Testimonial

Hello Michael,
 
I hope you are well. I wanted to thank you again for helping me out with my tours while traveling in China. I had a fantastic time! You and your staff were extremely gracious, knowledgeable, and wonderful hosts!!!
 
I especially loved shopping with my two guides in between sight-seeing. The girls were about my age and we had a blast. I always get compliments on the clothes I bought in Beijing and Chengdu.
 
Please see the link below for my favorite pictures from my trip. Feel free to use them for your company publicity (all but that gorgeous one of the Bird's Nest at night... that one is not mine) and please share them with your staff.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbtXLZyzctGqZ

All the best,
 
Lizzie

Dear Sunny Xie,

Back home again from China my wife and I like to thank you for a wonderful tour in China. It was perfectly arranged from our arrival in Hong Kong till our departure from Shanghai Airport exactly according to the itinerary which was roughly outlined by ourselves and filled in by you. All this taking into account that the main purpose of our visit to China was attending the World Badminton Championships for national teams in Guangzhou.

We very much appreciated the assistance of all the assigned tour guides during our trip and the drivers who were taking us to all the various locations we have visited. Altogether it made that we could enjoy every minute of our tour as everything had been taken care of and we didn’t have to bother about buying train tickets or seeking hotels.

Generally speaking all three tour guides were professional and they had good knowledge of the sites we visited. Their English was good enough for us but not always easy to understand.
The mini busses that were used for our transport were comfortable.
However traffic in China is rather chaotic we only incidentally felt unsafe. This happened particularly on our trip to Longsheng on the winding mountain road where our driver was taking risks by overtaking vehicles in unclear bends of the road. However we appreciated his overall driving we suggest that you point out to the driver involved that he should be more careful in such situations.

The hotels you booked for us were very comfortable and up to standard.
Except one  lunch in Guangzhou all meals that were included in the tour were very nice.

The trains we travelled in were good. The soft sleeper cars, the compartments and the bed linen, were well kept and clean and so were the western toilet rooms. Even on the long 23 hour stretch from Guilin to Shanghai.

However we selected the greater part of our tour ourselves we, as I also mentioned on the evaluation forms, were occasionally unpleasantly surprised by the overwhelming tourist merchandising at some places we visited. (especially Yangshuo) This was because we never realised before that tourism was that much “developed”. You may consider to inform individual customers in advance what they can expect.

Finally our tour in Shanghai. It was a crowded programme that day but we appreciated every minute of it. Aishla did a very good job and she showed great involvement. The visit to the Chinese family and the food market in the Longtang quarter which was fitted in as an extra was one of the highlights and you may consider it a perfect item to fit in future individual tours. I think it will be most appreciated by Europeans. Americans and Australians may be less interested in this kind of visits.

Well this was the evaluation of our trip. As I said before we liked it very much and we have appreciated your professional help. The comments we made may help you to further improve your product. When coming back to China we will for sure ask your assistance again.

I enclose two photographs of our visit to the Longtang family.

Kind regards
Frank

Hello Candy,

Here are my feedback on my China tour,

There were so many memorable attractions we visited. For me, the high lights were the people of China rather than the attractions (which were great). The two family visits were outstanding. The picnic we had in Tibet when the neighborhood children gathered and sang for us. All the small children who would shyly say, "Hello", wanting to practice their English with us.

I think all the guides were outstanding in their own way. Some spoke English better than others which made the day less tiresome for us. All were very enthusiastic about their own city/culture. Most were flexible and able to change schedules upon request. I know our daughter Kirsten thought we did not need guides in those cities where we were just making airport transfers. I found it nice, as I found the airports confusing and it was great to have someone who spoke Chinese when the flight times were not correct. (Kirsten speaks Chinese and travels much more than we do so the airports did not intimidate her).

The hotels for the most part were truely 5 star. Three hotels ( Sofitel, Huangshan International and Harbour Plaza, H,K. ) up graded us to suites which were lovely. The best food we had was chosen by our guide, Toni, in Guilin and Yangshuo, and in Chongching and in Suzhou.

