Testimonial

Dear Sunny

Day 1 On 22 July

we left Beijing in the evening, and we took the train to Lhasa. China Highlights arranged our train tickets and our permit for Tibet, which they had dropped off at our hostel in Beijing the day before we left. They even called the hostel to inform them that they would drop it off! So nothing could go wrong, we took a taxi and we arrived on Beijing West Train Station on 8.30 p.m. We checked in, found our waiting room and waited for approximately 45 minutes before we could enter to the train platform. It was very busy, the train was fully booked so we had to be in time. We booked soft sleeper tickets on the train, which means you share a compartment with 4 people in total. It looks very nice, your bed is made, everybody has their own television and there even is a little flower on the table. So nothing to complain about that! The train left exactly at 21.30 hrs.

Day 2 Stay on train.

Day 3 Today was the last day on the train, exactly 47,5 hours later from our departure in Beijing we arrived in Lhasa. Unbelievable how they can be so stipt while you are travelling for such a long period! We have reached hights of maximum 5000 meters, approximately 3 hours before arrival in Lhasa, and the views are spectacular. On the train there is extra oxygin, in case you need it. In the evening we arrived in Lhasa, which impressed us immediately. Because of the situation on March 14 there were many military people in Lhasa everywhere. China Highlights arranged a guide for the whole period in Tibet, which is necessary to obtain a permit. At this time, tourists are not allowed to enter Tibet without a guide. So Losang picked us up from the train station, and with Sawa (the bus driver) they took us to our hotel -> Shangbala hotel in the old part (and the best part) of the city. Lhasa is devided into two parts; the old Tibetan part and the new Chinese part. We really liked the fact that our hotel was situated in the old part, because here you can see and feel the real Tibet! Losang really took good care of us, and informed us that we should not drink any alcohol, take it very easy and eat normal Western food instead of trying the local food. This all because you have to get used to the height, if you are used to live in Holland below sea level, 3600 metres is quite high! So we took it easy and we had a good evening meal before we went to bed.

Day 4 Today we got up early, at 8.00 am we had breakfast and at 8.30 am Losang was already waiting for us at the lobby of the hotel. We went to the Potala Palace, and before we could enter the palace he informed us about who had lived here before the current Dalai Lama and all the history with it. He also arranged all the entrance tickets and booked a tour at 9 am. The best time, because there were not so many tourists by then and also no big American groups!! So he arranged this very well! In the palace you are not allowed to take pictures, but it is very impressive to see how everything is inside the palace. Also here Losang told us everything about Buddism, the Dalai Lama's and the history about the palace. Very impressive! Almost one hour later we left the palace and by mini van we went to the Tibet Museum. Inside the museum we were on our own, because there are English speaking automatic guides which you receive when you enter the museum. We have been in the museum for almost one hour, for us this was not so impressive and actually very boring. If we could skip it we would have done it. Some things are nice such as paintings and clothing, but the rest (jade, stones, animals etc.) is not what we really like. So we finished a little too early and we had to wait for about 15 minutes for Losang and Sawa. They did not count on people who were so fast so they arrived a little later. Of course this was no problem for us, because we didn't have to wait for a long time. After the museum we went for lunch at a very nice Tibetan steak house, where we had a very good meal. We could pick what we liked, things such as soup, main course, dessert and drinks. All was included in the total price we paid in advance. Hereafter we could choose if we would like to continue the tour or if we would like to have a rest in the hotel. We are still young so we wanted to see the Sera Monastry, and after that we had free time. The Sera Monastry is also impressive to see, still many locals visit the monastry for blessings. We have seen almost everything, including the place where the monks usually debate every day and the kitchen of the monastry. Very nice place to visit. Unfortunately we were not allowed to see the Drepung Monastry, as of the situation on March 14. Because of this some sights were closed for tourists. We were very lucky to see the most important ones! At 3 pm we finished the tour for today and Losang and Sawa dropped us off at the hotel. We had our own time now so we went to see the Barkhor area, which is the old part of the town. We walked around to see the real Tibetan life, which is very impressive to see, especially the religion. In the evening we found a very nice restaurant in the old part of town, although many others are closed at this time because not many tourists are allowed to enter Tibet.

