Testimonial

Just like to say thank you Rebecca for all your help with our recent stay and tour of Xian. Everything was fantastic. From the beginning of contacting you with all the organisation, and then eventually we arrived, and our Guide – Helen and our driver were all fantastic. We had a wonderful visit to Xian and all of the 3 of you help make it so.
Thank you again Kathryn Lindsay

Dear Angela,
We thought both the Lingering Garden and the Lion Forest Garden were incredibly beautiful and amazingly intricate. They both displayed garden design at it's highest level and they were beautifully maintained. We enjoyed the bonsai at the Lion Forest Garden as well. The Grand Canal was not to be missed as well. Not only was the canal beautiful, we were fascinated by our visit to the market and it was fun seeing how people lived along the canal. Thank you Jessica for finding a boat that could take us on the canal since all the regular canal boats were shut down due to high water in the canals. We loved the location of the Hotel righ on the Lake which was so beautifuly lit at night. We could see the Lake from our hotel window which was an extra plus. The hotel was very comfortable and we enjoyed our stay there. Jessica was a delightful and knowledgeable guide. We really appreciated her going to the extra effort to find a boat for us on the canal, taking us to a simple but very good noodle restaurant . Jessica, I have the pig that you gave me hanging in my study. The drive to Suzhou was a little frightning at times due to difficulties on the freeway due to the rain and if I remember correctly, the seatbelts weren't functioning. It is very important to us to be able to ride with functioning seatbelts. Otherwise the car was comfortable. We did receive this survey at least 2 hours before we left and you can use my comments for promotional purposes. I hope this provides the information that you need because we think Jessica was an excellent guide and we wouldn't want her to have any problems.
Sincerely Rebecca Hawk Lynch

Dear Hu,
The Great Wall of China, as photos cannot capture its grandeur, its steepness or what lengths people would go to to protect their land. I only had 1 guide - Jeff and he was fabulous. He made my trip from great to fantastic. Jeff was very informative, accommodating, knowledgeable, had great communication skills and could really relate to me. Jeff ensured all my requests were accommodated, he really looked after me like a friend rather than a paid guide. Without him my time in Beijing would not have been as wonderful. I only stayed in 1 hotel and it met all my expectations and breakfast was great. I had only 1 lunch, whist the food was tasty and the service friendly, many of the plates and cups were chipped. Definitely, Michael was great organiser and everything worked out very well. I think the tour of old Beijing should be recommended to travellers. It provides an insight as to how others live.
Poulos

Dear Michael
Please see bellow my service evaluation. I would lile to thanks your collaboration and emphasize the quality of your services. The tour guides in Beijing and Hong Kong were excellent. I have to say that during our trip we visited Beijing, Hanoi, HK, MAcau, Manila and Sydney but your services were the best comparing with others services received. I already shared this experience with some colleagues and soon you are going to receive a request for quotation as they are planning t China next year.
Best regards Manuel Carrilho Dias

Dear Candy,
Probably the most memorable portion of my trip was the hike from Xingping to Yangdi. It let me see "the other China" where people actually live and work. Incredible! The little children were amazing and so cute! One little boy even invited me to go swimming with them. Very interesting walk through the farmlands. I had been on the Li River cruise and would never have imagined that so much was going on behind the bamboo. My tour guide, Tang, or Tony, was exceptional! He gave me information about the area, about Chinese life, made suggestions about where to eat, what to try, what to do, where to go. We shared jokes and I had a wonderful time. The hotels were just fine. My last trip, I travelled deluxe class, this time standard, so there was a difference, mostly in the breakfast buffets,but the rooms were spacious and clean, kept up well, and all the staff at the hotels were attentive and helpful. Can't really pick out a favorite. They were all fine. I would absolutely recommend China Highlights to friends. In fact, I have already told at least three customers, some colleagues and two friends about your company, the tours offered and the great value. Next, I will take in some photos to show them where I went. Not many people I spoke to are familiar with Guilin. They know of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, but Guilin is not as well known. If you're going to go to a cave, go to Reed Flute Cave. I liked it much more than Crown Cave. During the hiking trip, wear long pants. I got some scrapes while hiking. be specific about the biking. I biked from Yangshuo to Moon Hill, but thought I'd be biking along the river. I took a raft trip later, and think I would have preferred to bike along the river than along the busy road. the cooking class was fun and interesting. I highly recommend the raft float, but don't believe it when they say you won't get wet! specify that you want to go to Pingan when there's water in the fields. I think it would have been much more beautiful with the fields flooded. There are 715 steps to climb Moon Hill. Be prepared. I did have a wonderful trip. What a fascinating place! Tang (Tony), my guide, and Mr Lai, my driver, were great. They are to be commended. Tang for being very helpful, informative, punctual and just a great all around person to be around, and Mr Lai because, even though his English is very limited, he tried to communicate and ALWAYS had a smile on his face. I want to thank them for making my visit to Guilin, Yangshuo and Longsheng the excellent experience that it was.
Pamela

