Xinjiang Reviews - What Our Customers Say about Urumqi/Turpan/Kashgar/Kanas....

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

Hi Tracy,

we want to tell you that we liked a lot the trip. Wonderful places, perfect arranging, kind and helpful guides. All was good and we thank you very much.

Best regards

Orietta

Hi Tracy,

We have just been taken to Kashgar airport by Mei. She and the other two guides have been very helpful and have also told us much about China.

The drivers have also been very good.

We have had a great time on the tour you organised.

Many thanks,

Carol & Philip

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

Good morning Tracy!

Time flies we are now on our last day in China. A few guides who I would like to highlight as exceptional are Mei (Kashgar), Jessica (Huangshan), Alice (Dali) and Anna (Shangrila). They are knowledgeable, good command of English, always cheerful and helpful. and provide above and beyond expectations. Alice and Anna done very good in their approach. They would give a brief introduction of places we were going and then elaborate when arrived. This set our expectations and then understanding of the places. All drivers are fine but Mr Wang from Guilin sets a very high standard.

Of course not forgetting your exceptional service as well throughout our 1 month stay in China. We escaped typhoon twice in Shanghai!

Yap

Hello Evelyn,

It was a more than great Tour.

I learned a lot of things.

Thank you all!

Kind Regards,

Marc

Hi Wonder,

That's just to let you know that we had perfect days. Everything's working out perfectly (and yes, we did see the Anyang museum)

No prob to skip the history museum, and we look forward to focus on the archeology museum.

Henan museum is fantastic.

The Xi'an Shaanxi Archaeology Museum is fantastic. There are simply too many great places in Xi'an, one could stay for 2 weeks and never be bored.

Cathy is a wonderful person, we are having a great time. Gulnur provided marvelous help, btw. Can't praise her enough. She looked up everything on our last day with her, phoned several people until she had reliable information.

Peter

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

Hu Tracy,

Yes I think overall is good. For the hotel, guide and driver and car especially we like hotel shangrila, hotel in Turpan, Guangzhou westin.

The food is ok, but because we dont eat too spicy food, so maybe limited.

Thank

Fentty

Hi Evelyn,

We had enjoyed our trip tremendously amid a few hiccups along the way.

The cars, except the one used from Dunhuang to the High Speed Train Station for Turpan, were clean and comfortable with good air con. Drivers were punctual and cautious on the road. Bottled water was always on hand.

The hotels were generally good and our requests for a non smoking room on a non smoking floor were met without fail. However, there were guests, with no respect to the hotel rules, blatantly smoked in their rooms with the doors opened fuming the whole floor with tobacco smoke.

Without prejudice, I will comment based on our experiences with each guide.

Frank was very nice and friendly tending to all our questions providing us with a general profile of Lanzhou. He gave us a detailed briefing of where to go and how to check in for the train.

Adam, who we spent the most part of our tour with, was quite one of a kind. He suggested a change in the order of the itinerary for better time management which we gladly agreed because as the guide he should know best.

The trip to Mingshashan and Crescent Lake was subsequently rescheduled to our final day in Dunhuang before the train ride to Turpan. We finished the tour there before 11am and Adam suggested lunch before the 2 hour drive to the train station. I told Adam that our train departure time for Turpan was at 18:00 and it would be too early to get to the station. Adam's surprisingly blunt response was "why did you request a change in the departure time? You will have to wait at the station." I explained to him that we did not request any change to the train schedule. Adam then suggested that we could consider paying a fee to change our tickets to an earlier time. We asked Adam where else we could visit to kill some time before going to the train station. He proposed the Dunhuang museum for a brief visit and "casually remarked" that he had a new group of visitors to meet at Zhangye the following morning AND the car ride from the train station to Zhangye would take 9 hours. In the end, we visited the Dunhuang museum, had lunch and arrived at the train station around 3:30pm, only then that Adam told us that you had changed the tickets and paid for the changes.

Adam, to us, seemed to be a man with an agenda of his own.

We were very happy to have Umar and Xiao Wang looking after us in Xinjiang. Umar's English was impeccable and his knowledge of the place was insightful. They pampered us with fresh yoghurt and local carbonated drink to quench our thirst in the scorching heat. We truly felt welcomed and being taken care of.

The trip would have been perfect if we could have time visiting more caves at the Mogao after the standard guided tour and also more time at the Munarge Homestay to enjoy the facilities (we arrived at the hotel around 9pm).

Great that we have ticked off Dunhuang on our bucket list and another trip to China is already in the planning.

Thanks Evelyn.

Teresa

Hello Rita,

We are in transit in Beijing airport, on to Hangzhou.