Day 5 Today, Losang picked us up at 9.30 am at the hotel, to visit Jokhang Temple in the Barkhor area. In and outside the temple we were amazed by the Tibetan people who are praying there all day. Losang explained a lot about the temple. After a great view from the top of the temple (the view of the Potala is magnificent) we walked the pilgrim route in the Barkhor area which is great to see. We have had a little spare time before we had lunch in the old part of town. After lunch we went for a visit to Norbulingka, the summer palace of the Dalai Lama. We haven't spent a long time here, we must say that all the other places of Lhasa are more special then Norbulingka. While we were here Losang received a phone call from Sunny - she informed us that our booked flight to Shangri-La was cancelled. Sunny immediately arranged a new flight to our next stop Lijang, even though it was her weekend! We really appreciated this! After our visit to Norbulingka we spent time in town, we walked around again to experience the Tibetan life. In the evening we went to the Lhasa Hotel to have the best Yak burger of all times!

Day 6 In the morning there we no plans - we had some free time to spend. At 12.00 hrs we met Losang to have lunch at Lhasa kitchen, the same restaurant as yesterday. At 13.00 hrs Sawa picked us up for a drive to Yamdrok Lake at approximately 5200 metres! It was a long drive, but very interesting as we also went to a water burial place. At the top the view is excellent!! We have spent half an our on top when we returned to Lhasa again. Tomorrow we leave Lhasa so at the hotel we said goodbye to Losang because he was not able to drop us off at the airport. He arranged another guide though, so many thanks to everything he did for us! In the evening we went for a last walk through the old part of town, and we ended up at a beautiful Potala Palace at night!!

Day 7 Today was our last day in Lhasa, at 7.30 am Sawa picked us up at hotel and dropped us off at airport. We must say that visiting Tibet was one of the best things during our whole trip to China! It is a very special place to visit, and we enjoyed every moment of it! Many thanks to Sunny and China Highlights, who arranged everything in an excellent way!

Candy,
Thank you for the kind thoughts and I hope you are able to spend some quality time with your family as well. I again want to thank you for the fabulous trip you arranged for us, even though it’s been four months since our trip rarely a day goes by that Wauneta and I aren’t talking to each other or friends, family or a business acquaintance about the trip and the unbelievable service we received from your company. As recent as yesterday over a business lunch I relayed pieces of our trip and the incredible service we received from you and China Highlights. Thank you again for everything and all the best to you and your family. Sincerely,
John Browne

Dear Sunny,
We are very satisfy about our tour organised by chinahighlights around your country, we have been able to discover how interesting and different is depending on the territories, cities, villages,… In general we are not complaint about guide/driver service but we would like to explain you that for us were very uncomfortable to fill in your surveys almost always with their presence. I would suggest you that it would be much better to give it night before departure inside one envelop and give it back closed at morning. To feel free, they mustn’t ever open it, we think that they should give it to you still closed or open it only when we already were far away.
Kind Regards,
Dr. Jaume Miranda-Rius
Note: Thank you very much for your T-shirts

Dear Karen.
I write you after many days because I was traveling in the interior of my province, in rural sites, beautifull but very poors. Well, I`m now working again in Oaxaca City and I want to tell you THANK YOU, VERY, VERY MUCH, because the travel that you arrange for my family was excelent and we have a lot of experiences to compart with our friends, Thanks again. Also, we saw the Olimpic Games with admiration for the impresionant organization and technology of your country. China is really a great potency. Congratulations! Maybe we return to China to visit Hong Kong and Tibet in the next years.
Hugs for you.

Dear Eva
Apologies that we have taken a few days to respond but we have been a bit busy. Firstly It was great to meet you and put a face to the person we had been dealing with. It added even more to the personal touch. Secondly our holiday in Guilin and Xian continued to the high standard set by the start in Hangzhou and Huangshan. Travel arrangements , guides and hotels were all excellent. Thank you for all your organisation. Highlights would have to be Yellow Mountain Longshan Terracotta Army Chinese people Impossible to pick between them In huangshan Jessica was great guide on the yellow mountain and in Huangshan.Ling Ling amused and entertained us with her tales in hangzhou and Sally was very informative and thoughtful in Xian. Mark probably edged it - but we did spend more time with him. He was good in every respect -knowledgable ,attentive,flexible -particularly ensuring we were happy with arrangements. Yes. There was a difference but that was clear from the booking i.e. the hotels at Huangshan and San Jiang were not quite as good as in Hangzhou and Xian for example -but throughout we thought the standard high. Meals were also good. breakfast at Hangzhou and san Jiang probably the only disappointment. Lunches were good everywhere and all enjoyed. We particularly enjoyed the choice of meals arrangement with mark and sally. Longshan and San jaing was worth the overnight trip and better than doing longshan in a day. Similarly we were pleased with the overnight stay in Beihei.Balance is important . there is much to see in China and there is a temptation to cram too much in. We feel we generally had long enough in all the places in that we saw the key sites but always left feeling we could have seen a bit more -which is good! Thanks for your help and advice in setting it up. we enjoyed the cycling trips and would recommend them .We did 3 - the excellent trip with Mark in Yangzhou . We also cycled around the lake in hangzhou on the public bikes and around the walls in Xian. We very much enjoyed the performance on the water in Yangzhou of the show by the famous chinese director. very impressive and one no one should miss!
Thanks again and happy mid autumn festival
Regards
Roy

