What people say about China Odyssey Tours

Ordering a package tour on the Internet

An article written by Mr. Mark King from Australia. In this article Mark will share with you his experience in booking the tour from China Odyssey Tours and how he and his family were treated during the whole trip.

While our customers enjoyed the beautiful scenery in China and they also enjoyed the high-quality service which China Odyssey provided.

Dear Karen,

I am now in the plane flying back home. We had a great experience in China and everything went just right. Thanks a lot for taking such good care of us.

Best regards

Martha Luz
(December 19th, 2011)

Hi Vincent,

Thank you so much for planning our trip. It was WONDERFUL!!!! Emma in Beijing was very good and was always on time, actually always there early before she was suppose to meet us. We were met everywhere, and had no problems. I didn't have to worry about anything, we arrived at the airport in time for flights and arrangements were good. I will recommend you and the company for anyone I know going to China.

Thank you for planning our trip in such a short time. We all had a wonderful time.

Kevin

(December 18th, 2011)

Dear Andy,

My husband and I returned from Yunnan yesterday. We have had a a wonderful time. Your guides, especially Lucy, Sally and Sue, were excellent, and driver Lee who drove us around Dali, Lijiang and Shangri-la, was especially wonderful. They have taken great care of us and saw to our every need. The accommodation and itinerary were thoughtfully planned and we are very grateful. We were glad we stayed at the hotels in the Old Towns of Dali and Lijiang because not only were they comfortable, they were in the heart of the old towns and we could soak in the local culture. The guides and driver Lee were especially patient with us because my husband is a photographer and needed more time in some scenic locations. They even took us to places where we could take pictures even if they were not in the itinerary. They were understanding and caring, and went the extra mile for us.

All in all, we have had a wonderful time and I would like to thank you and all we h ave met on our trip for taking such good care of us and making our holiday a memorable one.

Best wishes,

Ng Gek Choo

(Elaine and Frederick Lee Cheng Soon)
(December 14th, 2011)

Dear Reinself,

Thank you again for your help arranging the tour. I very much enjoyed Xian and Guilin. To be honest, the Yangtze cruise was a disappointment for me – not what I expected. But the rest of the trip was excellent.

I have already recommend your company to a few people looking to travel in China. My parents will be emailing you next year to help them organize their voyage as well!

I will send photos in a few weeks when I have downloaded them

Kind regards,

Melanie
(December 13rd, 2011)

Dear Leila,

Just rated you on TripAdvisor. I like to rate where I've been. Don't worry, I gave you top marks.

I promised you a step by step evaluation so here goes.

I arrived in Shanghai AT 4:30 am leaving Phnom Penh close to midnight. I am pretty expert on Cambodia as this was my 4th volunteer mission. Also my private guide was Dr. Theavy Mok, a Cambodian surgeon who was also my "boss". Go to Sihanoukville, stay at the Sokha Beach Resort. You'll love it.

As we discussed 4:30 AM is a horrible time to arrive. Your driver was waiting for me just past where I picked up my bags, sign in hand with Elliott Brender - China Odyssey clearly visible. I was very happy to see him. He carried with my bags, loaded them into the van (it was raining) and we were off to the Grand Hyatt. I does help to be as Platinum member. They had a room ready for me. I was able to check in, get rid of my bags, wash up, take a little nap, have breakfast in the Regency Club and promptly at 8 AM Elaine arrived.

First - a walk along the Bund. I would have been happier if it wasn't raining but as that is not under our control we made the best of it. Next to the museum, indoors was very nice (and warm). I enjoyed the history of Shanghai and the miniature model of the city. It gave me a good overview of Shanghai. From there we went to Yu gardens. Very pretty. Had soup dumplings for lunch. I wanted to sample the local cuisine. Yum.

From there we found a cellphone store so I could buy a local SIM card. I called Elaine's phone and then I had her call mine to make sure everything worked. By then I was tired so we called it a day and I went back to my hotel to take a nap. I went on my own to a restaurant called Lost Heaven on the Bund, Yunnan folk cuisine. Excellent. I would highly recommend it. I made reservations on line prior to my trip. Unfortunately I left my umbrella in the taxi and didn't get a receipt. No problem, I'll replace it. The company I bought it from gives you a code # in case you lose it so you can get a replacement (I guess I'm not the first to lost an umbrella). The hotel was nice to provide a replacement during my stay.

The next day Elaine arrives promptly and we went to the fishing village. Unfortunately it was very cold which makes wandering around less fun. Got to eat a pork rice mixture rolled into a banana leaf and some "stinky" tofu - smells bad but tastes good. Off to another dumpling restaurant for lunch - also really good. We walked Nanging road after lunch. We played a game - how many people would hit me up for a fake Rolex watch? 12 times. I taught Elaine how to spot a fake. I have several real Rolexes. Look at the sweep hand - a real Rolex is smooth. Also there is a crown on the winding stem. I needed to change money but had my passport locked in the room. Elaine found machines that did not require your passport. I had dinner at Jade on 36 in the Shangrila Hotel. Great French food but I was disappointed to find out the molecular dinner they advertized online was no longer. I also booked this online requesting the molecular dinner. You would think the hotel knowing the chef was gone might have told me by e-mail but it wasn't until I was at the hotel that they told me the chef had left (2 years ago). They also should update their web site. However the French meal was excellent.

By the last day the weather had improved so we went to the Pearl Tower. I had not done that so I enjoyed the experience. Elaine asked me where else I'd like to go as there was time so we went to the Temple of the Jade Buddha and the Jewish quarter. A friend told me about this by e-mail the night before. I did not know that before WWII Shanghai had an open door policy and harbored Jews escaping from Germany. Many of my family was exterminated during that war. It gave me a very warm feeling towards Shanghai.

They then got me to the airport and I was off to Guilin.

Again arriving in Guilin, I was met just past where you pick up baggage by Peggy and our diver, sign in hand, no problems. Off to the Shangrila Hotel for check in. Beautiful hotel. From there we were off to the Li River cruise. Peggy accompanied me and pointed out all the major scenery. After the cruise (5 hours) we went to the Dongling Resort, a major disappointment. The room was freezing cold and even with the room heater going full blast it never warmed up. OK, one night, I suffered through it. They had a restaurant at the hotel. The room was also freezing cold. Had dinner in full winter garb. Thank goodness you warned me or I would have been severely underdressed and very unhappy. After an unimpressive breakfast I got out of there. As I booked it myself how could I complain but that place sucked. Maybe it is much nicer (and warmer) during the summer but during the winter, YUK.

Disaster strikes and Peggy bails me out. While at the Dongling Resort I check my e-mail and to my surprise I see a notice from Expedia that my flight from Guilin to Shanghai has been cancelled. WTF – how am I going to get home. I had a connecting flight at Shanghai to the USA. Panicking I called Expedia with whom I booked the tickets . They told me the cancellation was by the airline and not their problem. They said deal with the airline. When you call the airline of course it is all in Chinese and I don’t understand a word. Apparently they in Chinese said press 2 for English but if you don’t understand Chinese, how are you supposed to know this? Peggy to the rescue. She found out that they did not cancel my flight. Everything was OK. Why this occurred I have no idea. I decided to upgraded to business class to ensure a good flight back. Peggy took care of this too. With this fixed I needed to change money. Off to town, to the Bank of China, taken care of and brought back to the resort.

The next day I was out of there. Peggy arrived on time at 10:00 AM and we were off to the Shangri-La hotel to check-in and resume touring. It's hard to say whether I liked the views from Yaoshan Mountain and the toboggan slide ride down or the Reed Flute caves the best. I've attached 2 of my best pictures. Elephant Trunk Hill was interesting but I noted the government planted trees specifically to block the natural view just so they could make money by charging to see what previously could have been seen for free. This gives the Chinese people a money grubbing character. Everywhere you go all they want to do is sell you something. As an American I see this as a character flaw and it appears to be throughout Chinese tourism. That is why I specified no silk factories, pearl factories, jade factories, rug factories, factories of all sorts with all they want is to see you something.

On departure from Guilin, Peggy stayed with me until I had my boarding card in hand. When we arrived at the airport at 4:00 PM the China East desk was closed and didn't open until 4:40 PM. Peggy waited patiently with me and the on buying my upgrade, they wouldn't take a credit card, so we raced to the bank in the airport that was now closing in 10 minutes. She made sure China East would watch my bags. We made it in time. She followed me to the inspection area and we said our goodbyes. Great trip.

Elliott
(December 12nd, 2011)

Dear Karen,

Thank you for your note. Yes, we arrived home safely last night. We had a wonderful trip in China, we found your country very beautiful and I appreciate all your prompt assistance. I look forward to filling out your questionnaire, I have many good things along with some improvement suggestions. I also appreciate all our guides support, I have to say Mr. Li was my favorite. I did not know your office was in Guilin. I would have liked to meet you.

Have a great day.

Doreen
(December 9th, 2011)

Dear Reinself,

Sorry to have missed you and I am very sorry for your family, We enjoyed our tour immensely and if we ever travel in China again we will book through you.

Your companies service was beyond expectation, the giudes were great we both thought Ivan was wonderful, mum wanted to take him home he was so much fun and so polite.

The drivers were incredible the traffic!!

The hotels were excellent we could not fault anything and I will recommend your company to my freinds.

As I am still in Hong Kong I have not sorted any photos but I will send you some when I get sorted at home.

Thank you again and I will recommend you on tripadvisor when I get home

Julia
(December 9th, 2011)

Dear Leila,

The tour was very well done! Our guide, Peter, was superb! He was so accommodating and very well versed with the history of the places that we went. The driver, Mr. Wan, was so good and cautious with the roads. Your staff were very punctual and at most times, early. Great professionalism! My family and myself, absolutely enjoyed the trip. Although we should not have under- estimated the weather...hahahaha. I was rather surprised to hear from your office personally, when we got there to check on us. Please take that as a personal gratitude of your agency's "personal- touch" approach. My kids have insisted that I bring them there again, in a couple of years time, in Autumn! And let me tell you this, I will personally call you again and arrange that trip with your agency! I am very please with your services and I'm really running out of superlatives to thank you, Peter and Mr. Wan and not forgetting Vera!

