Testimonial

Vee Lee:
Just a short note to thank you so much for organizing a terrific trip for Laurie and me this past week. Everything was perfectly organized from beginning to end. My tour guide Lily was so knowledgeable and was so flexible and easy to work with. We learned so much and had a great time as well. We were blessed with perfect weather which made it even more enjoyable. Our driver was very good. He was cautious and very careful. We appreciated that. I would recommend you and your company as well as Lily Guo any time. Thanks again for a memorable experience.
Howard Rouse

Dear Eva
I wanted to let you know how much my son and I appreciated Michelle and her driver. Everything worked out really well, we had a wonderful tour of Xian and the terracotta warriors. We especially liked eating at the local restaurants. Michelle is an awesome guide. I am saddened to hear about the earthquake, I hope there was not much damage in Zian, and that your family and friends are safe. Again thank you for the tour.
Arlene

Karen,
we had a wonderful time and were very happy with China Highlights and would definitely recommend your company to our friends. I was so sorry to hear about the earthquake which occurred as we were leaving the Beijing airport for home. I hope your friends and family were not affected and I feel for those who were.
Barb

Dear Elaine,
I think we liked Guilin the most, but there is nothing that stands out. The Great Wall was wonderful, but everything was unique in its own way, so everything we saw was great! Each tour guide had their unique personalities, and we enjoyed each one for who they were. Herb and Lemon were the easiest to understand as their English was so good. Cherry's English is good, but we found it quite difficult to understand her as her accent is strong, and her voice is softer, so we could not hear her in the van very well. I think sometimes people stopped trying to hear, because it was too much work. Wallace is working on his English, but was easy to understand. There wasn't a question we asked, that Herb couldn't answer, and we had lots of them, as he was our first guide. He planned everything so well, and made smooth adjustments. We maybe could have spent a little more time at the Great Wall, but I don't know if that was feasible for him. Lemon knew everything there was to know about Shanghai, adjusted her schedule for us, and did everything over and above what we asked. She was very on top of things. They all had very nice personalities, and we enjoyed them all. Wallace has a lovely personality and adjusted our request to skip the museum, filling the time with many enjoyable ideas. He will be better and better as time goes. Cherry was not as good a planner as the others, and sometimes she planned more of what she thought we should do, rather than what we wanted to do. But she doted on our parents and was so good with them, that they felt well looked after. So you see, everyone has their strengths! Hotels and meals were all good, although some were better than others. We did not enjoy our first meal in Guilin, where we had to order ourselves, and we never actually found a dish we liked. The hotel in Beijing was in a bit of a remote area, but it was good for the attractions we wanted to see. We really enjoyed the food for the most part. Yes, I thought you guys did a great job. The guides were flexible with the schedule, and we felt that they all tried to give us a great experience in China. Our itinerary was good and we enjoyed everything we saw and did. Thank you for creating so many memories with us. It was a fantastic trip. The only thing that may have been helpful is finding out about the shows earlier and possibly more information on them (we got the information with our last e-mail shortly before we left for China), so that we could have researched them more and planned our evenings better.

Hi Angela
We are back in Shanghai from our wonderful tour which you arranged for us! I wish to thank you and China Highlights for an excellent job of making our tour of China an event to remember. Your tour guides are the best we have ever had! In my questionnaire for you I have rated some of the tour sites as a 3, and I wish to make sure that the fact that the site was a 3 for us, this rating has nothing to do with the tour guide. They explained each site extremely well, the fault has nothing to do with their competence, but with the fact that the site was not very interesting to a foreign western person. I wanted to make sure that my comments on some sites was not a reflection on the tour guides. As I said previously they are the best that we have ever had, and I would want them again on any future tour of China. Thanks again to you and China Highlights Bernard Dilliott

