Great Wall Reviews - What Our Customers Say about Mutianyu, Badaling, Jinshanling...

Hi Jack,

We had a great time on our trip thanks.

The trip went very well (apart from a rainy day in Pingyao), with no hitches.

Guides were all excellent, and took us to some great restaurants! All drivers were good as well - all punctual and drove safely.

Hotels were excellent, with the Beijing and Pingyao hotels standing out.

We had a great time and are sorry that it's over so quickly!

Many thanks.

Steve

Hi Leo,

All group members are very happy with the trip and planned itinerary, guide provided was excellent with local knowledge and personnel services. With one exception, the guide at Turpan and Urumgi, seem to care more about his cell phone messages and try to rush us through every highlights, especially at Urumgi heaven lake, he is so worry that we will be late at the airport, that most of us miss most of the surround landscapes. It took us whole day to visit Heaven lake and transfer to airport, after check-in, we still waited almost 4 hours at the airport before we depart to Kashgar.

For most part of lunch and dinner provided was excellent and enough for all of us, again except for Turpan and Urumgi, lunch only with one fish dish and one pork dish, all others were vegetable, request for fruits after lunch, was told it is not available.

At this time, we are so grateful to have the service of guides that help us check in at airports, train stations.

Regards

Edward Lim

Hello April!

We are in awe. Our China experience is an eye opener. We were made aware of the past & present culture, the history & the natural beauty of China. We are very happy we chose your company.

Firstly, I would like to thank you for your superb services in coordinating, suggesting & accommodating all our wishes & concerns. You responded in a very timely manner. You were very informative & reassuring.

In Shanghai, Sandra gave us an overview of Shanghai that made us realize how progressive this city is & what the future will be. Our driver & Sandra were literally glued to us to make sure we feel safe & taken cared of while we toured. Sandra took us all the way to the security gate.

Daniel Ye, our guide in Guilin- Yangshuo raised the standard higher. He should be cloned. A cheerful greeting welcomed us in our very late night arrival in the airport. He even called our hotel to make sure our room is ready. He gave us an overview of the tour program & what to expect in a timely manner. He gave us very important & pertinent information of what lies ahead ( making sure we understood the Impressions Sanjie Liu program ). It made us appreciate & understand more whatever was in front of us. He even made sure we felt & were treated like VIP’s. What a treat! He never left us alone while in his ward. He took us to our hotel, to all the places we were going to, to the train station & made sure we feel safe, taken cared of & everything is all right.

Mr. Moore the driver is equally efficient. A clean van, with water all the time, drop on & off point very exact & timely, he even makes sure we wear our seat belts.

Alina in Zhangjiajie was not like the other 2. Information was sparse. She was in the phone most of the time. Could be that she was calling regarding our affair but again info was sparse.

The driver also seemed to have other things to do. Wait time for him was longer. He took to the show, I made extra effort to make sure we would not get lost.

Vivian in Xi’an, was great. She is at par with Mr. Ye. Very knowledgeable, cheerful, took us to our hotel until we are settled. We did all the tours as indicated except for the trying of costume part. We were tired, it was raining & we were not really interested in trying them on. Our driver again was efficient, precise & timely.

Linda in Beijing was good too. Would have been better if she welcomed us & bade us goodbye at the airport but we understand that she lives far.

The program was excellent from day 1 till the end in Beijing. We learned a lot & the shows we watched were exquisite. Only in China! The museums, the sites, the Terra Cottas were unbelievable. The natural beauty, the rivers , the mountains… indescribable.

The train ride from Guilin to Zhangjiajie was not my favorite. Noisy, cramped space, overcrowded poor services. The train from Xian to Beijing was beyond our expectation. Linda took us to the business lounge & made sure the staff took us directly to our seats. Wide big seats with slippers, blankets & pillows. Unending supply of snacks & drinks & dinner was served. Upon getting of the train, our escort was by the train door & guided is thru the pandemonium of the Beijing station. Again we were taken safely to our hotel.

I hope I have somehow provided you with some feedback. I would not hesitate recommending you & your company to our friends & relatives. We might even come back.

Eloisa

Hi Tracy,

WoW! What an amazing trip we had to China.

Thank you so much for fitting everything we wanted to do into the 2 weeks we were in China.

Our entire trip went to plan. All the transfers and connections went perfectly. Everyone who meet us was friendly and helpful. Exceptional.

A special mention of course for Kai. He was a true host. He understood our family very well and made sure we spent time in places that interested us most. He has a great knowledge of all of the places we went and shared everything with us well. He let us have our own time to explore and then bought us back together when needed.

All our accommodation was great and situated in excellent locations.

Thank you again Tracy, you really went above and beyond.

I will happily recommend China Discovery Tours to anyone I know who is travelling to China.

I wish you well.

Jocelyn

Dear Tracy,

Thank you for ensuring our rail trip Beijing to Kaifeng went smoothly. It did, and the arrangements you made are much appreciated.

Please see my feedback to Silvia: Dear Silvia, thank you very much for your help at the Beijing rail station.

The journey in Louyang went well, and Fey, the guide is very helpful, attentive and kind to our eldest member.

Xian visit was a great success and credit to be given to Betty the guide who is excellent, knowledgeable, interested in her work, and first class story teller! She surpasses all the guides in our trip of last year and this.

Wah

Hello Phoebe,

Thank you so much. We really really loved our gift and appreciate the amazing service you have provided. Pandas are the best!

On my return to England I will write a detailed review for you.

We have really enjoyed our time in China and have had a wonderful time thanks to China Discovery!

Thank you again

Oliver Foster

Dear Tracy,

I hope this email finds you well.

We’ve arrived in Hong Kong and all of our scheduled tours with your agency went great.

We just wanted to thank you, and your team, for your assistance through our planning and vacation.

Best regards.

Sthefanie & Rodrigo.

Dear Tracy

It all was a very good experience. Your fast and flexible response, the organization of everyday, the guides, etc were magnific.

Thanks to you and your team we have had a wonderfull holyday. I will recomend your services to all my friends and family.

you did a great job!

Victoriano Serrano

Dear Ms. Wing,

As requested please find the survey replies:

(1) Ms. Wing, our travel consultant, was very professional and handled all our queries with patient and guided us properly to ensure a smooth trip.

(2) The car and driver at both cities were very comfortable and helpful. Special thanks to Mr. Shu, our driver at Beijing, for the lovely gift he gave us.

(3) I will definitely recommend your service to anyone planning a trip to China.

(4) Very professional service.

(5) Some of the places recommended were purely for locals and could be skipped. They did not have dual languages and were too crowded. Kindly recommend places popular and oriented to expat tourists only.

(6) If I come to China again, I would like to use your service again.

Regards,

Jaideep

Hi Wonder,

Our trip has been completed yesterday. We all are leaving 長沙 today. It was a really nice tour arranged by your company. Thank you again. Hopefully we will do it again in the future. All the best to you and your family.

Clement

Hi Jack,

My wife and I returned from our China trip yesterday. The crowds at most sites were overwhelming and something that we are not used to. However, I want to let you know that we had a wonderful time mostly due to China Discovery's wonderful tour guides!

Each guide enriched our experience with both their knowledge of the cities, sites, cultures, people, and foods. They were all prompt, patient, and engaging. They were very helpful in navigating the complexities of visiting China. My wife and I enjoyed their company and conversation greatly. I don't believe we would have had the same experience in China if we had traveled there by ourselves.

All the drivers were also very courteous, on-time, and helpful!

Unfortunately, my wife caught a respiratory illness on the Yangtze River Cruise and was quite sick at ZJJ. Our guide Tim, however, was there to assist at night and brought her to the hospital to see a doctor. Tim helped us navigate the Chinese health system, stayed with us throughout the hospital visit, and brought us back to the hotel late at night! We are very grateful to Tim's extraordinary assistance!

Although we provided a paper review at the end of each location, if China Discovery has an overall review of our trip that needs to be completed, please let me know!

Again, thank you for your assistance in all the planning prior to the trip and your quick responses to my questions during the trip. Knowing you were there to assist us throughout our journey was a great source of comfort!

Regards,

Alex

Hi Reya,

Loved the entire trip planning and journey. Ms Lily our tour guide was remarkable and very informative. We had a great journey throughout the trip.

You were very responsive and what can I say, our guide Lily made the trip enriched with her hospitality. Beijing is indeed memorable.

Tqvm. This is really so kind of a 7-seat private car and thoughtful of your agency. Transportation in Beijing is so convenient and your upgrade did help. Tq again.

It was indeed a great trip! Loved every moment of it.

Thank you and your agency have made this trip memorable. Tq China Discovery!

Dan

Dear Jack,

Don and I want to thank you so much for arranging this wonderful tour for us. Everything has been fantastic! A big thank you for the gifts today! The Chinese chopsticks set, the Panda Player ornament, the Panda magnet, the Hand Drawings of Chengdu and the Panda postcard with your kind words are all so lovely and meaningful for us. We will treasure them. Many many thanks!

We are so impressed with China! The accommodations, the food, and the chosen sites for us to see are amazing! We will tell our family and friends to come to China and use China Discovery!

Take Care

Sharon and Don Hildebrandt

Dear Jack

Thank you for planning such a wonderful trip for us in China. We thoroughly enjoyed your country and the people were phenomenal! The guide & drivers you set up for us couldn’t have been any nicer or professional. It was a perfect experience for us. We head home tomorrow via Japan and for some reason in Japan I’m able to send emails.

Sincerely yours

John and barbara lee

Hi, Wonder,

Thank you for your wonderful itinerary to the Silk Road. Our group really enjoyed the trip, the nice hotels and all the helpful and knowledgeable tour guides. And of course we are also thankful for your prompt response and recommendations. In fact, we are now thinking of engaging your service for our next trip to China. We plan to travel to China next year, but we do not have any particular place in mind that we like to visit, can you recommend some itineraries (may be 2 or 3) that run for 9 days for us.

We look forward to your recommendation.

Thank you.

Regards,

Don

Hello Wonder,

We have now returned home.

We would like to thank you for our trip it has been fabulous. We have thoroughly enjoyed the trip. We wished we had more time to spend at the sites but time was always against us.

We have only praise for the tour guides we had on the trip. They were all very helpful and knowledgeable.

We are looking to return next year and will spend the winter researching where we would like to visit.

We will have no problem recommending China discovery as a tour operator.

We will be in touch again for your help when we have decided on areas of interest.

Many thanks

Kind regards

Helena & Simon Lewis

Hi Wonder,

Yes we arrived on time and everything went smoothly. Thanks so much for organising the trip, we had an amazing time and we would love to come back to China in the future. The tour guides were fantastic too and we will treasure the memories.

Kind regards,

Rachel

Hi Wonder,

Thank you so much for everything you have done for us! We will for sure, recommend you and your company to friends and family :)

Please see as follows the completed Evaluation form. We are working on a Tripadvisor review and will post in the next few days as we are now back at work!

1. Vivien was very helpful in the early arrangements of our itinerary. She answered all the questions that we had and adapted ithe agenda to our needs.