Thank you so much!

Please feel free to use my email and thank all, for their professional service.

PS: I have attached 2 pictures for you to see. I think the smiles on my family's face tell you, how we felt on this trip!

Thank you again

Hari
(December 9th, 2011)

Dear Yoko, and greetings from cold Montreal (-13 degrees)

We have finally sorted our 600 or so pictures down to approx. 100. It was such a difficult choice because every photo had such good memories. I am sending you 14 of those pictures and again many thanks for making this trip so memorable.

Louise
(November 28th, 2011)

Dear Sophie,

Just want to thank you for organizing a wonderful trip!

Both Richard (Beijing) and Tony (Xi’an) were great guides. I must admit that Tony’s love and passion for his provinces and country is very evident in tour.

Veronica

(November 29th, 2011)

Hi Vincent,

Thank you for your followup. I’m back in the States now following my trip to Beijing and Tokyo.

Joanna and I both thought that our guide, Babbitt, was professional, courteous, helpful, nice and very interested in providing excellent customer service. I appreciated the care he took to check us in at the hotel and make sure to pick us up at the hotel each morning. He and the driver made our travel in Beijing worry-free and quite easy.

As a suggestion for the future: we included the 798 Art Zone in our visit on the recommendation of a friend of my daughter’s and we both found it a very worthwhile and lovely part of the city. In fact, it was a highlight of our trip! We could have spent much more time there than we did because we went there on the last day since it was in the direction of the airport. What I’m suggesting, is that as a general rule, you may want to include it in the itinerary for most of your visiting Western guests who we think would be interested in visiting that area. It’s lovely to see the art that’s coming out of Beijing these days (as opposed to ancient art). And for many of us who have an interest in art, it tells the story of a culture’s development, and is an opportunity to see how Chinese artists perceive their culture. We loved it there. Frankly, it’s also good for the Beijing economy because Westerners may purchase art that is on display at the various galleries in that area.

Please let me know if there’s other information you’d like about our trip. We appreciate all your help!

Many thanks,

Ellen

(November 28th, 2011)

Dear Simon,

Thank you for your email, I must be truthfull but we have been very busy since we have been home (1 week) and although I have downloaded some photo's I haven't done the ones from the office I will make it a priority in the next day or two

I did mean to mention when we saw you that at any time you have a request from a potential client that requires reassurance about the service they may expect from Odyssey please refer them to me as I am able to tell them that they will not experience better service from any other tour operator. The tour was perfect and we were unable to find any problems, the guides and drivers were wonderfull. I will be in communication with you as we are already thinking there is more of china we wish to see. I have also had a request from Vera Zhao, customer service for some feedback on our trip. I will also reply to her in the next day or two.I will also share our reccommendations on Trip Adviser. Be in contact soon. Great to hear from you.

Thanks again!

Vaughan.
(November 26th, 2011)

Dear Maggie,

Thankyou for your email.

We would like to say that we had an absolutely fantastic time. We were a little worried about booking a tour via the internet but it is obvious from the start of our holiday that your company is very professional and we had no problems at all.

Our tour guides and drivers were first class, knowledgeable and very friendly. Please pass on our thanks to Sally, Ivan and Run as well as the drivers. Our guides also were great in suggesting and arranging additional activities such as going to a tea house in Beijing; the Kung Fu show, Chinese Opera in Xian, Acrobatic show and Dinner River cruise in Shanghai (we wanted to do it all). We have no hesitation in recommending your company to our family and friends.

Our holiday was made very pleasant as we did not have to arrange anything, China Odyssey took care of everything for us. The hotels were great, the food was fantastic and the places we visited were extraordinary. We took around 1000 photographs and 6 hours of video. After having such an amazing time in China we would like to come back and see more of it. It is good to hear that your company also arranges tours in Indochina as well. We are already planning our next trip with you in the near future.

Once again thankyou very much to China Odyssey tours, yourself, the tour guides and the drivers for making our holiday so enjoyable.

Kind Regards

Gary & Zofi

(November 25th, 2011)

A thanks letter to Andy,

To the Management of China Odyssey Tour,

Dear Sir/Madam,

My daughter (Tonielyn Blundell) and I, ( Erlinda Ong ) was so lucky to travel with your fabulous company for 9 days visiting Bei Jing, Shiang Hai, Xi An and Su Zhou on the 14th of October to 23rd October, arriving here in Sydney, Australia on the 24th October. After arriving home, we were so busy that we neglected to let you know how satisfied, happy and appreciative we were with your service throughout our travel. It was indeed a fascinating and unforgetable experience that we can say we will definitely be back there with your Company's travel arrangement. We will also be very happy to recommend your good Company to all our friends and relatives who wish to travel in the years to come.

We would like to mention in particular all the three tour guides ( Nick, Julie and Joe) that showed us around. All three of them were very efficient, punctual, helpful and knowledgeable. At the end of the day, we all become friends. Joe, in particular was so friendly and always cater to our needs, taking some of his extra time to help us in finding a nice restaurant and cheap but quality shopping places. I think your Company should boast for having such a fantastic excellent tour guide which is one of the most important part of promoting your travel.

Thank you for giving us an excellent travel to remember!

Faithfully yours,

Erlinda Ong and Tonielyn Blundell
(November 24th, 2011)

Hi Vincent,

Indeed, I was still busy working.

We enjoyed our journey and particularly the care and attention we got from our guides. Everything went pretty smoothly and we were happy with the experience.

Thanks.

Albert

(November 23rd, 2011)

Dear Leila,

Now we are back in Sweden and we have a lot of nice and interesting memories from China.

We had a very good time on the cruise.We will thank you for a very good arrangement. It was a great experience!

The guide in Chongging, she was so charming and so helpful, the hotel was situated in a calm and beautiful area, with modern conveniences.

The river-tour was amazing and so interesting, we enjoyed every minute.The river-guide Luther made the trip extra with his good lectures about China, the Gorges and the dams and of course the the different entertainments during the days and evenings. The food was excellent.Of course we will return to China and hope you will serve us again

Best regards, Sylvi and Kent Sternheden

(November 20th, 2011)

Dear Simon,

Just a note to thank you for your organisation of our trip. All went very well and we were very happy with your planning.

The trains and planes were very efficient and always on time. The tour guides were very good, particularly in Chengdu, with Angela and Mr.Wang and in Guilin, with Shauna.

The Li River Retreat was a good choice of hotels, as it was away from the noise of the city and it was very comfortable and friendly. Also, it was easy walking distance, along the road beside the river, into Yangshuo.

We are likely to do a trip to Beijing, Xian and perhaps Harbin and Tanging, next May and if so, we will most certainly be in touch with you in late February, 2012.

The weather was very good in November and that clearly was one of the best months to travel in south and west China.

The Three Gorges Dam trip was a good experience, though the only day it rained, was when we were at the dam wall.

We paid to upgrade our cabin and whilst it was expensive, it was a good option. We thoroughly enjoyed the cruise.

Thank you once again for all your professional assistance in planning our trip. We will most definitely recommend both you and your company's services to our friends.

Kind Regards,

Peter & Kay Young
(November 20th, 2011)

Dear Leila,

Thank you VERY MUCH for organization of the trip. It was great! The guide was also excellent, please send him our special thanks.

We will certainly come again.

We are in Beijing now and I'll send you some pictures when we are back to Israel.

Best regards,

Michael.
(November 19th, 2011)

Hi Vincent,

Sherry, Adam and I enjoyed our China trip, I have already recommended Odysseus Tours to a friend who plans to travel next year to China.

The hotels that were booked were extremely clean and very modern, the location of the hotels in Shanghai and Beijing were good for visitors, many places were in walking distance. This certainly helps for our 4 free days in Beijing.

Daily activities were well planned by the tour guides that allowed for some extras activities to be added when we requested them.

Juni, James and Tracey were very knowledgeable on the cities, China history and activities. If you could pass on our compliments it would be appreciate it.

Thank you for your planning on the trip for us.

Albert

(November 17th, 2011)

Hi Leila,

My trip was unbelievable! Efficiently organized, excellent, knowledgeable and caring guides made every day enjoyable and packed to the top with excursions and food and trips and more food. The days were well planned to maximize my time and the river trip a chance of a lifetime. I did find out that it’s not going to be nearly as enjoyable during the dry season because they will pull the reservoir down 100’s of feet leaving this big messy muddy bank to look at so the optimum time for this trip would be October – April. If you have any older guests planning a trip make sure that they do lots of exercise and can climb a lot of stairs!

I am in Shanghai now until Dec. 6. This will give me time to rest up and be here for Kendra’s baby. I will organize my photos and send some your way.

Could you please give me an accounting of what happened at the hotel in Xian with the charges? I will need to explain to my bookkeeper what happened and I can just forward it on to her. Internet service was nonexistent on the river cruise no matter what they say so I am just beginning to catch up.

Yes, I will certainly contact you first for my trip next year. I would like to see the Yunan province and Vietnam.

I look forward to hearing from you and will send pictures soon.

Thank you again,

Carolyn
(November 17th, 2011)

Hi Will

In general we were very satisfied with the overall organization and the service involved.Please find below our feedback regarding our China Tour.

Hotels:

All Hotel except the one in Emei met our expectations regarding cleanness, breakfast and Service quality.

Guides:

Very Satisfied, command of english language fine, very helpful and friendly. Nothing to complain about.

Transportation:

Friendly drivers, save driving, clean cars, always on time. Airlines were also fine.

Thanks a lot for your help, we had a great time in China.

Wish you all the best

Fabian
(November 15th, 2011)

Dear Pamela & Sophie

I just want to send you an e-mail to thank you for your wonderful work as our tour guide when we were in Guilin.

