Jan

Jan

Belgium

Reviewed on October 8, 2024

Dear Leo,

Apologies for the late reply. Here is some feedback:

• Overall travel experience: really great! Our trip to China was one of the nicest trips we have done so far, with a good mixture of culture, nature and ethnic diversity.

• Preparation: efficient and timely communication re. changes we wanted to make to the itinerary. So a big thanks to you (and Catherine before covid) for helping us to schedule this trip! We also appreciated your help in cancelling the Tiger Leaping Gorge hike and to replace it with the Dali visit. Maybe one comment to consider: maybe it is better to recommend foreigners to avoid the Chinese school holidays from mid July to end August. Especially in the Forbidden City and Terracotta Warriors museum, it was overly crowded.

• Transportation: overall, we were pleased with the bullet trains and flight connections. We did have two last-minute changes: one was the later time of the flight from Xi'an to Lijiang (arrival in the hotel after 2am - originally scheduled much earlier) and the other one was the 11hr train from Lijiang to Guilin (originally scheduled as flight). But then again, I guess these were outside your control.

• Guides: we had good contact with all of them, despite the differences (some were better in English, others had a better history background). They also had good coordinating interaction with the drivers.

• Time allocation: we always felt that we had enough time and that it wasn't rushed. In Shanghai, we were a bit disappointed that the one day sightseeing in the largest city on our itinerary was so short (finished at 4pm), with limited explanations, especially in the French quarter. For the size of Shanghai, it felt that we could have gotten a bit more out of the itinerary.

• Food: there was a good diversity of meals for lunch. Although it was clearly mentioned in the itinerary, we were a bit surprised that lunches were not included during our days in Huangshan, whereas they were everywhere else

• Hotels: although we scheduled our own hotels, we largely followed the input from Catherine and yourself, with some changes based on internet reviews. We were very happy with all of them, with a good mix of location, comfort and design.

• Shops: the scheduled visits to local articraft stores were to the point and didn't feel like 'tourist traps'. There was only one exception: we visited a tea house in Beijing. The one we went to was not the one from the program, but suggested by our guide Jamie. In the end, we paid 1020 RMB for three small tea boxes and afterwards (when we realised the amount in Euro) felt ripped off. I would strongly recommend that this tea house is being avoided for future use (on the Visa bill, it mentions Tang Tea House, but not sure if it's the correct name).

• Tourist attractions: great mix of different things to see and do. We didn't feel like we missed out on anything. maybe consider some 'off the beaten track' recommendations? E.g. the M50 Art District in Shanghai would have been nice to go to, especially given the short day we had.

Overall, we would definitely highly recommend China Discoveries to our friends, plus would consider using China Discoveries for a future China trip. Tibet, Mongolia and Hong Kong (to only name a few) are places that we would like to visit in future.

Best regards,

Jan

Destination(s): Beijing, Shanxi, Xian, Shaanxi, Yunnan, Guilin, Guangxi, Huangshan, Anhui, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, Shanghai
Date of Experience: August 9, 2024
Trip Type: Traveled as Other
Tour Customized by: Leo

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