Hi Wonder,

We are safely back in Guangzhou. Wonderful experience. All the planned events were highlights and the little extra side trips were a plus. Thank you for all your careful planning.

Hi Jack,

we will be happy to when we get back to Shanghai It was a great trip and Kevin was a wonderful guide!

Lisa

Hi Wonder,

thanks again for arranging our trip, we had a nice time! Kevin was great, the driver…sceneries,hotels…foodI will definitely recommend China Discovery to my friends.

Hi Jack,

Its was very good in general.

The guide was very professional.

Only inconvenient most tourist atractions were very crowded but thats normal for chinese new year time.

Clara

Hi Rita!

It was a great experience. Kevin was an amazing guide.

Hi Tracy,

Booked our trip to Chengdu via Tracy. She was extremely helpful and responsive to my queries. Due to the pandemic, we were not certain if we could travel. Tracy managed to help us with our last minute bookings and requests. Hotspring and Xiling Snow Mountain were worth a visit. We were lucky to experience snowing. Drivers were punctual, friendly and helpful. Hotels recommended by Tracy were good too. We are happy customers

Hi Rita,

Yesterday was great. Ellen is a perfect tour guide. Sure we enjoyed very much.

Eslam

Hi Wonder,

It was great. I really enjoyed it!

Karen

Hi Jack,

Thank you for arranging our trip. We had an amazing vacation. The guides were very professional and incredibly kind and available.

Christelle

Hi Wonder,

Our trip to Chengdu was lovely. We had a great day with Jane visiting the pandas.

Kirsty

Hi Vivien,

We are happy to answer your questions.

1. Our travel consultant, Vivien, was outstanding and exceeded our expectations. Due to covid travel restrictions, our trip had to be changed and postponed several times but Vivien dealt with this efficiently and respectfully despite at times having to change plans at the last minute. Without Vivien, we would have cancelled our wonderful trip. Every request we made was met and everything was highly organized and communicated with us downtown to the finest detail. The guides and drivers arranged were excellent and we felt relaxed throughout our trip.Vivien is a credit to the company and an exemplary representative.

2. Our tour guides had excellent English and were very knowledgeable. Especially appreciated was their patience and flexibility as I have a bone disease and often struggle to walk. They let me rest without complaint and went above and beyond in all regards even to Yenny ordering us some sesame rice balls to be delivered to the hotel because I had enjoyed them so much at lunch and Ellen taking us for hotpot for lunch at our request. Nothing was too much trouble.

3. We are leaving China this year and despite not usually using a travel agent when we travel, we hope to return to China in the future and will use China Discovery and hopefully Vivien without a doubt.

Vivien, words cannot express how grateful we are for everything you have done for us to ensure we managed a break away. Personally, we needed a holiday and you provided us with the most amazing trip.

Even though we have never met you and do not even know what you look like, you will hold a place in our hearts forever. You have truly been a blessing and we are eternally grateful for your patience, kind and caring attitude and professionalism throughout the last year.

Thank you so much.

I have attached some photos and you can use these if they are any good as well as our recommendations.

Val and Steve Hart

Echo,

My Experience was quite exciting and wonderful, the tourist guide (May and Cherry) had strong knowledge of every place, history and Culture. The drivers were on time and very respectful, the hotels were so beautiful and well located and the food was very delicious, I hope I can come back again, thank you very much for your service

Emilse

Ritaaaaaaaa,

thank you so much for your lovely present, it’s sooooo cute . But thank you even more for THE BEST guide ever you could provide me: Ming is great, absolutely wonderful! Thanks a lot for this amazing experience!

Thanks again for the wonderful experience in Leshan and for providing me Ming’s support! Whenever you are back to work, please, let me know if it is possible to arrange for Tibet in the dates we discussed about (20-27 December, if I remember well) and what I should do for it! Thanks a lot

Barbara

Dear Wonder,

We have enjoyed the time, thank you for the good organization. The hotels has been very good, the ship excellent. If there has been a problem, you and the guides found a good solution. My favorite impressions: the pandas, the night view from the ship to Chongqing, the view from the hill down to Chongqing.

Kerstin M.

Hi Vivien,

赵先生很周到。 (Driver in Chengdu)

May was a great guide. She got us incredible access to the pandas, she was flexible in accommodating our wishes, she chose a perfect place to eat on the last day, and she was very enthusiastic about Buddhism.

We'll send you our full feedback on Guilin as soon as we get to Zhangjiajie. So far, the Li An hotel, and especially the Caledon room, was SPECTACULAR!

感谢您帮我们安排这次去旅游！回家了我们继续想到那些好日子，好玩的时刻。

Adam

Hi Tracy,

We finished the tour. Thank you very much for your help and thank you for arranging such a wonderful tour.

Shashikala

Hi Johnson,

Good morning, Well arrived in chengdu. Hotel Rhumba very good. Much better than Sofitel. Rhumba room infrastructure is newer, modern and well maintained. Breakfast is very good with a lot of choice, western and chinese food.

Up to now, two best hotels are le Meridien and Rhumba.

For your info, Sofitel despite its French Brand and 5* has aged and Howard Johnson was well below a 5* standards.

Sorry, haven't read and reply to this message. Mobile internet most if the time switched off to spare battery.

Regarding Grass land, upon our arrival at Chengdu airport, we have been mislead by the first taxi driver who said that after having seen Jiuzhaigou, it was not worth seeing Huanglong on the second day as it is similar to Jiuzhaigou. He praised instead to see the grassland depicting the beautifulness of the blossom flowers. Frankly speaking, it was not worth at all. I guess that the first taxi driver never saw Huanglong and recommended the grassland with the best intention.