The whole trip went very smoothly.

All transfers by plane and train on time.

We enjoyed our trip.

Will give you feed back when we return to NZ.

Thank you for all your assistance.

Cheers.

Jee

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

Hello Wonder,

Thank you for the update. Everything is fine, Jackie is a wonderfull guide! She speaks english fluently and knows a lot! The driver is also good, he drives carefully in a very good car.

I enjoy my trip very much so far.

Greetings

Johanna

Dear Wonder,

The tour in Xian was excellent.

Djoni

Hi jack

Just to brief you up, we are enjoying our tour all the guides Aisha, Jenny, Amy and Oscar were all excellent guides. They gave us a lot of information and were extremely punctual and cooperative. Hats off to you for organising such a wonderful tour for us. We are definitely going to recommend to our friends in India. I would like to give your review on trip visor, please tell me how to do it as I want to mention your name to thank you once again, for the comfortable Car arranged by you and looking into detail to all our needs and expectations

Thank you

Nilofur

Dear Jack!

Thank you very much for your organization!

The hotels along the way were fantastic. The food too. The sites we visited were clean and beautiful. Our guides are friendly, knowledgeable, and quickly became part of the team. They were good!

What wasn't so good was that the buses were uncomfortable for such a long trip. For example, It was not possible to move the seats of the buses sideways to make more space between us.

But all in all, we had a great trip, and we can thank you for that! We will choose you next time! We hope we didn't cause too many problems for you either!

Best regards:

Zoltán

Hello Jack,

Good Morning!

Just a note to say thank you for organizing our Xinjiang tour from 9 April 24 to 24 April 24. We are now in Perth Australia.

Overall this was an amazing trip, we all enjoyed it so much. We are now working on a return visit to China and is looking forward to use your services again soon.

We will recommend you and your company to my family and friends.

Best regards

Alan and Lily

Hi Wonder,

Thank you again for coordinating wonderful itinary seamlessly. My response to tour questions is under each question.

1. Yes. They provided very detailed answers and clarification to my questions in a timely manner. Also they facilitated abundant invitation letter so I could apply for and get China tour visa on my own without difficulty.

2. Every tour guide was kind, friendly, welcoming and informative. Especially guide at Dunhuang and Kashgar acted beyond my expectations and helped me solve problems with money exchange and airport check-in respectively.

3. Definitely. Only one thing I would like to note is that Kashgar Bazaar (typically sunday Bazaar) was no longer available in Kashgar.

Thanks in advance.

mija

Rita,

Thank you for the Silk Road Tour. We family and I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

My wife and I have just reflected it was also the first time the flights were not subject to any delay or cancellation. Great planning and insight on your part.

Best Regards,

Richard

Hi Leo,

Thanks for arranging a great trip. The places visited and time spent in each city was just right. The guides and drivers were excellent. The train arrangement was just as expected. We highly recommend this itinerary for anyone who is looking to experience Uighur food and culture.

Suat

Hello Leo

I have just come back to Brisbane.

Thank you very much for organizing such an enjoyable trip for us. I have been to China many times, this is the best trip for me.

The hotels were very good (except for maybe 1). The food was excellent and the guides were very friendly, knowledgeable and patient with us.

The places the guides took us to were very interesting and beautiful...full of history.

I would like to say a special thank you to the guides who made our trip so enjoyable...

Joe - very knowledgeable, patient and looked after us very well.

Ben - helped us get porridge when a few of us were sick with food poisoning.

Frank - loved his humour and knowledge of Lanzhou. Also very helpful with helping us use the washing machine on the last day.

Sally - she is so helpful and made sure we were warm. Also very helpful in rearranging pour trains to Jiayuguan.

Aisha - very good knowledge about the places went and arranged good food for us.

Siddiq - very helpful, good sense of humor and we enjoyed his company very much.

Cathy is also very good and knowledgeable, very passionate about being a guide. She gave us good tips on how to go to the nearby market in Dunhuang and Turpan.

Once again, thank you very much Leo and thank you to China Discovery for such a memorable trip.

Adrian

Hi, Ms.Wing Zeng,

sorry to reply till now, as follows:

(1) Is your travel consultant of our company fast enough to answer your E-mail and patient enough to answer your questions?
Generally, the answer to my email is fast enough except for weekends for instance when the consultant seems not to be working. As for patience, no problem, we discuss the issues concerned at lengths until it is “solved” one way or the other.