It was lovely to meet you and be shown around your lovely city and beautiful river scenery. You did a wonderful job to make us comfortable and inform us of all the things we should be looking at while we were under your care. We will never forget our trip and it is people like you who make it so unforgettable.

It was doubly wonderful to meet you, a member of an ethnic minority, and one as pretty as you...and cute, too!! We all hope and wish that you find your "Mr Right" soon, fall in love, get married and have lots of children... after all you are an ethnic minority - you can have more than one!

As someone who teaches Chinese (and other) students here in Australia to speak clearly, I assure you that your knowledge and use of English was excellent and I told you so at the time, didn't I!

For us the highlight of our trip to your city, Guilin was the overnight stay downstream on the river in that hotel which was so nice. We had a wonderful evening strolling around the city (West St) and buying lots of presents for our friends back home. The drive back to Guilin was also pretty wonderful and I should mention how nice the driver was.

I shall send you herewith some photos we took while we were with you.

I would like to send a copy of this letter to Sophie and I will wait for your permission before I do that. I will keep a copy of this until I hear from you.

Xie xie!!!

Best wishes to you and your family and again many thanks for your good service... from

The Elliott, Jesson and Lynch families (Oct 9th 2011)

Peter Elliott

(November 15th, 2011)

Hi Leila,

We both want to thank you and Odyssey for a fantastic trip. Although it was a very fast tour, Joe, Emily, Ivan were all excellent!!! The effort they all put forth was outstanding. We enjoyed Beijing, with perfect weather. Xi-an was fascinating, with Ivan doing an excelent job of explaining the history of the area. We will be glad to recomend Odyssey to all of our friends. Thanks again for a wonderful experience.

Mick & Steph Sass
(November 14th, 2011)

Dear Sophie,

I would like to thank you for arranging our trip to beijing.

Was a wonderful holiday and was made even more special by Leo and Ms Zhang.

I would like to add a personal thank you to Leo, for his guidance and information during our trip.

I would be happy to recommend china odyssey tours to any of my friends for future travel to china.

Thanks once again

Sincerely

Gerard Silveira

(November 9th, 2011)

Dear Reinself,

We have been back in Chicago since Saturday night (November 5). We want to thank-you for all of your wonderful planning. Yes, I worried about everything, but you were so correct that everything would work out and it did.

All the guides picked us up on time, and we liked all of them. All the flights worked out, except for the fog delay in Beijing, which was out of your control. We enjoyed everything that you planned for us.

It was a pleasure working with you, and I would certainly recommend you and China Odyssey Tours if I knew someone going to China.

I'm so glad we were able to meet in Guilin. We appreciated our names on your video screens, and our special gift bag!

I have 2 suggestions for your next clients.

First, when we visited the Great Wall, we went to the Mutianyu section. It was a long, uphill walk to the cable cars. Once on the Wall, there were many steep steps, and few railings. I didn't feel very comfortable walking around that section. I went back to the Great Wall on a tour arranged from my husband's firm to the Badaling Section. There were also cable cars, but not a long uphill walk to get to them. It was much easier to walk at the Badaling Section, and I was able to see much more of the wall. Your other clients may also perfer Badaling to Mutianyu.

Next, we liked the Sofitel in Xian, and the Westin in Shanghai, but really didn't like the Sheraton in Guilin. I don't know if there is a hotel in Guilin that is better, but the Sheraton was not nearly as good as the other hotels.

Best wishes,

Fran Block
(November 8th, 2011)

Dear Maggie,

Thanks for the great trip, Maggie!

Attached(Email) are our photos from our office visit!

Emily & Chris

(November 7th, 2011)

Dear Karen,

Please find attached a letter(as following) I would like to pass to your company management.

I will also also put an update in Tripadvisor in the near future.

Regards,

Jocelyn Coralie.

Dear China Odyssey Management,

I would like to give you and your staff a great thanks for making our first Chinese Holiday a successful and memorable one.

All the guides we had we very professional and friendly.I would like to mention two persons that made our experience with company one of the best.

Firstly we were very nervous to deal a travel company online and my wife and I had never done it before. Karen Yang made our online experience an easy one. She provided us all the information we needed and never said no to any of our request. Karen made the whole online booking experience stress free.

Secondly as would be aware, when we arrived at the hotel after being pickup by Tracie at the Beijing airport, we didn’t have a hotel room. We were not very happy because we were very tired after a 16 hour flight. Tracie was very professional in the way the handle the situation. Tracie made sure that we had another room for the night and was at the hotel in the morning to make sure that everything was in order. Tracie went out of her way to make sure that nothing else went wrong during our visit in Beijing. On my birthday which was on the 23rd October (the date we left for Xi’an) Tracie gave me a birthday cake. The birthday cake made our visit in Beijing a memorable one. Please give Tracie a special thank-you from my wife and me.

I can tell you that as a result of the service I received from Karen and Tracie, I will use your service again and recommend my friend to your company for their holiday in future.

Regards,

Jocelyn Coralie.
(November 6th, 2011)

Hi Will,

Nice to hear from you.

Sorry for late reply your mail. I've been rush to settle my job in the past one week.

So, i have been done a post-trip questionnaire to your company. You can read it from your Vera Zhao.

Last but not least, i really enjoy to travel with China Odyssey which under your arrangement. Make me feel comfortable and confident.

I will going to plan my next trip to China Guilin by cruise in next year after winter season. And other place like shanghai, hangzhou, suzhou as well.

Thanks you and best regards,

Kok Siang
(November 6th, 2011)

Dear Karen,

We must thank you for arranging such a wonderful holiday for us. The Tour ran perfectly, without any problems. A big thankyou for this must also go to your guides--they were all superb, organising many extra visits which were not on the itinerary! The drivers were also very flexable.

Maybe a special mention should go to Leo in Beijing,who was not only 100% efficient, but a great personallity who did everything possible to make our visit so memorable. (resturants, shows, shops, etc). A very good ambasador for your company.

Sorry we could not find the time to visit you in Guilin---maybe next time!

Please feel free to give my Email to anyone who wants a recommendation.

Thanks again. John and Angela Denning.
(November 5th, 2011)

Dear Maple

Thank you for the travel you organised for us, we had a vwonderful stay in China ! Plenty of new impressions, surprises and discoveries, that we have now to « assimilate »… Thank you also to have called to check if everythink was ok for us.

No doubt that if we visit China once again, we’ll ask you to organise our trip ! I hope we have not been too demanding clients, but we are very satisfied with the choices we made and the options you chose for us.

Best regards and thank you again.

Anne and Alain Sattiva
(November 4th, 2011)

Hi Will,

Thanks for the picture!!

I was going to write to you anyway to tell you that we are at the Harbor Grand Kowloon and we love it, especially the location!

Thank you so much for helping us plan this fantastic trip and for taking such good care of us while we were in China.

I have been thinking of ways in which you could enhance your credibility in the U.S. One way might be to take out advertisements in newsletters that are given out at conventions-for example, the American Bar Association (lawyers), the American Medical Association (doctors), the Massachusetts Bar Association. The ads are fairly low cost and would increase your exposure and make it seem as though the organization was endorsing you.

Of course you may contact me after I return to the U.S.. We hope to travel with your again.

Sincerely, Marcia and Ken Weiss
(November 1st, 2011)

Hi Vincent,

Thanks for your follow up email.

We had an unreal time in China, we really enjoyed ourselves, learnt a lot, and can't wait to go back and see more sometime down the road.

Some feedback:

The tour guides that we had in Xian (Stella) and Chengdu (Ben) are absolute assets to your business, they were fantastic, went above and beyond to help us.

Stella was really good in helping us learn Chinese history

Ben was really good how he picked restaurants where he could eat with us a much as possible, this helped us learn more about the food and Chinese life.

The guide that we had for fill in on our first day in Shanghai was also brilliant. (Forgot name)

Please ensure that our high praises are passed to these staff again, and importantly to yourself for organising such a great tour.

The other guides were good, but these were just brilliant and fantastic.

We really liked how in most cities the guides would make small adjustments to the tours to fit more in, or go at times that would have shorter queues, streamined driving and travel, therefore allowing us to take in more, in a more relaxed way.

We have attached just three pics of our top three places. We took over 1200 pictures.

Thanks again

Matt

(November 1st, 2011)

P.S. - Do you have an agency (sister company) that organises tours in Cambodia or Vietnam that you can recommend?

Hi Leila,

Thanks again for organizing our trip to beautiful China...we have indeed had an amazing time.

We have lots of favorites as each destination had its own charm and uniqueness, but if I have to pinpoint one in particular, I have to stay the Guilin /Youngsho portion of our trip....We had no idea how beautiful Youngsho was, if we knew, we would have allocated an extra day or two there.

The tour guides and drivers were all excellent and very professional, Peggy in particular was very helpful :)

The choice of most hotels was good with good location:

- We loved the Sofitel in Xi'an - excellent choice!

- Our least favorite was: the Sheraton in Guilin: although location was good but hotel itself was not at all a 5 star hotel....it will barely make it to 3.5 star; it was old, smelly and suspect bugs in the bedcovers as 3 of us wouldn't sleep well there from the constant itching!!!!!

- Also we didn't like much the Harbour Grand in Hong Kong: Hotel itself was ok but location was very inconvenient!

We have taken lots of pictures, but have to find the time to download them and see them and relive our trip to china :)

Many thanks again for all

Kind regards,

May
(November 1st, 2011)

Hello Will!!!

Than you very much for organization out trip. Everything was great, the guides was prepered excellent they showed us everything what was planned and much more, we went to more places with them than suposed to go, guiders was english speaking very well.

Your country is beautifull and we are possitive surprised, hotels excellent, food also.

We took so many photos but I didn't printed yet. Last week was very crazy, so much laundry, souvenires to give family and friends, so probobly I'm gonna send you some picktures soon.

Thank you very much for everything.

Dear Reinself,

The whole China tour that you put together for us was just the BEST. You were so kind to work with us on all the little changes we made through out the planning of our trip.

