What people say about China Odyssey Tours

Dear Reinself,

Hilda and I would like to express our overall satisfaction as concerns our recent five day trip to China as arranged by you and your colleagues at China Odyssey Tours.

Our tour guide, Jack, and the driver, Mr. Han, each did a very good job. They both showed kindness and consideration in helping Hilda walk up and down the difficult pathways of Beijing. Jack's knowledge of Beijing was impressive and we were particularly pleased at the time spent at the Temple of Heaven, the People's Park in Beijing.

Although we could not fully enjoy Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City because of the bitter cold weather, Jack managed to keep us moving and we somehow managed to briefly see the Square and walk the full length of the Forbidden City. After the bitter cold of the previous day, we were reluctant to go even further north and into the mountains to view the Great Wall. Jack persuaded us to try, and we are grateful that he did so, as the Great Wall was an astonishing site, an architectural masterpiece worthy of its designation as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. We also got to see the Sacred Walk and that was also very well worth seeing.

We also enjoyed the rickshaw ride through the Hutongs. The stop at the home of one of the resident families was one of the highlights of our trip.

Our stay at the Double Tree Hilton was good but not great. The breakfasts were very good and all service personnel were pleasant and cooperative. Our room was a little cramped for two people and was dark. The mattresses were very comfortable and so was the bedding.

Our other tour guide, Jessica, was marvelous. And the driver, Mr. Li, did a very fine job. As we drove to the hotel from the airport in Guilin, we asked Jessica for a suggestion as to how we could spend our evening in Guilin City. She suggested a boat ride on the lakes. We thought that sounded very nice, but were hesitant to go by ourselves because we would not understand Chinese. Jessica volunteered to join us on the boat ride, arranged a reservation and had Mr. Li drive us to the event and meet us after the event was over. We thought that this was very generous of her and Mr. Li and offered to, at least, pay for her admission. Jessica refused to accept our offer, saying simply that we could consider it at the trip's end if we wanted to do so.

The boat ride was absolutely beautiful. We will always remember it.

The Bravo hotel was barely satisfactory. The room was, again, slightly cramped for two people, very dark and was cold. I did not have enough light in the bathroom to see the right side of my face while shaving. Breakfast was good and the mattresses and bedding were very comfortable. This hotel was not on your original itinerary. Our daughter Michelle stayed at the Bravo and suggested the change to the Bravo. Apparently, the overall quality at the Bravo had deteriorated from the time of her visit and, when she suggested the change, she was not aware of the change in quality. It would be a good idea to notify clients of this information should this situation reoccur in the future.

We were very pleased to learn that Jessica would join us on the cruise to Yangshuo County on the Li River. We both enjoyed the cruise and thought that the scenery was very nice. We were a little disappointed as the Li River was advertised as China's most beautiful river and we expected more in the way of color and variety. Perhaps the scenery is more spectacular during the warmer months of the year.

Jessica said that she and Mr. Li would take us to West Street for shopping and dinner and to the Sight and Sound show, would meet us at our seats after the show and drive us back to our hotel. We were most appreciative. The show was a sound and sight spectacular, but, of course, we could not appreciate the lyrics. Nonetheless, it was quite memorable.

The Green Lotus Hotel in Yangshuo was excellent in all regards. We were very satisfied.

The following morning, we went to Reed Flute Cave on the way to the airport in Guilin City. Jessica arranged for a chair lift for Hilda, who would not have been able to traverse the cave without it. Hilda really enjoyed the experience and the cave was magnificent, another highlight on a wonderful five day tour.

I hope that you will find this summarization to be of some use in evaluating your personnel and in planning future tours.

Thank you once again, for your efforts in arranging our tour.

Sincerely,
Martin Fried
(November 30th, 2009)

Hi Jack,

Out trip to China has finished and we are now at home, safe and sound. I have had a bit of rest already and I’ve decided to write to you. You can publish my letter on your web site or use it anyhow, if you want.

Before our arrival to China I had been preparing the itinerary with you for a long time. Sometimes I had the impression that it lasted too long because I had to wait for your answers for a long time and there were some communication misunderstandings between us. However, I do agree that we were the kind of “special clients” who needed extra attention from you. We wanted to try everything – hiking, riding a bike, visiting monuments. Moreover, our trip involved traveling by plane, by train, by bus, by car, by boat and, at the same time, it was to be a low budget trip. For this reason, I was a bit anxious about the itinerary and about some unexpected problems that might have appeared in China.

