dali , Lijiang & Shangrila.

Hello Vivien

Thank you for all. The organisation of the tour was perfect. Every guide stood at the right time at the right place and was very friendly.

Our first guide Kai is the best guide we ever had. We will ever remember the time with him in Beijing.

We recommend China discovery to all our friends.

Kind regards

Vivien

I was very impressed by the cruise director and all the staff who were very friendly and helpful throughout the voyage. The accommodation, facilities and meals were all of a very high standard and the cruise was a very enjoyable experience.

Thanks.

Relaxing Cruise Trip

Hi Vivien

We thoroughly enjoyed our cruise. Thank you so much.

Hi Vivien

Our group of four would like to thank you for the fascinating Sichuan and Guizhou trip arrangements. The weather was good during this time of the year. The guides and drivers were all very professional. We especially like Mr Billy 張 of Guizhou. He was very dedicated to his job and so knowledgeable. The driver 王師傅was very nice too. Hotels were satisfactory considering the cost and environment. Will consider to pay more to upgrade accommodations in the future. 

You will hear from us pretty soon regarding future travel plans in China.

Thanks again for your wonderful service and sincerity!

Regards

Hi Vivi

We just want to thank you so very much for organising our trip. We are now back in Shanghai all safe and sound.

Everything went so well. We really didn’t understand the Beijing busyness but honestly the trip was a success and we have you to thank. We hope you have an amazing golden week and we look forward to keeping in touch for future trips. Thanks again.

Hi Vivien

Here we are!

I definitely want to tell you about our holiday but we are a bit busy in Hong Kong at the moment. Will contact you again soon. Thanks so much for organising it.

Our China Trip in Chengdu, Suzhou, Guilin, Shanghai

Hi Vivien,

In short, our entire trip and experience with you and your company has been superb; beyond expectations.  From the very beginning stages of planning we felt we had made the right choice in choosing China Discovery.  A big part of this was due to your quick and thorough communications.  Whether it was about the locations, places of interest, accommodations, etc. you were always prompt to answer our questions or inquiries.  This made a major impact on our decision to use your services.

China is a huge country and our itinerary definitely had us traveling throughout the land.  Of course, this was necessary in order to visit the places we had in mind such as those cities/towns which were part of the Silk Road along with the usual tourist cities like Beijing, Xian and Shanghai and also Zhangjiajie National Forest which was spectacular.  All had their own uniqueness and character. 

The guides in each of the locations were excellent.  All were fluent in English although I had to listen carefully due to their accents.  Their explanations of the historical and cultural significance of the places they took us to were both interesting and educational.  Although all guides were excellent and thorough, I have to say the last guide we had in Shanghai, Andy, was exceptional.  He was extremely conscientious and  made it a point to be sure we were having a good time and was very flexible with any of our requests.  He stayed late with us on two nights even after the driver left.  We felt bad because even after accompanying us back to the hotel he still had to ride his bike another 40 minutes to get home.

The only criticism I have regarding the guides  pertains to both male guides we had; Andy in Shanghai and Ben in Xian.  They had a habit of walking a little too fast for us old guys.  The walking pace of the guides should take into consideration the age and physical abilities of the clients.

Transportation at all locations were fine.  The driving in China can be somewhat chaotic, but we never felt unsafe or uneasy.  There are some things that need to be pointed out for future improvements. 

The SUV we were traveling in Dunhuang had seat covers in the rear where we were sitting and the seatbelt buckles were partially covered which made it difficult to buckle our seatbelts.  Also, the rear leg room was a little cramped.

While most all vehicles had water for us, the one in Shanghai did not.  It would be helpful to have water available.

The items just mentioned are not complaints.  They are provided for you for feedback.

Again, our time in China has been marvelous thanks to you and your company.  I will also submit a shorter version of feedback on TripAdvisor.

Thanks again.

Regards,

Hello Vivien,

Thanks for contacting me – and for all your help with our tour. Yes, we had a fantastic time. Everything went to plan and we were very impressed with all the organisation and the guides.

I am just a bit busy at the moment but I promise that I will send you a complete feedback in the next few days. Do send me the link to Trip Advisor and I will also complete a review there for you.

Thank you indeed for the gifts you sent us via jenny in Chengdu. That was very thoughtful of you and very much appreciated.

Best wishes,

Hi Dear Vivien Li

We are back home and I am ready to present my feedback on behalf of my group.

First regarding yourself:

You were very cooperative, professional and efficient during the preparation of the itinerary

And you have delivered more than 100% during the tour.

The Guides& drivers

All three of them were very good, professional, helpful and good English Katy was the best

The Hotels and food were very good

We are more than satisfied and grateful to you

You may use our picture for advertising

Best Regards and thank you

Cheers my friends!

Hi Vivien,

Sorry for the delay.  You are right, I got back from vacation and was very busy at work.  I also took time to sort through the many photos that I took while on vacation so I could include some in the response to you.

I will send you separate emails for each tour guide and photos so that you can see what photos go together.

We really enjoyed our tour of China with your company.  The hotel accommodations were quite good and met our needs.  The vehicles that we rode around in were very nice and comfortable rides.  The food that we ate at the hotels and restaurants was all very tasty and enjoyable.  We feel that with your tour we saw the best things to see in each of the sites and saw the most of what could be seen in China with only 1 week’s time.  We even got to do some things that were of special interest to us like getting a family massage and seeing some shows.  The bullet trains were also fast and efficient to get us from place to place.  The tour guides all spoke very good English and were knowledgeable.  Our private tour was very well planned out and everything was taken care for us so we only needed to enjoy our vacation.  Thank you so much for your help in planning our trip.  This was a trip of a lifetime for us and we will all remember the good time that you helped us to enjoy.

Beijing

Forrest was very attentive to our needs and was efficient in getting us to the places that we were to visit and made sure that we got priority access and did not need to wait in line.  He picked us up early and on time for our visit to The Great Wall and made sure we had plenty of water to drink.  When it was hot out at Tienanmen Square, he bought us all ice popsicles to cool down which we appreciated.  He also gave us the most relevant information about each site that we visited.  We wanted to go to a Chinese Herbal Medicine shop and he found one for us.  He also acted calmly and quickly when the vehicle we were in was involved in a minor traffic accident.  Forrest quickly called us a cab so that we could get to our last destination before leaving so that we did not miss the rickshaw ride. 

Xi'an

Vivian was a warm and engaging tour guide that like to tell us about the places that we were visiting.  She was also very accommodating in answering our questions and paying attention to our specific needs.  She made us feel comfortable as we visited the different sites in Xian.  On the second day we all wanted to get a massage and she made a special effort to look up a local place where the whole family could get a massage together and she took us there which we really enjoyed and appreciated.  We also got to go see a Chinese dinner and theater show.  Vivian arranged for the driver to pick us up and take us back to the hotel after it was done.  We enjoyed her company and conversation as she led us to the various attractions that we saw.

Shanghai

Laura was a very experienced tour guide and she gave us a lot of detailed information to all of the sites that we visited.  She also changed the schedule around while we were in Shanghai to maximize the amount of time that we had at each place and to avoid the crowds.  She was very accommodating and knew the best places to get family photos.  On the last day before we left, she found us a good restaurant to have lunch at.  Our son was going to college at NYU Shanghai which was the purpose of our trip to drop him off.  Laura arranged transportation for us to get to the campus for Move-In Day, and the same driver picked us up after we were done to drive us to the airport.  We really appreciated Laura’s attention and suggestions, including taking us to see a Chinese acrobat show.

Hi Vivien,

Absolutely! You deserve every and the best possible review from a very satisfied tourist like me, Vivien. You represent your company the best any employee should ever be. You know very well the true meaning of the word “outstanding” and, in my heart you are always a winner

Love you, sister

Hi Vivien, 

Sorry I have done it right after our tour but it seemed there was a problem and it didnt show up. Now i did it again (in german) and it showed up.

Thanks for caring for us we will recommend you to our friends.

Best regards 

Hi Vivien

Thank you for the photo, we are happy for you to use it.

We have written a review on trip advisor

Thanks

Hi Vivien,

We’ve boarded our train to Xining, but it was delayed for almost an hour. We departed at 14:15. We thought our guide Nancy in Xining May need to know.

We’ve had a great time so far- thank you so much for organising this trip!

Hey vivien,

We arrived in chongqing today, we really liked the cruise. now we thought that it would be better to have a guide to do some sightseeing in chongqing. do you think it would be possible for us to book a tourguide over your office for tomorrow 10.00 am? we stay at the glenview itc hotel. Thank you for your help!

Best regards

Ok, perfect, thanks Vivien.

We will try and get laundry done in Chengdu I think.

Trip has been great so far. Angelina was a great guide. Zhangjiajie was amazing and a perfect start to our trip. 

We are just at the airport now waiting for flight to Chengdu. Looking forward to seeing some pandas.

Hi Vivien,

I just wanted to send a note to say thank you for all of your help on the day our flight got cancelled to Bejing from Yichang. It was a stressful experience for us, especially since this was the second of our flights to be cancelled during the trip. I apologize for the extent to which I might have passed that anxiety onto you, but you cobbled together a solution that salvaged what remained of our trip.

Incidentally, my wife and son were sorry that we did not have plans to take a bullet train in China, so that desire on their part was satisfied unexpectedly.

As a last note, I understand that we stayed in the hotel we did in HanKou because we had such an early train the next morning. Nevertheless, I wanted to let you know that we would suggest not using this hotel in the future, unless it is necessary that you do so. (I don't imagine that you place people in HanKou frequently, but maybe you do.) Its standards of cleanliness in the rooms were disappointing (many stains on rugs and furniture, as well as grime in the bathrooms). All of the other places we stayed were great.

We really enjoyed our trip very much. Thank you again!

Hi Vivien,

The Suzhou has been wonderful experience. Both guide and driver were extremely knowledgeable and helpful. They have made the trip extremely enjoyable. And thank you very much for helping to arrange Suzhou trip in such short notice. Your customer service and attitude is fantastic!!

Regards

Hi Vivien 

We have not had enough time to answer emails but we have received. Have had a wonderful few days with Kennedy and enjoyed Guilin and Yangshuo. Looking forward to Chengdu. Now to pack for the train.