Wonder responded swiftly to all our questions. He was very patient and understanding, especially with our delays with our China visa applications. We were very appreciative and it helped lower our stress levels!

2. The itinerary was well organised and very detailed (which we liked). We got a good snapshot of each place in the short time we were there.

3. 100% we would recommend China Discovery. In fact we have already advised people we met during our holiday in China and Sangeet has posted your details on his social media.

4. Where a lot of companies lack customer service, China Discovery had it in abundance. We could not have asked for anything more.

We would like to say a big thank you to everyone at Head Office who was involved in organising our trip, you have been a pleasure to work with. Also a big thank you for all the generous gifts and the birthday cake!

A professional, knowledgable tour guide leads to a pleasant experience. What we discovered at the end of the trip was that having a good rapport with your tour guide is very important and makes all the difference. Someone who is able to listen and understand what we expect from our day (We like to go where the locals go, where the locals eat. We like to learn more about the culture and the people who live there, it is not about the fanciest restaurant or the really touristy areas).

5. Although the itinerary and the guides tell you the agenda for the day, a rough idea of the timings would be useful at the start of the day. This way we know what we are working towards time-wise, how long we have at each place, so we can respect and flex accordingly. For example if we wanted to spend longer at one place, we can then reduce the time spent in another.

6. We would be more than happy to share some photos if you would let us know what you would like them of, as we took quite a few! Any particular place? Ones with us in them, etc?

7. Of course, we would be happy to speak to potential customers!

All the best

Pikkam & Sangeet

Hi Phoebe,

You were so helpful and responsive. I am glad I booked this adventure with you. Booking my one-day Great Wall Huanghuacheng excursion with China Discovery was worth every penny! The car ride was quite long and very comfortable. I was super grateful that there was some water provided because the climb was intense. My guide, Jack, was kind, knowledgeable, patient, and encouraging the whole time. The hike was the second hardest hike of my life but worth every moment and every drop of sweat. This was an experience I will never forget.

Thank you for your help!

Best,

Cassidy

Hi April,

We had a wonderful time in China. Big thanks to you for patiently hearing our requirements and drafting a perfect itinerary for us.

All guides were equally good but Lilly (Beijing) and David (Guilin) were exceptional. All of them explained the history and culture very well and helped us to explore the local cuisine. We loved it.

Drivers were really good at their job. Picked and dropped us promptly on time, safely drove us to all the destinations .

Here is our rating for the stay (5 being the highest)

• Novotel Xinqiao Beijing - 3.5

• Grand Mercure Xian Renmin Square - 4

• Guilin Bravo Hotel - 4.5

• New West Street International Hotel - 4

• Sunshine Hotel & Resort Zhangjiajie - 4.5

• SSAW Boutique Hotel Shanghai Bund - 3

A small suggestion, It could have been better if there was an option to upgrade the cruise in Guilin to 4 star cruise.

Thanks again for making our trip a memorable one. Looking forward to visiting China again through China Discovery.

Thanks,

Rose

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

Dear Leo:

We just wanted to thank you for the lovely gift you gave us, as well as arranging such an interesting and engaging tour for us.

Thanks to your kind efforts, and the expertise of our guides, we feel we have gained a better understanding of your beautiful country.

Vincent & Beverly

Hi Rita,

I had a wonderful day visiting the Great Wall and city center. It was a full on site seeing and learning. Adrian is a source of information and most importantly good guide with a sense when and what to do to make me feel comfortable.

It was a tough day but I enjoyed it.

At the end of the day, as I had an issue with my boarding pass, Adrian helped me navigate airport service and Air China check in. Without him I would probably ended up with lost baggage.

Thanks again,

Darko

Hi Tracy,

Last Friday we returned from our China trip. We saw a lot, and everything was well organized. We have never had a holiday before where we saw so many beautiful things. The hotels were in excellent condition, the guides were very knowledgeable, a big ten for your organization.

If we mention one thing, it is the total tip we paid. When we added up all the tips at the end of the vacation, we spent over $500 in tips. In addition to the amount paid for the trip, we thought this was a bit high. Although we were free to do so, it didn't feel right to tip the guides and drivers less.

Kind regards,

Judith and Jan van Dijk.

Hi Rita,

Finally I have had the time to write our review that you can find attached here.

We are also sending you our opinion on the guides and some photos.

I hope everything will be well for you.

We thank you very much for all and we'll certainly contact you again for our future trip to China.

Warm regards.

Ausilia and Cesare

Dear Rita,

My husband and I were on the 13-Day Beijing/Xian/Guilin/Zhangjiajie/Shanghai Tour with China Discovery from 15-27 May 2024.

Overall, we had a wonderful time on our trip.

Organisation

Everything went very smoothly, just like clockwork.

Guides

In each city, on our arrival we were met by our guide who took very good care of us.

Our guides were: Beijing- Andy; Xian - Grace; Guilin - Peter; Zhangjiajie - Nina; Shanghai - Jeff.

All the guides we had were knowledgeable about their city, its history, and culture. They were also friendly, and flexible in accommodating our requests and also showed their professionalism by always being on time in the morning and during our time with them, they were always helpful, patient and understanding.

I would like to mention that 2 of our guides (Andy in Beijing and Peter in Guilin) were excellent. Their English was fluent. It was also obvious that both took great pride in their work.

Peter was very earnest, and very clear and systematic in his explanation of what we would see and do in the places we visited and he was also extremely helpful.

Andy was the best guide we have ever had. In addition to the qualities mentioned above, we found him very energetic, enthusiastic, lively and with an amazing sense of humour. He was very flexible and really went out of his way to accommodate our requests, for example, to visit a place which was not on our itinerary, but which both of us wanted to see - a Catholic Church associated with Matteo Ricci. He knew interesting little areas and eating places to which he took us for local food and snacks. He even got us some snacks when he thought we might need some sustenance. We had interesting conversations with him and it seemed more like we were spending time with a friend rather than with a guide we had just met.

Nina, our guide in Zhangjiajie, was very sweet. Her English was not as fluent, but she was very caring, helpful, very patient and kind especially when we had to negotiate all the steps up and downhill in the mountains. She was always very concerned about how we were faring, even in the type of food we enjoyed when we told her we just wanted to try the local food.

Transportation

The cars we travelled in were very nice, clean and comfortable. All the drivers, besides being very helpful, especially with our luggage, were also skilful drivers who conveyed us safely through, often, very heavy traffic.

The express speed train from Beijing to Xian was an enjoyable experience. The train was very comfortable, and the toilets were very clean.

But the 7-hour journey on the high speed train which stopped at all the stations between Guilin and Zhnagjiajie was less comfortable.

The train itself was fine although the journey was long.

For one thing, there was a man just behind me who talked very loudly for hours on his mobile phone. I could not change seats because the train was quite full.

Then, there were 2 people quarrelling at the entrance of our compartment when we were trying to board the train. They blocked the entrance and refused to move until someone in charge of the compartment screamed (right next to my ear) for the security guard. We had to literally bulldoze our way into the train which was about to leave.

Hotels

The hotels, besides being grand, were clean, comfortable and had all the amenities we needed. The one in Guilin had a fantastic view.

In general the breakfasts provided by the hotels were also excellent.

Sights

We think China is a very beautiful country with so much history, culture and nature to enjoy. Being on a guided tour, we had less contact with the ordinary people than we would normally have when we do a free-and-easy trip. But, all in all, we had a great trip and we would like to visit China again.

So we are thinking of going to the following places sometime in October 2024, after the Chinese National Holiday in early October.

Thank you.

Loh

Hello Leo,

I am leaving Beijing this morning and wanted to send this note of thanks to you and your team for my amazing week in Beijing and Xian, Linda and Lily took exceptional care of me from the time I stepped off the plane until I returned to the airport this morning. I had a week filled with wonder and excitement seeing so much of China I had only dreamed about. I hope to write a formal recommendation when I get home but for now please accept my heart felt thanks for this experience.

Best regards

Joe

Good Morning Rita, feedback as follows:

China Discovery tour of China

Managed and coordinated by Chengdu Bamboo International Tours Co., Ltd

Coordinated by Rita Jiang

Tour dates: 07/30/2024 to 08/10/2024

This was a private tour, Guide, Driver and me. I chose a private tour as opposed to a group tour to be able to enjoy and immerse myself in all that visiting China has to offer. I contacted 2 other private tour companies with the same requirements asked of China Discovery. China Discovery, Rita, was the first to respond to my inquiry. A detailed itinerary was provided by Rita for my review and discussion.

Beijing, Xi’an, Lijiang, Shangri-La, Guilin /Yangshuo

Great Wall, Forbidden City, Terracotta Warriors, Ancient City, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Blue Moon Valley, Naxi Village, Shigu Town, Songzanlin Monastery, Pudacuo National Park, Li River Cruise and Reed Flute Cave to name a few sights.

3 High-Speed Train rides, 1 flight all arranged by Rita. Guides were a big help in teaching me how to navigate and understand the train stations.

All the hotels were great and choice of restaurants around hotels were good.

Visiting China was a retirement goal, and my expectations were exceeded. I recommend a private tour for touring China.

China Discovery, Rita, along with my guides, Andie, Waldner, Li, Aten and Daniel and the drivers were great. Communication was good, and the historical knowledge of guides was impressive. The effort by the group is second to none.

Gerald

Hi Evelyn,

Thanks again for the wonderful trip! The whole vacation was amazing. The hotels were great, the guides were great and the sights were great.

We really enjoyed the whole trip. Thanks for helping us with this amazing experience.

Kind regards,

Erik

Hi Evelyn,

We enjoyed Suzhou and happy with May and driver.

On train to Beijing was absolutely pouring in Huangshan this morning… What an adventure!

Thank you for organizing the trip. We enjoyed it very much.

Tim did not get us to fill out a form but wanted to say we really enjoyed having him as our guide. He was one of our favorites along with Andie.

Sin

Dear Evelyn,

We are already halfway into our trip. We very much enjoy the program. The guides are great! Thank you for making this possible.

We could not change our departure date from Xian therefore there will be almost no time for any sight seeing on the 21st.

Best regards

Walter

Hello Wing

Thank you very very much for all your support and arranging for our family a wonderful and memorable trip in china.

I will definitely send my feedback once i go back to my country on 19th.

Regards

Ahmed

Hello Evelyn,

It was a more than great Tour.

I learned a lot of things.

Thank you all!

Kind Regards,

Marc

Hi Rita,

都满意，没有意见。谢谢您的安排。

Fatt

Hi Rita,

So sorry for the long delay, I am still travelling and haven’t been on the laptop so much.

Very good tour, very happy with all arrangements. I am willing to recommend your service to my friends who also have an interest to visit China.

Thanks

George

Hi Rita,

We’re sitting in HK airport after the most amazing and fantastic trip. Thank you so much for arranging everything, it went as smooth as clockwork. Frenetic and non-stop, we have seen some of the wonders of the world, all made possible and enjoyable by your amazing team! I will write when we get home in two days, just wanted to say a huge thanks.