We wanted to let you know how pleased we were with our guides, Shanghai it was Vivian, and Guilin it was Anne,

Xi'an it was Kenny and then Andy picked us up from our cruise. We just fell in love with Andy. He was so considerate and could communicate with us and planned some wonder Chinese dinners that were out of this world!!!!!!

As I said we really were happy with all the things we got to visit but was so impressed with Andy and the manner he did the tour. I wanted to send a thanks to you and am copying Andy as a thank you also.He was the BEST GUIDE EVER!!!!!!!!!!

We are now home, safe and a bit tired from our travels but are so thankful for the oppoutunity to visit all the 7 countries we visited and China was a favorite of ours.

Thanks again to you Reinself for the over all tour and for the personal touch you gave with the birthday cake and gifts for Bob. We so appreciated your thoughtfulness and so glad we could meet you in person.

Best,

Bob and Diane Butscher
(October 30th, 2011)

Dear Maggie,

Very interesting and well organized. Bus to Wuhan was a little different. Never been on a bus that long, but I survived . Guide met me in Wuhan when I arrived and took me to train for return. . I got a cold on the cruise and have not not been feeling as well as I would like. Feeling much better today though. Thanks for all your help and support. Really glad I finally saw the Yangtze. Truly beautiful. Wuhan was impressive with all the construction. Truly amazing what China is doing. Exciting time for Chinese. Train from Wuhan to Beijing was fine too. I am staying at the CBD Qianyuan Business Hotel. Very impressive and inexpensive. Great location too. Just for your information.

Thanks again.

Jim

(October 31st, 2011)

Dear Simon,

Sorry that I have not replied earlier. Yes we had a great time in China! The China Odyssey Tour made the huge difference. Everything went as expected and we can't say enough about how well this was organized by you guys.

Thank you for all your work. And yes we will definitely contact you again for our next trip!

Best regards ...

Yan
(October 30th, 2011)

Dear Karen,

We had a perfect tour thanks to all your help!

The fireworks festival was better than we thought possible. Our hotel room was located in perfect position for photographing the fireworks. Wow!!!! We were also interviewed by local newspaper that night as they were curious as to how we came to be there.

We were very lucky with clear blue sky in Beijing which was perfect for photography of great wall and other tours. Also had perfect weather for Panda photography in Chengdu and all the Pandas were very active and moving around a lot.

We were also very lucky with clear blue sky while visiting top of Yellow mountains making perfect mountain pictures. Very impressive!! Sunrise was outstanding on mountain top next morning!

Weather was good for Guilin tours and really enjoyed everything there. The Impression show that night was outstanding!

The guides that you assigned to us were all very good and we enjoyed being with them.

In a couple weeks we will post some of our best pictures on web.

Thanks Again!!

John

(October 28th, 2011)

Hi Vincent,

I have returned to the States from Beijing and catching up on email.

Thank you again for arranging the tours for Guilin, Yangshuo, and Xi'an, we enjoyed ourselves very much. You were a delight to work with.

Special thanks to our guide Amy, she was absolutely amazing! The best guide we had during our 17 days in China.

I just completed a customer survey Vera sent, so you have all my feedback there. Overall an excellent experience.

Best,

Bruce

(October 28th, 2011)

Dear Sophie,

I am sorry I haven't contacted you sooner. WE HAD A BALL! Michael and I enjoyed everything you arranged for us. Our guides were professional and courteous, the drivers were on time and we loved the way were checked in at airports and collected from others.

I have told my friends about your company and how reliable it is.I filled in the questionnaire. Michael and I would like to recommend Will in Beijing and Stella in Xi'an for the best guides!

Thank you for all your work. The holiday was a memorable experience.

Colleen Walsh

(October 28th, 2011)

Dear Vera,

Thank you so much for arranging such a lovely vacation for us. All of our guides and drivers were exceptional as were most of the hotels.

It was a very memorable vacation. Thank you once again.

Sincerely,

Karen Harlan

(October 26th, 2011)

Hi Leila,

Thanks again for making this trip such an easy adventure to plan. We had an amazing time and could not believe how great the tour guides were.

We really liked Johnson a great deal! He was an amazing host and he really cared about us knowing everything there was to know about Beijing. We really would give him the highest recommendation of all.

We were not very pleased with the service we received from our guide in Xian - I can not even recall her name. It was definitely my favorite city and I think it could have been a better experience with a different guide.

T'laine was our guide in Shanghai and once again was an excellent host. Very informative, professional and friendly. She made sure we were comfortable and my food concerns were taken care of.

Overall, China was a great trip and I look forward to traveling with Odyssey again to China.

Sincerely,

Dana

(October 26th, 2011)

Dear Mister&Reinself,

We sincerely would like to thank you for the trip you organized for us in China. Everything was perfect and very well prepared. We spent a lot of time in the airports and train stations, but it definitely worst it !!

I really loved the Terracotta army warriors while my husband had a crush for the great wall.

We would like to send a postcard and a little souvenir from our Pacific island to some of our guides. Could you please give us their addresses? - Nick (Beijing); - Peter (Xian); - Joy (Chengdu); - and Pamela (Guilin).

Thank you in advance.

Best regards,

Elodie VILLAUME

(October 24th, 2011)

Dear Vera,

Now that we have returned to Mexico we just wanted to congratulate you on the tour you arranged for us. Everything went very well and all the guides were excellent except for the one in Xian (Alex) who suffers from a serious problem with his attitude. It seems that he did not understand who was the customer and who was the guide and was actually quite rude to us. However, we particularly liked the guide in Guiling, Theresa, who was delightful as well as very knowledgeable. Emma in Beijing was also excellent.

If I might make one suggestion it would be to skip the overnight stop in Yangshuo after the boat ride from Guiling. The show on the water was fantastic but that Green Lotus Hotel really was not up to the standard of the other hotels we stayed at. It would probably be better to return the passengers to Guiling the same evening.

We were a little apprehensive about spending 3 days on the boat trip along the Yangste River but it turned out to be excellent and we really enjoyed the experience. All the arrangements regarding flights and road transportation worked very well. We will certainly recommend your company to any friends or colleagues who are planning to visit your beautiful and fascinating country.

Kind regards and thanks once again,

Phil & Maru Hutchins

(October 24th, 2011)

Dear Jenny,

Many thanks for your message. No problem about the Shangri-la program, it all worked out well and I have happy memories of the entire trip! Will be happy to send you some photos once I have downloaded them, and please feel free to use on your web-site. Yunnan is indeed a very beautiful part of China.

I also have a favor to ask you; could you please send me the e-mail address of my guide in Kunming - Mr. Nunchakus. I bought some very good Yunnan tea there, and want to ask him about getting some more in the future.

Thanks and warm regards,

Bammi

(October 23th, 2011)

Dear Karen,

I just wanted to let you know how much we enjoyed our trip and say thank you for all your organization. All your arrangements for us went very smoothly and the hotels you chose for us in Beijing and Xian were excellent both in location and comfort.

I wanted to give you some feedback about the hotel in Pingyao, not as a complaint but just so you know for other guests. When we wre there, there was no hot water to have a shower in the afternoon or before 8am in the morning so we had to have cold showers before we left for Taiyuan. There was also no electricity to make a cup of tea in the mornings.

I also wanted to say thank you for making arrangements in Xian at such short notice. Our guide Stella was fantastic. She was knowledgeable, friendly and went out of her way to make our stay as enjoyable as possible. We are so glad we chose to have a guide, we certainly wouldn't have seen or learnt so much without Stella showing us around. We will happily recommend your company to our friends. Thank you.

John and Jane

(October 21th, 2011)

Dear Leila,

Thank you very much for following up on our tour of China. We had a wonderful trip,our tour guiides and drivers were wonderful people, always punctual,always pleasant and imformative and generally an absolute necessity. Our hotel accommodations and meals were superb and our attractions were exemplary.

We especially enjoyed the Yangtze river cruise, but the Terra Cotta Warriors and Shanghai expo and urban planning exhibits were also excellent choices, As far as suggestions for improving, you did such an excellent job, there is little room for making it better. We did enjoy all of the Buddhist temples and monastaries very much but the only place to improve would be that we had maybe a little too many Temples and monastaries and there seemed to be some duplication of what we were seeing, so maybe perhaps if there was some other attractions that could have been visited would be a little better.

Everything taken into consideration it was a wonderful trip and I would recommend you and your company to anyone who would travel to China.

Again Thank you very much Leila for doing such a great job in seeing that we enjoyed travelling in your beautiful country.

Regards

James and Patsy Patterson

(October 20th, 2011)

Dear Sophie,

We are now back home after our holiday in China. We had a wonderful time and everything was organised, as expected, with Chinese precision.

Our Guides and Drivers were absolutely first class and could not be bettered. My one regret was that we did not manage to see the Shaolin Temple; may be next time.

Thank you so much for organising such a memorable and pleasurable tour. Xei xei

Kind regards

John

(October 19th, 2011)

Dear Karen,

We are safely back in Australia. It has been a wonderful trip, we have seen lots of beautiful sights and achieved what we set out to do. Your country is amazing. Your staff, in the drivers and the girls who took us on the tours, were fanastic.

The girls were all pleasant and caring and attended to all our requests and needs. They were all very knowledgable, it was very impressive. They did their very, very best and I recommend them to anyone of your customers. The drivers are very impressive drivers. The traffic in each state was very difficult conditions to drive in and I was not concerned at any stage of coming to any harm. They were there on time and took us safely to and from our accommodation.

With reference to accommodation, flights, meals and sights we are happy to make both positive and negative comments for you so you can fine tune your arrangements for other tours such as ours.