Hi Vivien,

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in China. Thank you so much for coordinating things so very well. Thank you also for the thoughtful gifts. We highly recommend your tour company. :)

Hi Vivien,

I am writing to thank you for our wonderful trip to china. All the guides and drivers were great and taught us a lot. Our hotels were in good positions with our favourites being sunrise on the bund in shanghai and the Tianyuankui hotel in Pingyao. The others were a little dated and a bit too much alike. Thanks again for a great trip.

Hi Vivi.

Thanks for all of your help during our cruise it was very enjoyable and the crew were amazing

We are now on the train to Zhangjiajie. The driver was great

Thanks again for all of your help you have made it very easy for us:)

Hi Vivien,

Just wanted to let you know that we had a great time. Alex is awesome. Thanks.

Hi Vivien 

We hope you are well.  We just wanted you to know that we have today posted our review on Trip Advisor.

Once again, many thanks for all your assistance whilst booking our trip to China, which ensured we had a wonderful, trip of a life time holiday.  One we will never forget.

Good luck for a reward, you deserve it and all the best for your future career.  

Regards

Dear Vivien Li,

I want to first of all thank you for having organized in a perfect way and according to our particular desires the Tour.

Helen was a perfect guide, very competent, kind and with excellent English. The driver is excellent and prudent. The selected restaurants of excellent quality, which made us very much appreciate Chinese cuisine. Also good choice of hotels.

The region from Dunhuang to the Rainbow Mountains was very interesting, the highlight of our trip. For our choice we have only few days: what more day would have been useful to see all the beautiful things that this region offers.

I am quite old (75 years) and I was already tired from the previous travel facts (Beijing, Datong, Pingyao, Xian and Longmen) and for this reason we decided not to go to the Mati temple (which would have taken some time in the car) , although as an architect I was very interested to Mati. Helen suggested we see some interesting things in Zhangye and for us was OK.

We had already been served by China Discovery two years ago: we were very happy on 2017, as we have been now. We also had a very good impression of this modern China, very well organized, clean and welcoming.

Thanks again for everything

Hi Vivien,

Thanks for your email. We had quite a good trip, thanks to the fine weather and friendly tour guide, Jenny, and driver. Above all, we enjoyed our stay at the hotel which you had arranged for us. We greatly appreciate that the hotel is located at a strategic location where we can reach subway stations, convenience shops, affordable eateries and the shopping district with ease. 

Thank you for all the kind service you have rendered us. :)

Regards,

Morning Vivien 

Yes we are now back in the UK after a wonderful holiday/tour in China. 

We had an absolutely fantastic time, enjoying all the wonderful sight, with all the guides who took care of us.  Everything went extremely smoothly and it goes without saying that we would have no hesitation in recommending China Discovery.

However, we will be in touch shortly with our feedback, as requested.  As you can imagine it’s been hectic since our return and recovering from the jet lag !!

Kind regards 

Vivien

Sorry this mail came again no issues regarding credit card. I take this opportunity to thank you again for excellent tour program arranged by you. All the arrangements were extraordinarily good, this includes hotel selection, itinerary. The guides at all places were very good and knowledgeable in their subjects. The local travel arrangements were very good. I wish all success to you and your team in all times to come.

Hi Vivien,

Thank you for taking care of our group, they had a great time!

Let me know once you hear back from the bank.

Thank you!

Hi Vivien,

The trip to China was amazing!  We all had a great time and my kids still talk about it daily and say they wish they were back in China. The tours went perfectly as planned, tour guides were waiting for us as promised at each airport / train station and each morning before each days activities.  The drivers were reliable and courteous.  

The Zhangjiajie portion of the tour was a favorite. I don't think we could have navigated that area on our own without China Discovery.  Our tour guide, Lily, was wonderful and my 6 year old son really enjoyed her.  In fact, they held hands during many of long hikes.  The driver was great as well as my other son was sick one day and the driver had no problem driving him and his father back to the hotel (half hour away) after lunch, while the rest of us enjoyed the afternoon's activities.

We enjoyed the Terra Cotta Warriors in Xian. Tour guide Waldner was very knowledgeable with perfect English.  

In Beijing, the highlight was definitely the Great Wall.  We choose to go in the afternoon as tour guide Eric gave us the option and said the afternoon would be less busy. He was absolutely correct and we felt like we had the Wall all to ourselves as to our surprise and delight there was hardly anyone there.  Eric was funny, knowledgeable and accommodating.

Thank you Vivien for arranging the tour for us. I appreciate all your help and prompt replies. It was such an easy process to book the tour.  Once I get some of the pictures from my family, I will send some your way.

OK perfect Vivien,

Please see attached some of the best pictures we took during the tour,

also I have already posted the review on Trip advisor.

Best regards

Great Wall, Tian'anmen Square, and Forbidden City

Travelling Shanghai, Xi'an, and Zhangjiajie

Vivien

I take this opportunity to thank you again for the excellent arrangement you have provided for us.

We are in Xi’an on our last leg of the tour all the hotels the travel arrangements are excellent the tour guides are proficient in English and have been considerate and full of knowledge of the subject above all very considerate.

I would like to make a small request to you I have weakness for Peking duck which I have tried at various places even in England.

I was wondering if you can allow us to have Peking duck lunch in Beijing on our last day from your allowance for our lunch, I have generally been ok with half duck what ever the difference I would pay.

Please convey my best wishes to your managing director for all times for prosperity of your company.

Thanks again for everything till now.

Hello Vivien, 

I got my phone back, please thank the driver again for me, he was so kind.

Thank you for being so quick to deal with this.

We are having a lot of fun, I will definitely recommend this tour.

Thanks,

Hi vivien,

Like I wrote in the evaluation form, this day trip fulfills our needs and we enjoyed it a lot. Coffee was very kind and supportive. Thanks for your patient, responsiveness to all my emails and suggestions.

Dear Vivien,

We had really a great time during the cruise. The boat is really comfortable and we were impressed by the staff kindness and efficiency. 

The meal was excellent and the cleanliness perfect!

Hi Vivien,

Yes we really enjoyed our tour of Guilin thank you.

Our guide was great, she had good English communication & the trip was very well organised & executed. She was knowledgeable about our tour locations, and gave us interesting back ground information and answered all our questions. She also gave us the opportunity to plant some rice at a local field which was very fun and a great experience. She was very timely and helpful for our onward journey offering to help us check in at the airport, she even informed us that our onward flight time had been changed which we had not been notified about and then at drop off she checked our flights again and notified us there was a delay.

The driver was also very good and the vehicle was very comfortable.

Here are some photos of our trips.

Many Thanks again for a wonderful trip and I will be sure to recommend you to friends and family.

Kind Regards

Rice Terraces in Guilin

Cruise Trip on Li River

Hi Vivien,

Thanks for a good service all along the planning and trip itself, we had good experiences with everything especially the guide Derek!

The plan was great including the hotels and sites. If you send me a link I’ll be happy to review. 

All the best

Hi Vivien, 

Sorry for the late reply. 

The tour was overall good. The cruise on Li river was very nice. 

I suggest the evening cruise in the 4 lakes and 3 rivers in Guilin should also be included as part of the package. 

Rest it was okay. Thanks for organising it. 

Sharing couple of pictures below

Regards, 

Guilin at Night

Beautiful Rice Terraces

Hello Vivien,

Greetings from Xian. The train journey was fabulous and easy to navigate. Thank you for arranging the tickets for us.

Best wishes

Hi Vivien, 

Thank you - I would like to thank you again for the amazing trip that you organised for us.

I will recommend your company to all my friends in the UK. Please let me know in the next few days if we need to fill the evaluation form. I’m happy to write directly to your manager and praise you for your service. 

We may come again next year, but we’d like to visit Tibet. 

Best wishes, 

Nana

Hi Vivien, 

I’ve written to your manager Ariel praising you for your great efforts. 

As for the trip advisor, I will do it upon our return to the UK. 

Thank you again for being helpful, efficient, flexible and professional! It was such a pleasure to work with. You are truly amazing! 

We’ll be in touch again if we decide to come again (we have 2-year visa to China!!). 

Best wishes,

Dear Ariel, 

I’m writing to you to praise Vivien, one of the China Discovery travel experts, who organised for our family a private tour in China for almost three weeks. 

She was efficient, flexible and helpful. Her expertise and knowledge of local experiences was excellent. Her communication skills, professional attitude and ability to address clients’ expectations and needs were beyond regular duty. I would definitely recommend your company to all my friends in the UK. 

We had a wonderful experience in China which lasted 18 days and covered many places (from Beijing to Hong Kong), including quality of travel and accommodation arrangements, as well as the entire cultural programme (excellent selection of sites and activities). 

We are grateful to your company for making is so personalised for us - it was a great value for money. 

We suggest to reward Vivien for her great professionalism! Obviously, we will leave this matter with you as manager - at your discretion. 

I will write a review - if you want me to. 

Please recommend a suitable format. 

Thank you again for making this experience so special for us! We greatly appreciate that. 

Kind regards, 

Happy Shanghai Trip with My family

Hi Vivien,

We had a wonderful time in Wudang. The mountains and temples were gorgeous! Our guide was outstanding. Her English was excellent and she was a delight to be with. She was very attentive to our needs and made sure we were always comfortable. The driver was also very good and polite. I have attached one of our best photos so you can see how pretty it is there.

Thanks for all of your help setting up such a wonderful trip on short notice.

Dear Vivien,

Of course I'm more than happy to write a review on yourself and your company.  You've done a very excellent job. 

Thanks

Hi Vivien

We are waiting our flight back to HK. Again we have 2 hours delay but that it is ok after the wonderful days we have had in Beijing

Weather was perfect

Places we visited were amazing

Hotel was very good and in an excellent location

We really enjoyed our trip and as usual quality of service delivered was outstanding

Thank you so much.

Hi Vivien,

We had a wonderful cruise with your company. The service from the crew and staff was just perfect, very friendly and helpful at all times. We loved the ship, the scenery, the people of China. And the food.  We recommend this cruise to everyone and would do the same again ourselves.

Deck of the Cruise Boat

Dear Vivien,

Thank you very much for organizing the tour, it was a great opportunity to discover the city and to learn more about the Chinese culture.

I would also like to thank Lily for showing us around. Unfortunately, I was not able to complete the tour with the group due to some toothache.

Lily helped me arranging an appointment at the dentist and it was such a good relief.

Again, I would like to thank you for this wonderful experience and I will definitely recommend your agency to my friends and entourage who wish to explore this beautiful country.

I might come back next year to visit Beijing and I will definitely contact you for the arrangements.

Best regards, 

Hi Vivien,

It is DONE!