Today, we are on the way to day 8 tour with Jane.

Tours we have done since we started our journey are wonderful.

We will send you pictures of Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong are the most beautiful sites to visit. We will send you pictures.

We took very few pictures of Grassland, not worth to see at all for foreigners. The main attraction given by Tibetans people is horse riding up to the hill to have an overview on the grassland. The guide said price for the horse trip to go up the hill is about 300 rmb. For us, it was not worth it.

Tibetans are also preparing BBQ lunch for tourists. Besides, that nothing else. We didn't take lunch so can't tell about the BBQ.

We will also send you the few pictures taken which give an idea. There were groups of Chinese tourists coming by car or bus.

Ping & Paul

Hi Johnson,

Our five families had a superb trip! The incredible sites we visited such as the 'Great wall' and the 'Terracotta warriors' will stay in our memories forever! Our guides took us to some superb restaurants where we really enjoyed the local food. The Peking duck for me was a favourite. Your organization and that of our local guides was excellent! Our guides knowledge of the places we visited was in-depth and really added to the interest in what we were seeing. I will highly recommend your tour to other teachers at my school and friends and family back in New Zealand.

Things to improve upon:

I think when travelling with younger children we found it's better sometimes to do 1 or 2 things a day rather than try and fit everything in on the itinerary especially when it was hot and there was lot's of walking to do. I think the guides were good at realizing this and were flexible when there were things we cut out of the daily itinerary. Having a pool at the end of the day was great for tired kids.

Perhaps next time with families try and have them stay not underneath the bar on the boat as it got a bit noisy. Although the people on the boat were really good when we said something about this on the first night. We also thought there could have been a bit more for children to do on the boat and we put that in our comments at the end of the trip.

That's all I can really think of as there was not really anything wrong with the trip. Thanks again Johnson, let me know if you want me to add any more detail in recommending the trip to others.

Regards.

Cameron

Thanks Jo. You too and thanks for amazing memories!! We are on the way home ready for bed!!

Beatriz

Us too! Adding our thanks for letting us join you. It was a great trip and fun to spend time with you all. Thanks to Johnson for all of his efforts and planning!

Lisa

Fantastic trip y’all! Thanks for all the memories! I’ll try and get photos from everyone and get some out together in the next week or so.

Matthew

Yes fantastic trip thanks everyone! We’ll get some feedback to you soon Johnson.

Cameron

We must have already been asleep when these messages came through. We have had a wonderful time. Thanks Johnson and Cam. Great to tick off so many must-sees in China ! Let’s have a post holiday debrief at our new apartment once we have unpacked!

Kylie

Hi Johnson, I know this is a bit late telling you. But our family had a lovely time on the trip you organised for us. We got to see so much of China! We feel very lucky. We are spending a week in Sanya. China is so beautiful!

Tessa

Hi Wonder,

we are safely on the train back to Nanjing. Thank you for creating a holiday that has been full of memories that will last a life time. We have had an amazing journey. Most importantly your attention to detail, experience and diligence has given Gerry and I peace of mind. You have been wonderful.

Gillian

Hi Johnson,

Very satisfied really enjoying Lijiang. Sunny has been a fantastic guide!!!

Cameron

Hello Rita,

Hope you had a good weekend.

Well, my time here has come to an end and I have had "THE" most amazing trip; and seen so many wonderful things in China that I would never have been able to do without your help. The itinerary that you put together for me was perfect and fantastic. Thank you so so much. Every hotel was delightfully comfortable and just right after each full and busy day. The breakfasts were delicious and catered for many different tastes.

The guides and drivers were all increadible. So obliging and flexable....willing and able to meet our every need, politely, patiently and professionally.

I will strongly recommend China Discovery as a tour agency of choice.

Many, many thanks; wishing you only the best throughout this difficult COVID period and the future.

Warmest Regards

Ceresa

Hi Lyn,

We appreciated very much our tour. Accommodation was very comfy and well located. The second hotel in zhangjiajie was a bit less convenient due to reduced restaurant service, but otherwise it was a great hotel. All guides were great though we didn't spend much time with Fay.

Elodie

Thanks for all your help for our group holiday. We will be using this group for our group communication.

Hi Riley

Thanks again for your help with booking our trip to Chengdu, we had a lovely time!

Everything was very well organised. The airport transfers and drivers for the rest of the weekend were always punctual and helpful. 

The hotel was comfortable and although not super modern, the room was plenty big enough and catered for our needs. The kitchen was also useful. Breakfast at the hotel was good with enough choice and staff were quite helpful. The location of the hotel worked pretty well for us too.

Our tour guide Jane was lovely. She was very patient and helpful with our two young daughters, particularly the older one who asked her lots of questions! She was helpful in buying our tickets and ensuring that we were able to navigate the city and its sights. 

All in all we had a very good trip and would recommend China Discovery to others.

Thanks and hope this helps

Lindsay

Dear Rita, thanks for your update. The driver will do the transportation from the airport to the hotel and the hotel to the airport again. Am I correct? Today was a beautiful day in Jiuzhaigou. I hope that tomorrow we will have one more time luck with the weather.

Hi Rita,

Thank you for the wonderful gift! We had a great day! Ellen was fantastic!!!

Hi Rita,

I just want to say that we had an amazing trip and will recommend you and your team to anyone who asks!!!

We all enjoyed our stay. Our two girls all loved it. Would like longer.

Vivien,

We have arrived in Sanya and are on the way to our resort.  Thank you for arranging the very helpful guide and driver this morning. They were professional and prompt.  

Do you have a feedback form that I should complete or would you like me to write something in my own words?