I will absolutely recommend China Highlights to our friends.

Regards,

Jo-Anne

Hi, Candy

Sorry, I've been so busy with our work that have not had time to answer earlíer.  We think Yangshuo-Guilin area was the most memorable attration we visited.  Tony Tang was our favourite guide. He has a very professional attitude at quiding. Most of all, he likes outdoor living like we do. For the hotel, we loved the one at Yangshuo while Guilin's the Ostmanthus hotel was good too. Also, hiking/cycling in general in Yangshuo-Guilin area should not be missed. The light show at Yangshuo was super.

Regards,
Eija

It would be hard to choose between the Great Wall and the Yellow Mountain.  We found both spectacular.

The guides were all very good.  Johnny in Beijing gave us a great introduction to the city and gave us excellent tourist tips like teaching us the very useful skill of how to simply and politely say we weren't interested when approached by vendors.  Tony in Huangshan was very patient and took things at a slow pace on the day my daughter was feeling unwell.  He also went above and beyond staying with us after our visit to Hongcon and making sure that we were served in the very busy, very good restaurant he'd suggested for dinner after a very long day.  If we had to pick a favourite it would be Angela in Xian.  She was knowledgeable about the sites, very efficient, ordered fantastic lunches and (maybe because she was a woman and we were two women) was extra solicitous about our comfort when it came to washrooms etc. She also managed to sort out the name confusion in my daughter's ticket without having to go to a special desk.

The hotels were all fine.  The locations were excellent.  The breakfast in Huangshan wasn't up to that in Xian and Beijing, and all the facilities weren't operational in Beijing, but then we weren't there much.  The hotel and restaurant on Yellow Mt. was not on a par with the others, but considering where it was, and seeing how food and supplies are all carried up the mountain by porters, we certainly aren't about to complain.  And it was adequate.

In all, we really enjoyed our visit.
A couple of tips: We had trouble finding the "many restaurants" that were supposed to be close to the hotel in Beijing.  It never occurred to us to go to the top floor of the mall and department stores!  Most often in North America the food courts are in the basement.
Re: cycling on the city wall in Xian.  It was a great experience.  But we didn't realize until we were well on our way that the bicycles were for people with shorter legs than ours!!  It made the going very hard.  Asking to have the bicycle seats raised would have been smart.
We loved Yellow Mt. but beginning the second day before sunrise and then not leaving until almost 11 pm (and our plane was late leaving) makes for a very very long day.  I know you don't control the airline schedules - but we were very glad that Yellow Mt. was the last leg of our trip, and we could take it easy the next day in Shanghai.  If we'd done the tour the other way around it would have been very exhausting.

Dear Virginia,
 
First, thank you for all you assistance getting the trip to Xian arranged and helping us get the payments to you. I am back home now and I think finally back to the local time zone which is 12-hours different from Beijing. Like you, I did not feel well for a few days but am back at work business as usual. 
 
The five of us had a wonderful time on the one day trip to Xian. I can say it was a lot of things to see and do on such a short schedule. Our flight from Beijing to Xian was on schedule and no problems. The plane appeared to be full.  Since the plane was full, we couldn't figure out how you were able to get us seats on such short notice! 
 
We arrived at the Xian airport and Eileen was waiting for us with a sign that had my name on it. So that was very easy to connect with her. It rained most of the day in Xian, but that wasn't much of a problem since most of the activities were indoors. We drove to the City Wall and were able to see how it was constructed, etc. We did get to go on the wall in the rain ... but we couldn't have stayed very long anyway. We then went to a place where replicas were made of the terra cotta figures and shopped a bit. From there we went to lunch. The restaurant was fine and the food very good. Then we drove to the terra cotta soldiers. We all were awestruck on the huge numbers and scope of the area. Around 4:30pm we left to head back to the airport.  Again the flight back to Beijing was uneventful.
 