However, you’ve done a great job and everything we had planned before our arrival was just like we wanted it to be.

Thanks to your help we didn’t encounter any problems in China and everything worked like clockwork. There was an experienced guide waiting for us at every new place we visited, helping us implement the plan of our trip. We especially remember Nancy from Dali, who was really nice and who took us to even more places that it had been previously planned.

We loved Yangshuo landscape but unfortunately there was mist so we couldn’t see everything perfectly during the cruise. However, when we had the “free day” the weather was OK so we were able to go by bike to both the Dragon Bridge and Liu Gong- we loved both of them. You probably remember that I had been anxious about our meeting with the man who was supposed to give us the train tickets to Kunming – everything went smoothly - Dan was waiting for us at the settled hour, near the cow monument and gave us the tickets.

We had decided to resign from breakfasts in the hotels in the Yunnan part of our itinerary to make it low budget. However, when we arrived at the hotels it turned out that we had breakfasts included in the price - it was a nice surprise. We had dreamed about a 2-day hike through Tiger Leaping Gorge. The weather was OK so the hike was wonderful and the route was just like we wanted it to be. Henry showed us all magnificent views that were worth seeing. We also liked the place where we spent the night during the hike – Half Way Guesthouse. It was beautifully located, the food was delicious and the views were awesome!

The Shangrila part of our itinerary was also without any problems. Your advise to visit Xian by our own was right. We were already experienced in traveling through China so we found a cheap hostel and went to the Terracotta Army by bus without problems.

Summing up, you organized our trip perfectly, everything went smoothly and was like we had dreamt it to be.

Thank you for all! We will certainly recommend your travel agency to our friends.

Best regards,
Hanna from Poland
(November 24th, 2009)

Our Dear Friend Reinself,

Hello from Utah!

I am sorry that I have not replied sooner. We have only been home for two weeks and we have been busy preparing to go away for another two weeks. In America we celebrate Thanksgiving Day. We are going to Arizona for the holidays to be with our family. We, I think I told you this before, have 6 children and 21 grandchildren. We have a big family. We are very blessed. Thanksgiving is an important holiday for us.

I want to write more about our trip when we return. We loved our trip very much. We were happy with our guides, each one was kind and helpful to us. Our trip in Hong Kong was fabulous too. Candice, our guide was great. We loved Guilin and the boat ride and want to return and see that show again too. Jilly our guide in Beijing was so helpful and kind, he is most efficient. Seeing the Terra Cotta soldiers was a magnificent experience.

We had an interesting experience at the silk factory and I would like to send you some pictures of that experience. Could you please e-mail me your address? When we return I will send you the pictures. I just had to laugh at how brave the women were at the factory. I admire those women.

Thank you for the wonderful gifts and for the great book, we have showed many people our gifts and other treasures we picked up along the way. We have highly recommended you to plan a trip for our friends. We will return, hopefully soon. We truly loved the shopping in Hong Kong. It was very interesting. Fei is a brilliant guide. She has a darling personality and is a lot of fun too.

I hope you and your family are well. We heard on the TV that it was snowing in Beijing........I hope you didn't get snow. Oh my, we were very surprised to hear that snow was falling in Beijing.

Thank you again for all you did to make our trip the best trip we have ever experienced. We will return.

We send our love and Best Wishes,
Lynne and Bill
(November 18th, 2009)

Dear Mr. Reinself Wei,

Thank you for the pictures. We are very pleased with them.

We are now a few days back home and still enjoy our fantastic trip trough China. We loved the variation from the busy cities and the more restful landscapes. It is hard to say what was the reely highlight because we found everything very interesting.

We will express in particular our feelings about the guides: although all were good or very good, we must say that Elena in Guilin and Tony in Hangzhou were fantastic guides.

You can be sure that we will recommend you and your company to our friends.

Thank you very much for all what you did for us.

Louisa,

Thank you for your email.

We had a wonderful time in Xi'an, thanks to the excellent help and service you gave us. Our guide Bo, and our driver, were wonderful - they took very good care of us from the first moment to the last. Bo even went hiking with us into the Hua Mountains, which was way beyond the call of duty!

We will remember this trip with very fond memories and can heartfully recommend you to anyone else planning such a visit.

Best Regards,
Gerard and Jeanne
(November 16th, 2009)

Hi Louisa,

This is my last day in Beijing. I am having tonight the roasted duck at Do dang for the second time this week. It is an incredible address! Yesterday we have attended the flying acrobats performance, everyday something new!