(2) How do you comment your tour arrangements?
Well, the travel plans are created successively as the time goes by, mainly from the customer side. It undergoes quite many changes , even big one (like changing South Xinjiang plan to North Xinjiang plan) and/or at the late stage of the planning discussion to take into account other unexpected issues like the air plane schedule. Some arrangements e.g. those from Shanxi part are mainly taken from your company’s template offering until later when we are adding Hukou Waterfall to it as “it is on the way to Xi’an”.

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

(4) Your general opinion on us?
From the practical experience with the tour guides you are providing, it shows the difference with other trave company’s offering. Keep on using good tour guide to make the travelers happy.

T.H.Go

Hi Rita,

My honest opinions below:

1. How do you comment your tour arrangements?
a) I think it is a well planned tour for us. From the beginning, I did mention that we are more focused on the cities and does not like too much travels on road. In this respect I think the travels are ok and still manage to give us a flavor of Xinjiang. For my group, I think the only ‘complaints’ were the hotels in Kashgar and Urumqi, a little on the unsatisfactory side (bed was too hard). The hotel in Turpan, being a smaller city unexpectedly was better. Both guides were knowledgeable and speak good English. Aishah even change some of our itinerary after understanding our group’s needs (we were not overly keen on museums). A great shoutout to the driver during our time in Urumqi and Turpan . Even though we did not talked too much but he was always smiling and very corteous to our group. We enjoyed the time in Kashgar’s old city, the bazaar, Heaven Lake and Mountains and Turpan Jiaohe ancient city. Other than that, it was the food, the culture that we enjoyed.

2. Are you willing to recommend our service to your people who also have an interest to visit China?
a) Yes

3. Your general opinion on us?
a) We were of course a bit cautious prior to booking and paying because we are not sure of the company (China Discovery vs Bamboo for eg) but I think the explanation given by you and the reviews from other international clients of yours does help. Coming to Chengdu first, we were not sure if things will kick off well from there but it did (only exception was the wrong flight details given to Aishah for her to pick us up at Urumqi airport)

5. Do you have any suggestions on improving our services?
a) My suggestion will be to reply as promptly as possible. Due to one of my friend’s last minute change of plans, we had to make arrangement for his changed flights, hotel etc. We were not sure if some of the cost can be recouped especially if it passed certain deadlines. In the end, we manage to recoup some. Also, it help to allay concerns from my friend.

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

Regards,

Michael

Hi Rita,

This is to advise that Linda and I had a most enjoyable Silk Road tour. We have have traveled to over 50 countries over the years, and count this holiday as one of the best we have experienced overall. The itinerary was perfect as was the places we visited. Our tour guides were excellent with their manner, knowledge and professionalism. All the hotels were very good, although the cleanliness and breakfasts at Tianyuan Hotel in Kashgar could have been better. This may be due to it seemingly catering more for local Chinese tourists. If we did it the tour again we would have liked to add an extra day in Dunhuang to do more exploring the sights.

Another thing we noticed, is the railway stations where we caught the bullet trains (Xining/Zhangye/Dunhuang) that there were few up and down lifts, as we and others struggled to get suitcases up and down steps and adjacent ramps.

All and all a great holiday, which we have recommended to friends.

Best regards

Mike

Hi Rita,

Thanks to your wonderful coordination, weather is perfect, scenery is exceptionally good, this trip has been given me absolutely great moment !

Koichiro

Hello Leo,

For the guides all were great. Knowledgeable and helpful. One snag was our flight from Urumuji guide misread the flight we were to be on . I told her the correct one but we were directed to an earlier one Ted 8.25 instead of 9.55. Small matter. We just had to check out very early . Most highly recommended. Drivers were fine, patient and know their routes.

Sights were interesting and well arranged. Lunch mist did they best to meet to our requests. Hotels all ok. Grand Mercure was the best.Kashgar’s if it was one of the best was very chaotic especially at breakfast time.

That’s all.

Regards,

Ms Ong

Hi Tracy,

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Xinjiang. Almost every hotel exceeded our expectations. Wenwen even had her own room in two hotels.

Hemu village is a performance of the local community with light refreshments provided, not a home visit.

Karamay was having a sandstorm when we arrived so we did a drive through some Yardangs using the van so we didn’t see the famous formations.

Enjoyed the trailer at Sayram Lake but the weather was cold and rainy the night we arrived which limited our chances of seeing the Milky Way.

I will try and attach some photos to this email of the Potala palace, Lhasa street scene, Jokhang temple and monks at Drepung Monastery.

We had fun at the attractions at the Grand Canyon on our last day.

The weather again prevented us from going through the mountains. The pass was actually closed.