Ashley and girls!

Good Morning Leo,

I wanted to thank you for the great tours in Beijing. Linda was extraordinary as a guide and person.

Bogdan

Dear Wonder,

The tour was perfect! Tour arrangement, including the drivers,tour guides,hotels is Excellent. I would definitively recommend your company!

Wonder, thank you for everything!

Best regards,

Pablo

Hi Rita,

I just came back for aaall my trips. Thank for this GREAT trip.

Marisol

Dear Wonder,

We would like to thank you and your team for making our trip to China so special and enjoyable. Every tour guide and driver we met were extremely friendly, knowledgeable and professional.

We had a fantastic week in China exploring some of the amazing sights as well as tasting the different regional foods.

I would also like to that you for your quick replies and ensuring we were fully aware of our itinerary and any changes.

When we come to China again in the future, we would use China discovery again and will recommend your service la to our friends.

Kind regards

Dan

Hi, Wonder!

I wanted to write you as soon as I left Guilin because I had such a WONDERFUL time in China thanks to you, but we still had Hong Kong and Tokyo after Guilin, so I am finally writing you now that I am settled back in the USA.

Wonder, everything is China was amazing! Thank you thank you for ALL of your work and help in planning our trip in the mainland. I also appreciate your ease and willingness to make changes at the last minute that suited my family the best. It all worked out perfectly. Each tour guide was phenomenal: Yu, Cindy, Jim and Peter. I would highly recommend all of them. Each city was so different and we learned so much at each location. The history was so fascinating. My sister is already saying that if she goes to China, she is using you. Haha.

I will most definitely write a glaringly positive review on Trip Advisor about you and China Discovery as well as each of the tour guides (the drivers were all great also). You all deserve the praise and may your company continue to stand out. You are the best and thank you again on behalf of my whole family on making this trip so amazing and memorable.

Take care,

David

Hello! Leo

Our trip was beyond wonderful. Everything was so thoroughly organized, the tour guides were incredible (especially Linda in Beijing, Kimi in Xi'an, and Kenny in Guilin), vehicles and drivers safe and comfortable, and hotels centrally located in each city, comfortable, and clean. The sites were all wonderful and there isn't one I wouldn't recommend. My mom and I have both fallen in love with China and appreciate yalls help and support during our trip (especially with all the snafus of losing my passport and getting sick). I will definitely recommend yalls services to family and friends, and when I come back to China will be contacting yall again

Rachel

Hi Rita,

We very much enjoyed our tour. The guides, Hu, Wendy and Timo were on time every day and eager to assist us in any way possible. We had a mixed group of English and Chinese speakers, so the guides were patient in explaining to both groups as needed. They were also flexible to adjust to our needs.

The accommodations and meals were top notch.

The drivers in each town were also very professional and courteous.

I would recommend your service to anyone who would like to visit China.

Thank you for your help in coordinating our family trip to China.

Joe

Hi Tracy,

We are still recovering from our 21 day trip. We have thousands of photos and videos to go through, and we are still processing in our minds everything that has happened. My family and I will have lifelong memories of amazing experiences. This trip has allowed my children to discover their cultural roots as Canadian-born Chinese. Thank-you for arranging the trip for us. This would not have been possible without China Discovery's experience and your expertise in designing custom tours. We went to amazing sites, learnt about the rich history, experienced Chinese culture and art, tasted the variety of regional foods and talked to locals. This was exactly what I was hoping for. We would not have had the ability to see and experience all this without your exception guides: Kevin, Kai, Ben, Julia, Peter, and Julin. Your guides and drivers made us feel at home and minimized our stress.

Best regards,

David

Hello Tracy,

I had no time to write.

Both tours were very good.

The hotels were very very good with good location.

The restaurants – most of them had very good food. Not all of them looked very very nice but it was good enough. On the second tour it was better espiecialy in Shanghai. The restaurants should be organize close to the place where we visit. Driving 40-60 minutes to the restaurants wan inconvinient.

Bus – very good, no problems at all about quality. The only problem was long time that we had to wait for the bus everytime in Beijing and Xian.

Guides:

Jamie in Beijing – very good and very helpful. He was really taking care of us.

The girl in Shanghai on the first tour – was ok, but he was very shy and had problems with time mannagment.

Jimmy in Shanghai – he was very well organized but not so helpful and he was money oriented

Bruce in Xian – he was good and helpful, quite good organized.

One more ime thank you for your help and whole organization.

I will come back to you with request for qotation for our classical tours.

Best regards

Wojtek

Hi Tracy,

Trip was great. Ran very smoothly. Our guides were all knowledgeable and could speak a decent amount of English. Our ranking of guides, even though all were good, are 1) Kai 2) Kenny 3) and 4) Lily. Even though we have Lily as the last, she was great, singing traditional folk songs and taking pride in her work on educating us on the area and the traditions/history. Kai was just outstanding. His English and knowledge of history were top notch.

We gave our feedback to each of the guides in their cities. Hopefully you received those.

We’re not big shoppers so we enjoyed a little extra “free time” in places, like Guilin, to hit the pool and just relax in between big itinerary days.

The only complaint we had was in Zhangjanjie where our hotel wasn’t by anything at all. We had a day we needed to find dinner and our hotel restaurant was closed to a private conference. We walked a bit to find something but ended up buying cheap stuff at the small market next door. Would’ve been nice being closer to town where multiple options are available.

Overall, such a great trip and well run by you and your company. Thank you very much for a once-in-a-lifetime trip. So glad we got to do it, even if it was 4 years later than planned….

Thanks,

Mike

Dear Tracy

We returned yesterday from the trip.

Everything was wonderful, the guides were excellent.

Thank you for everything.

Boaz

Dear Tracy,

Sorry for the late reply! I’ll just start saying that we absolutely loved the trip and China. It was one of the best trips we have ever done. Your country is beautiful and fascinating. I can’t wait to visit again!

You are very helpful and professional. The tour was tailored to us and our interests, day by day. The guides were also flexible in accommodating our requests day by day. We were never taken to tourist traps. The restaurants were clean and the guides would help us order based on our dietary preferences.

We were really happy with China discovery, in all aspect of the trip. You were very good in organizing the tour based on our preferences and accommodating our requests. You were also very kind to recommend we change our visiting time to after the May national holiday. The guides in all cities (Beijing, Xi’an, Chengdu, Shanghai) were very knowledgeable and looked after us very well. It felt like travelling with a friend! I am willing to recommend your service to others!

Best wishes,

Nura

Hi Rita,

Sorry for the delay, I thought you might like to look at this review and see if you would like to use it.

I have also included some photos that you can use if you want.

Review as follows...

If you are reading this review you are probably wondering should I use China Discovery and is it legit. The answer to both is a definite yes. Coming from New Zealand my wife and I along with our 16 year old daughter did a 28 day trip. We tailored our itinerary (with the help of Rita) and had a private tour. It was all fantastic and super organized. We loved the flexibility that our tour gave us. The local guides knowledge ensures you get the most out of each day and gives you a great insight into the area and local lifestyles.

I would highly recommend them for anyone who wants a great time traveling in China. We certainly did. Many thanks to Rita and all the guides who made our trip so awesome.

Cheers Dave, Tracey and Amber.

Hi Wonder,

The tour is great,we enjoyed it very much,as well as the cruise.

I could like to thank you for this wonderful tour of ours. Everything is just perfect,you as our consultant, you are really great, you really did your best to arrange it the way we wanted.

The tour guides and the drivers are friendly and courteous, they are really good in what they are doing.

The accommodations are nice and clean,location is good, hotel's staff are nice and helpful.

Definitely we will recommend your company to any of my friends who is planning to visit China, and me and my daughter are planning for another tour.

Thank you so much.

Sincerely

Ruby and Gigi

Hello Tracy,

We had a great time in China, thank you very much for organizing everything so well!

Thank you.

Kind regards,

Eugenia

Hi Tracy,

Sorry, didn’t respond to you earlier. Since the China trip, we are trying to catch up with everything that we held off for month.

Here is the list of our ranking of each Tour Guides we had in each city.

Guilin - Sharon

Beijing - Linda

Shanghai - Liqi

Zhangjiajie - Nancy

Xi’An - Lily

All the Tour Guides and Drivers provided the service that we needed. Our family really appreciate their hospitality and enjoyed our visit in China. Everyone was an excellent representative of their city and an ambassador to the visitors. They make us proud as a native Chinese, who have excellent command of the English language. The professionalism and knowledge on each city’s history is outstanding. I know our kids have learned a little more about Chinese historical facts and their heritage. For those who speaks Cantonese, Grandpa is very thankful.

Above all we rank Sharon in Guilin as the best of our guides along with the driver. Sharon was very attentive, detailed, and caring of our group and especially grandpa who’s over 90 years old. In addition, she was very open to exposing us to local cultures and food. We thought she went above and beyond her duties and responsibilities.

Overall, thanks much to you and to the China Discovery team for a very memorable trip.

Kin

Hi Tracy,

We have completed the journey with a lot of wonderful experiences. Our guide, Jaime and our driver, brought us to all the beautiful places with their patience and professionalism. They are very knowledgable and answers our questions without hesitations. Our adventures exceeded all our expectations. Thank you very much!

Thank you very much for the unforgettable adventures in Beijing. We may come back again in the near future.

Have a good summer.

Ermin

Hi, Wonder,

Thanks a lot for your message, everything went well, it was a great tour and the guides all did a great job too.

I think some of the experiences there are already very much tailored to tourists especially from mainland China (e.g. the Karez system, or the shops in Kashgar old town), so I was happy that the guides were ready to pursue some additional activities which were not on the initial itinerary - like the Emin Minaret in Turpan, which was probably my favorite place of the tour. Very beautiful and peaceful, and practically no other visitors.

All the best, and looking forward to the next trip.

Marco

Mr. Leo Li,

I can't express enough what a wonderful time we had in China. You made me look like a superstar to my wife and sister-in-law. All of the guides were wonderful; especially Eric in Beijing and Evan in Chengdu. Evan knew EXACTLY when and where to take us to get the best views of the pandas! Eric seemed to take a lot of pride in his city of Beijing and wanted us to see and try everything. He was very nice, accommodating and generous. He bought us many street snacks just because he wanted us to try them!

All of the excursions you had scheduled were outstanding. There wasn't one that we said we could have skipped. The ones that were particularly great were the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, Terracotta warriors, pandas, and one of our favorites was the cooking class at the museum in Chengdu. The museum tour guide was a delight and an excellent instructor. We really enjoyed Liqi and Shanghai.

The hotels were all just great. They really were nice. It was hard to pick a favorite. The Buddha Zen Hotel was very nice and in a great location but the breakfast was a little weak. Probably the worst of the trip but still acceptable. The hotel in Shanghai was first rate with the absolute best breakfast of the trip.

All of the train and plane transfers went smoothly. We had no problems meeting our guides at each location and no problems boarding to go to the next city.