We have experienced a fabulous journey in China, everything was perfect, including China odyssey service as usual.

I would like to mention particularly our guide Michael in Li jiang, who spoke an astonishing good french and who was clearly above all guides in terms of culture and knowledge, I would mention also miss bobo in Xian.

Thank you to all of you who made this dreamed travel happen.

I will share pictures with you later, but now I have to prepare the trip to taiwan to attend marriage ceremony of Janine'son.

"Bises" as we say in France (that means kisses). It is a formula we use easily with friends, also more formally

Best regards,
Laurent
(November 13th, 2009)

Dear Reinself,

It's been more than a month that we have returned home, after our journey that had the highest point in our visit to China again. When we look at the pictures, we realise how wonderful were those days we spent in your country. We feel so happy to show them to our family and friends, and everybody enjoys very much. And we tell them that we had such a good time and visited such beautiful places because you organised the tour so well. It was really a fantastic week, thanks to you.

I'll be sending some more pictures next. Please show them to Jesse, too. And tell him we miss you both, and send our warm regards,

Lia and Roberto
(November 9th, 2009)

Dear Sophie,

I have not received your message before since I have no access to my e.mail box from China.

The scheduled activities from your program have happened quite well, both considering the contents and the way they have been carried out.

The two guides Chris and Shona, very gentle and well educated, perform their function in a very professional manner showing high proficiency and competence: our congratulations and gratitude to their service. Unfortunately, we could not met you personally, despite the fact Dalton mentioned me their meeting in the Hotel at Guilin.

Taking into account the whole stay, I must say it overpassed my expectations. Elisiana was delighted with the three courses and the Museum visits, in such a way she has acquired a complete set of materials and papers to continue and practice the Chinese painting, she learnt, here in Brazil.

One aspect that remains missing is associated with the ceramics, which we’ve seen is quite valuable and present a lot of interesting subjects and techniques for our next visit.

Last but not least, I’d like to thanks sincerely you and your Travel Agency which provided us with excellent service.

Very gratefully yours,
Eduardo Nery
(November 9th, 2009)

Good Morning Reinself,

Tonight we will leave for Vietnam. Yes, I received your timely letter of confirmation. What I can say is that you and your agency is superior. Even the Emperor of China would have been so proud. I can't wait to go to Kunming. But, even more so, we have had the pleasure of meeting the person who assisted us in making this happen as well as our previous trip...YOU!!!!

Bobbie
(November 5th, 2009)

Hi Louisa,

My intentions were to contact you as soon as we came back, but to tell you the truth, we have been very tired and sleeping at China time, I know is going to take time to get used to California time.

My husband and I were very pleased with all the tour guides, all of them were very attentive and knowleable of the sites and the history of China. We loved China and their people and of course the food was delicious.

It is alright to give your customer my e-mail address if she wants to verify the prestige of your company.

Regards, Grace
(October 30th, 2009)

Hi Jack,

My trip was amazing! I was hoping if it didn't end! But as they say good times passed fastly!

With your agency I really felt that while I was IN CHINA I HAS NEVER BEEN ALONE! And it was so true! Your tour guides were more than helpful! They has been with me all the time even while I was sick. :) They really took a good care of me and I really felt that I was with family and friends, because they treated me in a good way, more as a friend than a customer.

I really enjoyed each moment in China. Your agency excced my expectation. The quality you provided is super.

I would love to share my moments & pictures on your site. Give me a bit time to arrange it because I have too many pictures.

Thanks Jack, you are the best! ^_^

Regards,
Afra Alhameli
(October 30th, 2009)

Hi Sophie,

Enclosed a few photos for you.

Again, thank you for you help since the beginning with the details and info. You help us to make our dreams come true...we love Beijing.

Your guild "Jack" was outstanding, we enjoyed our time with him. :)

Regards

Nickie & Ed Nix
(October 29th, 2009)

Hi Louisa,

We enjoyed our tour very much. We felt safe at all times because we were always accompanied by a friendly tour guide. Having a private driver was great. We could go when WE were ready. Even when we were left to explore on our own we knew exactly where to find them. It was a bit too many factory tours for my taste, but other than that we enjoyed the tourist attractions.

I think anyone visiting China should visit Hangzhou, it was beautiful. That was an excellent recommendation from our friendly travel agent who worked with us on custom making a tour to our liking and helping out when anything was needed.

Sincerely, Dawn
(October 29th, 2009)

Hi Sophie,

I just wanted to send you a note to thank you for your help in organising my visit to China. My time in China was even more enjoyable than I had expected, and I will definitely be visiting China for more sight-seeing in the future.

