Yunnan Reviews - What Our Customers Say about Yunnan Tours

Dear Mr Leo Li,

Good evening to you.

Thank you for planning my trip to Yunnan on 16-26/5/2024.

Although the trip started with an unwanted incident on the day of our arrival but overall it was a good trip especially in Dali and Lijiang. Both the tour guides, Sally and Rodney were attentive with good service and are knowledgeable.

I would say that the Kunming tour guide, Jenny was not at fault for not meeting us at the airport because she was given the wrong information that our flight was rescheduled to arrive at night instead of afternoon. She showed us the WeChat message. She is a friendly tour guide.

For your information, our visit to Shangri-la was average only. We missed out going up to turn the big wheel. Only realised it when we went back to the hotel. Anyway, it’s in the past.

Overall, the trip is wonderful with our bucket list ticked!

I am thinking of another trip to China also in May next year and would like to have your suggestion. Are you still with China Discovery?

Regards,

Ms Chai

Dear Rita,

Glad hearing from you. All is well here in Dali with Frank - he is great!

Thank you for the update on the shuttle bus at the Monastery. The short walk of 1.8 km is no problem at all. Thank you for checking in advance.

On the way to Lijiang now.

Sincerely,

Vincent

Hi Leo,

Thanks for everything. I really enjoyed the Yunnan trip. Highly appreciated your tourist guides’ professional services. I will recommend your company to my friends. I definitely will come back again.

Ka

Dear Tracy Tan,

I am You Chew Lee, one of the Group of 12.

I specifically draw your attention to the above caption.

We had been given a total of 5 local tour guides, one male and the rest females.

I would like to write to put on record two of your best tour personnels in this China Tour 15 – 27 Oct 2024.

They are Amy leading us around Lijiang and Linda providing tour assistance in Xi’an.

I rate them favourably,

01. in their ability to relate to us ,

02. in their proficiency to speak clear and good English,

03. in their capability of looking after our safety, welfare, and care,

04. in their punctuality and,

05. In their passionate love and desire to provide us with well informed knowledge of the places we visited with great integrity and diligence.

I would appreciate it very much if you could use your good office to convey my gratitude of their great performance and service provided to us.

I thank you.

You Chew

Hi Wonder,

Thanks for the great arrangement for our recent Kunming-Lijiang-Shangri-La trip. Hotel selection was perfect for us!

Do you have Harbin Ice festival package? Dates about Feb 11-16. Please include flight from Beijing.

Thank you.

Zalina

Hello Evelyn,

Tq, I'm well. How are you? It is my pleasure to provide the feedback. Generally we are really satisfied with the services provided by your company. Frank, our tour guide is very helpful, accommodative and easy to communicate with. Hotel location is strategic (central to attractions & eateries) and comfortable. We surely will consider using your company' service in future. Tq.

Wan

Hi Wonder,

Thanks for your prompt reply!

Our Yunnan trip was spectacular! Good mix of nature and ancient Tibetan, Hani and Naxi cultures – we enjoyed it very much!

With regards,

Richard.

Hi Rita,

Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. You and your team have been outstanding! The guide, Liz, is wonderful, and the driver is great! It turned out to be a beautiful day today and the scenery is spectacular. We’re really glad that we added this to our itinerary. Thank you for the gracious offer of dinner. Liz was very accommodating!

By the way the guide Sunny, in Dali, is very good as well as her driver! We’re really impressed. The transportation is outstanding!

Thank you again and feel free to use my comments as a promotion of your business.

Rocky

Dear wing zeng,

We thouroughly enjoyed our tour. Our guide Mr William Yang was very helpful and fun during our tour. Thank you to both of you. Also thanks to Mr Han our driver.

Alzan

你好，Wonder,

挺开心的体验感还蛮好的。导游和司机都非常好，尤其是大理和丽江的导游和师傅。

Lee

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

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

Hi Tracy,

Apologies for my delay in responding. We had a wonderful trip. It was everything I hoped it would be. The guides were great, the attractions were all great. We had a wonderful time.

Next time we will come back in a time other than August to avoid some of the crowds, but I knew that was going to be an issue going in. But the whole trip was great. I was really happy with everything.

Let me know if I can give you any other information.

Thanks so much for being so available and easy to communicate with.

Best,

Rajeev

Dear Jack,

Thank you for your prompt response and swift action.

Our guide, Lobsang, has taken us to 香格里拉钦仓酒店（独克宗古城店）for our last night stay in Shangri-La and we were happy with the room and it is also just 5 minutes’ walk away from the old town.

We wish to record our satisfaction with our guides, especially Lobsang, for his attentiveness, cheerful attitude and impeccable service in making this a memorable tour. We would like to thank our driver who was with us from Dali all the way to Shangri-la for his impressive driving skills, expertly navigating along the narrow roads, giving us a nice and smooth ride throughout the tour.

Warm regards,

Su Linn

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

Dear Rita,

I am very satisfied with tour arrangements. I have recommended your company to many friends/relatives.

Overall, we are very happy with the trip. Our driver Ms Liu was a very pleasant & careful driver. I highly recommend her.

Mona

Hi Rita,

As my trip is coming to an end tomorrow, I would like to express my appreciations to the following individuals who had made my trip possible and memorable.

1) Ms Rita Jiang for helping me to plan my itinerary from scratch and in my budgeting.

2) Mr Wine Wang for being a friendly driver-cum-tour guide in Kunming.

3) Mr Andy Wang for his untiring driving from Dali to Lijiang and Shangri-La for sightseeings.

Both Wine and Wang speak good English and are knowledgeable about sightseeing attractions and local authentic food outlets. I would definitely recommend them to any of my friends and travel buddies from around the world who speak only English.

Last but not least, thanks to the Government of China for granting 15-days visa free entry to China for tourists who hold Australian passports, among many other countries. It’s timely to open up China to the world to see for themselves a modern China blended in with history-rich ancient cities, towns and villages in multi-minority communities of Yunnan Province from a tourist perspective.

Once again, thanks to Rita and her team.

Best regards,

Ping

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 Rita,

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

Marisol

Hi Phoebe,

Sorry for the late answer. We realky enjoyed the tour. We couldn’t see sunrise and sunset because it was very cloudy but nevertheless we loved our stay in Yuanyang.

Thank you,

Nicoletta

Hi Leo,

Just a quick note to say Thank-you. Our trip to China was fantastic. Everything was better than we had imagined. The guides you had assigned to us were great. They were each unique in their own way but all were informative, caring, funny, attentive. We appreciated the personal touches such as helping with check-in at the train stations and airports, accompanying us to our hotel rooms to make sure they were ok, suggestions for restaurants and shows, and even acting as professional photographers. We will never forget how important they made us feel. Most of all, how welcoming we felt. Thank you again. If we ever make it back to China, we will definitely be getting in touch with you and Discovery China.

P.S. Thanks for the post card and the gift.

Jane

Hi Wonder,

Apologies for the delayed reply. The tour was very pleasant! We enjoyed ourselves.

I am very pleased with the response times, and you has also gone the extra mile to accomodate our plans whenever we requested any changes.

The tour guides were very professional, open, and friendly! We really enjoyed their company. The drivers kept the vehicle clean at all times and drove comfortably. I have one suggestion regarding hotels: We were allocated to a smoking floor in our hotel in Kun Ming. I believe the experience would have been much better if we were asked of our accomodation preferences (smoking / non-smoking). I had a very sensitive nose and was sometimes uncomfortable in the room.

I would recommend the company to others.

Clarissa

Good morning Wonder,

Thank you for your message.

Overall, both tours were most enjoyable, and the guides were well-informed and helpful. Mary, our guide in Inner Mongolia, was particularly pleasant, informed, and always present when needed.

Best regards

Linda

Hi there,

We are writing to thank Mr Wang for working with us from the planning phase to the final reality. He responded to my emails quickly, listened to me and answered my questions patiently and clearly. He even suggested altering our trip plan to avoid the huge crowd due to the May Day holiday, and thank goodness, we did change our plans.

During this 23-day trip, we were taken care of from the moment we arrived in Kunming airport to the last minute we were dropped off at Beijing Train Station. All tour guides and private drivers were professional and personal. All made our travel life so much easier.

We highly recommend Chinadiscovery, especially Mr Wang, to our friends and anyone that is interested in visiting China.

Thank you, Mr Wang, for all your hard work and patience helping me planning this grand trip that will last a lifetime. Hopefully we will talk to you in 4 years when we plan a trip to visit northwest part of China.

Sincerely,

Phyllis and Larry

Hi Wing,

It is very very helpful of the fast and patient answer to my questions. Tour arrangements were very well organized and the tour guides were exceptionally good. I am definitely willing to recommend your service to my people who also have an interest to visit China. Nothing to add; the tour was very well tailored to our needs. If I come to China again, I would like to use your service again.

Thank you so much for your help and support in making this happen.

Best wishes,

Rita

Hi Jack,

First of all we would like to thank you whole heartedly for planning such an amazing trip to China for us! We have had a truly magical time - our tour far surpassed our expectations in every way. The itinerary that you put together completely met our needs and encompassed everything that we wanted and more.

The guides (and drivers) were all brilliant and we have very much enjoyed talking with them. The guides were all fun, knowledgeable and fluent in English. We were initially concerned that having guides with us all the time would be stifling, but that was not the case at all!

We would like to give a special mention to our visit to Yunnan where our guides William, Sofia, Lee, Amy and Aten looked after us. We loved Yunnan - one of our favourite parts of the trip was our cruise down the Li River, our stay at the Yangshuo Mountain Retreat and the hike in the Longji Rice Terraces. Thank you to William who helped to make this so special.

We have also loved seeing the Pandas in Chengdu, the Terracotta Army in Xi’an and of course the Great Wall at Jinshanling. Please pass on our thanks to Peter for hiking the 6k with us - another highlight of our trip!

We have been amazed that we have been able to see so much of your beautiful country without it feeling too rushed or overwhelming. The places that we visited were all incredible and there is nothing we would want to change.

The accommodation for the most part was excellent; we did feel that the e-outfitting hotels in Lijiang and Shangri-La were not so great but this is an observation and not a complaint. We were not staying long enough to complain but if we were doing the trip again this is one thing we would consider changing.

The transport worked really well. All of our drivers were great and the transfers by domestic flight and high speed train were well timed and easy to navigate. Some of the transport hubs are HUGE and it would be very easy to get a little lost! Having a clear meeting point at each station could be helpful.

Thank you once again, it really was the trip of a lifetime! I am very happy for you to use all or some of my comments.