We felt comfortable with all of the drivers. The cars were all clean and comfortable. Traffic in your cities is HORRIBLE. I could never drive in China! I had a hard enough time just making sure I didn't get run over by a scooter when I was walking!!

I think that about sums it up Mr. Leo Li, Thank you again for making this trip a once in a lifetime experience for my family. And throughout the planning process, you were extremely helpful and always responded promptly. I know we made quite a few modifications to the trip but you didn't seem to mind at all. Thank you for that.

Take care sir,

Kelly

Hi Ms. Wing,

We are back home. Here is a response.

You were exceptionally responsive in all matters and a pleasant person to work with.

We are a little slower than thirty years ago, so one or two items were canceled in consultation with our local tour guides. We liked the flexible arrangement allowing this modification. I am willing yo recommend your service to my people who also have an interest to visit China and I would like to use your service of I come China again.

Thanks once again for your attention to detail and hard work. We wish you great favor and peace.

Cordially,

Don Kammer

Hi Rita,

Sorry for the late reply.

Yes, I enjoyed my trip to China very much. The tour guide and driver are amazing and very professional.

Thanks to them, my trip with my family has been very pleasant and this made us wanted to visit the other parts of China again

Please see below my comments.

The tour arrangement was good and adequate pace for our family. I would definitely recomment your service to my friends and family who wished to join a more private tour in China.

Perhaps can add on services to recommend dining places (and assist to make reservations) prior to the trip as there are limited platforms outside China for us to make reservations. For me and my family, we take our dining seriously and would like to enjoy local food. We enjoyed our time, especially in Xi'an, as our guide brought us to places she has patroned for food and went extra miles to recommend good dining places in Xi'an. We love her recommendation.

Thanks and regards,

Finn

Hi there, feedback as below:

Wonder Wang was great to work with. All emails and questions were answered very quickly. We booked this a little bit late and provided a list of things that we would like to do and quickly got a detailed itinerary that covered everything we wanted to do. The itinerary was very detailed and we were well taken care of throughout the whole trip. During our trip we wanted to change something and this was done effortlessly. Five star service all the way!

Everything worked out great. All of our guides and drivers were extremely helpful and always on time and where they said they would be. The guides were local to the places we went so they provided us with a ton of information about everything we were seeing. The hotels were great, the trains were all great, we really enjoyed everything and it was easy thanks to the work of Wonder Wang.

I would 100% recommend this company. Everything was top notch and communication was smooth. We were never in doubt about anything to do with the trip. Again 5 stars!

David

Hello Rita,

Yes we are home safely after an enjoyable, busy 3 weeks travelling around China.

Thank you for putting together such an interesting tour. The time passed so quickly. Had we not been on a 3 week time line I would have added a rest day every 3-4 days. That would have been a good addition.

The hotels were all lovely. I liked those that had a bath best, because after an energetic day walking, one could soak the muscles and rest for a while.

We loved travelling in the trains. Thanks for organising the comfortable upgrades.

I am glad our guides met us at the stations & dropped us off though. The stations are huge and finding the right platform was made easier with the guides help.

We had minor problems.

1. Shanghai- There are 2 exits and we went to the wrong one. However we rang the guide and then we found one another.

2. Another, was when we missed the transit sign & walked the wrong way following the crowd. Fortunately Bruce noticed & helped us get to the right place so we could get the connecting train in time.

3. My seat was already taken on one of the trains. I was advised by the conductor to walk through the train to carriage 8, get off, and get on again. There were 2 trains joined together. I wasn’t sure if the train would wait for me as they only stop for a minute! Fortunately the staff were very helpful getting me off, and getting me on again. They seated me next to Bill.

The tourist attractions we visited were outstanding. Everything we saw was worthwhile. We loved the spectacular Stage Shows.

We loved the cruise. We made new friends, had a lot of shipboard fun. The concierge and other staff were lovely.

Our guides were friendly, helpful and really good company.

We are happy to see how well China is going with trains, stations , roads, housing. National Parks and environmental protection. Good job!

We would recommend your Tour Company should anyone ask . We were very happy with everything.

All being well, we will return to do the other half of the original trip.

Here are some happy photos from Our enjoyable time visiting China.

Yours sincerely.

Carol & Bill

Greetings Rita

We are now back in Hanoi after a very enjoyable China Discovery Tour.

It all worked very smoothly. Your tour guides were good and well informed.

Regards

Ted

Hi Rita,

Sights, tour guide, and transportation were excellent. Food was good, we just prefer western.

Jean

Dear Rita,

Finally some good news for you.

We reached mount Everest base ,and found a good accomodation with own bedroom , toilets and good hotel.

It is called Rongbu hotel and run by the monastery.

I had to pay 240 yuan extra.

Being an elderly man I like my privacy.

The hotel also has oxygen supply just like the trains.

So next time book this place for future guests who are prepared to pay for privacy.

Regards

Dr Thomas

Hi Rita,

Nina was helpful, considerate, kind, knowlegable, a very nice person.

Bibiana

Hi Evelyn!

We had a wonderful time. The itinerary was perfect. We enjoyed every spots We went to. The driver was very professional and helpful. The quantity of food for lunches were more than enough. Eric was just awesome. Very knowledgeable, professional, so easy to get along. It felt like we were together as friends and not just à tour guide. He was very flexible and try to accommodante every request we had. Also, China discoveries itself was very flexible and open to our requests. We simple had a wonderful time. It was my first time in China and I fell in love with the country. I will certainly go back and will certainly contact China discordes again

Seng

Hi Wonder!!

We will send you more detailed reviews/comments later but so far the tour has wildly exceeded all of our expectations, for which you and our wonderful guides and drivers deserve so much credit!! In addition to all of the sights on our itinerary and the fantastic acrobatic show we saw in Beijing and the extraordinary light show we saw in Guilin, we were also fortunate enough to have Linda recommend to us the AMAZING Shu Feng Ya Yun Sezchuan Opera show last night, just a short walk from our hotel, which was one of the best shows we have ever seen!! The shadow puppets and mask-changing were especially incredible! And yes we did receive yesterday the BEAUTIFUL gifts you sent us - thank you so much - we love the pandas and will treasure them always!

Zazi

Dear Wonder,

you might WONDER that we put no claim on today’s hotel room. We are very happy, it’s one of the best hotel room with a wonderful view. Enjoy the evening.

Urs and Ingrid

Dear Wonder,

we checked in and the room is really GREAT.

Regards

Urs and Ingrid

Dear Wonder,

we had a great time here with a nice guide. She promised us, that her English will improve during the coming years.

Thanks and a good start into the coming week.

Regards

Urs and Ingrid

Dear Wonder,

Should you be interested whether we arrived good, yes we did! We enjoyed the first week with Jack.

Regards

Urs and Ingrid

Dear Wonder,

In Datong we forgot to give a comment on the service there.

We were very satisfied with both. The driver was also very polite. May was an excellent guide with good English and knowledge of the history. Many thanks to her. She earns the number 5!

So far we are very happy with the trip.

Kind regards,

Urs and Ingrid

Hi Evelyn.

Yes we are on the train now.

We really enjoyed Luoyang. I've always wanted to visit the Shaolin temple and really enjoyed the Kung Fu class.

Joe our guide was very good too.

The hotel room was great but the breakfast needs improvement. Joe made sure they supplied us with some extras for breakfast as there was not much variety.

Yes we really liked Datong as well thanks. The tour was informative and the attractions really interesting.

Jonney

Hi Evelyn.

We are leaving Beijing now.

We had a great time.

Peter and the driver were excellent.

Jonney

Nihao RITA.

My family and I truly enjoyed every minute of our China tour. You’ve met and exceeded our expectations. We’ve given our feedback to KEVIN, JIM, EILEEN, AIRA, and LINDA, but I also plan to email you my feedback to this unforgettable tour.

Very much worthwhile.

EDGE

Feedback as below:

MR. Wonder Wang was very responsive and helpful. He answered all our questions immediately and provided recommendations, too. He was flexible with our travel plans and was very patient with any changes requested. He was a pleasure to work with.

Tour arrangement with driver and tour guide was great. Pick up to anf from Airport and tranfer to/from Hotels was easy. Guides were very imformative. Travel arrangements for trains and internal flights went smoothly and the guides helped us with check in for all flights, hotels and trains.

I already recommended your company to friends and family. They will contact you once they decide on a trip to China.

Thank you fora great trip and for excellent arrangements!

We look forward to another trip to China to visit the rest of the beautiful country.

Dina

Dear Rita,

we are back from our trip in China, and I have to say the overall experience exceeded our expectations! We saw so many wonderful things and sites, and our days were so relaxing and interesting, we are already planning to be back soon.

I will add below my comments to the specific points you mentioned, but as a general comment the whole organization was great, all the four guides we met were very professional, well prepared and extremely kind. We appreciated very much the tours they guided us through and their attitude. All the drivers were extremely sharp and professional, and the cars very comfortable.

We are altogether very happy with your services, and we will surely contact you again when we plan our next trip to China (I guess this time we will focus on the Beijing / Xi’an area to see the Great Wall and the terracotta army).

Thanks so much for your kind support and also for your flexibility when we had to postpone our trip last November. That was highly appreciated.

Kind regards.

Laila

Hi Samantha,

It was good! Sandy was helpful and patient. l enjoyed the food boba, shopping

Nick

Dear Wing Zeng,

Yes we had arrived safely home yesterday after a long flight and transit time in Singapore.

To answer your questions above, below are my reply:

Yes, you are always fast and patient.

Tour arrangement is perfectly plan and arranged. Since we are travelling in a family and private, we could adjust and make flexible changes to our plan. This was supported well by your team.

Definitely we highly recommend.

Fast response during our initial itinerary arrangement and good selection for the tourist attractions. Local guides are nice people and helpful. They told a lot of history explanations at each site visited.

Daud

Hi Evelyn,

we thoroughly enjoyed the trip, and we’re so glad that we went with the China Discovery private tour. The tour quides weregreat, Jamie especially went above and beyond. Our favorite was the Great Wall, but they were all amazing.

Thank you so much

Maree

Thanks Wing,

Thanks for your excellent services.

I actually have been meaning to email you to say thank you so much! We had the best time with Jamie and Angela. They were seriously great tour guides and made sure everything ran smoothly.

Of course we would love to answer the questions, have even been thinking to ask if we can book something for Shanghai but probably too late now! We are here for another week. When we come back to China we would definitely book with you again!. Have attached some pictures

Sara

Hi Wonder,

Thank you so much for all your organising for our little Beijing holiday, We had an incredible time :)

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, yes and yes. Very good communication and assistance.

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

Incredible, nothing was too much for our tour guide. Very accommodating and patient with us and our young children. Top service from the moment we landed in Beijing to helping us check back onto the flight at the end of our trip. Settling us up at our hotel, getting us dinner while we unpacked and sorted our young children into bed. Best tour guide I've ever had. Car seat was available and already installed for our toddler and they were fast to install our own infant car seat for our 4 month old on arrival.