Everything went smoothly, the hotels were fantastic (especially the Green Lotus), the scenery going down the Li River was just spectacular, and the guide and driver were very helpful.

I will definitely be contacting China Odyssey the next time I am going to China.

Regards

Bram Harris
(October 27th, 2009)

Hello Andy Xie,

It is very late at night here on Oct 22. I gained this day back by coming back home. I was happy to find no snow here yet. It is still above freezing which is good for us, but the leaves have all fallen now.

I really enjoyed China’s holiday time in October. The red lanterns were so beautiful. I bought two paper ones in Hong Kong at the Stanley Market. They have glitter on them and say “Good Luck”. They are now on display in my home. Thank you.

I spoke very highly about your company to many people on my cruise ship. I am sure many people will use your company in the future. Thanks again.

Have a Happy Halloween.

Linda
(Octomber 23rd, 2009)

Dear Harry,

Kym and I would like to extend our sincere thanks for all you did to organise our trip. We were so impressed by the quality of guides, accommodation and transport arrangements, all of which exceeded our expectations. For this reason we very much look forward to visiting China again. We will be actively recommending China Odyssey Tours as the BEST way of seeing China to everyone we know.

With appreciation,
Anthony and Kym
(October 23rd, 2009)

Dear Louisa,

Thank you for your email. We were very pleased with our trip and enlisting your company as our tour guide made all the difference.

Our guides and drivers in Beijing and Xi'an were top notch. Jack and Gloria exposed us to so much and was very eager to please any way that they could. We could have not seen or done all that we did without them. They allowed for a trouble free trip...please thank them again for us. Their expertise of the area and the ability to educate us on the history of China as well as their strong English skills made our trip all that more pleasant.

Gloria was kind enough to make sure my kids did not have food they were allergic to, she was very accommodating and pleasant towards us and our children. Jack was also very accommodating and flexible, not to mention his food recommendations were outstanding.

Now for the not so nice part of my review...Our guide in Shanghai really didn't come close to the professionalism and care we received in both Beijing and Xi'an. She was very pushy for us to buy and although I said my kids were allergic to wheat, she pressed on for them to try the cookies at the tea factory. I did not appreciate her insisting on things, she should have reserved her comments. Not to mention, it surprised me when she took a seat to eat with us at lunch. The other tour guides were very respectful, although we did invite them to eat with us, they were polite and kind. However, our guide in Shanghai didn't even wait for an invitation..and wasn't as accommodating.

All in all, I was thrilled with your service. It truly made a difference in how we saw China, and we haven't stopped telling everyone about your company. I appreciate your professionalism and care you took in making all of our reservations and accommodating us in so many ways. Please extend a thank you again to Gloria and Jack and we look forward to referring you to all our friends and family.

Best regards, Elissa Chamizo
(October, 17th, 2009)

Hi Jack,

The trip to China was wonderful. I can see that we only managed to see a small glimpse of China and will need to return to explore more. Your recommendation to take a private tour was well worth the $200 extra.

The guides were all great, especially our guides in Xi'an and Hangzhou. Only failing was our request for someone knowledgeable of the French Concession, which did not meet our expectations. It would have been better for us to have followed your original itinerary and do the family searching ourselves, which we ended up doing anyway at the end. Drivers definitely knew how to navigate the crazy traffic (we would never drive in China ourselves).

The hotels were all good too, except for the one in Beijing which said they had internet in each room, but didn’t and because their command of English wasn’t the best it took a day to figure that out.

The Jin Jiang in Shanghai we requested was definitely a basic motel, lower in rating than the ones you put us up in. But even though it was basic, it did have internet, staff were friendly, good breakfast and was very centrally located so we could do lots of walking tours. However, the room we stayed in first was not as good as the one we stayed in at the end, so there is definitely some quality control issues. But the price is inexpensive for those on a lower budget.

As far as any suggestions for improvement, it might be worthwhile to give guests a more detailed schedule, including time of plane and train departures and arrivals, so they can plan around the free times. Maps of the city would be helpful for those wanting to walk around. Your inclusion of contact phone numbers for local China Odyssey offices could be improved with the addition of phone numbers for local guides.

I have posted photos to my daughter’s flickr account. If you have the time (and inclination) take a peak and it will give you an idea of what we did and saw. Sets are in chronological order. You can click on any set and view a slideshow of some of the many photographs I took (and I do mean only some).