Thank you so much,

Mary & Steve

Hi Wonder,

Thank you for arranging the tour for us. We sincerely enjoyed our time in China, and would like to commend our tour guide, Sandy! He was very patient, accommodating and took a lot of initiative to help make our trip more comfortable. He was also very knowledgeable about everything that we had to ask. 10/10 tour guide!

Best regards

Cyn Ying

Good morning, Mr Wang,

Larry and I returned home safe and sound, and are trying to recover from a very long exciting yet exhausting trip to China.

Thank you for working with us and making this grand trip possible, and precious gifts you sent to us.

All the tour guides and private drivers at each destination were wonderful. They were professional, courteous, flexible, personal, and easy to work with. Our shout outs to tour guides Vicky, Even, Delia, and Mike, and drivers Mr Lu (DaLi,LiJiang, Shangri-la) , Mr Tan in Chengdu, and Mr Fan in Beijing.

During the 23-day trip, Larry and I covered lots of grounds. For personal preference, we chose to skip Orange Island in ChangSha. We walked down 999 steps instead of taking the escalator in TianMenShan. Due to the weather, the ride to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountains was canceled. Due to my brief sickness, we skipped the SMT Great Wall. Larry got senior discount in Stone Forest. As suggested by several tour guides, I am writing to you to see if we would get the reimbursement for the service we didn’t use during the trip.

Thank you again for your patience, time and knowledge planning this wonderful trip with me.

Sincerely,

Phyllis

Dear Rita,

We have just arrived at our next destination in Thailand, and our Malaysian friends have arrived back home in Penang.

Thank you so much for all the arrangements, which was initiated over 4 years ago and disrupted by the outbreak of Covid 19. I am especially thankful that you have accepted my frequent request to add additional participants which eventually increased from 2 to 4 to 6 and finally to 7.

The tour itinerary was very comprehensive covering not just Tibet itself but also the two cities where Tibetans have strong influence, namely Xining and Shangri-La.

The only regret we have is not being able to take the train from Xining to Lhasa as this was to be one of the highlights of this trip, but the flight between these two cities was an excellent one with a beautiful view of the snow capped mountains.

I would certainly recommend China Discovery to anyone who would wish to visit China, especially the Tibetan region.

Thanks again.

Best regards,

Aki

Dear Evelyn,

My trip to Lijiang is finished. It was a marvelous experience to trek the Tiger Leaping gorge and visiting Lijiang. I must admit that all exceeded my expectations. Rodney, the guide, was fantastic. The hotel Duofu wonderful. Thecity and the gorge beyhond description. I had one of my best travel experiences ever. And I must praise your services. You were always there to help and support my trip. Many thanks for everything. Next time in China I will be in touch with you again.

Warmest regards,

Joao

Greetings April,

Ryan and I had a wonderful trip to Yunnan.

Please find attached a summary or our trip and feedback for you.

Many thanks and we hope we will be able to do another trip with you.

Feedback for China Discovery Tours – Yunnan travels

Overall: April, this was wonderful trip. You and your team of guides were outstanding in scheduling each day’s activities. Ryan and I were extremely impressed by the local cultural sights, and how they highlighted the unique aspects of the various minority People’s cultures, languages, and history.

Train(s): Ryan treated us to a business class reservation for the train from HK to Kunming. The food and service were outstanding as was the train ride itself. The train from Kunming to Dali as also very satisfactory and of course all the stops were on time. Colin was especially helpful in navigating our check in and in finding some additional security checkpoints.

Drivers: Very safe and knowledgeable drivers who added insight about local customs, especially our Bai driver for Dali and Lijiang.

Guides: All our guides were excellent. Colin was very knowledgeable about Kunming and the Stone Forest although it seemed like a long drive to and from there. The restaurant for the local Duck was interesting, although we could have used more help from their staff in ordering our lunch to items we may have liked better. Other Highlights included visiting the Kunming Museum (not far from our hotel) on our first / free day there. This museum presents an excellent history and display of the “Flying Tigers” which should be of great interest to Americans – as most do not know much about the USA and China’s alliance during WWII.

Sally who is a native of the Dali area brought her personal experiences, understanding of the many minority people, and family knowledge about the region to every aspect of our tour there. Making the Flower Cakes was real highlight. Their staff and quality of the cake making was excellent.

Alice was especially knowledgeable about the Lijiang area, also being a native of that region. Walking the streets of old city Lijiang we had so many great experiences. Other highlights included Mufu Palace, various tea ceremonies, and the Indigo Dye shop, plus of course the Leaping Tiger Gorge.

Hotels: Hampton Inn, Guandu Hilton, Kunming – was very satisfactory, breakfast buffet was very good as was their coffee. I especially liked watching the hotel’s robot bring our neighbor’s their room service.

Dali, Ancient City Courtyard Lirenhua Resort Hotel: This was a very interesting design and old-style hotel that was conveniently located in Dali, not far from Xizhou Ancient Town and the Three Pagodas. Breakfast was good but not as good as our other hotels. Also, the breakfast room was very crowded with so many tour buses, and so many eating at the same time.

Lijiang Ancient City, DuoFu Resort hotel: room quality and breakfast were excellent, although they need a much better coffee machine, which was not able to handle the demand by the many young visitors who like coffee.

Re: money and payment, we were able to use the AliPay, although not the Tour Card. There were a few places that could accept the US credit cards and our Rmb cash as well.

April, we also want to thank you for being so responsive, to our emails, and in helping us make the many decisions about our Yunnan trip itinerary.

- Bob

Thank you Rita.

We are very sad that our trip is coming to an end. So far we have had a fantastic time and seen and done some amazing things.

I had a bit of spare time on the high-speed train so came up with this to help your customers. Up to you if you want to use it or make any adjustments (but I think it would be most helpful once people have booked) it reads as follows...

As part of your journey around fascinating and spectacular China, you will most likely take one or more of China Railways High Speed Trains.

These trains are both fast and efficient, enabling you to cover great distances quickly and in comfort.

You may be required to board the train without the assistance of a guide. This may occur depending on station regulations.

The following is suggested as information for travelers. Please note that this is not a definitive guide, as there may be differences depending on station and location, and may be subject to change.

First and most importantly, there are plenty of clean toilets at the stations, and the trains also have Western toilets in each carriage.

Whether you travel First or Second Class is up to you, but there is plenty of leg room in both classes. All trains are non smoking.

AT THE STATION.

Once at the station you will be required to go through security. You will need your passport for this. Your passport is linked to your ticket. We recommend wheeled suitcases or suchlike as luggage trolleys are not provided. Please note that your main bag will travel with you on the train. Unlike a plane where certain items can travel in the hold, prohibited items will be confiscated. Eg. Knives or souvenir swords.Check ahead for prohibited items to avoid disappointment.

You will need your passport, the train number, carriage number and seat allocation for your journey. This will be provided by your guide or on your itinerary. It will also pay to know your departure time.

There are departure boards in multiple places in the stations. These will link your train number with a boarding gate.

Your trains details will be in one of 3 colours.

Yellow: information stage

Green: boarding stage

Red: departure stage.

In order to run efficiently the trains do not wait. Please be in the correct place ready to board. Depending on the number of train carriages, there may be 2 boarding gates. Eg. 4A and 4B. These will correspond to the carriage number. Don't panic if you get it wrong, but it may result in having to walk a little further on the platform to get to your carriage.

You will need your passport to leave the station to go to the platform. There are lines for self check-in and another for passports/ assisted check-in. This may be detailed overhead, or look for the person manning the assisted check-in line. Use this line to proceed to the platform.

PLATFORM / TRAIN

If no train in platform: There are markings on the ground showing the approximate carriage location. You should wait there. If in doubt you can ask for help.

If train is at platform: Check the train number on the side of carriage.(in case two trains either side of platform)

Find your carriage number and board. Seat numbers are clearly labeled. Place your big luggage overhead. Some trains have additional storage at carriage end. Do not store drink bottles overhead as they may leak, due to cabin pressure.

Depending on the length of your journey some basic food may be available (cashless transactions.) You can take your own food if you wish. Hot water is also available on board.

Enjoy your safe and comfortable journey. Be sure to take in the scenery as you travel.

ARRIVAL

Not all train services may terminate at your destination. The next station is shown on a display at both carriage ends (in English also) . Knowing your arrival time will further assist you in getting off at the correct station.

If you are being met at the station your previous guide should give you directions where to meet, as the stations are normally large with multiple exits. You can also have your next guides name and phone number if you wish. You will need your passport again to exit the station terminal, at the manned checkout line.

Depending on the station layout you will be met at the terminal exit, or the arranged location. Your happy, smiling guide will have your name on a signboard to welcome you, and be ready to assist as required.

Dave

Thank you Rita,

Yes we have recovered well. We really enjoyed the trip.

Steven

Hi Tracey,

We would like to feedback that our holiday arranged by you and your company was well organised and went exactly as planned.

We informed you that we had an elderly traveller with limited mobility requiring wheelchair assistance. This was fully taken care of.

The guides (4x) at each destination were well informed and very helpful, especially in looking after our elderly traveller. They were all very considerate. A wheelchair was provided.

We were impressed with the train travel arrangements. Our guide in Kunming arranged for us to have wheelchair assistance all the way to the train platform and we were duly met on the train on arrival in Dali.

The hotels were in good locations and within easy access to local amenities.

We had a car and driver for most of the week. This was very convenient. Our driver was safe, kind and considerate.

The lunches were of variable standard, ranging from an excellent ‘feast’ to acceptable. This might have been down to the individual guide.

Overall, we were very happy with the arrangements. We were well looked after. Our elderly traveller was impressed with the level of service.

Thank you. We would have no hesitation in recommending China Discovery.

Boon

Hello Evelyn,

The tour was wonderful, and very informative and ticked all our boxes.

Right from the outset you made it very easy for us with clear English communication, easy payment instructions and prompt responses to any queries or alterations to the tour that we may have had.

It was such a relief to have someone waiting to greet us at each and every airport, which took all the hassle out of landing in a foreign country with language barriers and unfamiliar ways of booking taxis etc.

Sandy, our host in Lijiang, is a kind, gentle person who is well educated and has a wealth of knowledge regarding China's history and is happy to answer any questions and share his knowledge with us. He was extremely patient with us and helped us negotiate any hurdles we may have come across. His own personal stories of his time growing up in China were such an eye opener and we felt privileged that he would share these with us.

There was an issue when booking into our hotel in Lijiang but Sandy handled this expertly for us. The hotel was in a wonderful location and had all the facilities we required. The breakfast was great. The lunches that we had during our stay in Lijiang were wonderful, an abundance of food and a vast array of plates. We were left bulging at the seams following these meals.