Regards Mary Walsh

(October 19th, 2011)

Dear Maple

Henry and I have returned safely to Australia and I would like to take this opportunity to thank China Odyssey for a good trip. Firstly to you personally: I think I sent you about 26 emails during the course of planning the trip and you were always patient and helpful. That the trip was confirmed relatively late and you still managed to get us booked in everywhere is a credit to you. All the guides on the trip were excellent. They really looked after us and I am especially grateful to them for the attention they paid to Henry who, as you know, is 82 years old. All the transfers went smoothly and it was very helpful to have them check us in at the airport on departure.

I would especially like to thank Julia in Chengdu and Dolkar in Lhasa as they really made us feel welcome as if we were old friends come to stay. Dol kar went out of her way to ensure we found and got good service at local venues, and our afternoon with Julia was the most relaxed and enjoyable of the trip. They are both outstanding tour guides. I would recommend them to anyone who may visit those cities in the future. I appreciated the refund for the change of details for the last day of the trip. Tourist lunch venues are hit and miss in any country so I would like to make particular mention of the ones we found the best ie: all Beijing venues were very agreeable as was the Tibet Steak house. Be assured though, we certainly have no complaints otherwise.

Our accommodation was satisfactory. Thank you. I was a little perplexed by the different prices and standards of accommodation, one hotel costing Y400 and another Y1500. Our Xian location was an easy winner for comfort and service. Finally, we congratulate the drivers who got us safely around in some amazing traffic. They are gold.

Thank you again. On that experience I hope I have another chance to get to China soon.

Regards and good luck to you,

Paul Treacy

(October 18th, 2011)

Dear Jenny,

I'm back in Jakarta after another fabulous trip with COT! Thanks again for the careful preparation and the guides everywhere were prompt and helpful; the driver who stayed with me from Dali to Shangri-la (Mr. Dong) is excellent - very courteous and friendly, and a safe driver. There was a slight problem at Lijiang and Shangri-la, where the guides seemed to have a different tour program compared to my written itinerary, but we managed to work it out and I got to see everything!

I was also lucky with the weather - it was sunny and nice on all days except the visit to the park at Shangri-la, where you could feel that winter was near!

It was good to speak to you from Kunming, and I hope to make further tours with COT such as Guilin, Shanghai-Suzhou-Hangzhou, and Beijing-Xian-Dunhuang (but I'm not sure of the timing yet!). Please do keep in touch.

With best wishes and warm regards,

Bammi

(October 18th, 2011)

Dear Sophie,

I am attaching the letter I sent to Steven in Beijing for you to read. He certainly was the best tour guide we had with the clearest command of English. We would love him to be able to have a holiday in Australia and he is the only person we made that offer to. He is aware I am sending you this copy - I would not have done it without his permission.

There is no need to reply to this...you have enough to do!

Best wishes as ever

Xie xie

Peter (Tony) Elliott

(October 18th, 2011)

Dear Sophie,

It has been almost one month we arrived back home. Sorry for taking so long to write you.

At first my wife and I would like to thank you very much for the terrific hot pot dinner you offered us - It was so romantic and unforgetable. Our tour was fine. As allways China has surprised us for its beauty and magnificence. Our fist time in Indochina convinced us that we must go back some day. I would like to comment that the arrangements made for Indochina were better than the ones for China in terms of hotels, cars and guides.

Just one more important thing I would like to mention: We had some problems at the New Era Kunming hotel, which made me very mad. It had never happened to me all my life. Our guide, Mr.Jack (if I am not wrong) was with us during the hotel check out when occurred a very unpleasant situation, and he can report you. Finally, thank you for everything and I hope to get in touch with you soon.

Best regards,

Dalton

(October 14th, 2011)

Dear Sophie,

I am finally making time to write to you to thank you for your wonderful ability to organise a perfect tour in China. One of the reasons I have taken so long to write to you is that I have written to every one of the guides who you had looking after us to thank them for their kindness and expertise. In each e-mail to them I asked would they like me to forward a copy of the thank you letter to you. I have only so far had two replies and I will attach them to this e-mail.

You must know by now how much we appreciate China Odyssey Tours in general and you in particular because this is our second trip to China with you and there will probably one more smaller one next year (which I will talk to you about another time). Last time when we were in your good hands with Mr Geoff Bateman , I remember his wife, Corinne, saying to me halfway through the trip, "Wow! I thought yesterday was wonderful but the day is even better, and you know what? I have thought that everyday!" This sums up the attitude of the 11 people in our group this time. One of our pax was, I think, a bit too sick to be attempting such a long and busy trip but he came anyway and our guide in Shanghai, Avril was amazingly helpful. Anyway at one part of the trip he joked to me, "I think we should all go home now because we have had more than our money's worth !" And my brother, John Elliott, with his usual silly sense of humour said to me, "The trouble with China is that everything is the same." I was shocked. How could he say that about this wonderful country? But then he went on, "Yes, everything is the same - amazing!"

I have read on your website all the complimentary things people have said about you and COT, so I won't bore you by repeating it all once again. You know that I would never recommend anyone else except you and COT so you don't need to worry about that.

Thank you again, Sophie and thanks to all your wonderful staff. I am forwarding to you here with two e-mails I have sent to the guides, one in Shanghai (Avril) and one in Xi'an (Kenny) [the others have not replied yet]

Best wishes to you and your family,

Peter Elliott

(October 11th, 2011)

Dear Reinself,

Thanks a lot for your confirmation.

I want to thank you for your incredibly fast, very professional and efficient service! In case the trip to Mt Huangshan is as well organised as the booking, then we will definitely have a fantastic experience.

Thanks again for your great job!

Best regards,

Guillaume.,

(October 10th, 2011)

Dear Maggie,

Thankyou so much for your lovely gifts, it was a great surprise. Thankyou also for all your help in organising such a great trip. It was really wonderful. Our kids really enjoyed meeting each and every guide at each city- they particularly liked Kenny!! We would be more than happy to recommend your company and also to include some photos- we have 1000! Our kids felt like celebrities as everyone wanted to have their photo taken with 4 blonde children!

One comment that I think might be helpful to share with you was that several of the guides were very good at realizing how we were feeling. Evelyn and Kenny were particularly good at sensing that the children were very tired and couldn't do everything that we had included on the itinerary. However when we were in Beijing the traffic was horrendous from the week long celebrations. Our guide changed the order of our activities from one day to another which was no trouble.

When we finally decided to go to the Great wall the kids were made to get up really early. It took 6 hours to finally get there because he made us visit a factory which produced the cloisenne products and then we had to go to the Jade factory because the guide and the bus driver had to have their lunch. We just stood there waiting. With tired kids this was just ridiculous and they were not even slightly interested in either of these destinations that were not included as far as we were concerned. Will said that he had to take us to these places because it was company policy. If we hadn't gone to these places we would've been at the great Wall by 11.30 instead of 3.30pm!

We will add photos when you need them,

Thanks again,

Adrienne Bishop

PS The accomodation was excellent. We particularly enjoyed the hotel inBeijing, Guilin and Yangshuo.

(October 9th, 2011)

Dear Maple

Just wanted to drop you a note to say that the tour went perfectly!

Billy was great. He's flexible, punctual, and has a very cheerful demeanor. He's also very good at knowing how much information to give while traveling around. I have been on tours inwhich the guide gives information to the point of exhaustion; this was not the case with Billy, he knew exactly how much information to give. Simply put, from an American (and Thai) point of view, Billy is an ideal guide...I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND him. The driver was also excellent as he kept SAFETY as his primary concern.

As for the tour and the sites, it EXCEEDED expectations...great job in arranging that! Thanks again for being creative in planning a trip that met our particular needs.

For sure, we will use your agency again.

Ed (USA), Carol(USA), and Jeab(Thailand)

(October 9th, 2011)

Dear Sophie,

I have just entered this review of China Odyssey on Trip Advisor, it takes a few days to be posted I think. As you can see I think it is an excellent review of the company and I want to re-iterate that you were an excellent assistant to me in putting it all together. Thanks you for your help and patience. You were excellent and instrumental in making the trip a success!

I was fascinated by China, and would like to return there soon. I was considering a trip to Shanghai in December 2011. I realize it may be cold then but that is the time that is available to me unless I wait until 9/2012. I would spend about 5 days in Shanghai and 5-6 days in nearby cities. I had looked at the map and was considering D trains to Suzhou, then Nanjing, then QingDao - each for several nights. I don't think I need a local guide this time, but I would like to hear your ideas to recommend an itinerary. If I go, I might use your services to book the hotels, trains, and air back to Shanghai.

Thanks again,

Ken

(October 9th, 2011)

Dear Karen,

We are back from our trip and I just wanted to let you know we had a great time. Our guides Chris and Tracey were great. Very professional, fun, organized and flexible. All went well and we got to see a tremendous amount of Chinese history. Thank you for your guidance and planning assistance. We will definitely use China Odyssey Tours again.

The one thing we learned, as it says in your tour guide book, is that the Chinese 4 star hotels are not what we (Westerners) were expecting. The hotels were very old and needed much repair and paint. The rooms were small with tiny bathrooms. The Beijing hotel did not even have an open bar in/near the lobby for evening cocktails. I am not blaming you or China Odyssey Tours it was my decision but I guess I was going on the US star rating. Some (luxury) differences between 4 star and 5 star but don't lose much going with 4 star. Next trip we will know better.

Thanks for the support and patience. Please pass on our thanks to your management staff for setting up a great trip.

What do you have in the way of a Yangtze River tour? Days, debarking ports, arriving ports, stops along the way, etc.

Thanks again.

William C. Jordan

(October 8th, 2011)

Dear Sophie,

T Since, we returned to US, we are quite busy with our office work and few other social programs. We did not even had a chance to look and edit our pictures from our trip. Our apologies that it took a while for us to send a thank you note for the excellent trip arrangements you did. The only regret we have is that Iype and Annie were not able to join the trip, although Iype did all the work from our side.

We returned to the U.S safely and it took a while to settle back at home and work. We had a fabulous time in China – primarily because the travel arrangements in each city worked exactly as planned, tour guides were knowledgeable and accommodating, the choice of sights/tours were excellent. All Tour guides and drivers were on time. Also they accommodated our requests to see couple of acrobatic shows in Beijing and Shanghai. Thank you so much for arranging this memorable trip. Some of our friends may be interested in a trip to China and we hope you would not mind if we give your name.