3. Would you like to recommend our company?

100%

Kind Regards,

Courtney

Hi Rita

Thank you, the tour was amazing.

Am in Taiyuan now for a wedding & return to Sydney on Thursday.

May I forward this and photos to you when I return, please?

Kind regards

David

Hello Wing,

Greetings from Japan. We had a wonderful and enjoyable adventure in Beijing and Hong Kong. Maggie and Jin (driver) were generous and extraordinarily considerate and kind. I hope to revisit Shanghai and will definitely let you know. I will apply for a visa next time. Thanks for all of your help along the way. If you have a format for feedback, please send me it. All the best, Steve.

Steve

Hi Rita,

Sure we had a great day with Kai so I’d be more than happy to write a review.

Emma

Thanks Riley,

I very much enjoyed the tour. I was looking for remote hiking along the Great Wall and I thought the routes were fantastic. Guide was knowledgeable and friendly. Driver was safe, courtesy and car clean. Overall, a great experience.

Joshua

Hi Leo,

The driver was great. On time and very helpful. He also had good local knowledge as I had some time before going to the airport so we stopped at two local sigthseeing destinations. All in all, I am very happy with the arrangement

Therese

Hi Riley,

The driver was very very good. Your help was excellent.

Herve

Hi Johnson,

Our five families had a superb trip! The incredible sites we visited such as the 'Great wall' and the 'Terracotta warriors' will stay in our memories forever! Our guides took us to some superb restaurants where we really enjoyed the local food. The Peking duck for me was a favourite. Your organization and that of our local guides was excellent! Our guides knowledge of the places we visited was in-depth and really added to the interest in what we were seeing. I will highly recommend your tour to other teachers at my school and friends and family back in New Zealand.

Things to improve upon:

I think when travelling with younger children we found it's better sometimes to do 1 or 2 things a day rather than try and fit everything in on the itinerary especially when it was hot and there was lot's of walking to do. I think the guides were good at realizing this and were flexible when there were things we cut out of the daily itinerary. Having a pool at the end of the day was great for tired kids.

Perhaps next time with families try and have them stay not underneath the bar on the boat as it got a bit noisy. Although the people on the boat were really good when we said something about this on the first night. We also thought there could have been a bit more for children to do on the boat and we put that in our comments at the end of the trip.

That's all I can really think of as there was not really anything wrong with the trip. Thanks again Johnson, let me know if you want me to add any more detail in recommending the trip to others.

Regards.

Cameron

Thanks Jo. You too and thanks for amazing memories!! We are on the way home ready for bed!!

Beatriz

Us too! Adding our thanks for letting us join you. It was a great trip and fun to spend time with you all. Thanks to Johnson for all of his efforts and planning!

Lisa

Fantastic trip y’all! Thanks for all the memories! I’ll try and get photos from everyone and get some out together in the next week or so.

Matthew

Yes fantastic trip thanks everyone! We’ll get some feedback to you soon Johnson.

Cameron

We must have already been asleep when these messages came through. We have had a wonderful time. Thanks Johnson and Cam. Great to tick off so many must-sees in China ! Let’s have a post holiday debrief at our new apartment once we have unpacked!

Kylie

Hi Johnson, I know this is a bit late telling you. But our family had a lovely time on the trip you organised for us. We got to see so much of China! We feel very lucky. We are spending a week in Sanya. China is so beautiful!

Tessa

Hi Zeva,

Good morning Zeva. Kai has been a wonderful guide while we have been in Beijing. Who will be our guide in Xi'an?

We had a great trip! Thanks for all your work on this.

Tiffany

Dear Zeva,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yangtze River Cruise: Its been a great trip.

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

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

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

Good morning Jack,

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

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

Hi Riley,

Sorry for the late reply.

We had two wonderful days on the Great Wall

Jenny was really friendly and flexible. She gave us good explanations on the history of the Great Wall. 

The driver was fine also, maybe his driving could be a little bit safer but it was ok. 

The car was clean and of good quality.

On the first day it would have been better to leave the hotel in Beijing one hour earlier to avoid the traffic and be less in a rush.

We really enjoyed our weekend and I really appreciated your professionalism and kindness.

I will keep your contact for potential future trips. 

Thank you very much,

Estelle

Hi Leo,

Yes, I can give you some feedback on the Beijing trip. In general we enjoyed the trip very much. It was a good idea to go to Jinshanling Great Wall instead of Badaling. Actually we had heard of Badaling being rather crowded during National Holidays, that’s why we asked you to include Jinshanling. It was a good choice;

Jack, our tour guide was very nice, he has a very good knowledge about the places we went and the history behind. The driver was very experienced and we always had a smooth drive, although obviously sometimes the traffic was dense.

The Restaurants that Jack picked were all ok, the experience with the family in the Hutong for the Dumpling making was very nice.

There could be some minor changes to the tour. For example it was more convenient to go to Jingshan Park and Beihai Park on the same day instead of separate days. Actually Jack proposed that and it was good. We went to both of the parks the day after the Forbidden City. There are some further attractions to visit inside the Summer Palace and Beihai Park. You have to buy extra tickets, which are 10 Yuan per person. I think it might make sense to include these in the tour right away from the beginning.

Hi Lyn,

It was ok. Just on the train out. Wechat translate made things run a lot smoother.

Hi Jack.

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

Hello Rita 

I'm doing well! How are you?  Just cleaning my house now .

I can't thank you enough for everything! I really had an amazing holiday and I appreciate all the extra efforts you helped me with. I felt like a superstar sometimes .

I'm so excited for Patra as she will get to experience a vacation where she can to do minimal because everything is taken care of.

Thank you for the kind gesture I appreciate it! The lunch was definitely delicious and it was good to get to know Sandy and Mr. Li. during both lunches.

Hello Wonder!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for checking in!

 

Take care, 

Keena (and Mark)

Just wanted to thank you Wendy,

Our travel in Beijing was great!!

Hi Riley,

The tour guides were both excellent, the drivers too. I have no complaints.

My Beijing tour guide is an excellent storyteller and my Xi'an guide was very friendly and helpful.

Hi Tracy,

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

Feedback:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hope that you have a prosperous New Year

Best regards

Martin and Debbie

Dear Rita,

Thank you! We are having a good time! Kai is very good tour guide.

We are back home now. Thanks again for organizing such an amazing trip. We really enjoyed it. My wife will be filling out a comment on trip advisor. She was so happy!

Hi Riley,

Thank you! The Great Wall was phenomenal.

Hi Wonder,

Thanks for today! Everything went well!

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.

Hi Tracy

Fine. Tour guide and driver excellent. Hotel good but inconvenient with luggage. Food service poor. Great Wall and sights excellent. Thanks for all the help.

Food in town excellent. Good choices. Food hotel cold breakfast. Take 3 bus to get to hotel. Drag luggage over road. Guide help us a lot. He is excellent

Hi Tracy,

The trip was great! Seeing the tulou was incredible and we really enjoyed staying at the guesthouse. Our guide was also very knowledgeable! 

Best wishes,

Emma

Hi Lyn,

Oh it was sooooooo good many thanks! Please do keep in touch when you've got specials going on over weekends

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to you also!  I think I forgot to fill out the following survey.

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?

      Yes

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

 Very good overall.  Just the one in Beijing is just OK.

3.     Would you like to recommend our company? 

 Yes, definitely.

Thanks,

Cynthia 

Hi Wonder

I hope things are returning to normal for you and that the impact in your business of covid-19 has not been too depressing. Please forgive my tardy response, for which there is no excuse!

I flew from Shanghai to Saigon just 3 days before the flights were banned and managed to spend a great 4 weeks travelling through Cambodia and Thailand as well as re-entering Vietnam in Hanoi and touring back to Saigon for a week returning to UK on 22 February, where I completed 2 weeks of self isolation with my wife. As you will know we have been locked down for 9 weeks now so life is very different to how it was before I left for China back on 12 January! I have inserted my answers to your questions below and hope they are helpful to you.

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

Wonder Wang, at China Discovery, was very helpful and responsive to my questions and needs and I felt supported and safe in a strange land, especially during a period of uncertainty when I lost key documentation and needed to ensure its replacement before I left China, and also during a time when many around us were conscious of the emerging coved 19 pandemic (Mid to late January 2020).

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

Very attentive and knowledgeable. Maybe it’s my age (67) but at times I found understanding their English a challenge but they were all patient with me and would repeat their explanations when I asked them to. 

3. Would you like to recommend our company?

 I have no hesitation in recommending China Discovery to anyone looking for a bespoke trip to the land of Wonder that is China.

Thanks again for all you did for me during the China leg of my trip. I had a wonderful time.

Take great care and best wishes

Simon

Hi Echo,

First my wife and i are very concerned about you & family plus our guides and their families due to the coronavirus.

We had a fantastic time in China just a few months ago.

1. Our travel arrangements were PERFECT! It was an affordable vacation yet for only a few dollars over base cost we were able to upgrade to Hainan airlines and 1st class high speed trains,

Plus our hotels (when the front desk is an actual luxury desk you sit at checking in - you relax and know your stay will be so nice!)

We were met on time by friendly staff in each city.

Our local tour guides were great! Each different but good. 

We have recommended your tour company many times as we discuss our trip and show our pictures. Everything went very smoothly. As we exchanged emails our perfect vacation developed so easily. 

Improvements? Not many. The tour locations, transportation, lunches, drivers & guides etc... were great!

2 things- our guide in Shanghai wanted to tell us so much. She was worried about the time too much. For her, the other guides, and the travellers - please send a simple intro guide lesson for us fo read and take with.  So many dynasties, rivers, canals, rocks, pagodas etc...to learn. 

Also, the shopping stops were very nice and also affordable. 

But, if wasn't until our last morning that i discovered a souvenir shop. To buy tshirts, key chains, refrigerator magnets, etc..  This is an important part of travel as the "themed" location shops dont carry items forg all the friends and family back home.

Also in Xian we had expected fo visit the ancient mosque along with the muslim street.

Thank you for a wonderful trip.

Hallo Lily,

Last year, with my cousin Roberto Bergoglio and his wife Anita Maletto, I had with 'China Discovery' a nice holiday in China.
We remember well the beauty of the country and the kindness of our guides. 

We are now very sorry for the bad news from China and we hope that all of you is well. 

We are sure that these difficult moments will soon be over.

Cheer up!

Franca Bergoglio

Hi Wendy,

If I get a chance I will put something on Tripadvisor but I can give you the responses to your questions.

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

Yes very happy with the contact we received and the booking of tours.

2. How was your tour? Are you satisfied with the tour we arranged for you?

I was very happy with the tour. I think in Shanghai the hotel was in a poor location and didn’t have the services the other hotels had. If I had known I would have paid extra for a better/ better location hotel.

Hi wonder,

Just wanted to thank you very much for the great service. I had a great time in my first visit to China. Next time I go I will contact you to visit Chengdu to spend time with the pandas.

Dear Rita,

We had a good trip, thanks to you for giving good tour guides such as Jenny in Beijing and Celina in Harbin. Drivers were careful too.