Thank you for all your help. Here is what I wrote:

Awesome! China Discovery, mostly our rep Vivien Li, did an amazing job setting up our tour for our trip to Beijing.  Ms Vivien was responsive, helpful and easily answered all our questions. The hotel was great...very nice. Tours and private guide made the city come alive.  My only change would be to make the Great Wall a full day...do NOT try to do it in an afternoon.

Hi Vivien,

Thank you for arranging an enjoyable tour for us in China.

The drivers and guides are all very friendly, helpful and treat us like a family.

Khine had a surprised 30th birthday celebration with wonderful birthday cake arranged by the tour guide Ruby.

All the drivers and guides fulfilled our extra requests whenever possible.

It is an unforgettable memory for all of us.

I have attached some of our photos as you requested.

Thanks again and wishing you all the best.

regards

At Tianmen Square in Beijing

At Elephant Trunk Hill in Guilin

Good morning Vivien,

We are here all safe and sound and glad to have Ruby the guide for our trip. Thanks again for the arrangements.

Best regards,

Hi Vivien

We have arrived safely at Chengdu today. The driver is very nice and Ruby is wonderful. We have enjoyed the programme today. I will give a box of chocolate to Ruby on Tuesday to pass it on to you.

Thanks for arranging everything for us.

Regards

Hi Vivien,

I’m sorry I’ve taken so long to get back to you, but I had a huge amount of work to catch up on when I got back from your tour.

My wife and I had a really great time with your company and I was really impressed with how quickly you got back to me with answers to my questions (thanks again Vivienne! You were fantastic and really helpful!)

Your trip was well planned, and went amazingly smoothly. If there was one piece of advice I would give it would be to try to find out which train station exit to meet the guides at. The stations can be very large, crowded and a little intimidating if you have not been there before. While I knew we could always phone them, sometimes batteries run out or phone numbers are lost!

All your guides were excellent. Lily in Beijing was really friendly and was really informative. She seemed to know a lot about everything. The driver was also really friendly and was an excellent driver, particularly with the difficult, snowy roads on the day we went to the Wall.

Timo in Xi’an was perfect. His English was excellent and He helped us appreciate Xi’an, it’s history and it’s (especially) it’s food! We also really appreciated how he helped organise our trip to see the Xi’an traditional dances and dumpling feast, and also how the lady driving us was good enough to wait for us as we watched the show.

Terry was also good, but we didn’t get much time to get to know him with just the one day in Shanghai, and we had bad luck with the weather- heavy rain and low clouds made Shanghai a bit tricky for a proper tour!

We really enjoyed our trip with you and we would definitely recommend you to our friends. We also may well book tours for other areas of China in the future, as we may be teaching in China for a number of years and would like to see as much of it as we can during our time here.  

Thank you again for helping us have a wonderful vacation!

Great Wall Covered by Snow

Hello Vivien,

I am back home in Sydney. I gave some feedback directly to Celina before I left Harbin. The trip was great. Celina and the driver (Maquan) were fantastic. Nothing was too much trouble for them. Several of my Chinese friends are jealous that I have been there. Many of my Australian friends have never heard of the place. They are hearing from me now.

Of course it was freezing, but no ice or snow carvings without that of course. I was not expecting a lot about Harbin, but it turned out to be a city well above my expectations. People were pleasant and I have lots of great memories. I especially liked the scatter of ice and snow sculptures scattered around the inner city, and I liked learning about the development of the city, and Celina's knowledge on this satisfied all my questions and curiosity. 

I will be returning to China for 3-4 months in April. Sometime in that period I will want to organize a trip to somewhere in China. Not sure where yet but I will be in touch.

Best wishes, and many thanks

Dear Vivien,

On return from China, my student, Justin Ullman, told me about the excellent tour of Beijing that you had organized for him and his parents. He was full of praise for all the guides as well the way in which you and your company took care of their needs.

I just wanted to let you know how deeply I appreciate you and your company's handling of all the arrangements for their visit. I had recommended them to use your services based on my own family's experience last summer (2018), and I was so pleased to hear that you organized their trip with the same efficiency and courtesy, and to their entire satisfaction.

Many thanks and warm regards

Sincerely

Dear Ariel

I have been wanting to write to you since I came back to Cape Town in order to let you know that thanks to your company and ESPECIALLY thanks to my trip organiser, Vivien Li, I had the very best time in China. It was my first time to China, I am a woman of 58 traveling solo, and it was the beginning of winter, I had to pay so much more because I was traveling on my own, I was a little anxious and I was getting quotes from many different travel companies … I had a feeling that I should go with Vivien and I am so happy I did. She delivered on everything she promised me and more!

Every advice that Vivien Li offered me was the very best advice. For example to include transportation to and from airport and train stations and making sure drivers came into the stations to get my ticket, using 3 or 4 star hotels which were good enough and mostly more than comfortable and luxurious with usually great breakfast, booking for tours alone mostly and some with other people.

The guides were amazing and super reliable and punctual. The drivers who met me at the airports or stations were also punctual and communicated with me with the translator. If there were at any time any confusion I would contact Vivien and she would communicate with the guides and drivers to confirm that all was in order.

Vivien even had to act as a friend and calm me down when I thought I had lost my passport or when I received an email from the airline that my  flight was delayed and not mentioning that the date of that flight .

My guide in Xian came back to the hotel with her husband at 8pm to take me to a chemist as I had a problem with a colon and they anticipated that the chemist would not understand me.  My guide in Tibet ensured I rested the day of my arrival to prepare me for 2 days of high altitude. All my other guides were knowledgeable and we shared some fun times together. My guide in Shangai called Vivien to tell her I was dying to visit the Shanghai Jewish museum and the next day it was done so that I could join an organised Jewish Museum tour at 9.30am. The stories are endless!

I was blow away by all these act of kindness and great organisation.

You are welcome to give my contact details to anyone from South Africa or anywhere else in the world. Vivien truly organised a first class trip for me.

Vivien is an absolute asset to your company. I will forever remain grateful to her and to all the staff involved in making this trip so unforgettable.

Kind regards

Hi Vivien

I cannot find the words to express my gratitude to you and your company

This is the second time I have chosen China discovery services and I’m so happy of both experiences.

Every cent I have payed worth it the trip and the nice experiences I have kept in my heart

Our guide Derrick was so nice and warm with my daughter and I, taking care of any single detail, being so attentive. Speaking a perfect English, always smiling also receiving us with a nice New year gift that we happily kept at home.

After all issues that we had with my daughter's documents and finally we got there and his welcome was the great beginning of our trip

Apart from the fact that Zhangjiajie is a beautiful place that I will recommend to all my friends, I will also recommend to request for Derrick as a tour guide

I have fulfilled the services inquiry that Derrick requested me but I don t know if there is any other place where I can provide my feedback

I can do it in Trip advisor .....may be you prefer to send me a link

Just let me know and I will be more than glad to leave my recommendation not only for China discovery but its tour guides and the selection of hotels

Everything was ok

I have nice memories from this trip and the one done to Guilin

Just to let you know I am planning for Easter to go to Beijing so when you have some time I would appreciate if you can send me any plan 4/5 days would be great, 4 adults this time

Thank you so much

Regards

Hi Vivien,

So sorry we haven’t gotten back sooner. After your incredible tour in Beijing, we continued our vacation in Thailand that’s where we are now, with limited wifi. port along with the awesome driver (Wang). They were so patient even as our flight into China was very late and it took us extra time to get through customs. We will definitely recommend your tour to anyone that might be interested in visiting China.

I can share a folder full of pics if you have an iPhone and can share your Apple ID/iCloud email. Otherwise, I can send some pictures individually as attachments through email. Let me know. Thanks once again to all of your team for giving my family a truly unforgettable learning vacation of a lifetime. 

Sincerely,

Our Happy Family Journey in Beijing

Hi Vivien,

Good day, we had a great time in China, and will surely go back to visit other places.

My family enjoyed the most in Hangzhou.  The hotel is strategically well located, buffet breakfast is good.  And our guide Dereck is more than knowledgeable with the history and also the stories behind each attractions.  Hangzhou has many nice places to visit, just regretful that it's not the season for their great shows, maybe next time.  My daughters learned a lot about China and her rich  history. Next is Suzhou, hotel is nicely located beside a garden but not accessible for some dinner.  Jerry our guide is also knowledgeable, he's more of by the book guide. He showed us the nice garden and sword pond but the highlight is the old leaning pagoda (very interesting).  Last but not least is Shanghai,  our hotel is nicely located with big rooms.  Laura our guide is just okay, maybe we only have a few hours for this tour.  Museum is good.  Over all the tour is excellent . Thank you Vivien .

Hi Vivien,

We are having a great time. The tour guide xiao zhang is very good.

Merry Christmas & Happy New year!

Thanks and regards,

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

Vivien,

Thank you for organizing our cruise everything went very good I have been telling all my friends about the cruise and if you want to go contact Vivien, many thank you and merry Christmas from all of us in Australia.

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 Vivien,

Wonderful trip. Thanks for your help. Happy New Year.

Hi Vivien,

Please see attached.

1. You very responsive.
2. The tour arrangement was perfect, very professional guide and everything are great.
3. Absolutely. I will recommend China Discovery to my friends
4. You are a professional tour service provider

Best regards,

Hi Vivien,

The trip was good. Here are some photos.

Hi Vivien,

Had a great trip with the Century Paragon. The Cruise Manager Jeffrey and his assistant Mona went the extra mile to make the trip comfortable and memorable. I also appreciated the excellent service that you Vivien rendered. It was easy to book through you and your assistance was responsive.

Thank you for making this trip possible for me.

I will send you the photo when I can access Wi-Fi for Gmail.

Thank you.

Dearest Vivien,

I had the very best time in China thanks to you.

Your organisation was outstanding and so were the guides and drivers, the airport transfer drivers, the flights and train rides which you all organised for me.

You were always there for me and I really appreciated it. I would not have managed without you always there to keep me calm.

My two favorite guides were Jaimie and Lila though I enjoyed all the others.

I wanted to complement you to your manager. I have been telling everyone about you. You are a real asset to your company.

How many clients do you get from South Africa every year? I think I need to be your promotor in South Africa as no one has heard about you or you company . What do you think about this idea?

I wish I could have met you.

Warm regards.

Dear Vivian,

thank you for your follow-up.

The China trip you arranged could not have been better. Thank you so much for your wonderful efforts. Your response to our needs prior to the trip we're very Timely and much appreciated.