Regards,

Jacob and Jessie (Mary) Thomas

Austin, Texas, USA

(October 7th, 2011)

Dear Sophie,

Thanks for the note. We have been recovering from jet lag and colds since our return.

We really enjoyed our visit to the Guilin area. After being in so many huge cites, it was nice to see the countryside. We both grew up on farms in Iowa and enjoyed seeing the fields and farming activities. Our trip to China would have been far less rewarding without the Guilin portion.

The arrangements from your company were excellent. We were a little nervous since this was our first time booking a trip over the Internet. But once we were met at the airport, all ran great. You should give David a bit more time off so he can rest up.

I have three small suggestions for improvement, all in Yangshou. The Green Lotus Hotel was good and a great location. But I would have paid more for a room with a river view. You should offer that as an option. I could have upgraded on my own, but we were already in our room and it seemed like too much trouble. But if had known in advance, I would have picked the river view.

The other two suggestions relate to Water Show. The guide should remind the guests to bring binoculars if they have them. We wished we had our binoculars but didn't think of them until we were seated. Secondly, it would be good if the guide would give a brief explanation of the story before the show. We didn't ask about it until after the show. The show was spectacular, but we might have appreciated it a bit more if we knew the story.

Hope my comments help. We had a wonderful tour and would recommend your company to our friends and family.

Thank you once again to all concerned in making our trip a very enjoyable and memorable one.

Rich McCurdy

(October 7th, 2011)

Dear Vera,

I have recently returned to Australia after a wonderful tour of your country arranged by Karen from your Guilin office.

I was initially hesitant to use an overseas internet company,especially as I was organising for myself and husband plus 8 other friends.

Karen soon put my mind at ease with all the information regarding your companies background that she emailed to me.

Our tour was excellent,no hitches,all hotels of a good standard ( loved our upgrade to 20th floor at The Bund in Shanghai ) tour guides were very knowledgeable, helpful,well dressed. I would like to mention Joy,John and Michael whom we found especially good.

I asked to meet Karen (as I wanted to thank her for all her efforts ). Our group of 10 were taken to karen's office in Guilin where we were all made welcome. Karen presented each couple with a lovely gift bag of mementoes,this lovely gesture was much appreciated by all.

Putting this tour together for our group of 10 was made easy by Karen's helpful manner. All queries were answered promptly,nothing was too much trouble.

Thank you once again to all concerned in making our trip a very enjoyable and memorable one.

We will have no hesitation in recommending Karen and China Odyssey Tours at any opportunity.

Regards

Marie Clayton

(October 6th, 2011)

Dear Sophie,

As our tour winds up to an end, I would like to let you know that Minerva and I have been pleased with our tour. I just want to confirm with you that we are leaving on the 7th and would like to be sure that our pick up at the Salvo hotel will be at 11.30am to be brought to the airport. Kindly make sure that we are not late for our check in. Thank you so far for a great time in China.

Regards

Julian

(October 5th, 2011)

Dear Karen,

Once again thank you for arranging our recent short trip to Shanghai. We were very pleased with the arrangements After we left Shanghai we flew to Vancouver where we joined the Holland America "Volendam" for the cruise from Vancouver to Sydney. We arrived home only yesterday and so I have not had the opportunity to thank you earlier.

We hope to arrange another tour within China in the next year or so and will contact you again then

Kind regards

Kevin Kennedy

(October 2nd, 2011)

Dear Sophie,

I throughly enjoyed the holiday. I was very impressed with your organization and promptness in your communication.

Lee, my tour guide was fantastic and made my experience in China very memorable. I will be planing another holiday with my family soon. I will be in touch with you. I have attached the evaluation form. Please accept my apologies for the delay.

Kind regards

Balan Sivasubramaniam

(October 2nd, 2011)

Dear Maggie,

Thanks again for a pertfectly arranged holliday. Have to tell you we were stunned by the whole organization.

Never had to wait for anyone. Of course, filling in the forms for the guides was a laugh. Better not do that through the tourguide. There is always good and better. We only had one tourguide that really missed the idea of helping the tourist. Just the minimal help and without any interest at all. But that is no problem. This one did NOT get any bonus. As soon as we know WHEN we want to come to China again we will let you know.

Thanks again and regards,

Jan and Ria van Ertk Bali

(September 29th, 2011)

Dear Maggie,

thank you and I will be pleased to send our comments!

By and large everything worked fine. We sure missed out on the Yantzee cruise (flooding) and the train from Lhasa to Xingning was a harder experience than we ever expected! (how to reconstitute noodle dinners, unpleasant bathrooms and not knowing when to board or when to exit were all challenges which we faced on our own)

We are glad we had your help getting out of Chongqing AND with our extra day in Peking.

Thanks again for our wonderful gifts and we have many great memories of our time in your very special country.

(September 29th, 2011)

Dear Maple

Thank you for all your help in our last holiday in China.

The tours and activities you organised were the best part of our holiday and we much appreciate it and both of the tour guides peggy and forrest were brilliant.

I am now starting to plan next year and would appreciate your assistance.

We are travelling from Beijing to Moscow on the Trans Siberian Railway and have 5 days in China before we leave on Sunday 19th August 2012.

I have a rough idea of an itinerary but would appreciate your ideas of what China odyssey can suggest as an itinerary. We arrive in Beijing on Sunday 12th at 9.30am on British airways flight from London.

We have already hotels booked in Beijing as part of our trans Siberian trip for 12th 13th and 18th august but nothing yet for Chengdu.

In Beijing we would like an airport transfer and to visit Temple of Heaven and forbidden city on 12th We would like a visit to summer palace on 13th and airport transfer and return tickets to Chengdu early on 14th, 3 nights in Chengdu at a 4 star hotel of your recommendation.

Returning to Beijing early afternoon flight and transfer from airport to hotel in Beijing.

Whilst in Chengdu we would like to visit Chengdu Panda reserve one morning as early as possible and would also like to visit the Leshan Giant Budda, Wenshu Monastery and Du fu cottage while we are in Chengdu plus anything else you can suggest we have time for Look forward to your thoughts.

Best regards,

Dennis Bowers

Financial controller

Lonrho Plc

(September 28th, 2011)

Dear Maggie,

Yes we enjoyed our trip. The guides were all good. Bruce in Shenzhen went above and beyond the call of duty. The Holiday Inn Express was a shameful experience and Bruce did everything he could to make the situation better. He also said to me that you could sent us a copy of the receipt or booking info for this hotel as we are members of Priority Reward, so we get frequent flyer points for this stay. It will also be to prove to the Priority Rewards people that we stayed. If you could do this for us quickly it would be appreciated.

Thank You

Paul Coffey

(September 28th, 2011)

Dear Karen,

Salujas and us are back to New York. Dhalls are in Japan.

We had a wonderful time in China. The tour guides (Willie in Beijing, Tony in Xian and Junie in ShangHai ) were great and very professional.

Thank you for being so patient with us.

We will be more than happy to recommend China Odyssey Tour co and especially you to anyone interested in going to China

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

(September 27th, 2011)

Dear Sussan

Thanks for you note. We had a wonderful time. Toby was a great guide and very informative. He was on time, very helpful with lunch spots and shopping for DVDs we were trying to find.

The only area of concern was when the driver took me to the airport he was dialing his phone and making phone calls. I asked him not to and he abided but it is a safety risk to drive and talk on the phone.

Best regards,

Thanks, Linda

(September 20th, 2011)

Dear Sophie,

Just writing to inform you that my trip has come to an end. My visit was absolutely amazing and the services of China Odyssey excellent.

Thank you so much for all your help. I wish all tour agents were as efficient as you. I am already thinking of two additional trips to China in the near future: Inner Mongolia & Silk Roads and Tibet. Would love to travel with you guys again if possible.

Best regards,

Theo

(September 20st, 2011)

Dear Leila,

Thank you for your email; yes, my trip was most enjoyable, and the tour guides were very helpful in each city.

I arrived home safely, but my bag went missing between Chicago and Houston, and I'm waiting for it to be delivered. The highlight was probably the Li River Cruise and the Longi terraces in Guillin, because the scenery was so special; all the shows were also memorable, especially in Yangshuo, although the seating was not too comfortable. I took a lot of photos and video, and I'll send some when I get them on the computer. I learned a lot about China, Chinese history, and Chinese food. The weather was good except the first day in Shanghai. If I had more time I would have liked to go to Mt. Emei, instead of the cave. The pressure to buy in the work shops in Shanghai and X'ian, was a little tough to deal with.

All in all this was a great experience for me, and I commend you and your company for the well organized way in which the trip was planned and arranged.

Steve Sheldon

(September 9th, 2011)

Dear Simon,

We are back in S Korea now with our daughter, returned last nite from Shanghai. We were fortunate to return on time before any bad weather.

We want to thank you so much for an amazing journey in China. Everything was much more than I had ever dreamed possible. Our tour company does a wonderful job. Both of our tour guides Leo and Billy were wonderful.... Everything went as scheduled and liike I said an amazing journey. We love China!!

Thanks again......

Sandy
(August 28th, 2011)

Dear Sophie,

It was a pleasure meeting you in Guilin and thank you so much for the presents you gave us all. You are so friendly and sweet and I must thank you for all the emails you sent so promptly. You have been a great help in organising our tour and I have to say it was perfect in every way. Your planning was superb and we enjoyed every minute of our stay in China. Everything from the picking up at the airports to the tour guides was so well planned. Thanks again for all your hard work.

Also, thank you so much for sending the flowers to my room which my husband asked you to organise. That was very touching and I did read the email you sent him. Yes, I am very lucky to have him in my life and thank God everyday for that.