 

Dear Ms Zeng,

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

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

Here are my comments about the tour in more detail:

Xi’an 

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

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

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

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

Beijing

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

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

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

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

Shanghai

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

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

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

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

So overall I was very happy with the tour 

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

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

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

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

Thank you again for organising the tour, Ms Zeng

Best wishes,

Chris

Hi Wendy,

Thank you Wendy so much for organizing our wonderful trip to China you made every thing fun and easy. All the arrangements worked out perfectly without a problem. We had a fantastic time and enjoyed all the sights and sounds and attractions. We really appreciated our tour guides they were exceptional and the drivers and pre-organized tickets made the trip easy. Could you pass on a special thanks to Anne, Alison, Tina and Eric who made our family feel very welcome and gave our trip a warm and personal touch.

Thanking you Jenny and family :-):-):-)

Hi Wendy

Yes, home safely thank you. Could I tell you before I respond to your queries, it was a wonderful, brilliantly organised trip, thank you so much.

1.  You were always prompt with responses to any queries and clarifications. Your suggestions were carefully considered and you accommodated our requests effortlessly.

2.  The tour was simply great. Beijing - Kai as guide and driver Mr Ho. What a find with Kai! His English was perfect; his knowledge was exceptional. Kai constantly volunteered information and explanation without having to be asked. The restaurants he took us to for our lunches were fabulous - very fresh, freshly cooked and spice level to accommodate our palette. He was also very considerate towards my sister who is older and less mobile than us, always looking out for her, assisting with her bag etc. You have a real gem with Kai. Mr Ho and the vehicle were also fantastic. The van was very clean and comfortable. Mr Ho was also very helpful with luggage. If there needs to be a simple suggestion for the future, perhaps a low step to assist customers into the van would be helpful. Kai provided us with bottled water each day, without being asked.

With regards to the itinerary in Beijing, I should have included an extra day to see the Ming Tombs. As we had a full free day at the end of the holiday, I did organise a private tour for this reason, and it was great. The Great Wall - I chose the option of the cable car because my sister has mobility problems. 350 metres of steep cobbled ramp way, plus approximately 100 steps of varying heights (from 10 cm to 45 cm in height) were extremely challenging for my sister and she would have missed this amazing place had Kai and my partner Tony not been so kind to her and physically assisted her. Perhaps a bit of a misunderstanding on our part Wendy, as this was certainly not disability friendly! 

Xi'an - bullet train was great except both the conductors and the officials at the exit gates in Xi'an, wanted to see our tickets! I showed the itinerary to them, but Kai told me later that perhaps I should have also shown our passports? Never mind, we got there! Crystal and driver Mr Hou(?) were also great. The vehicle was clean, however smaller than in Beijing and a little more difficult for 4 people to be comfortable. Again, a low step would be advantageous for customers to access the van more easily. Crystal was very knowledgeable and both were helpful. The museum and the warriors just have to be seen to be believed. The theatre restaurant in the evening was technically the best I have seen, anywhere. A wonderful experience was Xi'an. Crystal provided water each day without being asked.

Harbin - flight was good. Guide was Karl but the driver was never introduced to us. Karl's English was not very good and his understanding of us and our questions was quite poor. A very pleasant and nice young man however. We had breakfast early in Xi'an, then nothing until we arrived in Harbin late in the afternoon. The itinerary stated we would tour the ice lanterns after dinner, but Karl did not understand we had not yet had dinner. Finally he understood us and took us to a local cafe where we had one choice only for our meal (it was very good though) and then we headed to the park. Excellent sculptures, we had seen nothing like this before. The snow sculptures the next day were simply quite stunning. Wonderful, talented people. The ice and snow festival in the evening was unbelievably spectacular. The vehicle was not really acceptable I am sorry to say. Very cramped and quite dirty as had not been cleaned after previous customers. There were used tissues and empty water bottles in the van. We had to ask Karl for water, and he went to a store to buy some. When I realised the Tiger Park was not on our itinerary I was very disappointed as I thought I had included this. Karl arranged this for us for Y600 and we appreciated this.

On our last day in Harbin we had Celine as our guide and she, like Kai, was brilliant. Excellent English, offering information constantly. The ice swimming with the locals was extremely funny as the older Russian women really made it very entertaining and fun. On our leisurely way to the airport she was told our flight was now leaving 1.5 hours earlier than scheduled and no one had been told. We received royal treatment by Celine who sped us through check-in and waved us off just in the nick of time! Thank you Celine. I think she may also have checked the van as it was cleaned that morning and we hope she realised that it was not us who left rubbish in the van. Again a low step would be helpful for customers, particularly as the floor became very icy and slippery and was problematic for us.

I arranged a private tour of the Ming Tombs on our last holiday day and I realise we could not have included this on our original itinerary due to time constraints. This was really worthwhile, so I would definitely recommend this to other customers Wendy.

3.  Suggestions? Low step for each van please, especially where it is icy. In Beijing if time is as limited as ours, perhaps suggestion of Ming Tombs in place of the Sacred Way?

Wendy, a great holiday with so much included. Both Kai and Celine are wonderful. I will put review on TripAdvisor as soon as possible.

Dimity Simes

Hi Wendy,

We made it home safely.  I thought both Helen and Kelly did an amazing job.  They made our visit to China wonderful.  They were always on time, professional and very knowledgeable.  I was impressed that they escorted us from the moment we arrived to the moment we left the train station or airport.  They made sure that we were secure and had everything that we needed.  The drivers were professional.  This whole trip couldn't have gone smoother.  I would and already have recommended your services to friends.  I am very happy with everything.  

As far as the travel consultant. I felt that you were very easy to communicate with and were very responsive.  

I don't have any additional suggestions.  This was a great experience.

Thank you,

Ann

Hi Mike,

I am writing to thank you and your staff for arranging a wonderful vacation for my family in China. We really enjoyed our time in China learning about your country.

Each of your tour guides and drivers were friendly, knowledgeable and very professional. They treated us like we were part of the family.

Thanks again, and Happy New Year.

Rick Valek

Hi Jack

Thank you for organising a wonderful trip. All the arrangements were very good and professional. The guides and drivers were very knowledgeable and helpful and we would like to thank them for making our tour enjoyable. We really enjoyed our tour and I would be happy to recommend China Discovery to my friends and colleagues. 

Thank you and we will reach out to you again in the future for our next trip to your beautiful and amazing country

Thanks and regards

Sandeep

Hi Mark, 

Thank you for your email follow up. 

I have provided our write up via trip advisor as per the link below. Below is our inputs to your feedback questionnaire:-

1. How’s the hotel and meals?

Hotel arrangement and meals are great. During our return trip from Xian to Beijing, the guide (another Mark) and driver have sent us to Hotel Park Royal. I believed the record was not updated to Novatel Peace. After clarification, they have sent us to Novatel Peace. 

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

All are excellence. They are very patience and understanding to our needs. For Xian, we have the same driver and guide throughout. This made us very comfortable as we meet the same person throughout our stay with the rapport already build up. 

For Beijing, we have different drivers on some days. We understand it is not easy to have the same drivers throughout due to their daily routines. 

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

Travel consultant's service, Mark Shen is excellence. He is extremely helpful and go an extra mile as always to meet our request. We are very thankful to have him to serve us. 

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

Certainly a Yes. 

We greatly appreciate your service to us. You have made us enjoy our stay very much in Beijing and Xian. Wishing you a great year 2020 ahead. 

Jeslyn

Hi Mark,

Happy New Year!

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

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

1. How’s the hotel and meals?

Hotels were very good.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kind Regards,

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 Echo

Just wanted to say a big thank you for arranging an amazing trip it absolutely exceeded our expectations

Julia

Hi Lyn

Thank you for helping us with the tour. We really enjoyed it and would recommend you highly.

 

Hi Wonder

We are now back in South Africa after one of our very best holidays,ever so again very many thanks for making it so.

Listed below are responses to your appraisal--

1)Wonder was incredibly quick at answering our e-mails and super efficient when dealing with any queries I had both before and after the tour.Nothing was ever too much for him.

2)Tour arrangements were fantastic! Drivers were always available to meet us at train stations or airports to take us to our hotels. Also guides often arrived earlier than planned in the morning for our daily tours. Guides also very helpful and informative. (Minor point but Guilin Hotel was a bit out of town and did not offer facilities of the others—Chengdu hotel was magnificent)

3)I certainly am very willing to speak to anyone who is interested in travelling with you in the future

And recommending your company.

4)General opinion—10 out of 10—it couldn’t be better

5)I think overall the tour was very well organised-maybe the guides could promote evening events more in the different cities.I did attend a Sichuan opera eve.in Chengdu which was good.

6)Have lots of photos which I can send—let me know-panda cubs attached

Please use any of my comments on your web site

7)Certainly –future/potential customers can contact me for advice

OVERALL A SUPERB HOLIDAY—MANY,MANY THANKS

Very best wishes

Ken and Perola Noble

 

Hello Wing,

Sorry the late response....see response in Italic below....

(1)  How do you like our tour arrangements and are you willing to recommend our service to your friends?

 The tour arrangement was perfect and I have already recommended to my friends, etc

(2)  Do you have some suggestions for us to improve our service?

 It is better and easier for us to provide survey feedback for the individual tour guide and driver online, right now it is paper based and sometimes we hold back comments knowing that the tour guide get to see the comments.

(3)  If you come to China again, would you like to use our service again?

 YES

Hi Leo

Overall, the tour experience was great and the itinerary was closely complied with. 

We were greeted promptly by the local guides in both Beijing and Xian at the very moment we stepped out of the customs.  Immediately, we were brought to our hotel in comfortable vans driven by friendly and safe-minded drivers. 

Sunworld Hotel in Beijing is slightly below expectation as the room is small for 3 of us. Pillows were flat and curtains old. It is however well located within walking distance to Wang Fu Jing and surrounded by convenience stores and shops.

Places of interests in Beijing like the Gu Gong and Great Wall are still as charming as 18 years ago. Public toilets at these places still have a lot of room for improvement though. 

Kai, our local guide at Beijing is professional and knowledgeable. He speaks both Mandarin and English well. His sharing of China history was engaging as he would assess us now and then with Q&A:). He also went the extra miles to send us to the bullet train cabin/ seats and gave us very detailed instruction on when to get OFF the train to ensure we do not miss the stop.

Bullet train from Beijing to Xian is a good alternative to internal flight as the cabins are clean and quiet. Can observe the development of different cities along the way too. 

The Titan Hotel in Xian is much bigger and comfortable. It has also engaged robot to assist in housekeeping. The breakfast has a wider spread than that in Beijing too. 

The Terracotta Army in Xian is eye opening. Our guide at Xian is knowledgeable and explains clearly too. Many new stores and eateries are located outside the TA museum. Would suggest to allocate more time at this commercial site as we were rushing to go for our lunch which was located within a nice resort with 5-star toilets.

Meals at Xian are less exciting and appealing due to our non-spicy and no beef nor mutton diet. Also, most if not all of the meat dishes are served cold including braised trotters. Chinese food in Singapore is served warm/ hot unless otherwise indicated. 