Our guides Jeans, Johnny, Shannon and Echo where most informative personable and as kind and accommodating as anyone could ask. They each made sure our questions and meals where completely satisfying to us.

All of our hotel accommodations exceeded our expectations. We could not have been more pleased.

The chauffeurs and their cars were very comfortable and driving was very satisfactory.

I would only have the highest recommendation for anyone who would choose your company for a China vacation.

Thanks again for all of your assistance would recommend you and your service to any who would travel through China.

Hi Vivien,

Regarding your questions'

1) Since Dennis dealt with you and your agency directly and I did not, I really cannot respond to your question regarding speed of response. I do know that other than the problem of differing time zones, he was very pleased with his communication with you.

2) We were extremely pleased with both the guides and the drivers you provided. I especially enjoyed Shannon and Jeans. Shannon was the easiest to communicate with and gave us a wealth of information. Jeans was also so very caring and sensitive to my needs, and his guiding us to our seats on the train was a blessing. Echo also displayed a great deal of concern.

3) I would most highly recommend your company. You made our trip effortless and fulfilled our hopes for both an educational and cultural experience.

Thank you for your wonderful tour.

Sincerely,

Dear Vivien,

Pardon our delay in replying to your inquiry and in giving you a report. We were without email contact in China, as they do not let us use any gmail or Google accounts. 

EVERYTHING you planned for us worked well.  The taxi driver from Pudong took us to the Holiday Inn Express Zhabei quickly and inexpensively.  The HIE was a very good hotel.  The train tickets to Yichang were waiting for us there, and we got to the Century Legend cruise smoothly. 

The cruise was good.  We and others complained to the staff about the late-night announcements (one as late as 22:45) that were very loud in every room, but they subsequently stopped any announcements after 22:00.  Also, the first night and next day the boat did not move but stayed docked near the 3 Gorges Dam; we found that day rather uninteresting and would much rather have had more time up in the minor Gorges area the next day (or the cruise shorter by one day).  The small boat trip up the narrow channel to Shennv was terrifically beautiful.  The provisions on the ship were good and the room excellent. 

Our subsequent trip to Suzhou from Shanghai and then to Zhouzhuang went smoothly with the help of a friend in Suzhou, who arranged car for us to Zhouzhuang and the return the next day to Suzhou for a total round trip of only 500Y.  Both cities were worth visiting.  Our subsequent week at Fudan University allowed us good time to see many other areas of Shanghai. The Jewish History Tour of the city we took one day was extremely interesting. 

Thank you so much for all your assistance.  You are a very good agent!  We could not have done the Nov 4-12 part of the trip without your help. 

Here are some photos, to supplement what we said in the email I just sent. 

YES, you can share any of the photos with your clients.  And we will indeed write a review of your service to us on TripAdvisor, though in our backlog of things to do upon our return, it may be a few days. 

All the very best!

Shanghai B&P Riverfrt (Nov, 2018)

Tianzifang P&B Street Food (Nov,2018)

Shanghai Yuyuan Bazaar (Nov,2018)

China Yangtze River Cruise

China Yangtze River Cruise

Zhouzhuang Canal in Suzhou

Hi Vivien,

Thanks for your patience waiting for my feedback.

In terms of guides that you arranged, I most enjoyed the company of Ge Sang in Tibet, possibly because we were with him the longest period and got to know each other a bit better.  He was knowledgeable, spoke very good English, explained what we were doing and was flexible when Carey wasn’t feeling well enough to visit some sights.  He also helped Carey find medicines. He shared some interesting information about how Tibetans live day-to-day which added to our experience.  Similarly, but to a lesser extent, I enjoyed Jessie’s company in Kunming.  Again we were together long enough to know a bit about each other. She was very capable, good English and knowledgeable. Unfortunately we only spent a few days with Kesang and Alice so it was a very professional interaction. They were competent with reasonable English.

In terms of the drivers, we really didn’t get to interact much with them. Only Ge Sang and Jessie bothered to introduce us to them. Their vehicles were generally safe and clean. Because I like to take lots of photos of what I see (to share with my family back home) I would have preferred a normal sedan so that I could open the windows as we travelled to take clear pictures. I didn’t want to stop the car each time I saw something interesting.

In terms of hotels, all were generally good but would have appreciated slightly better breakfasts. The range of food was reasonable but nothing in the trays was hot, leaving us to wonder if it was left over from yesterday. Hotels that cooked eggs while you wait were our favourites as we knew it was fresh. Also there was little fresh fruit available (which is understandable in Tibet). The hotel in Shigatse didn’t provide bottled water so luckily we had some in the car each day. The Rongbuk Guesthouse was far more comfortable than I expected.

In terms of sights, we probably saw too many monasteries in Tibet. I appreciate they were important to Tibetans but to me there was a fair bit of repetition. Unfortunately Namco Lake was not on the itinerary due to season. The drive to Everest and back from Lhasa was long but interesting (even better if I could have taken pictures as we travelled). But Everest was definitely worth it – the highlight of the tour. The sights in Tibet were generally less commercial than elsewhere in China, making them much more enjoyable.

The sights in Yunnan were generally good, especially Shudu Lake, Tiger Leaping, Yangtze First Bend, Black Dragon Pool and Stone Forest. These were natural attractions and no doubt they were genuine. To me, many of the other sights, like Shangri-La old town, Lijiang old town and Naxi villages, seemed fake. I know Chinese builders can do an excellent job in making something to look ancient. (We saw a lot of attractions during our Silk Road tour that definitely were fake and that made us a bit sceptical.)  Also many attractions were overwhelming, clearly geared for huge crowds in the high season and offering a complete package of activities (camel rides, quad bike rides, helicopter rides, dress up in traditional clothes, etc). This reminded me of Disneyland, which is definitely not real.    

The train journey from Xi’an to Lhasa was long (32hrs) but interesting scenery along the way (at least what I could see through the dirty windows). We had the cabin to ourselves most of the way but it was full overnight, despite there being empty cabins around us. Rachael (not Bruce) who met us at Xi’an got us onto the train without any fuss, which we appreciated.

While I am not particularly fastidious about toilets, I did appreciate there being lots of public toilets throughout China.  However, most were very basic, devoid of toilet paper, hand wash and paper towel. This made me very cautious about my diet as I didn’t want to risk having diarrhoea in such toilets. This meant that I probably missed out on some interesting foods. 

After being part of a 36-person tour on the Silk Road, I definitely appreciated having a private tour.  We had flexibility to amend things a bit as we went, the days were not too long and we had some free time on the transfer days. Definitely worth the money!

No doubt you now think I am a fussy traveller. I have travelled extensively over the past decade and know what I like and generally what to expect. So please don't take any offence from my comments above.

I know I probably annoyed you with my many questions leading up to the tour and I really appreciated your patience and your timely responses. The itinerary you provided was clear and helpful. You delivered what you promised so I am happy to recommend your company to my family and friends.

cheers

Hi Vivien,

We have just got home from our China holidays.

The services you have provided for part of our journey were fantastic. We would like to thank you for your customer service and communication.

The Yangtze cruise is expected though not extraordinary.

Special thanks to Coffee, our tour guide at Yichang.  He is very knowledgeable and thoughtful.  He has ensured that we got to our next destination safely.

I will definitely speak with you again for our next China adventure.

Regards!

Hi Vivien,

Below are a few photos, we had a very good time in Lhasa, and Pippo was a good guide . We did all the visits planned, and were lucky with the weather so we are happy.

The very good thing was the communication with you, you were always responding very quickly to all our questions, so very big plus for you Vivien!! Especially since it is so difficult to get into Tibet, you really helped us .

The only little negative is the price, although you were one of the best one with regards to the price for all the visits we had included, so I guess it really is getting into Tibet that is expensive, because it was really only 2 days of visits, with the transport to and from the airport also, and we paid a lot less for a lot more in other countries... aside from that, we were happy. Thank you again Vivien!

Most Magnificent Architecture - Potala Palace

Jokhang Temple - Spiritual Center of Lhasa

Hi Vivien,

We arrived at the airport at about 7.45pm - all very tired.

But we all very happy with your arrangements and also with the 3 drivers, they are very friendly and helpful.

All want to get your contact for their future trips, and I think to recommend you to their friends also.

Yes send me the tripadvisor link - I will write recommendation.

Thank you!

Hi Vivien,

Zhangjiajie did not disappoint! It is absolutely breathtaking and I am so glad you encouraged is to see the state park!

That is crazy about the panda hug! We would have been so sad to have missed it! Em was first in line and the panda wanted to snuggle on Em’s lap! Completely worth every ounce of time and money to have had these days down here... the train ride was a wonderful experience as well!

I am just now trying to pull up flight info to figure out who we are flying back with, lol...

Thank you for all of your effort... we highly recommend your services... you guys made our trip so enjoyable and we could not have done it without you!

Hi Vivien,

Tour so far in Tibet has gone well. Saw Mt Everest very clearly yesterday - it was fantastic. Here is a photo of Ge Sang and driver there.

Carey is still unwell and decided to not go to the Rongbuk Guesthouse. He made his own alternate arrangements in hotel in Baiba.

Thank you for Shangri la guide. We will meet him (?) at the airport on Monday.

Cheers,

Hello Vivien,

Yesterday's tour was good. Ge Sang is very knowledgeable and patient with my questions. He made sure we didn't walk too fast and adjusted to the altitude. Carey has a bad head cold and Ge Sang helped him find medicines. We lunched at a small Tibetan cafe and the food was good.

The driver and car was good.

Hotel is fine, with plenty of hot water and warmth. Being in the old city makes it handy to explore the area.

Cheers.

Hello Vivien,

We did enjoy our cruise very much  and all the arrangements both made worked perfectly.

I will certainly make a review about it when we get home.

( I always review our travels on trip advisor also)

Again Many thanks & all the best!

Hi Vivien,

Thanks for your email. We gave reviews for each city with the guides. Overall, we had an excellent trip with China Discovery, and was very well-organized and carefully thought out.  We thought the hotel in Beijing was the only problem, the rooms were not very clean or nice and the breakfast just ok. We thought both Xian and Shanghai hotels were great, especially Shanghai felt more luxurious and the food was much better. All the tour guides were great, and the sight-seeing.

For our own privacy, we'd rather not share photos of ourselves, but I've included a few photos from the trip.

Thank you for organizing everything - we really appreciate it!