Eileen was very nice and explained everything we saw as we drove to the various venues and was extremely knowledgeable on the many questions we asked her.  She stayed with us (except for lunch) and was quite an excellent tour guide. Also the driver was very courteous and nice.
 
All of us knew we had a tight schedule for the trip in one day, but everyone very much enjoyed it and the opportunity to see Xian and the terra cotta figures.
 
So again, thank you for all you help in the arrangements for a successful adventure! :-)
 
We would not hesitate to recommend your services and hope that in the future we may contact you again.
 
Randy

Dear Eva

We really enjoyed our trips and we have great memories of China! 

With regard to the questions we think that they are very difficult to answer since we really enjoyed our trip and it somehow would be unfair to rate anything / anybody as best! However we think the mountaind wutai shan and especially the very very scenic drive to pingyao in the afternoon was superb! All our female tour guides were outstanding and all hotels ok - top restaurants were: in xi-an on the day we visited the terra cotta warriors, and in baidahe lunch on the second day - superb!!!
 
Kind regards
 
Rudolf
 

Dear Rebecca,

I had a wonderful trip with China Highlights.I think my most memorable experience was Mt. Huashan.  However, my most fun attraction was lunch with the local family at Hutong in Beijing.

I really enjoyed all my guides.  However, I think the best guide was Janice.  Now I must say Janice has an advantage over the others because she was a director and had much more experience than the others.  I also enjoyed Joan because I learned a lot from her.  Jerry and I had a great day together, but we also had such a short time together.

All the meals were excellent.  I enjoyed the meal with the family the most at Hutong. Not only the food was great, but the atmosphere was absolutely great!

All the trips that I did were amazing.  I can’t begin to explain in words how they all affected my thoughts, my knowledge, and love for China. I think everyone should eat with the locals, and visit the Hutong; simply to see and feel what the locals feel and do.  Visiting Hangzhou is an absolute must, so people can experience the paradise on Earth.

Of course I would recommended you. I have already recommended the company to my pharmacist & mother-in-law.

Faye

Dear Eva,

We just arrive May 9 at our house, very happy because we did a fantastic trip in China, we know many things, many places, thank you for all.

Many of the places that we visited were special, but there were two  things we liked most: Lijiang and the Yangtze River cruise.

We liked the guides a lot, so professional and were always willing to help and we felt at home, they are the Lijiang and the Guilin guide, sorry but we dont remenber the names.

The hotel which stands out in service, location and comfort was the Bell Tower Hotel Xian. The Golden Dragon hotel in Kunming  was not up to standards. The visit to the  Grand View tower seemed a disappointment, at least we have the guide took us to the flower market that seemed interesting.
 
It would be advisable to inform passengers if they make a commemorative trip for us, is to take precautions with their different climatic changes in each area of the country, when  we arrived  Lijiang, we had very cold. Please take as suggestions, not criticism.

Now that I recommend to anyone doing this trip dont forget to visit Pingyao and Lijiang, which are cities that still retain their traditions, it's nice and interesting to see the big cities that are in a constant renewal and progress, but what makes a country, its traditions and give a lot of shame that a country like China with so much culture, lose all this.

I recommend not to miss the spectacle of Sanji Liu Impression in Guilin, fantastic, as in the Shanghai Era Circus was very good.
And dont miss to eat Pekines Duck,is so delicious.

Maybe I recommend too eat a typical dishes from China, but not all the time  it was very hard for our stomach, it was so spicy.

And here in Peru  always wil be someone to wait for you.
 
Maria

Dear Grace,

Sorry for the delayed response.Was very busy since coming home.Some tour members have not responded so sending those photos that have been agreed upon. As per your questions, see below:

Potala Palace and Sera Monastery are the most memorable attractions. All guides were good in their respective places. As to the hotels, Sunworld Hotel was the best out of the tour. Lunch was the best in Beijing on our last day. Snowland Restaurant was great especially if one wants to eat familiar food as they have a great variety to choose from. We will surely recommend your company to our friends. We may visit China again in the not too distant future.

Jen