Candy,
Thanks for helping us to coordinate our trip, it is one we will remember forever. I would like to tell you about a couple of issues we experienced on our trip. The trip was still wonderful but I feel it is important to bring the issues to your attention so that you know about my concerns. First, I explained in my correspondence that I was a strict vegan--by this I mean I do not eat any animal products at all. I found it difficult to get food that I could eat on the trip as most of the food, even the tofu, was flavored with meat or fish juices--even the tofu had bits of pork floating in the sauce. I was in the same tour as a vegetarian and she experienced the same issues. The guides did their best to help out but were not always able to convey the issues to the restaurant staff. This resulted in a less than stellar dining experience and the first 4 days I ate nothing but white rice and vegetables. Second, I found it surprising and very unappetizing to be served food in a restaurant that had dog on the menu. I understand that dog is eating in parts of China but I did not want to frequent restaurants where dog was a menu choice. Maybe this should be considered in the future when you know your clients have western sensibilities. Third, the bathrooms were quite a shock. I have never used a "squat toilet" and that took some getting used to. Maybe just a bit of warning for future clients so they know what to expect? Please find below my answers to your questions. Thank you again for such a wonderful vacation experience. Kat Weller VERY satisfied customer

Dear Hu,
While in Xi'an the most memorable attraction was the, of course, the terracotta warriors. I'm glad I was able to go on a Friday because there weren't very many people there. I wasn't expecting to be awed by the warriors, but when I walked into Pit #1 I was amazed. I didn't realize that each warrior is different, and the detail of the warriors is amazing! I only had one tour guide, and her name is Crystal. Crystal did a very good job and was very knowledgeable everywhere we went. She stated she hadn't been working for China Highlights very long, but I couldn't tell! She was very professional and did her best to make sure I was comfortable and enjoying my trip. I would recommend her to friends and family. The hotel I stayed in was great, much better than I was expecting for "tourist class." I was very comfortable the whole weekend and the international breakfast was great. The dumpling banquet was probably the best meal of the weekend. China Highlights does a great job and I would recommend the company to anyone interested in visiting China.
Longnecker

Hello Candy
We had a wonderful trip to China. I would be happy to share a few comments with you. We had 3 guides and 3 drivers; all different and all well educated in their factual history and very diligent in making our time well spent. The 2 guides China Highlights provided us were personable, welcoming, and accommodating to our wishes. Mark was responsible for telling us about one of our most memorable nights (thank goodness!), the show Impression Sanjie Liu. It was breathtaking! He also changed plans to include a raft ride down the river which we enjoyed. Staying overnight in Longsheng and the terraced rice fields was definitely a highlight of our trip, although the Pingan Inn very primitive. Perhaps there is another accommodation? Other accommodations; Guilin Bravo Hotel was fine; the Paradesa Resort was fine, the Meihua Goldentang International Hotel, although beautiful, was lacking in the service area. We had a washroom that had a horrible sewer pipe smell which they tried to address but weren’t able to. And we had to keep chasing down housekeeping for a 3rd towel, and ran out of toilet paper twice. It’s a beautiful accommodation, I’m sure they will work on their staffing details. My main observation to share regarding our stay in Xian is somewhat negative. The 2 hours spent at the Terracotta Warriors was the only real significant time we will remember. The dumpling dinner and show was in our opinion, very mediocre, and we felt a wasted night. I would not recommend it to other Americans. We enjoyed walking the city wall, and eating lunch at a local restaurant. I kept thinking however that there must be other things of interest in a city the size and stature and history of Xian???? It’s a long way to travel to have a limited time with the Warriors. Maybe a lecture including more of the stories of the finding, the farmer, the plans for future excavation…perhaps a demo from an archeologist explaining the dig and restoration? We were overall very pleased with all that China Highlights did to make our trip to China wonderful.Thankyou.
Gail DeLoia