Magnificent Temple of Heaven in Beijing

Manmade Wonder - Terracotta Warriors in Xian

Hello Vivien,

Have submitted a review of our recent trip to tripadvisor.com

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g297463-d4331496-r621236422-China_Discovery_Day_Tour-Chengdu_Sichuan.html

Once again, thank you very much for your kind assistance in arranging this wonderful trip for my wife and I.  It was a very memorable trip including the super typhoon scare at the start of the trip.  Everything turned out great with beautiful weather throughout.  I will recommend friends to you should anyone ask.  We will definitely contact you should we plan to visit China again in the future.

Best regards

Hey Vivien,

The tour was amazing, we had a great time, especially with Mia which was the best guide we could ask for and more. 

Thank you for everything, the tour was exactly as you said it would be, we will recommend it in the future for sure.

As for the photo you sent us, please, you may go ahead and use it in your website.

Hey Vivien,

The tour was amazing, we had a great time, especially with Mia which was the best guide we could ask for and more. 

Thank you for everything, the tour was exactly as you said it would be, we will recommend it in the future for sure.

As for the photo you sent us, please, you may go ahead and use it in your website.

Our Volunteer Meal at Dujiangyan Panda Base

Best regards

Good morning Vivien,

Just to let you know that our trip was amazing and expectations were more than achieved

Every place we visited was so beautiful....excellent hotels....very tasty food.

It was just amazing

I would like to congratulate for the outstanding services rendered by Summer our travel guide and Dai our driver

They both were great and very attentive to us all time

we gave them a tip but if there is any other way to remark our recognition please let me know

These 4 days have been like a lot of happy time for us and we came back home with a lot of nice memories and hundreds of photos

Thank you so much!

I’m now looking four our nex destination Zhangjiajie :)

For sure I will dive in your web site and I will recommend your website to any person asking for travel services

Thanks again

Happy Gold week!!!

Regards from Hong Kong

Sandra

Hi Vivien, 

we loved it.

We are still on vacation. When we are back, I will give a good feedback. 

We have a few good pics, but I need to get them off the phone first.

Greetings

Georg

Dear Vivien,

Please feel free to show the pictures I sent.

Also, we appreciated your quick response to our feedback. We are looking forward to asking for your help for our next China tour.
Best Regards,

T.J.Maa

We visited the elegant Black Dragon Pool in Lijiang

We took interesting picture with the Three Pagodas

Dear Vivien,

We are doing fine!

Thanks

T.J. Maa

Dear Vivien,

We are back in India.

First of all my thanks to you on this wonderful and meticulously planned tour. We never faced a single problem at any time of the tour.

My sincere thanks to Kei and Andy, out two highly enthusiastic guides. They were very accommodative and friendly.

Surendranath

Hi Vivien,

Nice cruise we have understanded.

Nice boat nice service

Best regards.

ALEX

Hi Vivien,

We have like very much your gift.

Casie was the best guide up today.

For the train at Shanghai airport.

From town Hangzou How do we do?

Best regards

Alexandre

Dear Vivien,

First of all, a very warm and hearty 'thank you' for the excellent tour you organized for our family. I am sure my son would have already written to you. By the way, all the tour guides were superb, but I still need to make special mention of the last one - who took us around Guilin and to Yangshuo. She really outshone all the others.

I have strongly recommended you to my friend Mr. Chen in Wuhan for our groups from my University in the US whom I bring to China every summer. You may hear from him in due course. We typically go to Shanghai, Yichang/San Xia, Xi'an and Beijing.

Lastly, you recently sent me an email at this address (1 or 2 weeks ago) which I seem to have accidentally deleted. Could you please resend that.

With best wishes

Harsh

Thank you!

We are having a great time and are sorry to have to go home a bit early.

Thayer

Hi Vivien,

We had a fantastic holiday and would totally recommend China as a destination and your company as the travel agent.

We’re both really busy catching up on work at the moment, but if you can give me a couple of weeks we’ll sort out some photos and let you know our thoughts on the trip.

Thanks.

Stephanie

Dear Vivien,

Sorry for the late reply, I left a long recommendation letter with our guide.

Thank you very much for the professional and pleasant attitude.

We enjoyed very much the tour, we were very impressed with your team and of course from Tibet,

We highly recommend China Discovery as a company that organized tours to Tibet from the permit, hotels, tour guidance and locations offering,

Best Regards,

Efrat

Hi Vivien,

Thank you for a wonderful trip. We love it.

Goy&George.

Hi Vivien,

I apologize for the delayed response.  I have been writing my travelogues since my return home. Here is my response to your questions.

Here below are the questions for you:

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

Vivien was outstanding!  She did a fantastic job with rapid responses to all of my questions.

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

My tour guide was outstanding, too.  He did a wonderful job explaining all of the sites and was very patient with me as I made the climb to the top of the Potala Palace.

3. Would you like to recommend our company?

I would highly recommend this tour company to anyone who want to visit Tibet. 

Thanks in advance.

I have one small suggestion. During the tour, there were two climbs that required a lot of energy. These were the climbs up to the Potala Palace and the walk up to the Sera Monastery. I would recommend doing those before lunch.  Doing those climbs after a full meal was not wise Aside from that, the entire tour was outstanding!!!! 

Jim

Dear Vivien,

We came back to Taiwan last night and will fly back to the States Sunday night.

Thank you for arranging such a good trip for us.  We all enjoyed it very much.  I will provide a more detailed report when I get home.

Thank you.

Vera

Vivien,

Thank you for your kind note. The trip was good. Amazing nature and even more amazing (well at least for me) feats of engineering and construction that probably hardly anybody notices. Also lots of extremes within very short distances. We were happy with the service received. Our guide Christina is a very nice young person. By the way does your company sell tours to Tibet by any chance?

Best regards

Bert

Hi Vivien,

I send you some photos. Everything was perfect

I enjoyed very much the tour. Hank and the driver were very gentle. I.learned lot of things about the boudhiism. I stresses a little bit about the permit espacially in the train because nobody speak english.

So I recommend the tour . I loved so much the land and the people. I envoyed to travel with a small group . We were 3 people.

Sincerely

Danielle

Dear Vivien,

We are in Lhasa. Everything is great. The gifts are wonderful and we both were very excited from it.

Daniel was very helpful and nice.

So thank you very much, I am sure we will enjoy the tour and will recommend Tibet Discovery for the great service.

Best Regards,

Ben

Hi Vivien,

We had good time in Lhasa and Guilin. The tour guide is very knowledgeable. He helped us understand Tibet -A mystery place. Guilin‘s driver is a very nice guy. Thank you so much.

Hongli & Dave

Hi Vivien,

First of all, thanks for your help on the ctrip refund.

We really appreciate it.

Here is my answer to your questions below.

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

Yes. The consultant is very responsive and helpful. I experienced some difficult situation during the trip and the consultant provide help and guidance to me.

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

The service was great!

1. Would you like to recommend our company?

Yes, I will.

Thanks

En Yee

Hello Vivien,

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

2. The service of the tour guides during our whole tour was excellent.

3. Yes I would like much to recommend your company.

Kind regards,

Camelia

We love our hiking experience in the Great Wall

Vivien,

I’m allowing for the company to post photos but not my personal information such as email. Only post my first name!!!

Please see photos attached.

Feedback below:

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

Yes, Vivien is very professional and oriented. She provide timely response. Very please with service.

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

My tour to Xi’an was a wonderful experience.

Kelly was outstanding and professional. Very educational and organized. Thank you China discoveries for an awesome experience.

3. Would you like to recommend our company?

Yes, I would most certainly recommend this tour and the company.

Leslie

Hi Vivien,

I'm still in China until mid-June. So no time for photos etc. right now.

Everything was perfect.

Best regards

Michael 

Dear Vivien,

Sorry for our late reply, how are you?

We had such a great time in China: we managed to see everything we had planned together and we truly enjoyed every destination. Almost every guide was exceptional: Lindsay in Beijing; Dave and our driver Cheng in Datong, Pingyao and Taiyuan; Elina in Xi'an; Alice in Guilin and Becky in Suzhou. They all did a great job, they always helped us with the hotels; they took care of us choosing for us the best restaurants and ate with us ordering the most typical and tasty dishes. They were attentive, earnest and prepare about all the places we visited. We also loved chatting with them about Chinese culture and learning from each other about our different lifestyles. They truly enriched our experience in China and we lived with them unforgettable moments.

Jamie in Hangzhou and Frank in Shanghai were ok, but they were hasty and cursory with us. The only restaurant where we didn't eat well was the one where Frank brought us to in Shanghai. We want to tell you these things just because we want to be honest and truly sincere with you. We loved your choice of all the other guides so much that we feel obliged to tell you about it. We could not tell you enough how much we enjoyed every single day of our stay in China: we loved every palace, garden, museum; people were always so welcoming and kind; food was outstanding!

Thank you so much for all your precious work, you helped us building such stunning memories and we are truly grateful to you!

Thank you so much Vivien, we would love to travel again with you next time... maybe in Tibet!

Best regards from all of us!

Daniela

Beautiful Night View of Shanghai

Amazing Great Wall in China

Hi Vivien,

The trip was wonderful Vivien -- is there a place that it would be helpful for me to leave feedback publicly? TripAdvisor etc?

We loved Phoebe, the hotel was great -- all went off without a hitch.  And your gifts to us were an added plus.

My son-in-law is a photographer and he will have the best pictures.  I can send you a few from my phone, but if you can wait, we can get some really good ones.

Steven

Susan hugged a cute Giant Panda

Vivien,

Not back till Monday . The trip you organised for us was excellent

Will give more feedback when home.

Brian

Good morning Vivien,

Yes we are back home recovering from jet lag. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you and your staff. You were able to organize and coordinate a smooth tour from start to finish. As for improving service, the only direct contact with your company would be through direct contact with the local tour guides. That said we would say that 2 of the guides, namely David and Alex stood out above and beyond the others. Without them we would not have completed the tour. The same goes for you. Your patience ,rapid replies, and understanding and will coordinated transfer from city to city was done with minimal flaws.  We highly recommend your company to others and will again tour with your company in the future. With best regards.

Lee

Hi Vivien,

We had a lovely time on our Yangtze cruise. Thanks for all your help.

We have had 2 nights in Wuhan and are now on our way to Guelin. Could you recommend any Yulong River day cruises?

Thanks.

Chris

Hi Vivien!