The driver who worked with Sandy was another great addition to the tour. He was courteous and a skilled driver, was always there waiting for us and we felt very comfortable & safe with and he fitted in well with our group.

Atn in Shangri-la was also a very skilled tour guide, who had plenty of his own stories to tell. He obviously enjoys meeting new people and is easy to build a relationship with. Atn also ensured our check in was smooth and that we were at our allotted places in good time. It was good to have the same driver as we had with Sandy.

The hotel was good, however the location meant that we weren't within walking distance of anything once our day tour had ended. There was a vast breakfast buffet but not much to entice the westerners unfortunately.

Sophie met us at the airport in Kunming and we basically hit the ground running. Sophie didn't waste time, and had us on and off shuttles with great haste. Our flight out of Kunming was delayed and Sophie was instantly organising additional sights for us to make the most of this extra few hours. She also did an excellent job of having us at the airport on time, checking us in and maintaining contact to ensure we had arrived at the correct departure gate. The hotel was in a good location, however with no air conditioning and rooms set at 27 degrees, it was rather uncomfortable and we would have preferred something a little cooler. Again the lunches were plentiful and tasty.

We would have no hesitation in using your services again, you made the whole process stress free and we are happy to recommend you to any potential travellers.

Thanks again for all your help, Evelyn, you and your company have been amazing.

Regards!

Nicki

Dear Mr Wonder Wang,

My wife and I very much enjoyed the holiday tour to Yunnan. Thank you very much for organising the tour for us. All went well.

The only time when we experienced a little anxiety was when the fast train from Lijiang to Kunming removed coach 9 and moved the first class coach to coach 1. Unable to find coach 9 we boarded with our two heavy luggage onto coach 8 and was then informed that the first class coach has changed to coach 1. We quickly disembarked, push our luggage all the way to coach 1 and embarked again.

Other than the above minor inconvenience, the trip as a whole was superb. Both the local guides and drivers were fantastic.

Thank you once again for your excellent organisation of the tour.

Best Regards,

Kar-Tun

Dear Evelyn,

Thank you so much for making further arrangements. We have having a wonderful time. Amy is a very good guide and she is looking after us very well. Mr Yoou is a great driver.

Patrick

Dear Evelyn,

We returned to Nantong yesterday after a wonderful holiday in Yunnan. Thank you for making this possible. You asked for feedback to the following questions:

1. Email correspondence. Emails were answered very promptly and questions were answered clearly.

2. Tour arrangements. Tour arrangements were excellent. All elements of the tour were organised carefully and were thoroughly researched and arranged.

4. Opinion. We have a high opinion of China Discovery.

We would also like to thank you personally and those who guided and drove us during our excellent tour. China Discovery have provided a first class service, thank you. Could you please pass our thanks to Amy, Yak and Sophie who guided us and to Mr Yu and Mr Huang WHP drove us.

Patrick

Hi Wonder,

That’s was very good trip for us. Thanks for good planning. especially having same car across last 6 days was very wise act.

Tamer

Hi Wonder,

We're having a wonderful time in Yunnan. Good food, nice hotels and scenic views! Thank you for booking this trip for us.

Wing

Hi Vivien,

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

All the best to you.

Janet/Richard/Claire

Dear Wonder,

After returning from our magnificent and wonderful China tour I would like to share our impressions with you. If you want you can use our comments as testimonial for you as well.

My wife and me took on March/April (at this time the different sites are not overcrowded and the climate is comfortable too) a 21-day private tour through China (mainly in the South) organised by Wonder, China Discovery. Wonder is an ideal travel consultant. He is highly competent, absolutely professional and flexible. Exept one also the local tour guides and drivers were very engaged and trusty. For travelling within China we used mainly the very efficient, very fast, comfortable and very punctual high speed trains. The selection of hotels (location and comfort) was also good. So, we were able to carry out our tour, which was quite ambitious and strict for our age (71 years), well. Only under these conditions you can have a pleasant tour through China. We can highly recommend China Discovery and personally Wonder. - Antal from Hungary, April 2024

Information just for you. The best English skills among the local tour guides had Derek (Hangzhou), Vicky (Dali), Bruce (Xian), Lobsang (Shangri-La) and Lisa (Luoyang). Jenny (Kunming area) was not really good. For example on the first day we could reach and see the sunset at the rice fields only because of our initiative and pressure. Otherwise we would have missed it. Attached I send you a few photos, which you can use if you want.

Finally I have a request to you. Would you please send me a China map with our travel route marked? (Beijing - Shanghai - Huangshan - Guilin/Yangshuo - Kunming - Stone Forest - Yuanyang/Hani rice terraces - Jianshui - Dali - Lijiang - Leaping Tiger Gorge - Lhasa - Luoyang - Beijing). I hope it is possible and I thank you very much in advance.

Antal

Dear Tracy,

Thank you very much for your service. Hope to work with you soon in our next China trip.

Helena

Hi Tracy,

My husband and I had a great time in Yunnan. We enjoyed every place we visited and the food we tried. The guides are knowledgeable and thoughtful. Drivers are professional and reliable. The itinerary is efficient with a lot of culture elements combine with beautiful sceneries. We are very happy with the entire trip.

Thank you for making this arrangement for us.

Best regards,

Crystal

Hi Wonder,

My review for the tour:

1. Travel consultant Wonder Wang is very fast to respond to all our queries and gave us good advice on our routing and timing of travel. He planned a very good itinerary for us based on our budget and where we wanted to go. He also helped us to locate the Liu ancestral hall in Huiyang though it was not part of our tour. We did manage to locate it and are very grateful for his help.

2. The tour arrangements were very smooth and met all our requests. The itinerary was well planned and moved seamlessly through all the places we wanted to see. All the tour guides met us on arrival as scheduled, they spoke excellent English, and were very flexible to rearrange the tour schedule in accordance with the weather conditions. They also adapted to our mobility situation and assisted us with getting up and down steps, and in and out of the vehicles. The drivers drove safely, no speeding and on schedule for our connections to the next destination at the train stations and airports. Bottles of water were provided throughout the tour. Hotels were good, and the rooms were non-smoking rooms as we had requested. They were located conveniently close to restaurants so we could have our dinner at our own pace.

3. We would highly recommend China Discovery and certainly would travel with them again in the future. They took care of every detail, and we had a fantastic time without any stress or worry over travel arrangements.

Thanks again for arranging everything.

Billie

Dear Wonder,

Please see our responses below:

1. Wonder was absolutely delightful to work with! Upon our first inquiry to traveling both to Yunnan province and Shanxi province, Wonder replied within less than 24 hours with an itinerary that met the needs of our family, was logistically sound, and provided a variety of exciting cultural opportunities and sightseeing experiences.

2. All three guides that we worked with were absolutely wonderful; they were knowledgeable, flexible, warm-hearted and kind. We especially enjoyed our guide in Lijiang (Yong) and our guide in Xi’an (Jessie) who seemed to go above and beyond in every way. We also appreciated our drivers in each of the provinces who were on-time, courteous, and dependable.

3. Keep on doing the wonderful work you’re doing – it truly makes touring in China for foreigners enjoyable, wonderful, and easy! Wonder – we appreciate you so much and are so thankful for making our holiday travels in China truly memorable.

Thank you again Wonder!

Alli

Hi Rita,

Yes, we are very happy with your arrangement.

Jennifer

Hi Tracy,

My knee is fine

Almost like a miracle.Doctor is amazing.This is a feedback from the entire trip

First of all you are awesome

The guide: Sophie is 8.5/10, Daisy 10/10,Athien 8.5/10,Sandy 8.5/10

Driver: kunming 9/10, Dali Lijiang shangrila 9/10 but I would give him 10/10 because he went all out to help with my knee

Definitely will be back next year with china discovery. Thanks again for all the extra help.Really appreciate it. You and the people make china discovery a great company .

Willie

Hi Leo,

Our travel consultant, Mr. Leo Li is much more than fast and patient enough to address our questions and needs. Sometimes we wonder whether Leo works 24 hrs a day or not!

It is a process. We planned this trip about a year ago. Originally was first May 2023 and we changed it to October 2023. There was quite a few changes and modification to the arrangements. The final plan took a long working process and it came out to what we wished!

Yes. We are more than willing to recommend your service to all our friends. As a matter of fact, a few close friends have already been asking for Leo’s contact information.

Very impressive. We can feel the professionalism and the energy to make the best travel arrangements for the clients and to make their dreams come true!

Nelson

Dear Rita,

We just got back to Thailand yesterday. All in all, though I fell sick in the latter part, it was a terrific trip!

Inderjeet

Thank you Wing Zeng for your follow up.

I have provided responses below.

(1) Is your travel consultant of our company fast enough to answer your E-mail and patient enough to answer your questions?
Yes, the travel consultant was prompt and responsive in her engagement from initial planning to confirmation to tour itinerary.

(2) How do you comment your tour arrangements?
Our itinerary was excellent, particularly the focus on environment/nature and culture/history. There were many scenic attractions in Guilin, Yangshuo, Lijiang, Shangri-La, and Kunming. The tour guides were friendly and fluent in English; it was also interesting that they represented different ethnic minorities. Aside from Sheraton Guilin, accommodation providers and restaurants/retail were not fluent in English.

(3) Are you willing to recommend our service to your people who also have an interest to visit China?
Yes, I can recommend China Discovery (Chengdu Bamboo International) in future. One of the other couples from Sydney was also a China Discovery client.

(4) Your general opinion on us?
Positive.

Regards,

Timothy

Hi Jack,

The trip was very good and we were very lucky with the weather. The itinerary was very well done and the guides were flexible to adjust the itinerary due to changes in circumstances (eg weather or traffic etc)

Lam

Hi Jack,

My Review as follows:

Unforgettable China Journey with Outstanding Organization!

I recently had the incredible opportunity to travel through China, with Jack as our wonderful organizer. From bustling cities to serene landscapes, each step of the journey was seamlessly organized, ensuring a stress-free and immersive experience.

Jack’s attention to detail was second to none. Flights, hotels, and cars were arranged flawlessly, with every aspect meticulously planned and executed. The accommodations were splendid, offering comfort and luxury, and our transportation was always reliable and punctual, making our travels smooth and effortless.

The local guides arranged by Jack were knowledgeable and friendly, providing insightful narratives and histories of each destination, enriching our exploration and understanding of the beautiful and diverse Chinese culture. Despite the extensive itinerary, every site and activity was thoughtfully scheduled, allowing ample time to savor each experience fully.