Hi Jean,
The most memorable attraction was the Three Gorges, nice cruise ship, great scenery, although nothing on our itinerary disappointed Nancy Kim was our best guide, extremely friendly, very easy to talk to, knew a lot about all the attractions, always early and dependable. All of our guides were good and always on time, very well organised by China Highlights All hotels were fine, the ones in Xian and Wuhan were the best. Breakfast was generally disappointing with little choice and poor quality of European cuisine. The Golden Palm was a nice hotel, although buffet was disappointing and was generally set up for Russian guests. Definitely! Excellent tours, very dependable guides and drivers, perfectly organised. Very reasonable compared to European & American agents, although with greater knowledge I felt we could have saved a little more money or received a better class of hotel for the same Comments & suggestions written on each point. All attractions on our tours were good, although maybe not the Stone Tablet museum in Xi’an. Other than the major attractions, the Summer Palace & Beihai Park were great. We went to a very good restaurant after the Summer Palace (you’d have to check with Nancy on the name), the hot pot restaurant in Chogqing (check with Fiona) and the Thai restaurant in Yalong Bay in Sanya. The Crowne Plaza in Sanya was a great little informal night spot. The mountains at Hua Shan are quite strenuous, probably should warn visitors (although fine for us), a lot of the food was incredibly hot in Xi’an, would be good to warn visitors. Would be good to advise travellers to always carry tissues as there are rarely any in toilets. Would be good to give an estimated journey time in the itinerary. Some more suggestions to use your free time (although you had some), tips on using the transport system, including up to date map of Beijing subway Finally you provided first class service in responding to my original query (which prompted me to book the whole trip with you), designing our itinerary, booking all our flights, hotels and guides. Thanks again for everything. Let me know if you need anything else or have any further questions.
Kind regards Rob

Hello Jean,
Just wanted to drop you a note to tell you that our trip went wonderfully. Your staff at every location was on time, helpful and well prepared. We enjoyed each guide very much, especially Cheryl Chan in Xi'an, who made several accommodations for us. The only thing that wasn't exactly perfect was the Yangtze cruise ship. The good news was that there were only 60 passengers on board (capacity 224), so we had plenty of room, no crowds on the shore excursions, etc. The shipboard guide, Kathy, was great. On the downside, the cruise line GREATLY exaggerates the size of the rooms. The rooms are not even close to the square meters stated on the website. Maybe half. We had upgraded to a "business suite". What a joke…the room was the same size as the regular rooms but had a small couch crammed into it instead of two chairs! We ended up paying for the smaller Presidential suite on board (RMB6000 extra), so we were comfortable, but had I known earlier that we would have to pay this much for a decent room, we would have booked the Victoria line. We met several people on Victoria boats and they actually tied up next to us a couple of nights. These boats are MUCH nicer than the President line, and less expensive when you consider that I had to pay $1000 extra for a decent room on the Yangtze 1. To be fair, the staff on board the boat was excellent and the food was "fair". Everyone went out of their way to make us feel comfortable. (one other small thing….as you know, the beds on these boats are hard as rocks…very uncomfortable for Westerners. We didn't learn until we left the boat that we could have ordered a mattress cover to add a little padding….you might mention this to your Western guests in the future, I am sure they will appreciate it.) All in all, we were very pleased with your services and with China Highlights in general. I will be sure to recommend your company to my friends and colleagues. Feel free to refer other potential clients to me for a good recommendation.
Regards,