Greetings from Elli!! My friend Annie and I have just returned from our trip to China. I would like to THANK YOU for all of your help and professional knowledge in making our trip so WONDERFUL. It was more than we ever could have expected. The itinerary was perfect and the guides and drivers were very friendly and helpful and added to our overall experience. We came home from China with truly memorable experiences of a life time all because you made it happen for us. We can’t THANK YOU enough. You are the BEST!!! With great appreciation!!

Elli

Hi Vivien,

Thanks for all your help in arranging the transportation and tours! It worked out very well. We are on our train to Zhangjiajie now. The cruise was very good and exceeded our expectation.

Is it possible to give me a receipt of some sort for Chongqing and Yichang transport? It can be a combined receipt or separate. If you can indicate my name, date and transportation that would be great. Thanks!

Sincerely,

Minah

Dear Vivien,

Hello again!

We thoroughly enjoyed our Yunnan trip. The China Yunnan landscape is spectacular – the Stone Forest in Kunming, the paddy fields in YuanYang, Potasa National Park in ShangriLa and the Ancient Cities of Dali and Lijiang. The guides were all informative and well versed in the history of each city, giving us an insightful account of the way people used to live and trade, folklores from the beginning of time in those places, economic development in history with the formation of the ancient silkroad via the caravan and sea routes.  We also enjoyed the dynamic Yunnan performance in Kunming which artfully encapsulated the beauty and colours of the various tribes in Yunnan. The peacock dance was really the epitome of Yunnan elegance and grace.

Yuanyang’s paddy fields is really the most naturally gorgeous landscape and we enjoyed the 5km walking trail along the paddy fields. The only challenging part is the toilet for ladies and that took bit of getting used to (for my wife) while we were there few days.

We also had some amazing experience in the Dali village. The tour guide arranged for us to enjoy a typical home cooked lunch in one of the houses in the village. It was an honest and down to earth experience as we indulge in the serenity of the village life, enjoying the simple yet delicious food. There is a lovely traditional three tea ceremony at the end of the meal.

We felt top of the world at ShangriLa at 3,600 metres above sea level. Though we took a night to climatized, our 3.3km walking trail the next day at the Potasa National Park was refreshing in the snow. Our guide was warm in hospitality and took us to a very lovely restaurant in the ancient city. There, we had the best hotpot we had in China – far exceeding the hotpot back in the Shangri-La hotel where we were staying in. We really enjoyed the food and hospitality of our Tibetan guide, Mr Padma.

Last but not least, Lijiang is very beautiful and most relaxing for us. The Intercontinental hotel is strategically next to the ancient city and we enjoyed walking on our own in the evening, soaking up the shopping and pub culture in the vibrant city. We highly recommend this itinerary to anyone who is looking for a great holiday in China.

Best regards,

Pang

Hi Vivien,

We all enjoyed the cruise. The girls love d the meals and their cabin.

The crew were very kind and helpful. Jack the cruise manager always had time to explain things to us.

Thank you once again for your help planning our trip.

Regards Bryan

Margaret

The Yangtze River Cruise Fun of Margaret's family

Hi Vivien,

My apologies for the late reply as I actually forgot.

Yes, we did  have a great time even with the cold weather.

Eric was a great tour guide, many thanks to him as well.

Regards,

Ming

Dear Vivien,

Happy New Year to you as well.

Our entire trip to Chengdu, Chongqing and the 4-day cruise through the 3-Gorges was very well planned and coordinated.  Your tour guides were all very knowledgeable and tentative, and I greatly appreciate the fact that I was always able to reach you whenever there was a problem.   even your tour guide in Yichang was very patient and pleasant, and was a big help when we were checking in at the Yichang airport, and there was a problem with our identity card at the airline counter.   Please thank both Sophia and the Yichang tour guide for us.

The 3-Gorges cruise was enjoyable. The food was mediocre (and could definitely use some improvement).  the highlight was the boat ride through the canyons on the 3rd day, which seemed like to ride back to a timeless nature.

I am very impressed with the service of your agency, and will definitely recommend you to TripAdviser and to my frineds.

Best Wishes,

Joe

Hi Vivien,

Thx for arranging magnificent tour.

We have very nice experience with your tour guides. Travelling arrangement made by you is very good. Thanking you for your efforts & services

Looking forward next visit with you only

Thank you... Thank you very much!

Thank you & Obilige

Kind regards

Mitesh

Hello Vivien,

My tour guide Lobsang and driver were fantastic! So helpful and willing to share information.

Actually it was mentioned in our group that we felt lucky to have them as other tour guides we saw did not seem as helpful or nice.

Plus we felt very safe with our driver.... Especially on the 122 switch backs near Everest! So nice and cautious!

Overall it was a lovely trip.... Just wow so much driving time! Did not realise how far away Everest was!

Kind Regards,

Jo-anne R

Hi Vivien,

Yes I just got home yesterday.

I had a brilliant time thank you for organising. Fen was a fantastic tour guide, so friendly and helpful. She took lots of photos for me and gave me lots of information on the pandas. She was wonderful.

This tour was the highlight of my holiday.

Thank you,!

Rebecca

Thanks Vivian,

We appreciate your help and the service you offered.

We enjoyed our trips that we booked with you, especially with our guides Vivien from Kunming , and Vincent from Lijiang.

Best wishes Cornelia

Gesendet

Hi Vivien,

Everything is wonderful. We have a great time. All services are excellent. Would be using your tour again for the next trips.

Elly

Dear Vivien,

Thank you for your email.

We had the most wonderful time on board Century Sky, in fact it was my favourite part of our tour. Everything about the cruise was just brilliant and the cruise staff were superb.

However, I must also thank you for helping me arrange the cruise and all the extra information you gave us before travelling to China. It was a little daunting planning the trip ourselves but with your help made it so much easier and for that we can’t thank you enough.

With kind regards,

Sarah

Dear Vivian,

We are back from our 31 days visit to China. It was wonderful and we are very impressed with the progress made since I was last in China (about 20 years ago). The cruise was wonderful in all respects. The room was very beautiful and we were surprised that the executive suite included the VIP treatment. The excursions were very well organized and interesting. Also, you coordinated well with the guide that was picking us up in Chongqing. I can recommend this cruise wholeheartedly.

All the best,

Jan and Pierre 

Vivien,

Unforgetable 7 days amazing private tour Wuhan, Yangtze cruise, Chongqing , Chengdu

Thank you so much to our trip consultant Vivien Li, she’s very friendly , fast response to many changes in our itineraries on email , professional to organise at the tour’s plan.

All tour guides are also very friendly & helpful , well educated & talented as a guides. The drivers are helpful & careful driving also always punctual to pick up at the start of each day. Hotels are convenient to stay and located near shopping area. The cruise was great , the ship is beautiful & clean ,Meals are definately delicious . The tour was running as scheduled in the itinearary, everything was well arranged from the start. I would strongly recommend China Discovery Tours & Vivien for everyone who wants to travel to China.

Ilona

Dear Vivien,

We are in Taipei now.  We had a great time in China.  Everything went smoothly.  Thanks for your tremendous efforts to make our trip successful.  All the tour guides did a great job.  Organized and paid attention to details.  We enjoyed their company.

We will give the highest recommendation to our friends.  We will contact you for our next trip to China.

Thanks again,

Tzu

Hi Vivien, 

Attached please find a group photo in 張家界，thanks again for your coordination!

Jan

The Landscape in Zhangjiajie is amazing

Dear Ms. Li,

My wife and I are also in Taipei now, after a wonderful 10-day tour in China organized by Bamboo International. We enjoyed very much your professional services ever since the beginning. The program, the accommodations, and the guides are all great! We also would like to take this opportunity to recognize our tour guide in 張家界，Ms. 王皎梅 for a job well done!

We would definite come back to you for future businesses, and would not hesitate to recommend your services to our friends.

Thank you very much!!

Tj Maa

Great Trip in China

Viven Li,

Good afternoon. We reached home safely in Penang Malaysia around 10:45pm. We had a Great trip at Emeishan Expedition. We are very happy in Appreciated Linbo services n professionalism. We felt sorry for him if he could get the extra fees during the tour. These groups are truly n really a hikers, they come because of the Emeishan Challenge! I could like to use your services again for another hiking expedition in future.

On behalf of the team, thanks you very very very much!

Have a nice day.

Sim

Dear Vivien,

Firstly thank you for making all the arrangements they worked well and we were more than happy with the organisation from your office.

The cruise was made by the scenery which is what we wanted to see and the staff on the vessel were perfect hosts.

However the vessel we felt was in need of refurbishment, completely adequate but getting worn and needed some investment to make it just a little bit special.  Simple additions of umbrellas on the sun deck, more proactive drinks waitering, and better buffet food would have made it far far better with very extra little investment by the ship.

We were very happy with the guides Oliver and Nancy, both were very good and we would recommend both (particularly Nancy) to anyone in the future.

So please take away this was a very enjoyable experience which with a little extra improvement by the ship's owners could have been a great experience.

Best wishes and thank you again for your organising.

Andy

Dear Vivien,

The river cruise was definitely one of the highlights of the vacation.

Your service was very nice and friendly.

The excursion during the trip (ghost city, 3 smaller gorges and 3 gorge dam) have been very interesting.

The support by Melody was excellent. She did a great job to make us non-Asians feel comfortable.

Also the other girls that served us dinner or drinks at the bar have been very friendly and helpful.

The only point for improvement was the cocktails. I am not sure if there is a different way to make cocktails in China or if it was only on the cruise, but I was a bit disappointed about the taste.

All in all it was a really great trip!

With best regards,

H. Weitlich

Good Views from Yangtze River Cruise

Hi Vivien,

We made it home safely last week and want to say a big "THANK-YOU" to you, the guides, drivers, and anyone else involved for a very successful trip!  Everything went smoothly thanks to excellent communication among everyone making for a trip that ran like clockwork.  We never had to be concerned about anything so were able to thoroughly enjoy the vacation.  All of the guides and drivers were always professional, courteous, friendly, knowledgeable, and on time which we appreciated very much.  While they all did a great job, we were especially pleased with Kevin (Beijing), Eben (Chengdu), Dajie (Tibet), & Andy (Shanghai).  They were kind, thoughtful, pleasant to be with, and always had our best interests in mind making each day the best it could be.  We are grateful to have found such a great company to work with and will happily recommend China Discovery to others. We wish you and the others all the best and will enjoy fond memories of the trip for years to come!

Many thanks,

Mr. D

Hello Vivien,

Thank you very much! Very good. May group really had a good time.