An extraordinary highlight was Jack's unmatched flexibility and problem-solving skills. Unforeseen changes and deviations in the itinerary were handled promptly and efficiently, ensuring our travel plans remained uninterrupted. This adaptability offered peace of mind and allowed us to enjoy the trip without any concerns.

In conclusion, traveling China under the excellent organization by Jack was an unparalleled adventure. His commitment to excellence, profound expertise, and personal touch made every moment memorable. I wholeheartedly recommend Jack's services to anyone seeking an unforgettable journey in the breathtaking land of China. Thank you, Jack, for making our China trip an exquisite and flawless adventure!

Viren

Hi Zeva.

Tour has been amazing and looking forward to our last 4/5 hours hiking today to the Finnish.

Clark

Leo,

we are finishing the tour! Please give more congratulations to Sandy he is an excellent tour guide one of the best I’ve had, Excellent English, extremely knowledgable everyone really happy.

Very happy - lots of great memories. I will contact you again for more tours in future when I have more money.

Tak

Dear Tracy,

thanks for reaching out! Yes, we came back safely and full of new impressions - it was a truly spectacular trip!!

I would like to provide more detailed feedback when I have a bit more time, but just to say already now, we were really really happy about all the organisation and the support, especially from you personally!!

Best regards,

Matthias

Hi Rita,

Please know I enjoyed both your guides. They had different strengths but both made me feel welcome, taken care of, and satisfied.

I have already recommended your service to a woman I met in Kunming

Thanks

Karen

Hi Wing,

Lovely to hear from you and I’m happy to answer your questions.

1. You have provided an outstanding service as my travel consultant. Quick and responsive and helpful. Thank you!

2. The tour arrangements were perfect. The guide was brilliant- very knowledgeable and interesting and well organised, and the driver was very good too. The itinerary was well planned and manageable and well suited to our needs.

3. I’m very happy to do so and would happily recommend your services to others. I will do so, in fact, as I love and work in Shanghai in a school and these things are often discussed.

4. I’m happy with the whole service and will happily act as a reference if you need me to do so. I am likely to use your services again, in fact, as I travel to other places in China.

I have attached a couple of photos for you that you are welcome to use.

With best wishes and thank you again

Alex

Tracy,

The tour has finished. I am very happy with the guide/driver. He us patient, knowledgeable, fast, and has very good friendly relationships with many people

Later this year I would like to take additional tours in Western China with your agency. Please, send me a link to what rours are available and where.

Ilia

Hello, Vivien!

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

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

Katya

Hello Rita,

everything good, hotel is very modern and nice! ... today I went to Xizhou ...

Hi Rita,

We had a very good Yunnan holiday. Thanks for the arrangement. Both guides were very good - Lee and Anna. I would rate Anna 5/5 and Lee 4.5/5

Hi Rita,

I wrote the review and uploaded pics as follows:

I spent a great weekend on a trip to Xishuangbanna that was organized by China Discovery travel agency! After a 3-hour train ride from Kunming, I arrived in Jinghong where I spent one day. Jinghong is at the Mekong river. Close to the golden Shwedagon Pagoda is the Gaozhong Night Market, the biggest in Jinhong and definitely worth exploring. Countless vendors are displaying their goods and many ladies are wearing Dai people makeup and clothing. A truly mystical scenery.

The next day was another highlight. I went to the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. This is the biggest Botanical Garden in China and has a great number of trees, flowers and plants. A truly outstanding experience with the beauty of nature. I also very much liked the Royal Waterli Hotel that is nicely integrated into the Botanical Garden. I appreciate China Discovery travel agency putting me up in this hotel where you can explore the Botanical Garden. You just need to step out of the hotel lobby and you are already in the midst of it!

I would like to thank Ms. Rita Jiang for organizing an awesome trip! Everything worked out just great!

Good evening Wonder,

Everything is perfect! We are very exited here and Mr. Andy is really profesional and very nice man.

Dear Jack,

I have tried to leave the following review with tripadvisor several times now but somehow it is not accepted, I do not know why.

"Just back from our 9-day trip to Yunnan, long planned and waited for. It was our second time with China Discovery Tours. Once again they tailored the tour according to our ideas and interests - and succeeded in surprising us! Thanks to the local guides we learned a lot about history, traditions and customs, and, of course, food. We always felt in safe hands and the organization was just perfect with enough on spot flexibility. Big thanks to Jack who figured it all out so well and to the next time with China Discovery! Johannes (GER) & Elizabeth (GRC)"

Thanks again for an excellent trip, best regards, Johannes&Elizabeth

Wonder!

Thank you!! For your great support!!!! This trip was magic!!! The restaurant, the flowers, the cake and the hotel were excellent!! I enjoyed this trip and will treasure in my memories forever!!

Hi Jack,

Absolutely fantastic trip. We enjoyed every moment and the guides were all really good.

I might only have one more year in China and I would like to see more. I believe that the best way for me is smaller trips leaving Thursday evening and returning Sunday.

Soren

Good morning Wonder!

You did a great job assisting and always got back to me in time with questions and queries. Also, you were available during my holiday as well. I contacted you over possible flight changes and gave some great advice that helped me save a lot of money. So all in all I am very happy with the service I got.

Hi Tracy!

Kunming and Pu'er were very nice. The hotels were good and somehow individual. Coffee and Tea plant age very interesting (tour/explanation could have been more in detail and much longer). Rice terraces good to see. We did some hiking, which was very good. The places for visiting sunrise / sunset not to be recommended - not special and much too crowded. Xishuangbana: elephants valley was interesting. The villages, zoo, king palace was from my point of view not to be recommended. Too touristic / standard program, nothing special. Here I would have liked something more individual, more nature, more culture and real history... The same for the hotel in Xishuangbana - this was not to be recommended.

The driver and guide, both have been very good! Organisation also very good.

Hi Rita

we did enjoy the hiking tour! thank you for everything. we really enjoyed the hotel, food and driver.

Rita

Happy New Year to you too! May 2023 bring many tourists and good health for you!

All the guides and both drivers were great. Yunnan is beautiful.

Hello dear Jack,

Thanks for your message, so far, so good!

Guides and driver are very kind and professional!

Nevertheless, one remark, for almost all of our hotels, we've 2 separated rooms, it was unknown. We paid then 2 rooms for all booking instead of 1 room for 4 persons...

The trip was very good. We discovered beautiful landscapes. The guides and drivers were perfect.

Christelle

Dear Leo,

thank you so much for asking.

I can only say that we had a fabulous time. The driver was the best driver we had in a long time and the guide was knowledgeable, helpful and always spot on.

In a difficult situation (the police found us interesting and inquired after our travel itinerary etc.) he handled it very well.

I will definitely recommend you and might ask you for information on another tour in Sichuan, soon.

Kind regards,

Silke

Hi Vivien,

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

Yitian

Rita,

The hotels in Lijiang and Shangri-la are super good.

Bernd

Hello Rita,

all good. Enjoy the trip!

Lorena

Hi Rita,

everything good today! Thanks for arranging this.

Barbara

Hi Wonder,

enzin is awesome. We are so happy with out trip so far. Thanks for organising it.

Sarah

Wonder,

I wanted to say the experience was absolutely exceptional. However, Nancy our tour guide made the service 100% better. She was dedicated to ensuring Kevin and I had the best experience. She is by far the best tour guide we ever had in China. We will recommend her to all our friends and would like for her to be our guide on our next adventure. Thank you for helping us in planning our trip and I look forward to working with your company again.

Kevin

Dear Tracy,

Happy 2023. I arrived safe back to Beijing yesterday afternoon. I had an excellent holiday in Yunnan province. This was due to a well organised program by you/China Discovery and to the two very professional guides - Jackie and Andy. I feel I know much more about Yunnan province now. And that China has so much to offer besides Beijing where I live. I will tell others here in Beijing about your professional travel agency.

Thank you again for the well organised tour!

Hey Rita,

yeh that’s me back. I had a wonderful time thanks for organising everything. I’m more than happy to share some pictures. I’ll go through my photos tomorrow and I’ll send some to you

Emma

Hey Zeva,

My trip to Napa Lake today very nice, driver very nice.

Sam

Hey Zeva,

Everything is fine, we had a good time and saw a lot of new areas.

Claire

Hi Rita,

It was amazing! Thank you so much for everything

Hello Lyn,

All was great, excellent, fantastic, amazing, thanks for all

The tourist guys were great.

The driver were very good

Thanks again

Good afternoon,

Yes, everything was ok. Thank you.

Hi Wonder,

It was great. I really enjoyed it. Jack was wonderful. We really loved how accommodating he was. We randomly asked to go to a tea shop and he helped translate all our questions so well. He also helped us get a random horse ride while we were in the village to a beautiful lake we didnt know was there. I really enjoyed the embroidery museum as well.

Hi Echo,

Sorry for my belated feedback. That travelling plan was very good and basically I am satisfied for that. I made sure Lijiang and Shanglira is the great places we should visit. If I have to say some improvement points for that, the time arrangement may be so affordable. I wonder I could have visited more places in Lijiang and Shanglira rather than relax time with my guides. But basically it was no problem.

Hi Rita - we are back now. Just wanted to say thank you so much. We had a wonderful trip. All the guides were amazing.

Hi Wendy,

Sorry, i forgot to reply you. Yes the trip was wonderful. And i have a great time, all thanks to nancy. Hotel provided were great and nearby the place i wanted to visit.

Good morning Riley! It was very good and the driver did a good job.

Hi Rita.

Good morning. The weather is great. It’s sunny. Maria will pick me up at 9 this morning. Thanks for checking.

Good evening. I got back to Chongqing. Thank you. I will send the feedback soon. But until the feedback, please know that I enjoyed the itinerary you prepared and Maria was very professional tour guide.

Thanks, Adrian.

Hi Wonder,

Our trip has ended and it’s time to complete the evaluation form.

We found China Discovery on line while looking for a reputable company in China to plan our holiday.

After contacting Mr Wonder Wang ( through online email and WeChat ) we found his level of support, information, communication, patience and understanding to be very professional. He was quick to respond to all our questions and accommodating in all our requests.

The tour arrangements were to our liking. Wonder worked closely with us to determine our touring preferences. The transport schedule was not too strenuous, the tours we encountered were interesting and our accommodation was to the most very comfortable.

As far as recommending China Discovery, we would be happy to introduce anyone keen in touring China to this company.

Our tour was conducted in the early part of the year under the curtain of COVID and in the midst of Chinese New Year. Wonder and the guides helped us with all our medical requirements and arrangements and a holiday that could have been disjointed flowed with out any problems.