The driver 王师傅 was excellent, becoming part of our group. Always getting us snacks and fruit and joining in on our conversations

Our guide, Ayisha, was great. Given she is of the local Muslim community, her insights were invaluable in providing us with first hand knowledge and experience of what being a minority in Xinjiang is like. Plus she could speak several different languages prominent in the area.

Bob

Hi Wonder,

Good afternoon. Thanks for your follow-up mail.

Thanks to your kind support, I & my wife really enjoyed the Xinjiang tour! It was a very valuable travel to see the magnificent nature of Xinjiang and the Islamic atmosphere of the cities and bazaars which could not be experienced in any other places in China. And of course we enjoyed the local cuisine as well. (In 6 days, I ate almost the same amount of lamb as I usually eat in six months!)

In addition, please find my feedback to your questions as below. If necessary, please use them on your web site.

1. ⇒ Yes, my consultant was friendly with quick response, and his suggestions to my questions were very informative.

2. ⇒ Local tour guides were knowledgeable and their talk about sightseeing spots were interesting. Their restaurant recommendations were also very good.

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

Now I want to take another trip to North Xinjiang in the future.

D.Saigusa

Hi Rita

Thanks for tickets. Good hotel, wonderful tour guide. On our way now to Heavenly Lake.Akmet was a fantastic guide for us in Turpan. His English was perfect. And his knowledge was outstanding. We have had the most wonderful holiday. The tour guides have been fantastic. Especially Sadik in kashgar. All 3 were very professional and knowledgeable. Our experience in xinjiang has been the best we have hadn't in China. So, thank you for our tour of xinjiang.

Trip to Urumqi, Turpan, Kashgar and Tashkurgan. Had a fantastic 11 day tour of Xinjiang Province. Wonderful local guides who were extremely knowledgeable about their areas. Breathtaking scenary wherever we went, especially the road trip to Tashkurgan! Would definately return to Xinjiang and go to many more places that we haven’t visited.

Hi Wonder,

I realized I never really sent my comments on the trip. Overall, we had a fabulous time and we were so lucky that we had no COVID restrictions during our travels. Gulnur and Jackie were particularly good guides- I’d recommend them again. We also really liked the hotels in Turpan and Dunhuang. (The one in Urumqi was less comfortable, but fine) Dunhuang was the star stop for us. Loved Mogao grottoes, was a great anniversary. The only site we would have skipped was the grasslands near Zhangye. With current COVID changes, there’s really not much to do there right now. I understand that normally you can ride horses and do other things. Anyway, thanks again for a great trip!

Lisa

Wonder,

Glad to know we left Urumqi safely and on time, thanks for all your help!! This trip was indeed fun.. Will surely suggest to others.

Mahi

Hey Wonder.

I had an amazing time on the trip. The tour guides and drivers were amazing. Mohammed for the first 3 days in Kashgar was an amazing tour guide. He was charismatic and very knowlegeable with lots of interesting stories to tell. I think he is a very good guide. Very organised trip and the hotel in Urumqi was fantastic. Can you pass on my good feedback about Mohammed to the company. Everyone in my group really liked him as our guide

Emma

Hi Tracy,

thanks a lot. We arrived safely in Beijing. Everything went good. Thanks for organizing the trip. It was great experience and we enjoyed it…. If in the future karakul lake and the other areas are opening please let us know… many greetings

Barbara

Hi Vivien,

The trip is very good we like it very much.

Ljiljana

Hello Vivien,

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

Natalia

Hi Vivien,

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thomas

Hey Tracy,

Yes was fantastic.

Guides. Driver. Scenery. Food. All great. Impression is very positive. Gorgeous country though, wish we could hike

Hi Johnson,

Here are my answers.

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

Yes, very reactive and we were able to custom made our trip and even modify it during the trip due to some unexpected change in Fuyin.

2. How do you comment on your tour arrangements?

Since we work together on the route we can only say that it match our requirement and you help us to build the itinerary for a great photography tour.

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

Yes sure i will specially communication was good and have good follow up during the trip

4. Your general opinion on us?

Great driver and able to manage the complexity of Xinjiang county specially for foreigners and numerous checkpoints. Very good reactivity on last day and good suggestions on avoid additional unnecessary trouble due to covid situation even we are in China since february 2020

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

Since everything was clear and yes it's also a good chance to meet this driver i don't have suggestions. Probably some hotels have included breakfast.

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?

You can pick up some of my photos but need to keep photos with trademarks.

www.floriandelalee.com

https://www.behance.net/Flowrian

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

If you want another testimony on tripadvisor please send me the link but i don't want to be contact by customer. If i have people interested i will share your wechat contact.