I have to say that the tour guides were great especially Toni in Xian, Susan in Guilin and ofcourse Chris in Shanghai. They were exceptional guides and you must let their bosses know that that they did have a good knowledge of all that they showed us and also were very flexible and kind too. We were very, very happy with them and please do let them know that too.

One of my friends want to visit China sometime next year and I am going to give her your name and email address. You can make up an itinerary for her when she decides to come to China.

Thanks so much Sophie for all the help and if ever you come to the US, please come and stay with us and be our guest in our home. We live very close to NY city and I am sure you will like that.

Keep in touch and best wishes always.

The others in my group send their regards too.......................gita

PS: Is there anything else I need to do for the tour guides like filling out a form or anything like that? Do let me know. I will be happy to do that.

(August 26th, 2011)

Dear Leila,

We are already in Hong Kong airport waiting for our flight back to Europe. Thanks very much for organizing our tour in Guilling and Yangshou, we really had a wonderful time. Anne is an amazing guide and we also enjoyed her company a lot.

I attach some pictures.

Regards,

Miguel

(August 22nd, 2011)

Dear Sophie,

I just wanted to write to say thank you for all your help with the tour.

We had a great time and the guides were amazing!

We will definitely recommend you guys to any of our friends travelling to China!!

Thank you again!

Jacqueline Coetzee

HR/Office Manager

(August 21st, 2011)

Dear Sophie,

Beijing was a very amazing city to visit and I am very impressed with all the sights and the Great Wall was very special. Our guide Tina was exceptional, she was a very kind, caring and sweet young lady and I am very happy to have met her. Mr.Lee was such a fantastic driver and I felt very safe all the time.

Our time in Xian was also very interesting, the weather here was so hot but the history was so wonderful you soon forget about the heat or untill you must walk to the car again!! I really enjoyed the bike ride around the city wall. Stephen was a very interesting man and was very passionate about his city.

I was so impressed with Guilin and Yangshuo these two places were absolutely beautiful. Lauren and I were very happy here and had such a lovely time in these beautiful places. The people here were happy and very friendly. Our guide Lynda was outstanding, she was very kind, caring and sweet and we really enjoyed her company. She has a beautiful voice and taught me a chinese song which I can sing and remember the words! Mr.Moor our driver was a very kind man also.

Our trip to Shanghai was very short but the weather while we were here was gorgeous. Our hotel was also very lovely.

I'm so grateful for your great quality service at China Odyssey tours you made our trip very smooth and very enjoyable. Thank you for all your fast email correspondence and the lovely gifts waiting for us in Guilin.

I feel very happy that I have been able to visit China it's a very diverse, interesting and culturally rich country. I have many photos and memories which I will treasure forever.

Thank you again for all your hard work Sophie

Many best wishes to you

I have attached a photo of Lauren (Red Top) and myself (Green Dress) on the bikes on the City Wall Xian. If you wish for any more photos please feel free to ask.

Kind Regards,

Lucy Moloney

(August 18th, 2011)

Dear Simon,

We made it! We are back from China with millions of great memories.

I would like to thank you your professional arrangements, I can confirm that we had no any problem during 3 weeks travel. I was really impressed by your organization, we had professional and very nice guides everywhere; on time, cars, hotels, admission tickets, attractions, all were perfect.

I would be glad to serve as a reference, if you wish please feel free to give my e-mail or phone number to your potential clients who require a reference.

Thank you again, if we come to Asia again - we plan an Indochina trip next year - I will definitely contact you or your agency.

Best regards

Gabor
(August 18th, 2011)

Dear Sophie,

Sorry I coudn't write answer. It was very bussy time for me .Of course ,We had a really really good time .Every things was perpect.I will write letter soon.

We know "WE WASN'T ALONE CHINA" Again thank you very much...

Omur &Kemal

Loves from us to everyone

(August 17th, 2011)

Dear Leila,

We just got back from our trip. Thank you for your help in planning it. It turned out to be a very memorable experience! China is beautiful and the itinerary and guides really highlighted everything that was special about the cities we visited. We had an excellent time. We were very satisfied with the accommodations, the airport arrangements, the itinerary and especially the guides and drivers who worked tirelessly to make sure we had a great experience. We did manage to avoid the typhoon (by 1-2 days) and apart from one night of rain in Beijing, the weather was excellent (though hot) throughout the trip.

Thanks again for all of your help (including the restaurant reservations and alterations in the itinerary).

We have over 3000 photos. If we come across some good ones we will send them to you.

Hovig

(August 15th, 2011)

Dear Maple

Thank you so much for everything. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip. Everything was great:) Please do not feel bad about the hotel in Yangshuo. That is the only thing I would suggest you inform prospective clients about...that it is not up to the standard of 5 star hotels...it is more like a 3 1/2 star hotel, and they can then make the choice between staying there or going back to Guilin city. I am very glad I took the beautiful Shangri la hotel in Guilin as opposed to the Sheraton, as we did have lunch there on our last day, and it was more a 4 star or so, and pretty old.

Thank you for arranging to take us to the skatepark in Shanghai. My son really enjoyed it and we took him back there by subway the next day.

We were very happy with the Crowne Plaza in Beijing, the Sofitel on Renmin Square in Xian, the Shangri la in Guilin and the Westin in Shanghai.

All in all, thank you for responding to my queries throughout our confirmation process. The service was great! You were great! Please say hello to David for us. We really enjoyed his company and insight he gave us.

I will fill in the detailed questionaire form from China Odyssey some time soon. I will definitely recommend your services to others interested in visiting China in the future.

Take care,

Farhana

(August 10th, 2011)

Dear Sophie,

We fell in love with China. We had a wonderful experience and we are very grateful.

All guides were very high quality and very knowledgeable. We specially remark the performance of our guide in Guilin, Theresa. I also think your service was great, very efficient and very organized.

I hope to go to china again and trust me I will recommend you with our friends.

I also include a picture of my family. I think you will recognize the place.

My best wishes for you

Warmest regards,

Miguel

(August 5th, 2011)

Dear Sophie,

How are you?

I have been home now for 2 weeks, and I still have the good feelings of our travel to Guilin/Yangshuo! It was a dream coming true: you are so lucky living in such a place. Here I would like to thank you and your group, like Teresa our guide, and Way our driver, for the kindness and professionalism that took place in our visit!!!

Also your sugestions about what to do there, and mainly that marvelous and amazing light-show in Yangshuo: indescriptable even without understanding the language at all!!!

Health and good lucky for you!

Sinceraly

Sonia and Vera

(August 2nd, 2011)

Dear Andy,

Just to let you know we are home safe after one of the great adventures of our lives. Your country and its people astounded us and we loved every moment. Our guides in every area were first rate and we made new friends. I will report more in detail as you requested later but for the moment am concentrating on unpacking and getting ready to go back to work in a weeks time. Thank you again for your support during the process it was much appreciated.

Garry and Jenny Wescombe

(July 23rd, 2011)

Hi Shona,

I would just like to thank you very much for showing me all the sights in Guilin and Yongshuo, and particularly the cruise down the Li river, the "Impressions" show, and the outstanding scenery.

I arrived back in New Zealand and have been adjusting to normal routines (as well as the cold winter weather!), as well as telling everyone over here about my wonderful experiences in China.

I hope that you are keeping well, and I attach some photos of the trip

Kind regards,

Chris

(July 22nd, 2011)

Dear Sophie,

I arrived back in New Zealand about a week ago, and have just had time to adjust again to the normal routines and tell everyone about my wonderful holiday in China.

I would like to thank you very much for putting together such a varied and exciting programme: I was always on the go, with many different parts of the country to visit and experience, everything was way beyond my expectations.

I would just like to share with you some of my "highlights":

1. Shanghai: The Maglev train was exciting: over 300 km/hr! Interestingly, the last thing I saw – the visit to the Urban Planning Department – which didn't sound that exciting, amazed me when I saw that the whole of Shanghai has been almost completely rebuilt into a very modern city within the last 30 years, with literally thousands of high-rise buildings and massive infrastructure. This was really quite staggering.

2. The 4-day cruise up the Yangtze, past the Three Gorges, and the Dam. Very high standard of accommodation, food, service and entertainment. Also, apart from the unique scenery of the Three Gorges, the organisation on the boat was very professional: always something interesting going on.

3. Chongqing: the Stilwell Museum, again surprisingly, was so interesting. I hadn't been aware that the Americans and Chinese had fought together, on the same side, like this, during the Second World War. I also enjoyed the spicy hotpot!

4. The train journey from Chongqing to Chengdu. Amazing achievement building this high-speed railway in such mountainous country: many tunnels and beautiful countryside, paddy fields etc.

5. Chengdu: The unique Panda visit and the Sichuan Opera, which was very artistic, amusing, and graceful.

6. Guilin: This is a lovely quieter country area than the other places I had visited. I particularly enjoyed the evening cruise on the waterways of Guilin, with the lights and the entertainment provided at various places on the banks.

7. Cruise down the Li river: This, together with the light show at Yongshuo, was probably the most unexpected highlight of my whole China trip. The scenery from the river was absolutely outstanding, totally unique, and what a way to see it! I also enjoyed the country drive: "off the beaten track".

8. Yongshuo: I had not heard of the Sanjie Liu "Impressions" show before – I probably should have – but, it almost defies description: I felt privileged to have attended, I have never seen anything like it before.

9. Xi'an: A fascinating introduction to the Qin, Han, and Tang dynasties, the remarkable achievements of Emperor QinShihuang, and Feng Shui. Apart from the Terra Cotta Warriors, and the walls of Xi'an, I was also impressed by the Han emperor's tomb and warriors, and the Tang Dynasty show.

10. Beijing: The sheer spectacle of the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, then the artistic delights, and skilful action of the Beijing Opera.

Most of all though, I found that your slogan – "You are not alone In China" – really says it all. Venturing into a vast and complex country like China, without any knowledge of the language, could have been quite daunting, but at each step, each city, your guides were there to meet me and take care of me. All of them were enthusiastic, knowledgeable, friendly, keen to show me the best things about their city and China, and to ensure my security and peace of mind. I think that this made a huge difference to the enjoyment of my trip.