Wonder gave us contacts to all our guides and they were accessible and helpful.

The drivers who accompanied the guides were also friendly and safe.

The guides were all good - supportive, jovial, attentive and knowledgeable.

The best in our opinion were May, Michael and Steven.

Our accommodation The Gran Melia was very good in Xian and the nearby area was interesting to explore by foot in our free time - the park area across the street from our accommodation and Grand Tang Mall nearby.

The Sofitel in Chengdu was comfortable, the breakfasts were wonderful and the assistance we received from their restaurant manager for dinner one evening was exceptional. The only negative was that the hotel was a little dated.

Our stay in Le Meridien Emei Mountain Resort was very nice.

Our stay in Old Town Lijiang at The Ivy Garden was located well. The hotel had a traditional appeal. We arrived at night so we were surprised at how cold the room was. There was a heater on but not adequate and extra linen should have been available.  There was no choice given for breakfast and it was not to our liking.

The Gurong Boutique was very comfortable and breakfast was minimal but nice.

The Cachet Hotel in Kunming was kind enough to change our room because of ‘smoke odour‘ and it appeared to be an upgrade.

Their kitchen staff were helpful and made us a basic breakfast pack to take on the fast train to Guilin.

The Shangri-La in Guilin was a wonderful stay with a beautiful view. The breakfast and dinner selections were vast and very tasty.

The Amari in Yangshuo was comfortable and well placed. The small ‘fairground attraction’ outside our window was slightly noisy up till about midnight.

All in all, the entire trip was an amazing experience we both enjoyed immensely.

We found it helpful when the guides would initially state what our plans were for the day ahead and go through the itinerary so we were reminded and understood.

Occasionally we did not do something on the schedule and it wasn’t clearly explained to us why not, for example the Pearl Museum and also the option we had to make a terracotta soldier.

We understand that some venues were closed because of COVID / Chinese New Year and in these cases we were informed and alternative arrangements were made.

We were blessed with good weather, good organisation, wonderful guides, good drivers and a beautiful and interesting country to explore.

Thank you to Wonder and your diverse team, we would definitely look at using your company’s services in the future.

Kind Regards

Mario and Angela Crivelli.

Hi Zeva,

Lijiang was lovely.

The driver is wonderful and extremely knowledgeable, so after I checked in he brought me to Songzanlin Monastery.

I'm enjoying the Monastery.

Dear Rita.

We have arrived back in Suzhou today. I just wanted to thank you so very much for arranging a wonderful trip to Yunnan for me and my friends. I’ve had the best experience. The guides, drivers, hotels and places we have visited were all amazing. Thank you again.

Dear Wonder,

We have made it back to Lijiang safely The driver to Shangri-la was more talkative. The driver back was more focused on getting us back to lijiang.

Hi Vivien,

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

Hi Tracy,

Thank you for checking in. yes, all well and good. The driver has safely reached us to our final destination @Lijiang.

Hi, every thing is fine;) the first days the weather was nice. Yesterday it was very foggy, but we did the hike and enjoyed so much, we have good clothes and then the weather doesn't matter;) the nature is breathtaking. The driver is very kind and the guide was very good. You did a great job. Thanks.

Hi Tracy,

Everything is going well! We really like Dali so much.

Yes the trip has been really good.

Hi Wonder,

All good, thanks!! Just finished the train and village visit!

Hi Jack,

I’ve already filled in four feedback forms so far, and have been given a fifth to do!  My first bit of feedback is that there are too many forms to fill in..... I’m still on holiday! I’ll get you some reflections next week, but not before. I don’t want any images of us being used, so all I would send you is photos of locations - and probably not very good ones at that given how bad the weather has been. 

Thanks again for your help in coordinating. I’ll try and put some more considered thoughts together next week.

 

Christina

The trip was good today, the guide is also nice. Thank you.

Hello, Wonder!!! 

We did greatly enjoy our trip! It was wonderful!  I'm sorry about taking a little bit to respond. .. I had a little stomach trouble and then very busy work to jump into! :)  

We loved the tour.  We definitely enjoyed the trip under your arrangement.  We hope to be able to take many trips in the future.  We are also happy to note that we can reach out to you specifically, as well.  :)  

Just for our planning purposes, we were wondering if you could give us some ideas?  For instance, we were happy to note that Guilin/Yangshuo is open to foreign tourists now.  What is the best time to visit the rice terraces and the Li River?   We have already seen (now) the "summer rice terraces/ green terraces," and we were hoping to see additional rice terraces at a completely different time/for a completely different "look."  

Also, when would the best time of the year be to visit Dali and surrounding areas?   

What is the best time of the year to visit (once it becomes safer to do so) Xian and Beijing?  

Are there any places open during Golden Week (early October)?  We know this time is a national holiday. With our work, we get both US and Chinese holidays, so we were curious about whether there is a good potential location to visit inside China during a Chinese national holiday (that is not too crowded and also still open).  

Thank you for any ideas.  This is not time sensitive -- as we cannot book right away.  But if you happened to have some ideas, it would help with our planning.  China has so many beautiful locations, we are hoping we can see them. :) 

We loved the trip!!!!  I wrote as much on the survey that Tom gave us at the end of the trip.  The only thing I wanted to let you know is that our experience with the Jianshui Linan Hotel was not the same as the Oness Resort Hotel. 

The Oness Resort Hotel was fantastic!!! At the Oness Resort Hortel, we experienced beauty, comfort, and polite/courteous staff.  Never once did we feel like we were treated differently from being "foreigners."  They asked for our passports and our health codes, and after that, they were satisfied.  

Our experience with the Jianshui Linan Hotel was different.  It was very obvious that they did not want foreigners staying there, and they gave us a hard time.  They took photos of every piece of identification we had.  This included Chinese government identification that we have been issued.  It was surprising that this didn't even convince them.   They took photos of every passport entry/exit stamp.  They had Tom write down on paper, after seeing our passports, every place we visited in China, including the night before at the rice terraces.  They took photos of letters we had indicating why we were in-country. They saw our health-codes and then took pictures of those -- while also making us do another QR health code.  Tom tried to argue on our behalf, highlighting that this was all pre arranged, but they were persistent. (we really appreciated Tom's attempts) Through every step of the way, they made us feel like they did not believe what the prior piece of documentation had stated -- that we had been in China for 6 months.   When they finally gave us a room, we believe they gave us a room that they felt no one else wanted: it was heavily a "smoker's room" [they did not ask us if we wanted smoking or not], next to construction (drilling, hammering).  The fridge was unplugged, so it appeared that, because it was next to construction, this room was designated as a "do not put people in" room. . . which is why we received it.  I do realize that we live in a sensitive time, but the experience was so drawn out, and so different than the Oness Resort Hotel experience, that I wanted to highlight it to you in case you have any other foreigners booking a hotel in Jianshui.  We were just thankful that we stayed two nights at Oness, and therefore, our hotel experiences were mostly good! :) 

I am answering your survey questions below.  We are okay with you posting our survey response (the italicized text below), if you would like.

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

Wonder of China Discovery was exactly as his name implies "wonderful!"   When we first contacted China Discovery via the information provided on their website, we did not know what to expect.  However, Wonder provided thoughtful and immediate responses to our questions and concerns.  He followed up to ensure we were satisfied.  He explained what the tour entailed. He gave us solutions when original plans did not work.  He was up front about what the payment of the tour included and the payment policies.  When we paid, he also immediately followed up to let us know that payment had gone through and was well received -- which is always an important and nervous thing when a foreigner is paying a foreign company in a different country for a future trip.  During the planning of the trip, he was always in contact with us at least every two or three days, just to "check in" and let us know what part of the itinerary he was working on. We were very satisfied with Wonder. We hope to plan more trips in the future and we hope to be able to reach out to Wonder to do so.  He left us feeling very confident and happy with our experience!!  

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

We absolutely loved our tour!!!  Tom and our driver were amazing. From the very beginning when we arrived at the airport, Tom and our driver, Mr. Han, were always on time, always knowledgeable about roadways/etc to stick/meet our itinerary (there was a lot driving on our particular itinerary), and flexible.  Mr. Han was a most-impressive driver: he always drove alert with fast reflexes. His skill around the switchbacks up in the hills cannot be matched.  I always felt like we were in safe hands.  He was also always courteous and respectful.  Tom, our guide, was a great conversationalist.  He gave us multiple cultural and history lessons, which is what my husband and I enjoyed and hoped for.  He was also flexible, so he always helped us adjust to whatever predicament came our way: bad weather, road construction, etc.  When a particular hotel was closed in a town that hosted the best view of the rice terraces, he wanted to make sure we had the best experience possible -- so he personally called the hotel owner so the owner could open up the hotel's terrace and we could have the most magical view.  The hotel owner then made us some breakfast: one of the best bowls of rice noodles I've had.  That is just one example of how impressed and happy we were with Tom.  For the meals that were identified as part of our itinerary, we were always more than well fed.  We feasted!   The stops on our itinerary gave us insight and experiences that could not be matched.  We came away from our experience feeling like we really had the opportunity to take a glimpse into people's lives.  We saw small towns that we would never have stumbled upon otherwise.  Tom never took our photo without asking.  He never forced us into a shopping-stop.  He talked to locals at every stop to give us more insights and used his skill as a tour guide to make sure we could get into sites, get little tastes of a variety of foods, not stand overly long in lines, and learn little extra cultural tidbits along the way.  He always asked us if we needed restroom stops.  Actually, one time, he called and asked another hotel owner in another small town if the owner could open a closed hotel so that we could use the nicer restroom.  He never did anything that made us feel uncomfortable and he always made sure we were in agreement with a plan before he pursued it.  He also made sure we had every minute possible to enjoy all aspects of our itinerary.  If given the opportunity, we would go on a tour with Tom again!   It was fantastic.  Thank you to Mr. Han, Tom, Wonder and China Discovery for such a wonderful and positive experience.  

Thank you, Wonder!

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend and we hope to hear from you soon (about the potential future ideas for trips)

take care, 

Keena

Dear Wing!

We are very glad that everything is OK with you and hope all your colleagues and families are healthy!

Thank you so much for your kind attention and very useful information, which will be shared with our relatives and friends. 

We are OK but at the moment we are in self-isolation at home because of the quarantine measures and looking forward to coming back to normal life.

Keep safe and healthy.

Have a nice day,

Elmira and Nick

My very Dear Wing Zeng,

I very often thought to You in the last months…but I was afraid to write to You. So now I AM VERY HAPPY TO HEAR AGAIN FROM YOU !!!