Rich and I thoroughly enjoyed our 14 days in China.  Each of our guides was incredibly knowledgeable, friendly, helpful

and made our tour very enjoyable. 

We absolutely would recommend China Discovery to anyone wanting a private tour through China! 

Special thanks go to: Laura, Diana, Eben, Grace and Echo, who made each city memorable and of course the drivers who managed to safely deliver us to our destinations!

Thank you again.

Rosalie and Rich

The Great Wall is amazing

I enjoyed biking on Xian Ancient City Wall

Hi Vivien,

I filled out the feedback form.  I really enjoyed the tour and I am willing to serve as a reference for you for people in the US interested in traveling to China.  Your team was very professional.  I learned a lot and I plan on returning to China for another visit.  I will be in contact with you when I am ready for the next trip.

I am busy at work now but will try to provide you with additional detailed feedback or if you send me a feedback form I will fill it out.  I will also send some photos.

Thanks

Eric

Hi Vivien,

Apologies for the late reply.

We had the most amazing time on the trip and it went by too quickly.

The guides in each city were absolutely amazing. They were so helpful and so knowledgeable.

Everything on the trip was perfect and went according to plan.

Thank you very much for your hard work arranging everything for us.

My husband and I are already talking about our next trip. We would love to see other parts in china and hoping for next year.

Thank you again for everything.

Jennifer

Hi Vivien,

Apologies for the late reply.

We had the most amazing time on the trip and it went by too quickly.

The guides in each city were absolutely amazing. They were so helpful and so knowledgeable.

Everything on the trip was perfect and went according to plan.

Thank you very much for your hard work arranging everything for us.

My husband and I are already talking about our next trip. We would love to see other parts in china and hoping for next year.

Thank you again for everything.

Jennifer

Hallo Vivien,

Here my Feedback.

The Yangtze river cruise was one of our highlights on our China tour. The Victoria Jenna was a fantastic ship, the cabin was very clean und with a high standard. The staff was very friendly and very well organized. Everbody speaks English. The tours and the onboard shows were fantastic.

When we went on board, we were not registrated and so we have had a problem to check in. But at the reception they found our booking and because the cruise was not fully booked, it was no problem to get cabins. Please check, what was missing for our registration!

So again thanks for your support!

Ekhard

Vivien,

We had a wonderful trip, thank you very much for all the arrangements.

Best,

Nina

Hi Vivien,

All was ok, the trip was so nice, I loved it.

Andrea

The following picture were shared by Andrea.

Andrea visited Potala Palace

Hello Vivien,

I have written the review and it is pending review by Trip Advisor.  Thank you again for your help. You went above and beyond when dealing with us and we very much appreciate your help.  Attached is a picture of Zach with my husband at the Leshan Giant Buddha.  Enjoy.

Lynn and John

The following pictures were shared by Lynn.

Lynn and John visited Leshan Giant Buddha

Hi Vivien,

We had an amazing experience. We already gave our feedback using the ship's evaluation form. I don't know whether you have another one.

I'll share some pictures in the comming days.

Regards,

Ignacio

Vivien,

Thanks for coordinating my Tibet tour.  I had a really nice time and was very impressed with Pendon. Could you send me a link for your Trip Advisor page so I can write a review please?

Thanks,

David

Hi Vivien,

Have arrived home after a really wonderful trip. We really enjoyed every part of our trip in China. The Yangstze River Cruise was fabulous and would recommend it to anyone. Our 3 day stay in Xi'an was also very good.

I would like to express our thanks to you personally for organising the cruise and the other bookings so well, we really appreciated it.

As yet I have not gone through my photos, but when I do and if I see something good I will send it to you.

Thank you once again Vivien.

Kind regards,

Gavin

Hi Vivien,

Thank you for the follow up. Yes we had a blast in Beijing. Lisa was such an excellent tour guide, very patient, understanding and accommodating of our group.

I'll keep Candy's number for our return trip to Beijing.

Thanks again, 

Joselito

Dear Vivien,

Our guest was much enjoyed the trip and they do recommend your service for next trip.

Again, I am also thank you for your good service.

Laura

Dear Vivien

We had a wonderful time with Yangtze Explorer.

The room was clean and roomy with a nice balcony,

the services was superb and the food was excellent.

We will recommend Yangtze Explorer to our friends.

Best Regards

Charunya

Hello Vivien

Thank you so much for your help. we like the trip!

Thanks!

Cathleen

Dear Vivien,

Soryy I am so late to write to you = am having a wonderful holiiday at my son!

Vivien, the whole trip I have had in China was simply awesome, from my self-booked trip to walk the Great Wall for 5 days, (tough, but absolutely amazing!) to your booking of my trip on the Yangtzhe, it has ALL been spectacular, and I want to THANK you SO MUCH for all the trouble you took to book for me, the very good advice and everything else! 

You have gone out of your way to make things absolutely great for me, and it is so much appreciated.

I hope that sometime in the future I may be blessed to do another trip to China, and will certainly remember you!  

Your country is simply amazing and I enjoyed absolutely everything!

Thank you again, do take care, and may you have many many more satisfied customers!

Kindest regards,

Catharine

Hi Vivien,

So, I start by thanking you for the organization and close follow-up. Your outstanding service was greatly appreciated.

Tour, well organized. Guides, outstanding or excellent. Drivers, very good. Cars, very good as well. Hotels very good.

Your guides did a great job all along from the moment we met till they let us go at the airport. One was a little bit of a slight exception which we have already discussed. Places we visited were great. Have to say we saw some of the best of China. Kudos to you for the proposed itinerary.

Another thing I would like to mention is China in general. We westerners have a view of China being rather scary, poor, disorganized and dirty country. However, we were really surprised to see a totally different China from what we “were made” to believe. Clean, organized, safe, very good infrastructure, good airlines, excellent airports, good trains, good hotels and excellent service in general. And this has even made our holiday more pleasurable.

Some remarks I recommend you should look into for westerners. Hotels to have western food. And some of the guides to be familiar with the right restaurants to recommend to customers when one ventures on his own. And very important also, to be familiar with the right toilets, seating and clean!  Dongchuan, it’s awesome, it is very remote but a better restaurant would be good. 

Photos, sent in a separate email. Take your pick.

Once again, thank you for the organization, follow-up and the outstanding service you have given us.

I look forward to another opportunity to visit China and work with you again.

Best regards,

Francesco

Vivien,

Please pass on our thanks to May - we had a great day! She was an excellent guide and very knowledgeable.

Best wishes,

Luke

Hi Vivien,

Xi'An sights were great. Seeing the Terracotta warriors was another big item from our bucket list. Just a note, guide was good but his or her attitude needs improvement!

Guilin / Yangshuo were very good as well even though we were unfortunate to have a rainy day during the river cruise. Guide Jennifer / Menjia was outstanding same as Ivory in Beijing. Jenifer is very knowledgeable and she went out of her way to meet our demands. Thank you.

Thanks for names and contacts for Kunming and Lijiang.

Rgds,

Francesco

Dear Ms. Vivian Li,

Sorry for taking so long, but I'd be delighted to give you some feedback.

The tour was very well organized. The cabins were in good condition and quite spacy. Even if one didn't want to go out it gave a comfortable feeling. The room-service was excellent. Mind you, we didn't see much of the room-service but we felt their presenz. Always clean and fresh. We enjoyed the self-service buffett because it meant you only get what you really wanted and how much you wanted. The service in the restaurant was excellent. Quick and friendly. As we travelled as a mixed family (chin - engl) which weren't able to speak each others language, we appreciated the occassionally help (translating) of the servants in the restaurant on deck 6 (especially Daisy and Abby). The rest of the crew was also very helpful and friendly.

Do to the low water level, going from and on bord was a challenge (especially for any handicaped people). The lift was a great help for my wife, but - why does it have to end on deck 5 when the cabin was on deck 6 :-)  For reasons unknown I took part on all excursions, which was very exhausting at times. 1000 steps or more up and down to the pagoda, temple and so - but it was worth every step. As I said, a very well organized and planned tour and excursions.

Even if the excursions were timed, one never had the feeling to be in a hurry. It seemed there was, even in a tight time shedule, always time to rest in between.

With other words, I would always recommend this particular river cruise.

For the photo's, well - I'll take the time and find you some. I'll send them on a seperate email.

Best regards

Rolf 

The following picture was shared by Rolf.

God's Peak along Yangtze River

Scenery of Shennv Stream

Overlook View from Shibaozhai Pagoda

Hi Vivien,

Sorry for such a late reply, but I did want to let you know that the trip went very well.

It was very interesting and all flowed pretty smoothly.

For me the highlights were the Great Wall, the Terracotta warriors, Lhasa, and Chengdu. All of which were so interesting, I think Susan has already mentioned we didn't enjoy Guilin and the cruise so much and perhaps a shorter time in that area may have been better.

I would particularly like to mention the guide in Chengdu, Eben and the guide in Lhasa, Jamien (not sure of spelling) who were both delightful and made our stays in those areas really good.

Hope these comments are helpful.

Regards

Merryn

Hi Vivien,

Have posted a review on tripadvisor, under the name craydive, on the link you provided below. Thank you again for a wonderful holiday.