On hindsight, 1-night stay in Xian is sufficient, with a full-day visit to the Terracotta Army Museum, and shopping at the commercial site outside the Museum. Foot and body massage outlets are commonly found in Xian with good services. Will recommend a relaxing massage to wrap up the day! 

Last but not least, thank you for the arrangement and here wishing you a Blessed and Prosperous New Year !

Regards

Jacqueline

1.) Your travel consultants were very prompt in responding to us. Both Ashley and Wonder were very clear in responding to our requests for information, and both did well in addressing our questions and concerns. We especially appreciated the changes in accommodation they made for our trip in Xian, where our accommodation had to be changed. We appreciated the efforts they made and are generally satisfied with the results. They were also very patient in explaining everything to us, and we had very little confusion regarding the details of the trip.

We want to give extra credit to Kai, our guide in Beijing, who was not only helpful but caring. We thoroughly enjoyed our excursions with him, including the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and the Summer Palace. He is truly the best guide in our entire tour, and we hope all guides in the future can be as knowledgeable and caring as him.

Our general opinion of your tour company is generally positive, as your tour is a fresh idea compared to the usual Chinese tour operators we encountered in the past. Your focus on spending more time on the historical and cultural aspects of China and not pressuring tourists to do other activities (ex: shopping) is very refreshing, and allows us to appreciate the areas we visit more. We hope there are more tour operators in China who are willing to operate this way in the future.

Hi Wing,

See answers below.

I was very pleased with the tour company. On the first day of our trip we got an emergency call from home. China Discovery’s tour coordinator and tour guide bent over backwards to get us to the airport on time and to squeeze in a spectacular visit to the Great Wall on the way. They went above and beyond the call of duty. I would highly recommend them to my friends. I look forward to going back to China to finish my tour with China Discovery.

Hi Wendy,

I now had some time to put some pictures and a map of our journey together onto a travel blog page. You can see them (optimal on computer display, not so good yet on mobile) at:

http://www.gerhardbechtold.com/Home2/travel.html?trip=China2019

And in general about my journeys at:

http://www.gerhardbechtold.com/Home2/traveloverview.html

Thanks again for the wonderful trip organized by you.

Kind regards

Traveling Beijing, Longji, Yangshuo, Guilin, Shanghai and Having a Cruise

Hi Mark,

Please see our feedback below:

1- Yes, he was fast to answer my emails. Mark answered all my questions until it was clear for me.

I felt very comfortable with all his answers He would let me know in advance if there was a festive day or he was going to be out of town.  Excellent service!

2: all our tour guides were amazing! Made every moment extra special!!  I liked all a lot specially our guide from Chengdu and Beijing

All were terrific and they know where to take us, the explanation of everything

I felt very comfortable with all of them. Kevin was great watching that I wouldn’t fall or get to tired

Increíble guides and choferes too!!

3.  I am going to recommend your company with friends and family

Excellent service!!! We felt save every moment in China

4. Of course I will send pictures

I will write in Trip advisor and recommend specially you mark

You were so kind with us all the time

Thank you so mucho for all your work and keeping us safe and happy

Increíble increíble trip!!!

Enjoy Our Time in Beijing and Xian

Dear Johnson,

We are safely home, settled into our normal life and it is with great pleasure that we respond to your request for feedback.

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

I can not recommend Johnson Wang highly enough. He was incredibly prompt and patient with my numerous emails, and super helpful in allaying concerns or accommodating specific requests. 

2.    How do you comment your tour arrangements?

From my initial enquiry, until completion of our tour 12 months later, Johnson ensured that every detail of our tour was thoroughly met. The tour arrangements exceeded our expectations!

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

There are multiple tour companies and travel agents offering very cheap packages for China tours, but we are so pleased we chose to contact China Discovery and negotiate a package that met the travel needs of each of us, and that made our experience in China feel exceedingly VIP compared to the travel stories we have heard from our friends who chose the cheaper deals. We would only recommend your services, as every detail from the communication, guides, drivers, itinerary and special touches are what made our tour so incredible!

4.  Your general opinion on us?

Admittedly we had some reservations about creating, booking and paying for the tour entirely online, as there are too many stories about dodgy agents and fraudulent companies, but China Discovery (& particularly Johnson Wang) were exceptional to deal with, reassuring and very trustworthy. I give them a 100% recommendation!

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

The recommendations for optional activities was appreciated, but as the expectation between Western and Chinese culture is so different, I think a suggestion of dress code for each activity would be a good idea. 

For example, in Western or European culture the dress code for an Opera is formal, but in China it is casual, so we felt a bit silly when we dressed up very formally but then had to walk 30minutes to the venue and everyone else was wearing casual clothes.

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?

Of course.

Our China Trip in Beijing, Xian, Shanghai

Hello Catherine,

First let me apologize for the length of time getting back to you.  As soon as we returned home on September 17, following our twenty-two day cruise from Shanghai to Sydney, my wife had to go to the doctor with a strained hip muscle.  I stopped all my activities for almost a week to help her as she could barely walk.  Then on the 26th we had to fly Phoenix, Arizona to attend a "Celebration of Life" memorial service for Myrna's brother-in-law who died while we were gone. We didn't return until the 29th.

Finally I am able to respond to your request for information about our China Discovery Tour.  Here are our comments:

1. You, Catherine Liu, our Travel Consultant, were excellent in answering our E-mails and definitely patient enough to answer our questions. We were very pleased with all you did to make our time in China a wonderful experience.

2.  Our tour arrangements were very good although we were under the impression that the same people would be on our tours each day.  Picking up different people at different stops each day took more time from touring than we expected.  

3.  We definitely are willing to recommend your service to people who are interested in visiting China.  We have already been doing so.

4.  Our opinion of your service is very good. The explanation of our China Discover Tour we received before booking was very thorough.  Our hotels were excellent. Our tours were very informative.  The guides were very good.  The people that met us and/or helped us at the airports and train stations were very helpful. Without their help we would have had a great deal of trouble.

Our only problem was when we arrived in Beijing from Los Angeles.  We were not met upon arrival and had to call to find out what to do.  Evidently the person who was to greet us, and take us to the hotel, went to the wrong exit gate.  He did find us after receiving a call from your office.

Our tours were generally very good although we did not get to stop at Tian'anmen Square and our long walk through the Forbidden City was in the rain.  We were able to avoid a 1-2 hour wait in line at the museum in Shanghai because of our age.  The others in the group were quite unhappy to have to wait in line so long. 

We were disappointed in the 2nd class seating on the Bullet Train ride from Beijing to XiAn.  It was extremely crowded.  We had to store our large bags in the next compartment and put our smaller bags between our legs for the entire trip.  Out suggestion would be to book 1st Class or higher tickets rather than 2nd Class train tickets.

Highlights of our China Discovery Tour were our visits to The Great Wall, the Terra Cotta Warriors, XiAn and the Pudong and Bund areas of Shanghai. 

5.  A suggestion would be to include a dinner at a Hot Pot restaurant.  We did this on our own in XiAn with the help of our guide.  It was a great experience. Also, unless you can get immediate entrance into the museum in Shanghai, you should eliminate this stop.

6. You can use our comments.   As to photos, we have not separated them as yet but will email some at a later date.  I have yet to start on my article but will notify you when it is published on-line....probably not for a few months.

7. You can have potential customers contact me at 501-922-1101 or by email at Chuck@TheTravelingGuy.com.

Catherine, again I apologize for the delay in getting this information to you.

Regards,

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.

Dear Johnson, 

We are back from our wonderful trip to China and wanted to thank you for the effort you put in to make it smooth and comfortable for us. As we didnt speak the language, we appreciated being helped through all the airports which made things much easier for us. 

Your country is beautiful, so vast and with so much to see. All the meals we had were super delicious, the best one being in Xi’an at the spa resort. Truly, there was never a bad meal in China anywhere. 

We loved Beijing - Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City were impressive, the Temple of Heaven, and walking through the Summer Palace and tombs of the Ming Dynasty, very lovely. The highlight though, was our climb to the Great Wall - amazing! Kevin, our guide in Beijing, was outstanding and went out of his way to cover it all while making sure we avoided the crowds. 

In retrospect, we might have spent less time in Xi’an, where we traveled back to 221 BC to see the Terra-cotta Warriors and browse through the Muslim Quarters. Our guide, Timo was very professional. Perhaps though it might have been better to spend a few days in Sichuan where the pandas live. We also loved going to Lhasa and our guide, Zhou Ma, was extremely knowledgeable and personable. Shanghai was not to be because of the typhoon, so going back to Beijing for the Lama Temple, Confucius Park, Imperial College and zoo was the right thing to do. We also appreciated upgrading to a suite at the Dong Fang. Our guide, Sally, and pick up person, Cherry, were very good. On the whole, it was a fabulous tour. Once again, thanks for all your help in making it happen. 

Hi Catherine!

Thank you for a fantastic trip with you in the end of May in Beijing!

Me and my mom had an awesome vacation, and mostly it is thanks to our fantastic respectful and servicemindred jeans!

I will absolutely recommend you to others in the future.

You can use my comments and photos:)

Hiking the Great Wall

Dear Johnson

Please see my review below;

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

Yes, all e-mails were promptly replied to and all questions answered.

2.    How do you comment your tour arrangements?

All arrangements were very well organised, all transport, pick ups and transfers were on time and meeting the guides was easy in all locations.

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

Yes we would definitely recommend China Discovery.

4.  Your general opinion on us?

Very professional company. Very pleased with all service from start to finish.

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

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?

Yes more than happy for our comments to be used in publicity. All of our guides and drivers were very good, however, we would like to make a special mention for Timo and the driver in Xian. Timo was very knowledgeable and really made our time in Xian memorable. The driver was excellent, a very safe driver who kept the van clean and every time we left the van he had replenished the used water bottles. 

I have attached 2 pictures of us on the holiday.

Kind Regards

Tian'anmen Square

The Great Wall of China

Hi Catherine,

Refer my reply below. 

Thks & rgds

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

Yup. 

2.    How do you comment your tour arrangements?

Very well organized. Catherine was able to provide advice and suggestion and recommended a few hotels for us to choose based on our request. Our tour guide Miss Symphony was very knowledgeable and able to explain the history behind the places that we visited. She took very good care of us throughout the trip. Special thanks to the driver too for helping us with out luggage and also recommending some good restaurants to try out. The homestay recommended by Catherine was fantastic. Overall, we had a great time and enjoyable trip. Thank you for the wonderful memories. :) 

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

4.    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?
Yes you can. :)

 

Nice Beijing Tour

Hi Catherine,

Below is my Feedback.

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?

Excellent throughout. The itinerary was perfect and the guides went out of their way to look after us. I really liked how they helped with photographs of me and Joe.

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

Yes.

4.    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?

Yes.

 

Traveling Beijing & Shanghai

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

Hi Wendy,

My deepest apologise for my late reply. We have just been very busy since returning to Australia.