How do You do? Are You well? And Your Dears, and Your Family are all well?

What all You Chinese People did in this period  is something heroic …and now that You are almost free from the virus, and You almost won this terrible

battle匶ou already and immediately started to help us: THANK YOU, You are GREAT ! !

Thank You as well for Your attachment, now I will forward it to all the people I know, and we all will follow Your advices.

Here in Italy we are in a very bad time, specially in the North of Italy : we Italian are a strange Nation : most of us are following strictly the advices of the Goverment,

and stay home in order to avoid the contagion, but someone goes around the streets like nothing happened….

Well, let’s look to the future, hoping to see it!

Grazie, mia Cara Amica Cinese,

I and my Family just love You and Your People.

Carlo

Lily,

You were definitely correct in getting us to leave China right away. We did not want to leave as we were really enjoying the trip you had arranged for us.But it was correct to leave.

I am now trying to claim part of our flight back to Canada. To make this claim could you please send me:

1) A letter stating that our trip was terminated on January 25 when we were in Tiger Leaping Gorge and the reason why ( Because of coronavirus and the towns of Lijiang and Dali our next two stops were being closed and other parts of China were going to close soon). So we were advised to end trip, get back to Shanghai and leave China immediately.

2) Letter should include both my husband's and my full name

3) Letter should include our itinerary number

4) Needs to be on official paper

5) Include your name and contact information

If you could send this as soon as possible, it would be appreciated.

Again thanks for getting us out of China and also for arranging a great trip.

Hi Wonder

Thanks for organising our 8 day Yunnan tour in Dec 2019. We were impressed with your prompt response, efficient service in planning the itinerary and acceding to all of our requests.

The itinerary was very well thought out and was at an easy pace. The 2 drivers we had (Mr Zheng in Kunming and Mr Yu for the rest of the journey) were very friendly and most importantly, safe drivers.

The tour guides were also very informative and spoke English well. Special mention goes to:

1) Mr Wang in Kunming, who guided us all the way from hotel pickup to go through customs and check in at the high speed rail. He even kept my Swiss Army Knife for me when I couldn't bring it onboard the train and returned to me the moment we arrived back in Kunming. He also helped us take very nice pictures while we were in the Stone Forest.

2) Alice in Dali was a breath of fresh air, she was always smiling, high-spirited and checking with us if we wanted to do certain activities she'd planned for us. We really appreciate the initiative taken to show us how the locals live and work (sipping tea, embroidery school, Dai dye, local market etc). She was genuine, honest, open and was very informative and knowledgeable in the local culture and the historical facts about the places we'd visited. 

3) Aten in Shangri-La was very friendly, well-spoken and communicated very well in English about the places of interest we'd visited. He was thoughtful, attentive and ensured that we were safe every step of the way as it had snowed and the floors were slippery at certain places. We really appreciated that he executed the itinerary there seamlessly without rushing through anything. We particularly enjoyed the 3km walk in the Potatso National Park, even though the lake was iced over, it was one of the most beautiful snowscapes we've seen and Aten kept it interesting with stories and facts about the place.

4) Mr Yu, our driver for Dali, Lijiang and Shangri-La was one of the best drivers we've had. He drove well regarding safety as the most important. He was also very friendly and kind and had our best interests at heart: one day in Shangri-La, he noted we were tired the day before and he actually suggested that we start the following day later so we could rest. That touched our hearts :)

All in all, we had a wonderful time in Yunnan and of the many provinces we've visited so far, this is now our favourite. We will visit again.

Thanks Wonder for the beautiful memories we've garnered on this trip.

 

Cheers

Dom & Guy

Hello Riley,

Happy new year to you! We had a great time in China. Everything was very well organised and the tour went very smoothly. The guides Tom in Kunming, Carey (?) in Dali and Jack in Lijiang were excellent. Very knowledgeable and went out of their way to make us comfortable.  Aten in Shangri La was ok but not to the standard of the other three. The only negative would be that the heating in the hotels were slightly inadequate so we were cold! Otherwise we had a great trip and would definitely recommend your company to others. 

Thanks and regards.

Hello Riley

I have just submitted a review to trip advisor.

Here is a bit more information than I posted in the review.

Firstly, I want to thank you for your assistance and perseverance in organising our trip. We appreciate your listening to what we wanted and fitting in our requests as best you could. As a result the holiday was fabulous and included things we like to see and do and didn’t include the ‘normal’ mass tourist things.

Your guides are excellent. We appreciated all guides, but we would especially like to mention Zhouma (Lhasa), Jessie (Kunming) and Tutu (Zhangjiajie), they have a wealth of knowledge which they are able to impart in an enthusiastic manner, and they are also very very helpful. Zhouma and Jessie’s assistance with firstly my Ipad and then my clay colours was exceptional and truly appreciated.

We had many highlights along the way but if I have to name a few I would say Muslim Street in Xian (I had previously been to the Terracotta Warriors, so it was a repeat trip – though still amazing), the Potala Palace and walking the circle around the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Green Lake Park in Kunming, the Impression show in Yangshou, just about all the mountain activities in Zhangjiajie.

We will certainly be recommending you and China Discovery to anyone who is interested in travelling to China.

Regards

Lee

Dear Riley,

I agree to allow my answers and comments below regarding our China travels arranged by our Tour Operator Ms Riley Guo be put on your website.

1.Did your travel consultant of our company quickly reply to your E-mails and were they patient enough to answer your questions?

- Yes, Ms Riley Guo assisted me in planning our entire tour from beginning to end (from Kunming to Beijing) months before our trip, patiently guided me through every aspect of our journey making good suggestions and provided alternates.

- She always replied to my email inquiries promptly, answering all questions I had for her.  She is extremely patient and courteous throughout the "developmental" stages of our planning.

2.Do you have any comments concerning your tour arrangements?

- The tour arrangements were exactly as planned, with the only exception when we encountered a problem where the original plan had to be modified, see answers to Q 4 below.  The Tour Operator handled our problem in a timely fashion to our great satisfaction, in face above my expectations. When we encountered other minor problems during our tour, we received prompt attention and assistance from Ms. Guo promptly via WeChat and phone calls, often outside of regular office hours.  

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

- Definitely "Yes".  I have no hesitation of recommending your services to anyone interested.

4.What is your general opinion of us?

My opinion regarding:

- Advice and guidance provided in planning stage: Excellent!

- Ms Riley Guo our Tour Operator: Very knowledgeable, paid attention to details.

- Cost: I found your cost very reasonable and easily affordable.

- Efficiency: You run an efficient operation.

- Accuracy: Ms. Guo's suggestions and plans were accurate.

- Honesty: My travel team and I are particularly impressed by the honesty and integrity of your approach to business and in treating your customers when problems do arise.  I will cite the following Two Examples:

(1)  When Ms Guo made a minor error in our planning, she offered to take $100USD off from our final fees.  When I found out that the fee reduction would come out of her commission I was so impressed with her honesty I declined to accept the fee reduction.  I would suspect many operators would not even inform the client of such errors.

(2) You were not able to book the high speed train ride for us from Yichang to Beijing after the Yangtze River Cruise.  Instead your company put us on a flight for that, and you arranged for a guided day tour of Yichang while waiting for flight time at NO EXTRA costs to us.  It was a surprise and pleasant tour.  

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

- I think you are already proving a reliable and trustworthy service to your clients as experienced by me and my travel companions.

- The fact that Ms Guo has such a superb command of written English would no doubt be an invaluable asset to your company in helping non-Chinese speaking clients from overseas who want to explore China.

Thank you Wonder for everything.

The tour arrangements are great. As always, you are very prompt and patient with all our queries. I am a repeat customer so this concretely shows much more than what words will ever mean. I have already recommended you to one of my associate. I am planning for the trip next year and you will hear from me soon enough. Keep in touch!

Hi Johnson,

Hope this email find you well. 

My family and I have returned to Sydney after 6 weeks of travelling! I want to thank you for arranging our 25 days China tour which we have really enjoyed. The itinerary was good although a bit tiring! 

China was amazing and your service in organizing and trouble shooting while we were there was greatly appreciated.

On reflection, we realized the highlights during our tours were the cities where we had a good guide and driver.

FYI the guides in SuZhou (Sarah), Guilin (Summer), Kunming (Jessie) and Lijiang ( Susan) and Chengdu (Jane) were all amazing. Their English and knowledge were very good. They made these cities/ places come alive for us.

Alan in Hangzhou took us to the best restaurant and ordered the best lunch we had in 25 days. Again a memorable city for us

On the flip side, Dali which was a beautiful city but we did not enjoy mostly because our guide ( Shirley) does not speak English well. We could not understand her narrative or explanation most of the time. The guide in Wuhan ( Jennifer) was very unhelpful, was on her phone most of the time unless we asked her questions. For e.g. The highlight of Wuhan to us was the yellow crane tower but she did not even bother to walk up with us  ( and gave us 20 min to go up and come down) As we all could not read Chinese , it made all the beautiful artworks, poems and historical significance a complete loss to us! At the Eastlake, again a beautiful area she rushed us in and out because she said we did not have enough time but we ended finishing the day around 4 ! As you know she also ignore us during lunch so I had to send you the complaint myself! So Wuhan to use was the least enjoyable day.

For your reference, I think you have to ensure the guides you provide to any group you organize speak good English and are experience and helpful.

Overall, I think it was a great tour and your service is excellent from start to finish. I will certainly recommend you to my friends and hope to organize a Silk Road tour with you  in the near future !

Thanks again

Regards

Sharon

Hi Wing Zeng,

Yes, everything is fine. The itinerary was well organised despite we only have 5 days 4 nights to spend in both Shangri-La and Lijiang. The tour guides are knowledgeable and helpful. Will definitely recommend to friends and family.

Regards,

TARA ENG

Hello Vivien,

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

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

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

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

Hi Wonder: 

We enjoyed our tour of Yunnan.  For the most part, things went fine and our tour guides/drivers were quite good. 

My responses to questions are below:

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

Yes.  Very prompt an informative responses to email inquiries. 

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

The guides were good, some better than others. 

3.     Would you like to recommend our company? Because of the high elevation, the tour guide in Shangrila should have recommended purchasing supplemental oxygen before the hike; we only discovered it was possible to buy oxygen when we were on the hike and saw many others had oxygen canisters.  Also recommend booking non-Chinese tourists like ourselves in hotels suitable to foreigners; some of the hotels were not well suited for foreigners because the staff did not speak English and there were no international TV stations.  Lastly, we recommend the tour guides ask us for lunch preferences and let us choose meals among a menu of options; several times the tour guides ordered our food and we did not like what was ordered.