I must tell you, the cruise was amazing!  I have never felt so much like a queen as I did on the cruise.  The staff was unbelievable, the accommodations were excellent by my western-standards, and the activities were splendid! Nobody wanted to leave the cruise!!  

The two boys enjoyed the unlimited “mocktails” drink package and flying kites on the sundeck.  The two girls enjoyed the “mocktails” and the variety of relaxing spaces on the ship.  Sometimes they wanted to relax in the Executive Lounge, sometimes they wanted to do karaoke.  It was wonderful that the children had easy access to any place in board that they might have an interest.

As you know, we already recommended you to my friend Sylbeth. We will continue to recommend your services.  If we have time for one more vacation before leaving China, we will definitely arrange it through you.

Thank you,

Wendy

Hello Ms Wong,

Thank you for support and good guide

Im now at airport.

Greatings

Hi Rita.

Sure! I am glad to do so! We want to recommend you further

All the best!

Cheers.

Maria.

Hello Rita 

I'm doing well! How are you?  Just cleaning my house now .

I can't thank you enough for everything! I really had an amazing holiday and I appreciate all the extra efforts you helped me with. I felt like a superstar sometimes .

I'm so excited for Patra as she will get to experience a vacation where she can to do minimal because everything is taken care of.

Thank you for the kind gesture I appreciate it! The lunch was definitely delicious and it was good to get to know Sandy and Mr. Li. during both lunches.

Thank you so much for a wonderful trip Wonder.

Alex was fantastic!!!

Hi Vivien,

Wonderful! Sandy is a great guide. It's been a real pleasure.

We've just returned from our Chengdu-Xi'an trip. Thank you for such a wonderful tour.  

We are already looking toward our next trip.  We'd like to travel to Beijing from April 30 - May 3.  

We really like the "4 Days Beijing Family Tour with Kids Fun" itinerary, with some changes - Like removing the Beijing zoo and hutongs on the fourth day and instead moving Temple of Heaven to that day.  

Can we work on this trip with you, or should we request through the website again?  Thank you.

Hi Wendy,

Yes, we got connected rooms today. Everything is fine here. The numbers of travellers we are not able to control. We didn’t expect to be alone. Ellen did a super job today, guiding us around Chengdu and the Panda “park”. We are now filled up with fantastic memories from the last four day.

hi Tracy,

Thank you very much for all your assistance. Yes, it was a very good trip and the driver was also very helpful. Thank you for all your support and help.

Hi Wonder,

Our trip has ended and it’s time to complete the evaluation form.

We found China Discovery on line while looking for a reputable company in China to plan our holiday.

After contacting Mr Wonder Wang ( through online email and WeChat ) we found his level of support, information, communication, patience and understanding to be very professional. He was quick to respond to all our questions and accommodating in all our requests.

The tour arrangements were to our liking. Wonder worked closely with us to determine our touring preferences. The transport schedule was not too strenuous, the tours we encountered were interesting and our accommodation was to the most very comfortable.

As far as recommending China Discovery, we would be happy to introduce anyone keen in touring China to this company.

Our tour was conducted in the early part of the year under the curtain of COVID and in the midst of Chinese New Year. Wonder and the guides helped us with all our medical requirements and arrangements and a holiday that could have been disjointed flowed with out any problems.

Wonder gave us contacts to all our guides and they were accessible and helpful.

The drivers who accompanied the guides were also friendly and safe.

The guides were all good - supportive, jovial, attentive and knowledgeable.

The best in our opinion were May, Michael and Steven.

Our accommodation The Gran Melia was very good in Xian and the nearby area was interesting to explore by foot in our free time - the park area across the street from our accommodation and Grand Tang Mall nearby.

The Sofitel in Chengdu was comfortable, the breakfasts were wonderful and the assistance we received from their restaurant manager for dinner one evening was exceptional. The only negative was that the hotel was a little dated.

Our stay in Le Meridien Emei Mountain Resort was very nice.

Our stay in Old Town Lijiang at The Ivy Garden was located well. The hotel had a traditional appeal. We arrived at night so we were surprised at how cold the room was. There was a heater on but not adequate and extra linen should have been available.  There was no choice given for breakfast and it was not to our liking.

The Gurong Boutique was very comfortable and breakfast was minimal but nice.

The Cachet Hotel in Kunming was kind enough to change our room because of ‘smoke odour‘ and it appeared to be an upgrade.

Their kitchen staff were helpful and made us a basic breakfast pack to take on the fast train to Guilin.

The Shangri-La in Guilin was a wonderful stay with a beautiful view. The breakfast and dinner selections were vast and very tasty.

The Amari in Yangshuo was comfortable and well placed. The small ‘fairground attraction’ outside our window was slightly noisy up till about midnight.

All in all, the entire trip was an amazing experience we both enjoyed immensely.

We found it helpful when the guides would initially state what our plans were for the day ahead and go through the itinerary so we were reminded and understood.

Occasionally we did not do something on the schedule and it wasn’t clearly explained to us why not, for example the Pearl Museum and also the option we had to make a terracotta soldier.

We understand that some venues were closed because of COVID / Chinese New Year and in these cases we were informed and alternative arrangements were made.

We were blessed with good weather, good organisation, wonderful guides, good drivers and a beautiful and interesting country to explore.

Thank you to Wonder and your diverse team, we would definitely look at using your company’s services in the future.

Kind Regards

Mario and Angela Crivelli.

Hi Riley,

Great, you guys run a great operation Riley. I am very impressed with the Bamboo company and how long has the company been around? A long time right?

Steven in Guilin was reliable and gave great information and insight about the history of the place and the tourist attractions. I feel like they were there to help me and very kind. The driver was also kind and I like the 7-passenger vans.