Janet Lee
(October 16th, 2009)

Hi Sophie,

I knew it was your national holiday time, I hope you got to spend some time relaxing with your family and friends.

Sorry for the delay getting back to you, but I have finally done the feedback for you. I have also added a few photos.

Many thanks for all your help, and we will happily recommend you and China Odessey,
Marie
(October 15th, 2009)

Hi Louisa,

We just wanted to say many thanks for the holiday in September. We had a wonderful time. Everything went smoothly and we were delighted with all our guides who made the stay most pleasurable. We must say Louisa, that it is thanks to your prompt reply to my initial email, and the professional yet charming way of your responses, that made us choose China Odyssey in the first place. Your organisation of the trip was superb and we have spent the weeks since our return recommending your company to our friends who have yet to visit China. We feel sure that you will be having a large contingent coming to see all of China's treasures soon.

Once again, our sincere thanks to you. Please pass on our good wishes to all our guides, including Susan with you in Guillin - all of whom deserve our thanks.

Until our next visit to China, when you can be assured we will be in touch, we send you our best wishes

Sincerely, Dawn
(October 11th, 2009)

Hi Louisa,

There was no problems with the traffic control and the Acrobat show was great. We did not see the fireworks only partly on TV. The street between the forbidden city (north gate) and Jingshan garden was open during the day of 1.st October and we did plan to go to the north corner of the forbidden city - it could have been a pefect view. But unfortunately they closed the street in the evening.

I have enclosed a single photo.

Best,
Ken.
(October 10th, 2009)

Dear Jack,

It has been a week, since we are back from our wonderful trip to China. I would like to thank you for everything, for making it so special and care free.

You are a kind person and a true proffesional.

Kind regards from Arie and Michael.
(October 8th, 2009)

Dear Maggie,

Well we are back in Saudi. It was so hard to leave China because we had such a great time and you Chinese are such sweeties.

I loved the "Name Stamp" you had made for me! WOW! A great memory of you & the delightful time we had.

Thank you Maggie. Thank you friend.
: } Ann & Adam Bacchus
(October 4th, 2009)

Dear Lois,

Thank You for Your greetings. I'm very pleased. At first I would like to congratulate You and Your company on the occasion of China People Republic's 60th anniversary. I wish You and Your country much success, prosperity and happiness.

We remember our visit to Your country almost every day. We can not forget Your hospitality, Your warmth, the nature beauty of Your land and the beauty of Chinese people. Every day we drink the wonderful tea we bought there and we are worrying that it is finishing. I'm afraid we'll not find such good tea here.

Now we are back in our work and we are quite busy at the moment. The crisis in economics give us more work than usually. But You have nothing to do. You must withstand. So we try to do it. Our impressions we brought from China help us in that way.

I wish You not to have problems of that kind.

I send attached some photos from our trip. And I hope that last summer trip was not the last my visit to Your wonderful country. I wish to come back. Thank You so much for Your help and for everything You did for us. We are very lucky!

Best wishes to all of Your company

Egidijus and friends
(September 30th, 2009)

Dear Harry,

Thank you for arranging such a wonderful trip. Everything worked out perfectly. I had a great time and look forward to going back to China some day in the future.

I will recommend your services to anyone who asks!

Best regards,
Robert
(September 29th, 2009)

Dear Sophie,

Thank you so much for organising our trip through Shanxi province. Brenda and Mr Jiao looked after us very well and showed us many wonderful things.

I filled in an evaluation form for Brenda in Datong. When I get back to Australia, I will lodge a more detailed evaluation online and attach a couple of photos from our trip.

With best wishes,
Clara and Adam
(September 26th, 2009)

Hi Sophie,

Glad you liked the bangles!

Sorry for the delay in reply we have just come back from a trip to India for Akhila's head shaving ceremony.

I have attached some photos as requested. We are all very happy with the service you and your company provided and will always remember you. We will certainly recommend you and your company to all our friends.

Regards,
Chandra
(September 24th, 2009)

Hello Reinself,

After a long journey in Asia I have returned home. I would like to thank you for assisting me with my China tour. The hotel and tour were great. I would especially like to say that my tour guide Wendy was awesome! She was helpful pleasant and gave great information. I felt as if I was her personal friend and she was showing me around. Also, the guide that picked me up from the airport was very informative and helpful. (I'm sorry I don't remeber her name).