Thanks for your help with organizing our enjoyable and memorable tour of Yunnan province.

Kind regards,

Hi Wendy,

I'm so sorry for the very late reply, I’ve been very busy after my vacations to back up everything.

We had a wonderful Yunnan tours. All went smoothly and you did a wonderful job!

The guides were extremely helpful, quickly adjusted our itinerary to fit our requirements, have a lot of passion and knowledge for their cities. A special thank you to all of the guides: Cherry, LEE, Sophie and the 3 professional and courteous drivers. They were friendly, nice, really welcoming, very attention and very patient to us.

The hotels were very nice located for us in Dali and Lijiang.

We're very satisfied with our experience with China Discovery and would certainly recommend your company to our friends and family.

Best Regards.

Dear Rita,

I just back to Taipei this week, it was good with the tour in Kunming & Dongchuan. 

The Driver and Tour Guide are both excellent.

But the hotel in Dongchuan is there any better standard hotel?

I don't think it's qualified for Westerners.

Thank you for the arrangements.

Hello Jack

Thank you so much for organising our tour in China. The tourists destinations, tour guides and drivers as well as the hotels your company organised for us were very very good and comfortable.  We enjoyed all the places we had been and it exceeded our expectations. 

There were only two hotels we stayed (Zhangjiajie and Aba Songpan) that did not really cater well for breakfast during our stay. However the overall experienced we had were all valuable ones.

Lijiang Show was spectacular and was the highlight of the optional shows.

Driving from Songpan to Chengdu throughout the old road was an interesting journey, thanks to our very good driver.

Once again thank you for your professionalism, your prompt reply to our emails and making our stayed in China a memorable one and easy. We really felt that during our stay there we can easily access you together with our tour guides and drivers that were assigned to us we feel very much looked after, Thank you Jack and China Discovery Tours.

Cheers!!

Hi Wonder,

I am sorry I have been a little delayed in sending this feedback. It took us several days to get all the grass cut in the garden and to check that everything was still O.K. The plants in the greenhouse have grown a lot!

Anyway I will begin with the guides, who we thought were all very helpful and also interesting people to talk to. Their English was excellent and they provided exceptionally tasty lunches. Michael and I agreed that the food in Yunnan was much better than we had on the first trip. Some of it was a bit spicy, but I loved all the fresh fruit and variety of vegetables. Both drivers were good, but the one in Kunming was really impressive and very friendly as well.

Cherry was a lovely woman, whose company we really enjoyed. We had many conversations on all sorts of topics. She was very informative with a great sense of humour. She was very conscientious and we always had great confidence in her. Her English was clear and easy to understand. We came to think of her more as a very friendly and pleasant travelling companion rather than a guide. The day we shared on Jiaozi Mountain was very special and one I will never forget. I didn't get her email, but would very much like to write to her direct.

Frank's interest and enthusiasm for plants was obvious. He had even named his two daughters, Camelia and Azalea. Frank made great efforts to ensure we saw as many plants as possible on our walk on Cangshan Mountain. He was also able to provide a perspective on the Bai Community. Again he was friendly and interesting company.

Evan was a very kind and thoughtful man and we really appreciated the efforts he made on our behalf.  He was informative but also concerned to focus on our interests. I liked Evan and had considerable respect for what he had achieved.

Tenzen was another interesting character and he also was concerned to try and ensure we saw the azaleas and rhododendrons that were in flower. The highlight of our day with him was definitely the walk around Shudu Lake. The Tibetan lunch was a novel experience and I actually liked the Yak butter tea.

The hotels were all of a very high standard in terms of facilities and décor.

The Mengjiang in Kunming had a lovely courtyard just outside our room which was a comfortable place to sit in the evening. Michael very much liked the breakfasts (pre-ordered from a picture menu) but I found them rather too much and would have preferred a more conventional buffet style. None of the staff spoke English and given the potential for confusion over breakfast this was an issue. I think their menus needed to contain information in English as to what the different options actually included.

The Oness Resort in Yuanyang was set in a pleasant garden with modern but tasteful décor. The breakfast was very good although Cherry did have to help us choose the evening meal as the menu was only in Chinese.

The Jianshui Hanlinyuan Hotel was set in the most beautiful gardens. The room was gorgeous and it was quite the most perfect hotel in terms of accommodation. I will send you photos of the gardens later. They were exquisite. Strangely the breakfast was rather limited and disappointing, but I was less bothered about that than Michael.

The Dali Yunxi Hotel was a much more modest establishment, but still very comfortable with all the facilities you needed. The roof-top terrace was just outside our room and was a restful place to retreat from all the bustle of Dali. The hotel was run by extremely friendly people who served the option of a Western style breakfast of muesli, fruit and yoghourt, a welcome treat as far as I was concerned.

The Jan Bo Xuan in Lijiang was probably our favourite place to stay. It did have a very tastefully furnished and comfortable room looking out on to a pretty courtyard garden. The staff could not have been more helpful and the breakfasts were tasty. The hotel itself was set in the old town of Lijiang which was incredibly picturesque. Lijiang reminded me very much of Suzhou.

The E-outfitting Hotel in Shangri-La was the strangest place we visited. The accommodation was of a high standard with attractive rooms and the bathroom was fine. The roof terrace was a lovely place to sit and enjoy the evening sun. However the organisation of the hotel was very peculiar. It is on three sites and they didn't know which building we were in when we arrived, and so we walked round the old streets for some minutes before they finally worked out where we were. We were then told breakfast would be on a different site but someone would show us in the morning, which they did. Breakfast itself was alright rather than good.

In terms of places visited. I will group them in terms of how much we liked them.

Jiaozi Mountain was my favourite place. It was exactly as I had hoped to see the flowers. I know they were rhododendrons and not azaleas but that did not matter. They are very similar and often get confused. I am still sorting the photos out from the day and a little disappointed that they do not do justice to the magical beauty of the place. I can't understand why the people from Kunming only visit it in the winter. Cherry was really  surprised by how lovely it all was and said she would be recommending it to her tour company, as well as visiting it again herself with a friend in a few weeks. I think Westerners would love this place if it was promoted more.

The rice terraces in Yuanyang were Michael's favourite place. We both thought the day we spent walking with Cherry through the rice fields was delightful. Again I found it strange that the Chinese are more taken with the place in the winter, simply because of the reflections on the water. But I think the beauty of the place is in the abundant life and all the wonderful fresh green. We were less bothered about the sunset and sunrise, but just enjoyed being in such verdant countryside.

The next group of places are ones which we also really liked but didn't rank as favourites.

I have already said that walking around Cangshan Moutain with Frank, and Shudu Lake with Tenzen were memorable experiences. Michael is not very good with heights, but didn't mind the chair-lift to get us to the higher level of Cangshan, which then meant we could walk on the level. Again we were impressed with China's ability to process large numbers of people visiting rural beauty spots without spoiling the natural environment.

We were very pleased with the visit to Ziu Shan Park in Tonghai. Cherry said she had never been there before and the staff on the gate said they hadn't had Westerners before. Cherry was again surprised at how beautiful the place was and will be recommending it to her tour company. I do have some good photos which I will send you. The Temples are set in beautiful courtyard gardens, but it is all surrounded by wooded hillside so that it all feels very natural. Again I think more Western visitors could be encouraged to visit especially as it breaks the journey to the rice terraces.

The Joseph Rock Museum in Yuhu Village was a very evocative place. I loved looking up at Jade Dragon Mountain and longed to go up there, but realised that would have been difficult.

We also very much liked the Confucian Temple and the Zhu Family Garden, the temple was interesting as a contrast to the other religious temples we visited. We found Tuanshan Village fascinating and it was encouraging to see the old buildings being restored. The Botanical Gardens in Kunming and the first bend of the Yangtze provided wonderful sights. Lijiang was probably our favourite town with all its pretty rivers and streets with their profusion of flowers.

In the third group are the places that we were quite happy to visit, but didn't rate as highly as the others. Erhai Lake was beautiful but I could see Frank's point that it's real beauty was when you could see the mountains clearly behind the lake, which was more likely in winter. For us the mountains remained in a misty haze. The Three Pagodas were impressive, but it was a little like Black Dragon Pool, in that it seemed more like a rather busy, but still very nice park. The Songzalin Monastery certainly did give a very good insight into Buddhism in China, but our interest in religious practices is limited. The Dongba Cultural Museum was interesting, but what really caught our eye were the gorgeous orchids in one of the courtyards. I guess we are just really enthusiastic about plants. We didn't bother with the Ethnic Minorities Museum as it wasn't something that was a priority and we had already learned a lot about the minorities during our trip. It was preferable to have a more relaxed morning on our last day.

The disappointment for me was Tiger Leaping Gorge although Michael liked it more than me. There is so much construction going on in the whole area with the new road and rail link between Lijiang and Shangri La, not to mention all the new hotels going up, that it all feels like a large building site. Also Tenzen said that as they were putting a new elevator in to take people down to the gorge, it was not possible to walk very far along the gorge at the moment. It did feel like we walked a very long way down and then only a few metres along the gorge before walking all the way up again.

But apart from Tiger Leaping Gorge everything else was really amazing and we had a wonderful trip thanks to all your careful organisation. As before the connections and travel arrangements worked very efficiently. We only wish public transport in the UK worked as well.

It is going to take me a little while to sort out the photos. I only have a little camera and as I have said the quality of the photos is not as good as I'd hoped. We have some family visitors this week-end and so I don't expect to be able to do much work on the photos until next week, but will try and sort out the best ones for you.  I assume you have plenty of pictures of the well known sights and it will be Xiu Shan Park and Jiaozi that you might be most interested in.

Thanks again Wonder for a memorable trip and as I said in my previous email I am very keen on the idea of helping to develop an interest here in the UK in Chinese garden tours.

Regards

Hi Wonder

I am back in the UK on Saturday afternoon. I couldn't use my email while in China as Hotmail were blocking me as a security precaution after I had been hacked a couple of weeks ago by someone in Nigeria.

Anyway this is just to let you know that we had a truly memorable holiday and the trip to Jiaozi Mountain was amazing, with the whole mountainside covered in a glorious profusion of rhododendrons which are very like azaleas, only bigger. The scenery was breath-taking. It really was the highlight of the trip and Cherry and the driver were delightful company on what was a perfect day.

I am still quite jet-lagged so will write more in a day or two, with more detailed feedback. All the guides were great, as were the hotels. I have lots and lots of photos to sort out but will send you the best ones for you to use in your publicity.