Hello Karen,
please see my answers in your mail. Overall I have to say that this was a great trip. There is nothing I would complain about. I think your company is doing a very good job in satisfying your customers. Keep this up. The River Li Cruise in Guilin. As an engineer I was impressed by the three gorges dam project. That was definitely Lily in Guilin. Her English is very good, she is very knowlegable about the places visited and she knows when to leave you to take up the impressions on your own. On top of that she is just good company. I had a lot of fun and a lot to laugh with her. Also very good was David on the Victoria Anna. He is a very good entertainer. Really good were his presentations and discussions on the three gorges project.
Best Regards
Bernhard

Eva,
Thank you for the notice of the Mid-autumn festival. It looks lovely. We enjoyed our cruise of the Yangtze River. The boat was comfortable, clean, the food was plentiful and good, and the tours were well organized. The gorges are very beautiful.
Thanks again for your help.
Barbara Stein

Dear Elaine
Sorry for being a little bit late in replying this, but it's only a week I returned to Greece and home and many things were waiting here after being absent for a whole month. I had a great time in China and the tour was very good. Everything was very well organized and I am very satisfied with services and everything. Especially my Beijing tour was exceptional. I think I will rate main attractions as follows: a. Forbidden City b. Great Wall of China c. Terracota Warriors d. Temple of Heaven My tour guide in Beijing. He was very experienced and knowledgeable, very pleasant and polite, flexible and thoughtful, overall excellent. Tour guides in Xi'an and Shanghai were also very good but it was my Beijing guide who was really impressive. Yes everything was very good. Favorable hotel was the Radisson in Shanghai Best meals I would say Shanghai and Beijing (the first day in both cities). Sorry I don't remember the names of the restaurants. Traveling in China is a great experience. It is a completely different world there from the rest of the world. I travel a lot, visited almost every country in Europe and many places in the United States. So China was something very different from what I have seen up to now in my life. It was worth it and I would love to get back there and see more, because only once is not enough. I have to work on this and I am very busy at the moment. As soon as I have my photos sorted out maybe I can send you a few or add them myself China Highlights community page. I think that was it for the moment. At this point I would like also to clarify something concerning my tour in Beijing. I guess that it is clear enough from my answers in the evaluation form above, that I was very satisfied with everything there. I understand that there was some kind of misunderstanding related to the evaluation form I completed before leaving Beijing and I don't want any doubts to be left upon this. My trip in Beijing was really excellent. Elaine, I would like also to thank you personally for organizing my tour, taking care of everything nicely. Bye for now. I hope I will talk to you again in the future.
Best regards Evangelia

Sunny,
Thank you so much, Sunny, for making my nephew's stay in Shanghai a very memorable one. Thank you too for your quick action and refund for his unused Hangzou tour last Sept.2, 2008. I am very impressed with your efficiency and professionalism. Was very lucky to know you and to have you arrange his tour so perfectly. Will surely recommend you and your company. Thank you too for your concern for my father-in-law...he is 94 years old and at his age, health is a very touchy thing. There are days that he is very okay, and days that he just keeps on sleeping.
Best regards!

Dear Ms. Wang:
I've just returned home from my trip to China and wanted to touch bases with you to let you know how my tour to Xi'an went. I would like to highly commend the service offered by your tour guide Helena and the driver, Mr. Li. Helena is an exceptional human being and we could not have asked for better care and attention. She went above and beyond her responsibilities to see after every detail for us. It is evident that she was well raised by her parents and taught to respect and treat others with kindness. I thought I would tell you this via email since the form you sent does not convey everything that she did for us. She was very punctual, stuck to the schedule planned and always put her best foot forward! Her English pronounciation and grammar were the best we've heard so far! I would certainly not hesitate to book with China Highlights again. Thank you again for planning our trip and making sure we got the very best!
Sincerely, Valerie