Testimonials

Customer name: Franciscus Driedonks & Liguoria Driedonks
Nationality: Netherlands
Travel dates: Oct. 12, 2009-Nov. 02, 2009
Itinerary: 22 Days West China Tour of Photography Tour to Yunnan Yuanyang Terraced Fields plus Sichuan Tour to Leshan Giant Buddha and Mount Emei

Hallo Fiona,

Here a review on our trip that was just wonderful! We made roughly 2500 photos. The remarks below are positive and negative. It is not meant to be negative towards you, your organisation or China as a country, but it is information for you to judge the quality of things and enable you to arrange even better trips for your future guests (inclusive us when we have saved some money again). Tip for your: send a copy of the itinerary you send to us also to your local guides. Sometimes there seemed to be small differences between the Chinese papers and our itinerary.

We have to thank you since the whole trip worked out well. We have had no problems whatsoever with the pick ups at the airports, also when these were very late or very early in the day. (Late and early flights have the advantage that you have the full day available for your holiday.)

All attractions visited were of a high level of interest. Depending on me or Lia we have our own number 1 attraction.

For me it was the show "Impressions" in Yangshuo by Sanjie Liu, the director of the 2008 Olympics opening ceremony. This show was outside of your program but we were tipped by Jacky the local guide. Even when we do not understand Chinese the show was a very big and impressive thing to watch in a unique environment on a lake in the Karst landscape in Guilin . (3000 spectators per shows / 2 shows each night / 3 in the high season/ 600 actors).

For Lia it was the whole trip to Yak meadow on Dragon snow mountain in Lijiang inclusive the bus ride, the Yaks at the waterfall, the cleanliness of the nature and the visit to the monastery in the Yak meadow.

We noticed a big difference in the quality of hotels and guides as well. The worst hotel was that in Chengdu, The first nights we had a room that was not really clean, with a toilet that did not flush well, and a very impractical lay out. The other nights we had another room that was better, but also not too clean. Further the breakfast was very poor, bad western food and very dirty. We had it one time only and we had to buy our breakfast somewhere in the street on all other days.

The best hotel was probably that in Yangshuo, Guilin or in Lijiang. These were clean, nice big rooms, sometimes with a beautiful view, or an surprisingly architecture of the building. All these hotels served some variant of a western breakfast. You have to be aware that nobody from the west will object to Chinese food since that is delicious, but most western people like to have some bread and coffee in the morning since we are not used to hot meals so early.

The best breakfast by far we had in Lijiang with brown bread, and even Yak yoghurt and fruit in Lamu's house of Tibet, that served breakfast for the hotel.

The guides all showed some knowledge about the area the were representing. However there is a big difference between them. We never did work with guides before so we maybe gave them (Chengdu) a too high rating. The worst were the guides in Chengdu and Dali. The best guide/driver by far was Dan with driver Ms. Chen in Kunming.

The Chengdu and Dali guides gave us the impression to just show us around, tell their story, and then try to get us a quick as possible into either a souvenir shop or a (expensive) restaurant for lunch and eat together with us. We had a lunch in Chengdu for the 3 of us costing around 450 Yuen, which is expensive even in Europeans restaurants. They then tried to collect a fee from the shop/restaurant for bringing us there. Very Annoying.

The other guides were very clear and professional in that respect. They simply told us that their organisation forbids them to do such things and they would have their own lunch. In those cases we have the opportunity to invite them to have lunch together with us, which we did in a lot of cases. This improves the relation to the guides enormously; it is very important indeed.

What was also not good was the fact that for the visit to Mt Emei we had to get up early (hotel near Baoguosi temple) and walk, without a breakfast, in the dark, for about 3 - 4 km to get to the bus station. And that while the driver was still around! There are 2 options: Either you get a hotel near the bus station, or you organise that the driver brings us there. Getting up early is not a problem, but walking that far in the dark with an empty stomach is near to military practices!

Jacky in Guilin was very know ledged about the minority people. He organised a nice trip to Longhshen, told us a lot of info, tipped us about the show in Yangshuo. He had a lazy day for himself on the boat on the Li river, but he was not to blame for that. The other day he showed us around in the Guilin area on a bike which was just great and learned us a lot about life in rural parts of China.

Dan and Ms. Chen were also know ledged about their area. There was just a good relationship between the 4 of us even when Ms. Chen did not speak a lot of English, al of our characters just matched together. We also have to mention her careful driving style! Dan organised a quick trip through the Shilin Stone forest since is was raining at that time. Still we saw all highlights, he warned us for the slippery conditions, and he was right since we saw a lot of people falling; very good of him! He was also interested in what we had to tell him and his English was very good! The visit to the Yuanyang Rice terraces was very good with stunning views and changing light conditions al the time. Beautiful pics made there! The visit to Jingkou mushroom village was also very surprising, the whole village was under construction, everyone was building a new house. I never saw such a funny building site in my whole life! Jianshui was again a surprise, totally unknown in the west but lots of things to see, a very historic place indeed and a good hotel too where we got a western breakfast served next to the Chinese breakfast.

Dali itself was very OK, characteristic village and not too touristic. The Guide was less OK. We did go on Erhai lake but not to Jinsuo island. We also did not go to Xinhua Bai village. (we discovered this first when we were somewhere else). The Guide also asked for a tip at the end. I think it is up to the customer to give a tip not to the question of the guide. The guide certainly has a lot of knowledge about Dali, but he was easily satisfied, did not show a lot of interest in us and did his minimal thing. He left early each day saying he finished the trip so far. We have to compliment the driver we got in Dali and in Lijiang. He had another driving style then Ms. Cheng but he was good, decisive, fast and still careful. Dali is also a place very suitable for bike riding since the land is flat and you cannot get lost between the mountains and the lake. Biking is a very good means to get in contact with the locals.

Lijiang is a nice town, but it is difficult to find back the characteristic things of the town since it is totally commercialized. Lots of shop owners see western people as walking moneybags, but they have to realise that we can not buy all souvenirs available in China. Still Lijiang is worth the visit with Snow dragon mountain, Tiger Leaping gorge, Shuhe, Baisha, Dr. Ho in Baisha (he really is very well known in the west), Fuguo temple and the Pagoda which is erected right now south of the town. We also have to mention the perfect climate In Yunnan in this time of the year. It was not hot, not humid, very nice weather with clear open skies all the time!

We learned a lot about the Bai people, the Dongba belief and the pictogram language still in practice there. I still have the opinion we did not see the 1st bend in the Yangtse river. We did see the Yangtse indeed but according my info from Lonely planet you have to go to a village Shigu to see this. I found pics of this bend on internet, but we did not see it in reality.

One time we were stopped by the police. Something was wrong with the papers of the driver and/or the car. The driver was not allowed to go any further. The guide also was interrogated and we were just standing there, without knowing what was going on. In the end we were taken to our next visiting place together with the guide in the taxi but now driven by a police man. In the next village (Baisha) our guide had to arrange another means of transport. What happened to the driver or the car is still a mystery for us. In all, the performance of the police was very arrogant to wards driver guide and also a little towards us. We feel we also had a right to know what was going on, even when this was an affair between Chinese people. But since no policeman anywhere in the world knows another language then his mother language we were left there and had to wait until everything was settled.

Fiona, in all we had a very good trip. We thank you again for that, and we certainly will recommend you to all our friend that intend to make a trip to China!

Frans and Lia Driedonks