Thank you again Wonder for all the trouble you have taken in organising another fantastic holiday for us. I have some ideas which I would like to share with you about whether we could maybe work together in the future to try and look at how a tour could be put together and marketed in the UK and Europe, highlighting Chinese gardens and the Chinese landscape. I would be happy to do some research at this end but I really do think there could be interest amongst people in the UK for such a tour. Anyway it is just an idea at the moment and it would be fun to develop something like that with you. 

Regards from a very tired but happy Elizabeth

Dear Tracy,

Our tours in Yunnan were great. Our guides Jack and Linda were wonderful. We saw and experienced many great things while in Yunnan. We even kidded Linda that she was able to make thick fog magically disappear so that we could see rice terraces near Yuanyang. Thanks again for all your work on these two tours.

Hi Ian,

You need to know that our trip went smoothly and we had a fantastic time in China. In particular, we must tell you that Nima in Shangri La and Carina in Guilin were both OUTSTANDING guides and come with our utmost recommendation - we trust that they are well remunerated for their friendliness and skill by their employers.

Hi Ian,

We are back to Geneva! Please find below a short summary of our trip which you may feel free to edit or shorten it as you deem appropriate.

We have so many photos to share, though you may decide which one you would like to publish it.  I am going to forward those photos to you by different emails.   

Many thanks again.   Best regards.

“Quote Unstoppable WOWs for our Amazing China Discovery Tour!

As orchestrated by Ian Wei of Chengdu Bamboo International Travel, two of us were wandering from one natural wonders to endless wonder spots of China. We were wandering from the soft fertile earth of red land to multi-formed stone forest and strolling in the village of diverse ethnic minority of Yunnan. Our journey continued to nonstop amazing historical heritage and nature beauty in the land of world roof in Tibet.  Worldly cute panda and Giant Buddha as well as Luodai and Jinli ancient places plus shopping spots of Sichuan made our visit simply unforgettable. We were following the track of silk road and visit numerous wonder places in the Gobi desert of Gansu province, for example, climbing up sand dune mountain and circling the crescent lake of Dunhuang, walking inside mogao grottoes, Yardang geopark, western great wall, Jiayuguan fortress, reclining buddha of Zhangye.  Every view point in the area of rainbow mountains gave us no chance to brink our eyes and kept exclaiming Wows!  Lastly 4000 steps of stairs plus a double downs to tops ride of cable car to reach the peak station of Huashan in the outskirt of Xian was such a stunning and challenging trip.  

The above merely captures the essence of our 18-day (1-18 April 2015) trip organized by the impressive services of Chengdu Bamboo International Travel. Ian Wei is our host who stood ready to track/follow and response to our request throughout the tour. I have a full confidence and offer a big applause to the second to none service of this travel agent. Many thanks to Ian and his tour guides and superb drivers who made our trip every possible and so memorable.    

Cheers.  A couple, residents of Geneva, Switzerland ”

The following are some of the photos shared by Boonshan Sangfai

Dear Tiger!

We arrived safely in Lijiang this evening.
The guide in Shangrila was excellent! The guide in Lijiang is also very good. All the logistics with the car and guides is functioning very smoothly. And finally many thanks for the repayment of our unjustified expenses in Huanglong! It is very generous of you a d your copany!!!!

Keep in touch and express our thanks to your management.

Hi Tiger,

Our trip to Sichuan was fantastic, we enjoyed every minute. The organization was perfect and we will recommend you and your company to all our friends, who are planning the China trip.

Special thanks to Zach, So young, but very professional, intelligent and talented guide. We, from our side, tried not to make him troubles and let him do his job. 

After Chengdu we moved to Lijiang, Dali, Kunming and Beijing. Without the local guide, the trip became more challenge. But everything was ok, excep  the bus trip from Dali to Kunming, that took us 10 hours instead of 5.5 because of the construction works. Everywhere attitude to us was very friendly and local people tried to help us especially those speaking English. (Taxi divers are the only exclusion). We felt, that Chinese people are proud of their country and wanted we also like it.

We took thousand of pictures. It will take time to classified them. I will share some of them with you, when they are ready. Do you want me to upload the pictures to any server?

I left to Zach this my mail address, and he sent me some message, but I got nothing. Can you, please, ask him about his mail. I'd like to send him some pictures too.

Thanks a lot.

Yuri and friends

Hi Isabel,

Thanks for the follow up. Overall, we enjoyed the trip and below are some of my feedback.

Guides and driver
All the guides and driver are very professional and knowledgeable about the area we visited.  Their level of English is very good and they make the trip very enjoyable. We highly recommend all the three guides to other future guests of you.

Itinerary
In Kunming, the stone forest was interesting. Dali was a quite rush and deserve two nights stay, in our opinion. Quite an interesting town and its surrounding. LiJiang is the highlight and definitely worth a second trip again.  The itinerary was quite tight as we were quite exhausted from seeing so many towns and villages within the 1.5 days. Shuhe is probably a better place for foreign tourist to based in and stay (eg banyan tree resort) as it is less crowded with local tourist and able to enjoy the ancient town. There were just too many local tourists at Lijiang, even at night.

Chinadiscovery
Highly recommended and especially I have to make so many changes.  Really thankful for your service and promptness in your response.  Will contact you again in our future visit/trips to china.

Again, thank you for everything.

Regards

Kim

Hi Ian,

We have a wonderful time during the Yunnan Tour that you have arranged for us. Your tour guides and drivers are very nice and good person. There are very experience and cheerfull. They really take care of us during our tour with them. I experiance few time tour in China, the tour guide are very demanding and not freindly. May be becuase the past I join group tour instead of private tour.

So far I am very sastify with your services. I already recommended to my friends who interested.

I can share some photos of the scenery that I have taken. You can tell me how to share with you.

Again, I will like to thank you for all the afford and time that you have spent to organise and arrange this trip for us.

Thank you.

Regards,

Me Me

Hi Wonder,

Sorry I have taken so long to get around to writing to you to give you our feed-back.

Firstly, let me say that we were very happy with the way you organised our China trip for us.  Your service to us was of the highest standard and we thank you sincerely for that.

GUILIN:

Guide - Linda - a very pleasant young lady with very good English language skills.

Hotel - Bravo - good quality, clean, comfortable, good location.  Breakfast - both western and chinese was quite awful.

Driver/Vehicle - both very good - no improvement needed.

Guilin to Kunming (soft-sleeper train) - I realise that this is outside of your control however I will still advise you of our experience.  Our compartment was used and dirty when we boarded the train.

KUNMING:

Guide - Wayan - very personable, friendly, and knowledgeable young man.  We very much enjoyed his company and the information which he shared with us about Kunming, its surrounds, and China in general. Wayan chose good restaurants and local dishes for us to enjoy.  He made us feel that he was always doing his best to ensure that our time with him was the best he could make it.

Hotel - Jinjian - good quality, clean, comfortable. Although the hotel was handy to the railway station it was not a particularly good location. Breakfast was the best that we experienced during our time in China. 

Driver/Vehicle - both very good - no improvement needed.

LIAJIANG:

Guide - Sophie - very personable, friendly, and caring young woman.  We enjoyed her company and her bubbly personality. 

Hotel - He Xi - clean and comfortable in an excellent location.

Driver/Vehicle - both very good - no improvement needed.

JINGHONG:

Guide - Mike - our least experienced guide but by far our most enthusiastic.  Mike is an outstanding young man who with experience will prove to be a major asset to your company.

Hotel - Tai Garden - good quality, clean, comfortable, with OK location.

Driver/Vehicle - both very good - no improvement needed.

All in all a very satisfactory experience.  One suggestion might be, for groups such as ours who are responsible for finding their dinner each evening, you might provide a list of suggested local restaurants. Perhaps a short tour of the city area would help your guests to orient themselves with regard to their hotel and its locale. We found Guilin and Lijiang relatively easy for this but Kunming and Jinghong were more of a challenge.

Thank you for all of your assistance.

Kindest regards,

Paul Hamill

Hi Tiger !

We just spent 2 nights and one whole day in Yanshuo more precisely so we had not much time to visit, but now we arrived in Sanya for a little rest and I have also more time to answer your mail !

We had a wonderful time in Yunnan. Everything went perfectly, from the moment we landed in Kunming to thé one when we left for Guilin.

The guides were great - especially the one in Lijiang (Anna, a Naxhi woman) and in Shangri-La (a Tibetan). Reliable, nice, open-minded and smart. Great people !

Visits were great. Although low season, the potatso park was beautiful ! 

While we were again in Kunming on our own, we visited the Bamboo temple and it was a fantastic place. Quiet, peaceful and beautiful. Also the Golden temple was worth a visit.

We appreciated you calling to make sure everything was alright !

I will keep your contact for a next trip to China ! Why not Sichuan and Lhassa ?!? We'll see.

Thank you for everything!

We stay in Sanya til Thursday before we fly back to Hong Kong for 24 hours and then back to Switzerland.

Kindest regards and have a nice week-end !

Michèle

Hi Ian,

Thank you for organizing our trip in China; this was a great experience and we enjoyed the trip very much. My overall impression of the services provided is excellent. We had no issues with hotel reservations, flights, guides, etc. 

All our guides, especially those who we had a chance to spend more time with (Guilin, Chengdu, Lijiang, Zhangjiajie) were great. Always very accommodating, punctual and attentive. The drivers were good. The hotels in the big cities (Chengdu, Chongqing, Shanghai) were excellent.

Chongqing - Dazu Rock Carvings were a great suggestion. It was a little far, but well worth the trip.The Yangtze River Cruise accommodations, cruise and tours were great. The only letdown was that we passed one of the gorges in complete darkness so could not see anything at all. I am still glad I chose this cruise and got to see the Three Lesser Gorges. Also, on the cruise we paid extra to dine at a smaller dining room and based on what we heard from other travelers, this was a good option. The tours in Chengdu were great. We did not get to see the sunrise on Mt Emei, but the night we got there, it was crystal clear and no people. It was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. Lijiang tours were great. I highly suggest Tiger Leaping Gorge for those that want a more active vacation - it's beautiful and peaceful. In Zhangjiajie we were able to visit Tianzi Mountain and Huangshi Village on the same day. We had enough time, but I suspect it was because we did not have to wait in long lines anywhere.

I also appreciate your prompt e-mails and your answers to all my questions during the entire time you were planning this trip and I appreciate you checking in with us a couple of times during our trip. It's been a pleasure working with you and I look forward using your services again some day when we visit China. I hope you find my comments useful. Please let me know if you would like me to go into more detail about any part of my trip.

Thank you and take care,

Zane