Firstly, yes we received the refund. Thank you, much appreciated.

To answer your questions;

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

 Yes, very much so. Wendy was very prompt in replying to our questions, even while in China through WeChat. 

2.       How was your tour? Are you satisfied with the tour we arranged for you?

The tour was excellent. Everything we dreamt it would be and more. All of our guides were exceptional and made the visits to each location enjoyable and memorable.

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

Some places we would have liked to have stayed longer and/or maybe had a free day to look around on our own once we knew what was there. Maybe suggest some free days. This would have been good in Beijing, Xian and Shanghai. We had an extra day in Beijing although if we had our time again we would have had that on Day 3 and explored the Hutong area more. In Xian, we would have liked to explore in the centre of the old city more (maybe have hotel closer to centre). In Shanghai we could have walked around the Bund area for a whole day.

Knowing about a good online map service would have been good when exploring on your own. In Australia we use Google Maps and you cannot get lost. Not having that available in China, I was not sure what was a good online Map service.

We absolutely loved our tour and all our guides. Wendy, you organised a great tour and we would definitely recommend you and your services to our friends and family.

The Great Wall was definitely our highlight, especially as it has been a childhood dream. So happy we went to Jinshanling section. Absolutely glorious day!!!

I have included a couple of photos that you can use. I will also get onto Trip Advisor and add a review.

Thank you so much for organising this fantastic holiday. We look forward to coming back someday.

Best regards,

In Front of the Bird's Nest

Brook and Andie Walking on the Great Wall

Hello Riley,

Thank you for your help in organising the tour for my kids.

Apart from the uncomfortable train journey from Beijing to Xian – Mark says he enjoyed every minute of the tour and was a life changing journey as a Chinese person who has never experienced China.

I will definitely be recommending people to you and if my plans go well may even take a tour with my husband to China in the next 2 years.

May I take this opportunity to wish You and Your Loved ones a Healthy, Happy and Prosperous 2019 and may your company grow from strength to strength.

Sincerely,

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 Riley,

Thank you so much. You were wonderful and all the drivers and tour guides were awesome. We had such a great time in China despite the cold weather.

We enjoyed a lot. Only thing was the food that we didn’t like it very much. We love Chinese food and we do eat atleazt twice or once a week here in Canada so we expected a little more with the food. But it wasn’t bad and it wasn’t good at the same time.

The second hotel we In Xi’an was awesome. But the first one in Beijing wasn’t that great. I wish I had a different view as well. But there wasn’t anything to complain. We enjoyed it. My husband loved the Great Wall of China and he wish that he spent a whole day there and he wants you guys to give that option to your tourist. You were the best. I couldn’t have done my China trip without ur help. You were the best with so much patience and thanks a lot for the help.

I would recommend you to my friends.

Rita,

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

YES ,VERY FAST AND EFFICIENT, EVERY CHANGE AND EVERY REQUEST WAS PROMPTLY PLEASED

2. How do you comment your tour arrangements?

VERY GOOD HOTELS, GUIDE AND ARRANGEMENTS

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

YES ,I WILL RECOMEND, I AM IN THE SAME KIND OF BUSINESS,.AND I MEET MANY PEOPLE TRAVELLING LIKE ME

4. Your general opinion on us?

VERY GOOD, I WILL REFER TO YOU AGAIN SOON

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

LITTLE IMPROVEMENTS COULD BE MADE, MAYBE SUGGEST AHEAD OF THE TOURS OF AREA THAT SHOULD NOT BE MISSED IN THE CITIES WHERE WE ARE GOING, AND ASK WHAT IS THE MAIN INTEREST OF THE TRAVELLERS SUCH AS PHOTOGRAPHY OR HISTORY ETC.

Great Wall - Amazing Manmade Wonder

Comfortable Cruise Time on Li River

Local Fishman on Li River

Hi Bertina,

Thank you so much. We arrived in Chengdu. Beijing was wonderful. Andie was a great tour guide and we got along well. Food was delicious and hotel was amazing. I was able to climb up to tower 1 at the Great Wall which amazed me. We also really enjoyed the summer palace. We are looking forward to spending the day with Shannon tomorrow.

Laura     

Dear Ian,

The day before yesterday we arrived at Beijing, the end of my tour with China Discovery. I am doing some sightseeing on myself in Beijing these couple of days, except tomorrow I will do a day tour to the Great Wall at Mutianyu and the Mings tomb, arranged by Jade. After I am back in the Netherlands, I will give you a more detailed feedback.

However, a first response :

Everything went very well. Johanna is waiting for us when we arrived and she is an excellent, friendly and capable guide. We have enjoyed our tour very much; the tour programme as well as the explanations and care by Johanna. The driver is also friendly and helpfull; did his driving job very well (safe ). Hotels are good. Hotel in Pingyao is on the other hand excellent. Back in Beijing, Jade picked up us on time at the station, as one could expect.

All by all, we have enjoyed our tour in Pingyao, Mianshan and Datong organized by you.

kind regards,

Ing Widya

Hi Wendy,

The trip was fantastic, all the arrangements went as scheduled from the moment we arrived, all the guides/drivers were great, as were the sites we visited. We felt very comfortable and safe as well as treated with respect by all the guides, drivers and hotel staff.

Your arrangements for the trip were all as I had requested and your communication with me was always prompt, polite and professional. I want to thank you for making the trip so memorable. We had a throughly great time and would be happy to recommend your service to others, please include us in your referrals.

Elvin & Cynthia

(The following photo was shared by Elvin & Cynthia)

Elvin & Cynthia visited Great Wall of Beijing

Hello, Ian,

We enjoyed a great tour of Mainland China and of Hong Kong. I thought you did an excellent job of making our tour arrangements and assigning tour guides. 

For me and my children, our trip highlights were climbing the Great Wall, cycling the ancient walls in Xi'an, sharing lunch with Angela and her family, visiting the Panda Research center, rafting on the Hongkou River, cycling through the Yangshuo villages, visiting the Urban Planning Museum in Shanghai and walking on the Bund.

I was very pleased with the quality of guides and drivers you selected. The children adored Mr. Jong (Beijing driver). He has a very warm and funny personality, and he was so accommodating, taking us to and from the Kung Fu Theater and out to the Olympic Village at night. Bruce in Xian is a truly exceptional guide. If you can give me the names of the owners of China Discovery, I would like to write them a letter regarding Bruce. Penny in Chengdu really did a great job for us at the Panda Research Center and also the rafting trip. My youngest Natalie just loved Candace in Guilin.  At the Guilin airport Natalie looked sadly at me and said, "Mom, I'm really going to miss Candace." Since she's been home, Natalie has mentioned Candace several times . . . .she made a tremendous impression on Natalie, and the rest of us enjoyed her very much, too.

Tim and Frank were very capable guides, too. Tim has peaked my interest in future travel to Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. Frank is very knowledgeable about Shanghai and accommodating. I appreciated that Candace was able to attend the Impressions show with my daughters and me.  Without her there to explain each of the seven impressions, we would not have understood the beauty unfolding before our eyes.

I have tasked my middle child Lauren (14) with putting together a Shutter fly book.  She's just settling into school, so it may be a week or two before she starts.  Once she has selected her favorites photos from among nearly 800 we took on the trip, I will ask her to pick out her top ten favorites from China's mainland and send them to you.  We'll add a brief explanation to each photo.

Ian, we enjoyed a marvelous trip. Our travel went incredibly smoothly, and I thank you and all the guides and drivers for ensuring a smooth, safe, and hassle free trip.

I am sure to return to China, but I intend to wait for the rapid (bullet) train to reach more destinations. I am incredibly impressed with the train service from Beijing to Luoyang and to Xian.  I look forward to the day when I can travel to all my destinations via the rapid train. 

I have given your name and email address to several friends contemplating trips to China. I will continue to refer you when the opportunity presents.

Best wishes, Ian.

Jeanne

Dear Isabel,

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

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

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

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

Thanks and Regards

Pravin Karkhanis

Hi Ian,

Daniela & I would like to thank you for the great Tour of Beijing & Xian we had recently with your company.

We would especially like to give our highest praise to both of your guides. Tristian-in Beijing was extremely professional & knowledge and was very helpful in organising all our activities.

Jenny- in Xian was also extremely professional & knowledge and was very helpful in organising all our activities. Please pass on our thanks to both Tristian & Jenny.  

We enjoyed our short time together & would highly recommend both to any of our family & friends. We would also highly recommend your company for all the professionalism shown to all of our group.

Regards,

Luigi & Daniela Volpe

Hello Ian,

The tour today for great wall was fantastic!!!

Justin, our guide, is excellent!

I'm loving China!

Leticia

Hi Jack,

Thank you for providing wonderful service!!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

With Sincere Thanks,

Barbara and Monica Vandehei

Connecticut, USA

Hi Isabel,

Happy New Year to You!

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

I think my favorite parts of the trip where:

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

- Riding bicycles on the city wall in Xi'an

- Pingyao

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

- the acrobats in Shanghai.

It was all wonderful really but those were especially enjoyable.

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

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

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

Anna McHale

Hello Tiger,

First of all, I want to thank you and your company for 12 amazing days in China. It will be 12 days I never will forget. The whole journey from standing almost alone and just enjoy the view and the silent on the Great Wall to see all the Pandas was enjoyable! This was my first visit to China, and I am pretty sure I will be back.

I also want to say thank you to my guides and drivers. Specially Peter in Beijing was fabulous! He helped me with everything. Everything from hotel check-in to getting the train tickets. He also explained me about the city and advised me what to do on the evenings and where to go.

And the main reason for how this tour was possible and completed I will say is my travel agent Tiger Wei. To be honest, I think he has done more than any other travel agent could have done. Sometimes when I had some questions he often answered me less than an hour later. And always the next morning. You know, we live in different timezones, so when I sent him an e-mail I knew that the next morning when I wake up, he had already answered my question. I also had some issues with my flight bookings to China. I was not sure which date I would arrive and departure, but Tiger was flexible and said that we could change the date. No worries there!

So all summed up. I am very pleased with China Discovery. From Tiger who made the tour possible to Peter and the other guides who guided me around in China.

The day I return to China I am sure I will use China Discovery again.

Have a nice weekend!

Best Regards,

Andreas Hansen Strand

Hi Wonder,

We must apologise for not getting back to you sooner.

We have just posted our comments on the Trip Advisor regarding our most memorable trip to China. It was a great trip, thanks to you. You did a great job. 

Let us know if you have been able to view the comments. Also two weeks ago we mailed you a card wishing you all the best and enclosed a small appreciation gift.

My husband was not sure if he was to write to your boss regarding the excellent job you did for us. Please provide us with the name of your Manager and the address to have the letter sent.

In Beijing our local tour guide was Linda. Somehow we mislaid her e-mail address. Could you kindly obtain this and send it to us. Thanks again for everything.

Best wishes for the holiday season and hope the New Year 2015 will be a promising and productive one. You have a great future ahead of you. Good luck.

Alfredo & Lena Fernandes