Kind regards

Here is what I posted:

I had been to China before and talking with my son, we decided to go to China together, including my son's partner. The previous company I toured with wasn't conducting tours for anyone over 30, so I went to the local travel agent and had quotes done for the airfares and tour. I had to sit down at the price quoted. I took to the internet to see what was available, and found China Discovery (based in Chengdu). I emailed for a quote on a tour and Rita came back very quickly with all the answers and the quote. I had to look twice as it was considerably cheaper than the local travel agency. Being a bit distrustful of the internet, I read through the reviews of China Discovery (based in Chengdu). I found a lot of glowing reports. Again, being a bit distrustful I emailed about 20 reviewers and asked some questions of their tour. About 7 of them replied, and I was getting a good feeling about China Discovery (based in Chengdu). I decided to go with them, and Rita continued on with us as our agent. Rita had to leave as she was having a baby, and Vivien was assigned to our tour. Vivien was wonderful, in that she picked up where Rita had got to, and then finalized our tour details. Payment was by bank transfer, and I will say, follow their instructions very carefully. I made a very small deposit to make sure the money was received by their finance department first before I transferred the full amount. The next thing was getting a visa for China, again Vivien forwarded me the right documents to apply at the Chinese Embassy in Australia. The photo requirements are different for passports but the Australian Post Office has all the details in their camera and so getting the Chinese photo requirements was a breeze. Just make sure you tell the APO that you want photos for a Chinese visa. The visa application was not hard, just read the form, put the letter in from China Discovery (based in Chengdu) and send in your passport. Between getting the visa and waiting to fly to China, I received a email from Vivien advising that the Peony Flower festival was on in Louyang when we were visiting, and would we like to go, at no extra cost, as it would fit into our timetable. It is small things like this that sets travel agents apart, and Vivien was on the ball with this one. China Discovery (based in Chengdu) have guides in the places you visit, so on arrival to Shanghai we were met by the guide and a driver called Geng. Only for our small group of three. We were taken to the hotel, and booked in, and then the itinerary was sorted with the guide. At the end of the time in Shanghai we were taken to the airport, waded through the large bustling crowd and checked in on our plane. Emily the guide was wonderful in this as it went smooth as silk. The same happened when we arrived in Xian, Louyang and Beijing. I found the guides very good and wanting to please the group. They were knowledgeable about their city, and the attractions we went to. On top of this I felt very safe in their hands. I won't go into the attractions as you can read about them on line. Suffice to say any deviations from the normal tourist run was easily accommodated by Vivien and China Discovery (based in Chengdu). An example was we couldn't go the the acrobat show in Shanghai as it was booked out, but after sms'ing Vivien, she arranged for the guide in Beijing to organise for our group to go to acrobat show in Beijing.

Some things that are useful to know are when booking into the hotels it is very common to ask for a deposit, to cover the minibar. The hotel will ask you for a credit card and reserve an amount on there, to be released when you leave. Unfortunately, this release takes a long time by the banks in Australia. So my work around was to give cash as a deposit, and collect the cash on check out. This worked well. I used Aussie dollars for the deposit, as the classy hotels we were booked into had no problems with foreign currency. Please note this is nothing to do with China Discovery (based in Chengdu), as they book the hotels like every one else does, but on your behalf. It is the individual hotel policies.

As an Aussie, tipping goes against the grain, but it is the way of the world. To solve this, I talked with our group and we all decided on what to tip as a group. This worked very well. There is a guide on the tipping in the documents you receive.

I also took a cheap travel phone with me, and our guide in Shanghai helped with a Chinese sim card. By doing this we always had contact the guide and driver. Vivien was very helpful and was regularly sms'ing and calling to make sure everything was going well.

Also note that Whatsapp and Microsoft Bing work well in China but Facebook and Google don't. Well mostly don't as the in one hotel we did get to use Facebook to call home.

To sum it up, we really enjoyed the whole tour, the guides, the drivers and most of all Vivien, who worked very hard to make our trip a success and enjoyable. As I said, I felt safe, and always had someone whom I could contact if I needed to sort details out. Would I use China Discovery (based in Chengdu) again, you bet, and I am already talking to my family for a return trip to China, and we will most definitely use China Discovery (based in Chengdu) again. They have good prices, great hotels, and a friendly attitude to you as a traveler.

Stevet

Hello Vivien,

Sorry for the delay in replying. It was a busy time at work after returning from holiday.

Our trip to China with your company was wonderful. Very well organised!! And I appreciated your telephone calls to check on us. My favorite places were Lhasa and Chengdu. All your staff were very good and very helpful. We really appreciated Jameen ( ? Spelling) in Llasa with his flexibility and extra help when Merryn was unwell and lost her wallet.

The hotel accommodation was mostly good. We had trouble with a couple of them with air conditioning, which didn't work, despite the weather being hot. The holiday inn in shanghai was disappointing- the breakfast was below standard and it was a long way from the city!

Again thank you for a fantastic 2 weeks. I would highly recommend your company, and if I were to return, would use your company.

Thank you very much

Susan

Hi Vivien,

The trip was absolutely wonderful. Daniel was AMAZING!! I would love to write a review about him and your program if you could please send me a link. Thank you!

Jessica

Hi, Vivien，

It is a month since we arrived to Shanghai. What an experience! Completely different world. The most memorable were Great world of China and Terracotta Worriers and Forbidden City. Our scheduled activities all were in time and completed. Our tour guides all were very good taking good care of us. One of the drivers in Beijing, got few times problem with car, but he made sure that replacement was available with no time loosing. The only hotel we did not like was in Suzhou. Problem with air conditioner and water. Nobody speaks English at all. In our understanding hotel was far-far lower in quality then in Shanghai (even only 0,5 point less). We will recommend our friends to use your agency and your expertise, Vivien. Sorry, I am not very good with computer, so ,cannot provide photos. I remember one of our guides made some photo of us. Maybe you can ask them. Thank you very much for making all run so smooth very day in China.

Bella

Dear Vivien,

Many thanks for your email.

The tour did indeed go well, and in all honesty we particularly liked that we were on a boat that was predominantly Chinese as opposed to having mainly westerners. I reckon there were about 300 Chinese, 30 Germans and 7 English speaking - which suited us well.

Overall we were very impressed with the food, which for dinner especially was better than we had expected.

However, the most important feedback from me was about your help to us late on the first night. We had been awake since 5am and travelling for most of the day on the train. Obviously there had been a language barrier misunderstanding about the extra bed/sofa bed - but we resolved it in the end with tour help. I think you often see best how good a travel agent/agency is not when things are going well but when there is a problem to solve. I was very relieved when you picked up your mobile phone that night and for all your assistance that followed. We cannot thank you enough.

Best wishes,

Steve

Thanks Vivien,

Thank you so much for such speedie work. I cannot speak highly enough of your professionalism and dedication to making our tour what it was, a great holiday. Your efforts are very much appreciated. When I get back to Australia at the end of the month I will write to your boss and tell him of the great work you have done.

Steven

Hi Vivien  

Just a quick note to thankyou for all your help on the Yangtze cruise. 

We had a great time and the Century Legend was a beautiful, clean, modern ship. The service was first class, food excellent, and our room perfect!!!

We were very happy with the booking that you did for us.

Please feel free to use us as a reference if you like.

Cheers  

Michael & Vicki Furey

The following picture was shared by Michael & Vicki Furey.

Michael & Vicki Furey Took Yangtze River Cruise in March of 2017

Hi Vivien,

We really enjoyed our China trip and are very happy with your service. Here are the answers to your questions.

1. Yes very much so. Vivien was very quick to respond to our questions ( even in weekends!)

2. All our tour guides were very good. Their English was excellent, they were always on time, flexible to meet our wishes and very knowledgeable. Having said that, Kevin in Beijing was our favorite.

3. We would definitely recommend your company to our friends.

Thanks again for the great service you provided.

Kind regards

Sandy and Ron

Hi Vivien. 

We have the tickets and thank you very much for all your work. The holiday has run very smoothly and I will pass on your details to my Australian travel agent - I think they need a contact in PRC. Will speak to them next week - after returning of course! 

Cheers Allen

Hi Vivien,

All has gone very well - thanks to you and your colleagues. I'm in Zhujiajiao today and looking around some parts of Shanghai. 

Regards!

Allen

Hi Vivien

Just to say a big thank you for all your help and efficiency arranging our holiday. We had a great time, especially the day in Chengdu - the morning at the panda reserve was wonderful!

Please can you send me the link to the trip advisor website so I can write something there about our lovely holiday?

Best wishes

Heather

Hi Vivien

I just wanted to email and thank you for the tour you organised for me! I really enjoyed it! I didn’t read all notes carefully ( only just now) and did not tip the driver. I tipped my guide but only because I wanted to and not enough. Is there a way i can transfer you money to tip driver and I would also like to tip the guide more as she was fantastic! I feel really terrible about it as I did not realise and did not think to! Please advise. Thank you!

Deirdre

Dear Vivien,

I can send photos when I get home.  You may use my comments on your website.  Answers are below:

Vivien was very responsive and thorough.  I was able to book a second tour and a transfer easily from my phone using email.

Mars was an excellent guide.  Since we had to wear gloves to do the Panda keeper experience, she followed us around with our camera and took good pictures of us.  She was very flexible, pleasant to be with, and after we returned to the hotel she helped us plan our evening activities.

Daniel was also excellent.  He is flexible and he adapted well to our style of travel.  When we returned to the hotel he gave us suggestions for dining and assisted in booking a transfer.

Both guides went above what was expected and I would easily recommend Mars and Daniel for English-speaking tourists.

The consultant, guides and drivers were all excellent and I would definitely book with you again.  It was so great to be able to have immediate access to an English-speaking consultant to book additional tours for me while I was busy touring in Chengdu.

Johnson

Vivien,

Thanks a lot for your wishes.

For you and your family also the best and all your own dreams come true.

The trip was excellent and tks a lot for all of your service.

Best regards

Ulf

Dear Vivien,

Your arrangements are perfect, beyond much of my expectation from a Chinese agent who I had never known of.

For the cruise, generally is fine. However, there couple of points to mention :

1. The foods throughout the trip are not to the standard comparable any luxury cruises I took before, particularly at this price.

2. The cruise should have provided dinner during the first night and lunch or at least snacks on the last day.

Besides the foods, we enjoyed the trip.

Thank you again for your arrangements. I shall not be hesitate to ask you to arrange my next trip in China.

Kind regards,

Lec

Vivien Hi

Our tours on 12th and 13th November were very good. May is a great tour guide, and I enjoyed speaking with her over the two days about life in Chengdu and China. I didn't get to say a proper thank you and goodbye to her and I feel bad about that.

Do you have a specific survey form that you would like me to complete? Can I help by writing a review somewhere?

Let me know.

We have forwarded China Discovery information on to two other groups of travelers so I hope this generates more business for you.

Regards and many thanks again for your kind assistance during our time in Chengdu.

Melissa

Hi Vivien,

I'm sorry it's taken me a long time to write my review. I got back and I've been so busy with work.

I wanted to let you know that so many people have been asking me about the tour. I'm giving out the link to Chinadiscovery.

Please say hello to Kevin for me. I will write soon and send pictures.

Maggie

Hello Vivien

I am just writing to thank you for all your help arranging my Yangtze cruise. It was a great trip and I really enjoyed it - and all your arrangements worked out perfectly - you are a star!

I see that your office is in Chengdu so I am wondering if you could recommend an agency to help me organise a trip for myself and my daughter to Chengdu and Harbin in December?  Please let me know as soon as possible.

Thanks again for all your patience, efficiency and support.

Best wishes

Heather