I would be very happy to be a reference for China Odyssey Tours and would recommend it to anyone.

I wonder if you could please send me the e-mail addresses of Shona in Guilin and Tracy in Xi'an: I would like to send them both a thank you note and a couple of photos.

I also attach above a few photos from my trip.

Best regards,

Chris Bonugli

(July 8th, 2011)

Dear Leila,

We had a great time!! Thank you! We will definitely share our great experience with Odyssey with our friends & family!

Sincerely,

Nina Vitenson,

(July 8th, 2011)

Dear Leila,

I would like to thank you for helping us organize our Beijing tour. I have to say that our tour guide and our driver, both were very professional, polite, always on time and above all, our tour guide spoke english perfectly. I already told all my friends and family about my experience and they will use your services for their trip to China.

I like to thank you again for everything

Beast regards,

Michael Reshad,

(July 7th, 2011)

Dear Simon,

I wanted to thank you for planning our trip to China. We had such a great time. This will truly be an unforgettable trip!

All of our our guides were very attentive, flexible, friendly, and a pleasure to work with! Our favorite hotels were the Harbor Grand in Hong Kong and the Hyatt in Shanghai--they were absolutely OUTSTANDING!!!!

I also wanted to ask you if I would be able to send a letter to Karen/Ting-Ting? I'm not sure if the address for your office in Guilin would be acceptable, or if there is another mailing address I can use to contact her aside from email?

Many thanks,

Nina Vitenson

(July 2nd, 2011)

Dear Vera,

I want to commend Karen Yang for the excellent job she did in planning our trip. I did extensive research and had a million questions and almost as many emails to her. She responded immediately to every email, even on the weekend to say she receive my questions or changes and would respond first thing Monday.

She listened, gave suggestions, revised plans, and adapted to our needs, planning an itinerary that worked for us. I had other companies that I emailed but Karen shone above everyone as diligent, helpful, and willing to keep trying until we were satisfied we had the perfect trip for us. We went places Americans rarely go (Jiuzhaigou & Zhangjiajie) and found them fascinating.

She picked great guides who were interesting, knowledgeable, experienced, and good English speakers. They made sure we were safe and satisfied at the end of each day.

With all the personal research I did for 3 months we could have easily booked this trip ourselves. I booked with Karen because I was confident that “we would not be alone in China”.

I am glad I booked with your company and Karen. She did an excellent job.

Sincerely,

Linda Poore

(June 28th, 2011)

Dear Louisa,

We returned home on Wednesday this week. I just wanted to write to thank you and all of the staff at China Odyssey Tours for your excellent tour service. We are already recommending to friends that they should visit your website and arrange for tours if they are going to China. Your organization really provided what you promised. Not every company can say the same.

With the exception of the Beijing-Shanghai flight, everything proceeded smoothly. We felt very well cared for by each tour guide, and we were impressed with the quality of the vehicles and hotels that were used.

We might suggest a nicer 5-star hotel in Beijing, however, as the Crown Plaza was old and not as well appointed as our other hotels. The Harbour Grand in Hong Kong was wonderful. We might also suggest that guides be prepared to give different types of information to groups with children, as it was uncomfortable in Beijing to hear talk of concubines. This is not particularly good information for children. Simply a suggestion.

We especially loved our time in Guilin, partly because Tony was a most outstanding guide and partly because of our excellent itinerary and experiences. Our friends living in Shanghai will probably be contacting you for a short tour of Guilin for October. Do please inform Tony that our time with him was our most favorite. But there are things we loved about each city we visited, and we felt that each guide was well-prepared.

In any event, I just wanted to thank you for making our tour of China safe, memorable, and efficient.

We wish you all the best in the future.

Sincerely,

Susan Sims and family

(July 2nd, 2011)

Dear Leila,

The trip was great fun and Peggy was very accommodating. I did enjoy the karst mountains, the Li River Cruise, and the Impression Liu Sanjie night show.

I am presently devilishly busy, since (as you can imagine) things piled up during my absence. As soon as I get a breather, I will send you some pics from the trip.

My best regards,
Lia Krusin

(June 22nd, 2011)

Hi Sophie,

Happy Summer Equinox. I love the longest day of the year. I'm in the Ukraine now. Just left Russia.

Just want to drop you a line that I thoroughly enjoyed the tours, hotels etc. that you set up for me in China. They were the swankiest hotels I have been in on this whole trip.

I would also like to single out your tour guide Candy in Xian. She and I really hit it off for the two brief days we knew each other. She knows her stuff, and she knows English well.

Thank you again for bearing with me through all the money problems I had relating to my tour, and my anxieties about being met at the airports, and my transport to the airports. I know I am meticulous about such things. Maybe some day I can bring a group to China?

I will certainly recommend your services to anyone who is interested in going there in the future. Stay well and positive as you normally are.

Regards,

Harry Guiles

(June 22nd, 2011)

Hi Leila,

Thank you for the last minute planning for the trip.

Yes, we all enjoyed the visit and the weather was great. It only rained at night and during the days it was sunny. We liked the visit to the Great Wall and to Xi An.

The dinner arrangements were great and we also went to see the Kung Fu and the acrobatics show.

Mary did a great job during the tour and her and the driver were always on time. Tracy also did a great job at Xi An.

Regards,

Carlos Molina

(June 20th, 2011)

Dear Will,

I apologize - I realize now that the VISA charge was for an expensive silk embroidery that I bought near LiJiang while touring and not from the hotel.

As for the guides I liked all three. In Shangri-La, Mr. Aten Phuntsek was very helpful, had excellent English skills, very knowledgeable about Tibetan culture and Buddhism. I found him to be a very personable mature young man who was a pleasure to be with. In Lijiang, Ms. Lee was very helpful and knowledgeable about Naxi language and culture. In Kunming, I was most impressed with Ms. Sulu Li. Her English is almost perfect, her knowledge of Yunnan in general and Kunming in particular is excellent and she has excellent interpersonal skills and I give her my highest recommendation. Unfortunately when she and the driver dropped me off at the Kunming airport, I did not have enough cash on hand to tip her properly. What is the best way for me to send her the tip that she deserves?

Regards,

Glen Tibbits

(June 16th, 2011)

Dear Sophie,

Thank you for your note. Joe and I are still on holiday. Our cruise finished this morning in Vancouver, Canada and we are presently in Seattle, USA.

I will send you a longer note when we return home at the end of this week. Yes, we had a most wonderful adventure and Andy did an amazing job of keeping us busy. Also our time in Xian was also amazing our tour guide was excellent and he also kept busy.

Thank you,
Claire and Joe

(May 29th, 2011)

Dear Ms. Lu,

I am so glad you sent me this follow up email----it will give me a chance to THANK YOU and everyone at China Odyssey Tours.

Everything arranged by you and your company went exactly as planned. Our guide in Xian and the driver were excellent. We were met at the airport as scheduled and had a wonderful 2 days of sightseeing. They were both prompt for our return to the airport on the final day. We also appreciated the extra advice given to us from our guide on local places to eat in the evening and places we could walk to from our hotel at night. Our guide also made sure we were checked in for our departing flights before leaving the airport.

I would like to thank you as well for doing such a good job on all of the arrangements. It was a great trip. China is full of adventure and we both hope to return again in the future to explore your beautiful country.

Regards,
Greg and Pam Beauvais

(May 26th, 2011)

Dear Sophie,

Thank you for your mail. We were indeed very satisfied again of COT's prestations.

I am pleased to let you know that your guide in Chengdu, Linda, has been very helpful, competent, caring, available and friendly. She treated us as friends and not as a single guide.

My pictures will be on my Facebook wall (after some sorting as I took more than 3000). If you cannot access Facebook I shall sent you a link.

s a suggestion, I shall let you know what I visited in my additional one and a half days in Chengdu:
---Jinsha archeologic site & museum. A UNESCO world heritage site.(in town). We could use our morning free time before Marie-France's plane to see it and visit throughfully;
---Sanxindui, also UNESCO World heritage site (40 km north of town, can be grouped with Panda base as it is also north of town);
---Du Fu (great poet) tatched cottage and surrouding park (in town);
---WuHu Si (in town).

Altogether, a wonderful experience! You can give my email to other customers or prospects , I shall be glad to share with them.

Take care,
Alain Dogniaux

(May 26th, 2011)

Hi Jenny,

We had a great time in China. Thank you for all the arrangements. You did a great job!!

We loved China and hope to go back in the future; the cities we liked the most were Shanghai and Guilin.

About the hotels, the one we liked the most was the one in Shanghai (Greenland) the room was big and was close to the Bund, breakfast was good too. The one in Xian looked great from the outside, but the room was smelly. Also the bathroom looked really old; but they had a great view from the top where the breakfast was served.

In regards of the tour guides they were all very friendly and certainly know their jobs. We liked Patrick from Beijing a lot. He is very funny and enthusiastic (also would like to mention Annie and Ivan).

One thing that I suggest you to do is the pick up/drop off from/to the airports. I don't see the need of a guide. I think only the driver is enough (they don't need to be bilingual either). At least in our case we can do the checking in at the airport by ourselves.

Thanks, again Jenny for all!! I'm sending you a couple of pics.

Cecilia Santos

(May 22nd, 2011)

Dear Sophie,

Hope you are fine. I here by want to tell you that it was a memorable experience to visit China. We enjoyed a lot. Each & every place we visited was amazing & new experience for us. Thank you for arranging such an amazing tour for us.

I know we didn't meet up as we had planed. Jessica, our Guilin tour guide, told us that you weren't in town at that period time. But never mind. Next time we visit China we'll surely meet up. Everything was up to the mark. Tour Guides (Will, Tony, Jessica, Chris) were very good at their jobs.

Hope we meet in future if we visit China again.

Again thanking you,

Regard,
Rajiv Patil

(May 22nd, 2011)