On a not so positive note, the last day of my tour I had Andrea. She was "nice" but, I beleive she brought her own personal friends along on the tour and wanted to pay more attention to them then to those of us on the tour. She seemed to be rushing us through everything and getting any information out of her seemed to be a hassle for her. Also at the end of the trip, she asked for her tip. I really did not feel she deserved a tip, especially after asking for one, but I did want the driver to have a tip as he was very pleasant. I was not able to see if the tip was actually given to the driver as I needed to leave in a taxi to catch my flight.

However, I was very pleased with my China tour and again thank you for your help. Just thought you should be aware of the last tour guide.

Mahalo Nui and Sue Okamoto
(September 23rd, 2009)

Hi Louisa,

We arrived back yesterday from a fantastic holiday in China and Hong Kong.

We were very satisfied with all the arrangements-Hotels,Guides,Restaurants and tours. Our Guide Hannah in Shanghai was outstanding.Her command of English and Knowledge was excellent.I fully recommend her.Our guide Tom in Xian also gets full marks.He was very knowledgeble.In Beijing Summer was also very good and helpfull and very flexible.

We have only one complaint.We took a private Rickshaw tour of the Hutong in Beijing which Summer booked for us.We complained to her the next day and she said she would complain to the company.We paid 130 Yuan each and gave a tip at the end to both guide and driver. All we got was a visit to a wooden door of a house with a short explanation and then a visit to a family. All in all 10 minute ride on the rickshaw and the whole tour was one hour which Summer told us should have been one and a half hours. I think this was quite expensive for what we got.We could have walked around the Hutong by ourselves for nothing.

All in all a well arranged trip and Estell and I thank you personally for all your patience and for contacting us in Xian to find out how everything was.If we ever visit China again we will contact you to make our arrangements.

Best regards, Leonard
(September 23rd, 2009)

Hi Harry,

I want to share the pictures we took at Lhasa, Xian and Beijing. We enjoyed our trip immensely. It's just too bad we could not do more touring in Tibet. Unfortunately, we could not adjust easily to the high altitude so even if wanted to see and do more, our bodies would not allow it.

Your tour guides were all excellent. We will recommend your company to our friends and family.

Best regards
Leo & Marita Legaspi
(September 22nd, 2009)

Hi Karen,

Thanks to you and Odyssey we had a great holliday in China ! Thanks very much for your perfect organisation.

Enclosed you find the evaluation form and some foto’s.

Best guides were in Beijing (!!!) and Xian, but the others were also OK !!!

Regards, Arthur
(September 17th, 2009)

Hi Jack,

Our experience traveling to China was something we will never forget. Everything was amazing and went as smoothly as we could have hoped.

Everything was taken care of and the guides/drivers were just awesome. Their knowledge of all the places we went and the entire cities themselves was endless. It really did make the trip that much better, we couldn't have imagined going around without the guide. It really did make the experience that much better.

All the food was excellent, it was mostly westernized Chinese food, which was very good, however for my tastes I would have liked a more authentic experience. That is probably the only thing I would have changed or would have loved to have an option to change. I'm probably more adventurous when it comes to food so I imagine I'm in the minority. The last meal we had in Beijing our guide took us to a restaurant that she suggested and it was amazing. Something away from the normal tour stops.

All in all we had an amazing time and are so glad we chose China Odyssey and I would highly recommend using them to anyone.

Take care Jack and thank you for all of your help.

Sincerely, Shawn
(September 4th, 2009)

Dear Mr. Andy Xie,

I want to thank you for setting up such a wonderful tour of China and to let you know that I think our trip to China was the best trip I have ever taken anywhere.

I have never felt so welcomed in any country through which I have traveled. People in small towns were so willing to share their small corner of the world and their lives with us. People in boats on the Li River during the Pure Brightness Festival returned our waves with big and very warm smiles as we passed each other along the way.

Our guides were wonderful. I thought Ali worked really hard to make sure our trip was perfect. We saw everything on our agenda and she worked it all around the Shidong Market, the Tai Jaing Bull Fights, which happened to include a boat race and an amazing parade, and the Laotun Sister's Meals Festival. That took some doing as it was not entirely clear where it was going to be. We also had the best food while we were in Guizhou Province. I also loved Marcia in Kunming and still contact her through e-mails as she is now in Europe. Harry really liked Lee in Guilin, who was very knowledgeable and Paldin in Shangri-La, who taught me a Tibetan dance at a show where Harry came in second in a tug of war contest. We had a lot of fun with both of them.

I will never forget this trip or the people we encountered along the way.

Carol Schrauth
(September 3rd, 2009)