Sandy in Chengdu was just as helpful and kind, awesome and knew a lot about the area as well. Gave a ton of information and the driver was helpful too. more driving there in Chengdu for sure. That giant Buddha is massive and so amazing. crazy that humans actually built that, doesn't seem possible, they were so clever with building it.

Hi ladies Dan,

I had a great trip to Chengdu. We enjoyed all the sights and trips that you planned for us and May was an excellent guide. Always punctual and extremely attentive and helpful. We learned a great deal about the history of the area and she is a lovely person to be around. Our driver Mr Deng was also great we never felt unsafe on the roads. We loved seeing the giant Buddha and going to the Golden summit as well as Dujiangyan which was impressive and beautiful. The hotels selected were also very comfortable. We loved Sichuan food and May took us to wonderful local restaurants where we always ate too much delicious food! Mapotofu(hope I spelt it right) chicken is my favourite!! Hot pot was spicy!! All in all a really wonderful trip. Chengduese people are friendly and lovely. Thank you for organising such a great trip. We would definitely recommend you to others. Happy New year!

Hi Wendy,

Very tired today, but will get back to you tomorrow with feedback. In general the trip was fantastic and very little to change. - Andrew

The group had a lot of fun and felt taken care of along the way. @Wendy thanks to you too for ensuring everything went as smoothly as they did. Appreciate everything and happy new year. - Christopher

Thanks y’all ! The trip was a blast. - Taryn

Hi Riley,

Thank you! The Great Wall was phenomenal.

Hi Lily,

Thanks for your good service, overall it’s good trip. I’m very satisfied with Gila, she is Amazing that I have ever seen, Thank u again.

Hi Rita.

I just wanted to let you know how Amazing Ellen was today. She was so nice and friendly and knowledgeable as well as super accommodating. She made our day very special and I will recommend your company and her to all of my friends! What an amazing trip! So glad you worked it out to come!

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to you also!  I think I forgot to fill out the following survey.

Here below are the questions for you: 

1.     Is your travel consultant of our company fast enough to answer your E-mail and patient enough to answer your questions?

      Yes

2.     How’s the service of the tour guides during your whole tour? 

 Very good overall.  Just the one in Beijing is just OK.

3.     Would you like to recommend our company? 

 Yes, definitely.

Thanks,

Cynthia 

Dear Wonder,

How are you? Hope you are well. You organised a very nice trip for me to Chengdu and Jiuzhaigou way back in 2014. 

You requested a review from me but I loaded to the wrong website. I came across the review today unexpectedly in my computer system and I would like to send it to you, to be used by your website. This is because I was very pleased by the trip that you organised for me. I was a lone female traveler but I still remember the lovely tour guides you found for me, especially the one at Chengdu.

I truly had a wonderful holiday and great memories.

I am now back in the UK. I certainly will use your tour service again if I ever travel to China the next time.

Take care in the pandemic.

Best wishes

Siang

( Dr Yih Siang CHEN)

6 Days/ 5 nights Chengdu/ Jiuzhai Valley Tour

I went on a 6 days / 5 nights private tour to Chengdu / Jiuzhaigou in October 2014.I spent 2 days in Chengdu and the rest in Jiuzhaigou valley.

Since it was my first trip to China and I was a single female traveller, understandably, I was initially apprehensive before the tour. However, all my initial reservations disappeared once my tour began. I have decided to go on a private tour because I could not find a group tour which can come up with the itinery that I wanted.

From the onset, it was a pleasure to deal with Wonder. He made me a detailed itinery, specific to my wishes , down to the hotels that I preferred. I must say that he has honoured and stuck to our contract throughout my tour. He also phoned my tour guides on a daily basis just to make sure the itinery went on as planned and to make sure that I was ok.He was contactable at all times and any problems were sorted out very quickly and efficiently. He was also very accommodating and was willing to make changes in my itinery at very short notice whenever possible.I have found him to be reliable and trustworthy.

The tour guides were all very professional and knowledgeable. I was very happy with them.They spoke fluent English and were very knowledgeable about the places that we visited. They took care of everything, from meeting me at the airport, check- in into hotels, arranging for meals, transport, tickets for shows and checking in for my return flights. I was impressed that they would go out of their way to make my tour comfortable, hassle free and really tried to give me a memorable hoilday. They were prepared to work till late evenings. As a matter of fact, they would wait for me while I watched some shows in the evenings and one of them was even so kind to buy me an adaptor which I had lost in a hotel.

In Chengdu, I visited the Panda Research Centre, Jinli Street,Sichuan Museum and a silk factory at my request. i was not obliged to visit any factories throughout my tour.

Then, I flew on to Jiuzhai Valley and had another 3 days of private tours; 1 day in Huanglong Park and 2 full days in Jiuzhai National Park.I was glad that I flew return to the valley because the roads up there are really winding and being prone to travel sickness , it would have been a disaster for me to be sick.

I was met by another tour guide there. I am really glad that I took a private tour because I had my personal tour guide who walked with me at my pace throughout the Jiuzhai National park. She knew all the scenic spots and pathways by heart and made sure that I did not miss any important spots.Because she knew all the places so well, we could cover most of the scenic spots on foot in detail.She would walk with me and explain every lake, waterfall and other spots. She explained in detail all about the history, myths, customs and religion of the tribes there. It was an eye opener for me.I am sure I would not be getting all these explanation if I had gone in a group tour.Most group tours tend to be rushed but I was not rushed at all. I had ample time to take all the photos that I wanted , time to have meals and some shopping for souveniers and even short rests at beautiful spots where I could linger and just soak up the magnificent natural beauty.