Dear Angela,
I'm sorry it has taken me so long to respond to your message. After such a wonderful trip, I just can't get back to work. I had a fabulous time in China and I want to thank you and China Highlights for all you did to make my trip so memorable. As you may remember, I started my four-week trip in Beijing, Xi'an, Nanjing and Shanghai with a group from a community college course on China then traveled independently for two more weeks. While the whole trip was unforgettable, the time I spent on my own in and around Guilin, Kunming, Chengdu, Yangtze River Valley, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macao was the most exciting for me. I still can't quite believe that I, a 61 year-old "semi-backpacker" traveling alone with no Chinese language skills, got to see and do so much. And I feel most grateful to China Highlights because without your help, I never would have managed. I spent weeks doing research before making the decision to stay on after my group went home. Of all the sites I visited, yours was by far the most informative. The detailed information about attractions, flight and train schedule, etc. was most helpful in deciding where to go and how to get there; but, above all, it was knowing that I could contact China Highlights at any time for assistance that made me brave enough to extend my trip. Once I found you, I had a good friend in China just a phone call or email away. The only difficulty I had was paying for the flights I booked while in China. I had expected to be able to use my credit card more easily and did not bring my PayPal account information which would have helped. It was frustrating for a while, but with your assistance, it all worked out. You might mention the credit card issue to other travelers. I would also add that I found the staff at my budget hostels generally more helpful than the business centers at our four-star hotels. They had a better knowledge of English and were more familiar with the needs of independent tourists. I found the hostels through hostelworld.com and lonelyplanet.com. I'm looking forward to returning to China some day and will continue to recommend China Highlights to everyone I know.
Best wishes to everyone at China Highlights! Eileen Mendez

Angela;
We had a good experience on the boat cruise. If I had to do it again I would arrange a transfer from the hotel or airport to the ship. We arrived on the dock in Chongqing and had a difficult time finding our way to the boat. We were also accosted by an army of escorts offering to carry our luggage. The cruise information said something about meeting at a “hall” but the person we called on the phone number only told us to come to the dock. Separately, the cruise company tried to up sell a suite; they did not appear to be aware of the arrangement whereby we were not to share a room for the third person in the party.
Andrew Ilnycky.

Dear Sunny,
Many thanks for all your help. We had a great time in Xi’an and our guide was superb, she really knew all her stuff! Now some other friends want to come to China with us next year, so we shall be contacting you again for a trip in October 2009 and possibly even another trip with nine of us in 2010!
Regards Graham

Dear Candy,
The Li River cruise was the most memorable attraction I visited. The most outstanding tour guide, Viviene was considerate, perceptive to the group's preferences and very professional. Ming was very knowledgeable and very popular with the group.Java had excellent historical knowledge and was very responsive to the group's needs. Although we only saw Helen (in Yichang) very briefly, she impressed us with her sincerity, thoughtfulness and local knowledge.All your guides were friendly, informative and professional. All the hotels were good, although the Pu Dong Ramada seemed disorganised compared with the others and few of the front desk staff in Chengdu spoke English. The Marriott in Chongqing was superb ... but not one of yours! The meals throughout the trip were excellent. The variety was commented upon by several group members. English people eat a lot of very spicey Indian food so our guides' concerns that some meals may have been too hot for us were unfounded. China is a fascinating and intriguing country. It's people are wonderfully welcoming and friendly. Standards of service are generally very high and hotels very well appointed and well up to Western standards. Guilin, the Li River and Yangshuo are less well known in the UK and are absolutely superb! The chance to cycle (or Motorcycle) out into the countryside should not be missed. The Giant Panda Research and Breeding Centre, in Chengdu, is a must for animal lovers. Best to visit in the morning, before the pandas settle down to their long afternoon siesta. Conditions for the animals are excellent, not an iron-barred cage in sight!

Dear Elaine,
All the guides were great. For example, Laura was very sympathetic and sweet, and Sam was extremely helpful. It was the Great Wall that the most memorable attraction I visited. I really enjoyed the meals, and all the hotels were great. I can not tell which hotel I liked the most... I liked everything very much...
As a suggestion, I think that all travelers, besides going to the attractions, should not miss the opportunity to go to as many shows as possible; all the ones to which I was able to go were great.

Gustavo Carvalho