Jiuzhai Valley is an extraordinary , beautiful park. It is my personal opinion that 2 full days are required to do the park justice. It is difficult to rush through the scenic spots in a day especially when there are massive crowds and queues everywhere.It was worth it to pay the hefty entrance fee for 2 days. Because I had 2 full days, I could do a hike with my guide who accompanied me throughout the trails to the 3 major valleys. I came away feeling satisfied and had lots of marvellous photos to show.

I was especially pleased that on one occasion, my tour guide took me through a small path , away from the tourist crowds. We walked at our pace and saw some smaller lovely waterfalls and lakes. I did not have to jostle with the typical crowds and could take my time to take some truly picturesque photos and videos. I am convinced that if I had joined a group tour , I would not have been able to see and explore the national park as much as I did.

My advice to travellers is to go on some fitness training before the tour. You have to be prepared to do a lot of walking for this is the best way to see the best views. Taking the bus to just the best scenic spots would be cheating and would not do the park justice.The only downside of the trip was the crowds. Be prepared for massive crowds, they can get unruly at times, especially when it rains, so do bring a raincoat or umbrella.Also be prepared for the less than ideal toilet facilities. Bring lots of tissues as handwash and tissues are not provided.

Due to my excellent and friendly tour guides and Wonder's meticulous planning, I had a fabulous holiday and a great time in China. I would highly recommend Wonder Wang and his tour agency to all my friends and family. If I return to China, I would certainly go through Wonder and his agency again. So, a big thank you to Wonder and all my lovely tour guides for making my holiday a truly memorable one!

Dr YS CHEN-PELFRENE
London, UK

Hi Jack,

I’ve already filled in four feedback forms so far, and have been given a fifth to do!  My first bit of feedback is that there are too many forms to fill in..... I’m still on holiday! I’ll get you some reflections next week, but not before. I don’t want any images of us being used, so all I would send you is photos of locations - and probably not very good ones at that given how bad the weather has been. 

Thanks again for your help in coordinating. I’ll try and put some more considered thoughts together next week.

Christina

Hi Echo

We had a great tour in Sichuan. The room in the last hotel in Chengdu was fine although breakfast wasn’t. But I guess that’s because that they didn’t have a great selection of western foods and you cannot expect that everywhere in China.

Overall it was a really great tour and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a great tour to Sichuan. Jason was a good guide and my youngest son Anton really liked him immediately.

If something needed to be changed that would be an extra night at Emeishan. After driving up and down the mountain the kids were tired and would have loved going straight back to the hotel and the pool and the playground. And then done the drive back to Chengdu the next day. I know it wasn’t possible due to the flight time the next day but if there were flights a bit later that would have been perfect. 

The driver was also friendly and service minded. If the car had autopilot the ride would have been more smooth - setting the seed to a certain limit - but that is a minor thing.

Thanks for all your help.

Sanne

Hi Wonder

I hope things are returning to normal for you and that the impact in your business of covid-19 has not been too depressing. Please forgive my tardy response, for which there is no excuse!

I flew from Shanghai to Saigon just 3 days before the flights were banned and managed to spend a great 4 weeks travelling through Cambodia and Thailand as well as re-entering Vietnam in Hanoi and touring back to Saigon for a week returning to UK on 22 February, where I completed 2 weeks of self isolation with my wife. As you will know we have been locked down for 9 weeks now so life is very different to how it was before I left for China back on 12 January! I have inserted my answers to your questions below and hope they are helpful to you.

1. Is your travel consultant of our company fast enough to answer your E-mail and patient enough to answer your questions?

Wonder Wang, at China Discovery, was very helpful and responsive to my questions and needs and I felt supported and safe in a strange land, especially during a period of uncertainty when I lost key documentation and needed to ensure its replacement before I left China, and also during a time when many around us were conscious of the emerging coved 19 pandemic (Mid to late January 2020).

2. How’s the service of the tour guides during your whole tour?

Very attentive and knowledgeable. Maybe it’s my age (67) but at times I found understanding their English a challenge but they were all patient with me and would repeat their explanations when I asked them to. 

3. Would you like to recommend our company?

 I have no hesitation in recommending China Discovery to anyone looking for a bespoke trip to the land of Wonder that is China.

Thanks again for all you did for me during the China leg of my trip. I had a wonderful time.

Take great care and best wishes

Simon

Dear Wing,

We have been wondering how the wonderful people we met are getting through this crisis. We are glad to hear that you are well. We hope that you and your family and friends can stay healthy.  

We are well and are living near our son and his family who can help us. My sister in California said that no one is allowed out of the house except for food shopping or something necessary in order to live. Last week 3.3 million people applied for unemployment benefits in our country. So many businesses are closed.  

We hope to travel again and will contact you when it is again possible to see other countries.

Sincerely,

Deborah and Steve

Hello Vivien,

Thank you very much for your warm wishes and for sending this information. It is an interesting read and it does very much agree with the advice we are getting here in the UK. Yes, we are well but as we are in the early stages of the pandemic here in UK it remains a worrying time.

Of course, we have also been watching the situation in China and are pleased that things seem to be moving back towards normal. Our daughter Stephanie who works in Fuzhou was at home in the UK for a month following the outbreak and the closure of public schools in China after the New Year celebrations. She intended visiting for just one week but while she was home the outbreak spread around China and so she remained here. Her school have started teaching on-line and she has been able to do that.

Hearing that the situation was starting to get better in China, she was anxious to return and so she left home on the 15th of March. Unfortunately, she arrived in Haikou, en-route from Hong Kong to Fuzhou, and was caught by the 14-day quarantine for passengers arriving in China that started last Monday. She is now one week into her enforced stay before she will be allowed to fly to Fuzhou. However, although obviously a bit lonely, she is well and quite comfortable in the hotel, and is able to continue her on-line teaching. She is due to continue her travel next Tuesday, 31 March, and is now looking forward to re-joining her colleagues. And it does seem that she left here just in time as we are now starting a period of lockdown.

We do still have flights booked for a future visit to China in May but we have not made any plans yet because we do not know if we will be able to travel. If we can travel then we will contact you nearer the time to help with bookings – no doubt it has been a very quiet time for you recently.

It is a very difficult time for everybody. We are doing our best to heed the advice, as no doubt you have done. Thank you again for your message and we send you our very best wishes for the future.

Sincerely,

Chris & Jude

Hi Vivien,

Thank you for your kind letter. I hope that you and your family are well. 

I can imagine how difficult it is for travel industry to go through this crisis. 

How long Wuhan has been under the lockdown? Are there any effective medication against the virus? 

We are now in a total lockdown. We’ll see how the UK will be effected by that. It is difficult for everyone. 

Stay well and healthy.

Best wishes, 

Nana

Dear Wing,

So sweet of you to get in touch. It's a very difficult time for everyone. I'm glad you are returning to some normality in China. We are so lucky to have taken and enjoyed our trip last year.

Wishing you continued good health and luck for the coming year.

Kind regards

Tamesha

Hi Wendy,

If I get a chance I will put something on Tripadvisor but I can give you the responses to your questions.

1. Was your travel consultant of our company fast enough to answer your E-mail and patient enough to answer your questions? 

Yes very happy with the contact we received and the booking of tours.

2. How was your tour? Are you satisfied with the tour we arranged for you?

I was very happy with the tour. I think in Shanghai the hotel was in a poor location and didn’t have the services the other hotels had. If I had known I would have paid extra for a better/ better location hotel.

Hi Catherine, please see comments below. Happy for you to publish this. Cheers.

“The travel consultant, Catherine is highly professional and competent in organizing our china tours. This is the 3rd time Catherine has arranged/ managed my travel itinerary.  She is highly capable, understands our requirements and tailor made an itinerary that suits us.  I would highly recommend china discovery as we had enjoyed our tours very much and will definitely go back.”

Cheers

Ms Tang

Hi Wendy,

Thanks for arranging our tour. We had a very nice trip to Chengdu and enjoyed all of the attractions and food. The tour guide was extremely helpful! I also appreciated the driver and his non smoking vehicle.

Many thanks,

Karla

Dear Rita,

Welcome New Year 2020 , I hope we all become more successful and always healthy ...

I will write the comments soon

Tks Brgds/ Feisy

Hi Mark,

Happy New Year!

Thank you for being so patient with us on providing feedback.

We shared immediate feedback at the end of every stop we had, but here are se add ns below.

1. How’s the hotel and meals?

Hotels were very good.

Only complaint would be hotel in Emeishan, as a window didn’t close and curtains were a nightmare to close – we had an issue with wifi, but its also on us as we did not go down to ask reception, thankfully it was only for one night, so not a big deal.

Food everywhere was very good with loads of options between local and western selections. I fell in love with the breakfast noodle soup, so was having that everywhere we went.

2. How’s the tour guides’ service and drivers?

Cant fault the drivers and guides on this trip. We learned a lot about the culture and the places we visited. Always had timely pick ups, cars were clean and very good. Sandy picked up all of our onward train tickets in one go, so we didn’t have to waste time on following days to get to train station, that was very helpful!

One comment that I’m not sure how to address is lunches, we really enjoyed our experience in China, and are open people and want to try local food in a sharing environment, we asked in all places if the driver and the guide will eat with us.

-        With Sandy when we could (as one day we were up the mount) both guide and driver ate with us, the restaurants were local and of very good quality and plenty of food to share and try as there were 4 of us on at the table, despite the language barrier it was very nice to eat all together.

-        In Xi’an, Vivian ate with us but the driver did not. We had to request specifically (as our friends recommended) to try Biang Biang noodles – they were awesome. The driver was very lovely and even bought us apples to have on the journey.

-        In Beijing, we ate alone, as Candy said that its company policy that driver and guide eat separately to guests when we were together. Was a bit strange for us to sit at 2 different tables, it wasn’t a big deal, just a different experience to the start of the trip.

We really enjoyed our time at all the places, saw and experienced loads of new places.

3. What do you think of your travel consultant’s service?

Its been a really well organized tour, we’ve seen loads in such a short period of time.

Everything ran smoothly with no hiccups (at least we didn’t see any).

4. Will you recommend our office to people around you?

For sure, already have been, if anyone is planning a trip to china they should definitely use your company to organize everything.

Kind Regards,

Hi, Mark,

Thanks for the follow up. The tour went well and we had a great time. The panda volunteer program ended earlier than expected so we asked if Cindy would be willing to take us to Dujiangyan irrigation/dam. Both Cindy and the driver were flexible enough to take us there even though it meant longer hours for them. We really appreciate it. We went to the panda breeding center the next morning because we wanted to see baby pandas so we only spent half a day for the city tour. Cindy took us to a few places that we thought were very interesting.

The tour package says B, L included, which is perhaps a mistake as breakfast does not seem to be included. Cindy bought us a small breakfast (soy milk and steamed buns) on Day 1 as we thought we would get breakfast and we left the hotel at 7:30 am.

Overall, the tour is great!

Liddy

Dear Riley,

We just arrived in Manila. Thank you again for sending us a gift. We really appreciate it. Also, thank you for organizing our wonderful trip. This trip is one of our unforgettable and great trips. Will surely recommend you and will surely book another trip with you. Martin and Mary is very insightful and detailed in every area where we head to. They really know what to share with us. Hotels and Foods are all fit with us. Our tummies and body were happy. haha! Also the roadtrip was smooth. But the van in Chengdu gives me a little headache due to the smell of smoke inside the car quite strong. But everything is OK. Thank You again.

Kind Regards,

Monica

Dear Lily,

Happy new year!

Hopefully this whole year will see you & your entire family in blessings and happiness! 

Kindly find here attached our evaluation form of the trip.

Many thanks again and hope to keep in touch with you!

1. Is your travel consultant of our company fast enough to answer your E-mail and patient enough to answer your questions?

* Yes. Lily was very quick to respond all my inquiries by e-mail or WeChat. She was flexible, accommodating, and informative too. We had quite a lot of requests and changes on our itinerary, and she managed to give us best services. On our last day there, she even came to see us and sent us off at the airport :)

2. How do you comment your tour arrangements? 

* We enjoyed the arrangements in general. Our activities stick to the planned itineraries.

3. Are you willing to recommend our service to your people who also have an interest to visit China? 

* Yes, sure.

4.  Your general opinion on us?

* We enjoyed your services overall. No major complaints whatsoever. The guides were patient too. Shout out to Mrs. Tutu who accompanied us until late night! :)

5. Do you have any suggestions on improving our services?

* Maybe you could try adding more variations for the meal menu. On our last days we found ourselves bored with the same menu servings. In Chengdu we also requested for a Japanese dinner recommendation but in the end we didn’t manage to get any (there was one Japanese restaurant near our hotel but it was too small to accommodate the 17 of us).

6. Can we use your comments of our service, the photos or other images that you took on the tour for our websites, brochures, marketing and publicity? If yes, could you please send us some of your photos by E-mail?

 * Sure. You may use our group photo pictures (if you have none, Lily can ask me on WeChat).

7. We sometimes have requests from potential customers who would like to inquire from or our ex-customers.  May they contact you for advices?  _______

* No problem. They may contact me on patricetan@outlook.com

Warm regards,

Patrice

Hi Echo

Just wanted to say a big thank you for arranging an amazing trip it absolutely exceeded our expectations

Julia

Hi Wonder

We are now back in South Africa after one of our very best holidays,ever so again very many thanks for making it so.

Listed below are responses to your appraisal--

1)Wonder was incredibly quick at answering our e-mails and super efficient when dealing with any queries I had both before and after the tour.Nothing was ever too much for him.

2)Tour arrangements were fantastic! Drivers were always available to meet us at train stations or airports to take us to our hotels. Also guides often arrived earlier than planned in the morning for our daily tours. Guides also very helpful and informative. (Minor point but Guilin Hotel was a bit out of town and did not offer facilities of the others—Chengdu hotel was magnificent)

3)I certainly am very willing to speak to anyone who is interested in travelling with you in the future

And recommending your company.

4)General opinion—10 out of 10—it couldn’t be better

5)I think overall the tour was very well organised-maybe the guides could promote evening events more in the different cities.I did attend a Sichuan opera eve.in Chengdu which was good.

6)Have lots of photos which I can send—let me know-panda cubs attached

Please use any of my comments on your web site

7)Certainly –future/potential customers can contact me for advice

OVERALL A SUPERB HOLIDAY—MANY,MANY THANKS

Very best wishes

Ken and Perola Noble

Hello Wing,

Sorry the late response....see response in Italic below....

(1)  How do you like our tour arrangements and are you willing to recommend our service to your friends?

 The tour arrangement was perfect and I have already recommended to my friends, etc

(2)  Do you have some suggestions for us to improve our service?

 It is better and easier for us to provide survey feedback for the individual tour guide and driver online, right now it is paper based and sometimes we hold back comments knowing that the tour guide get to see the comments.

(3)  If you come to China again, would you like to use our service again?

 YES

Hi Riley,

Thanks for your email! We had a nice time at the panda enclosure. 

Our guide’s service was good at jiuzhaigou and huanglong though we did expected more walking at jiuzhaigou instead of taking the bus on and off all the time.  Tickets could be bought beforehand as well at jiuzhaigou so less waiting? But apart from that, everything was smooth sailing. Thanks!

Happy holidays!

Cheers,

Fiona

Hi Wonder,

Thank you and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy new year.

Thanks again forour smooth running of our tour. And your dedicated and responsible staff like Ruby, tour guide liu and driver luo...

Also we are impressed by Emei mountain resort.

Thank you

Mr Thong

Hi Rita

I hope you're well. I just wanted to say thank you for putting together an exceptional holiday in Chengdu for my family. We had the most amazing time! Everything has been perfect! Thank you for the upgraded hotel on the mountain as well, it far exceeded our expectations! Jason has also been a wonderful guide.

Thank you again. We will definitely be back!

And thank you for my lovely gift as well!

Kind regards

Nishthal

Hi Leo!

My apologies for taking such a long time in getting back to you. We had a wonderful experience, and I have told my friends back here in the US to take the tour the way we did if they ever decide to go to China.  I think the only helpful note to possibly relay to future tourists is to have Apple Pay set up.  It is not too used here in the US, so I do not have it set up and a lot of the local places only took Apple Pay.

Otherwise, the tour stops were great, we really enjoyed all of our guides - I want to be friends with all of them!

Please let me know if you have anyone that needs to reach out to me that is considering the trip. I would be happy to share my positive experience.

Thank you,

Molly

Hi Leo,

Upon arrival at Chengdu, we were greeted at Airport by the guide and driver and driver to Hotel. In it our next 2 days itinerary was explained and confirmed . After day 1, it was decided that instead of climbing Leshan Budha, we should consider taking the boat ride which is less demanding and we opted for that. Day 3 was our free day and I googled for things to do and end up going for Global Mall & one old tourist street within the city vide subway. Day 4 was our trip vide train to Xian and we we were taken by our guide to the station and after some 4 hours plus we were greeted by another guide in Xian. Our itinerary in Xian only involved one day guided tour to the terracotta warriors and Muslim quarters ( which we spend almost every day as our hotel is within walking distance) . All in all, it was a good holiday . Chengdu is modern and clean and Xian is historical , I wonder why there is very little organized tour on both cities .

About the guided tour, both our guide in Chengdu and Xian can speak good enough English but we converse mostly in Mandarin , I guess the only reason I ended up with China discovery was because I search tour sites in English as my chinese is not good enough to web-search and write in chinese  and I guess that most of the customer would be non chinese speaker.  I am an experience traveler and I always took my family to new places on my own and prior to my holiday I would plan all the logistic . In places like Japan and Korea, I usually opt for  separate day trip to  places where public transport is logistically troublesome , I either hire guide for a day or limo service for certain trip or  took the single day package , usually vide Viator.

My only reservation is the costs, all in all,  china discovery charge me RMB 12k plus for 3 days of guided tour and 4 transfers (hotel to air port of train station) , I am not sure how much saving I would get if I attended all transfer myself although I think getting the train ticket can be troublesome for outsider like myself. Anyhow, I think it is better to make contact at Air-port compare to meeting at Hotel Lobby the next day. For the record, this is my 3rd time using China Discovery. I was on my own in Beijing (private guide)  - Tianjing (taxi driver as guide)  and Xiamen holiday.

Quah

Wing - 

Thank you very much for the emails and I apologize for the delay. First off let me say that we have traveled to over 30 countries with our children and this trip was among the best organized we have experienced.  The people were extremely welcoming throughout China and it all started with us working with you at China Discovery.  We knew that November is not the ideal month to travel due to the colder weather but that did not detract us from a wonderful vacation.  Here are some additional answers for you below:

 (1)  How do you like our tour arrangements and are you willing to recommend our service to your friends? 

Your services were exceptional! I appreciate your prompt responses to our questions and you were always willing to help. Since I have returned from China, I have already spoken with someone who is interested in touring China next year and I have strongly recommended that they ask for you: Wing Zeng at China Discovery for support. 

(2)   Do you have some suggestions for us to improve our service?

That is difficult to say. All tour guides we experienced spoke English very well and we enjoyed their company. Typically the tour guide is vital to the success of the vacation and we liked all them all which made everything great - Special thanks to our guide in Yichang who found an incredible restaurant on the way to the Yichang restaurant / The food we had was wonderful.

(3)  If you come to China again, would you like to use our service again?

Without a doubt! I will always recommend China Discovery and recommend they specifically ask for Wing Zeng. 

Please send this to the leaders of your company.  Thanks again and let me know if you have any further questions. 

Rob

Hi Rita!

Today was a little colder, but everything is fine and the baby is doing well! We spent the day in Xian today also. We thought our tour yesterday was going to see the Terracota Warriors (our mistake!),so we took the day today to do that.

Thank you for everything! And also, I'd like to say that both our guides, in Chengdu and Xian, were great! They took very good care of us, were very patient and understanding, and helped a lot more than expected! As usual, the service was top notch.

I'm sending some photos attached. And be sure that we will post good reviews!

Sincerely,

Luis

Thanks Wonder.

The tour was very good. Sandy was very professional and knowledgeable, and made sure everything ran like clockwork.

Please feel free to use my endorsement above.

Best wishes,

Donald

Hi Echo,

Just wanted to thank you for an amazing trip to China. We LOVED it! The itinerary we planned was perfect, the hotels were fantastic and really 5 star! The food was terrific, we ate everything. We were also so happy to find our parents villages.  

What really made our trip was the fantastic guides we had in all our locations! We learned so much from them not only about the sights we saw but also what their lives were like.  Please send my deepest gratitude and appreciation to Jack (Guangzhou), Shannon (Chengdu), Timo (Xian) and Mark (Beijing).

Our drivers were also wonderful and on time every where we went. My only concern was the driver at Chengdu.  He was very tired driving us back from Leshan and I caught him a couple of times closing his eyes.  That was a bit scary.  

I would definitely give you and China Discovery 5 stars! Our only complaint (more of a surprise) was the difficulty in getting our Shanghai Disney tickets, but in the end it all worked out. I have included some photos for you. I will be recommending you and your agency to all my friends.

Thanks again for a wonderful trip!

Regards,

Alanna Wong

Johnson,

Just wanted to let you know that we arrived home, safe and sound and to let you know what a Fantastic time we had in Chengdu, Chongqing and Tibet.

Everything went perfect, we are so impressed with you, your company and the 3 guides and drivers that we had.

All our requests and questions over the months of planning the trip were answered promptly. We couldn’t be more pleased with the service we received from you and the quick help received in a Tibet when we had to make a last minute change. My husband and I were disappointed that we were not able to make the trip to EBC, but you made the extended stay in Lhasa easy. My husband is still fighting his cold, but the rest and walking around the 4 days in Lhasa helped him to start recovering.

Our guide in Chengdu made our day at the Panda Research Center and cooking experience a day we will always remember.

Our guide in Tibet was Fantastic, he was very interesting and fun and easy to be with for the week, we enjoyed our visit to Tibet very much.

Our our short time in Chongqing was wonderful and we appreciated the last minute tour that we booked our last afternoon and evening.

All the guides and drivers were very helpful and were where and when they said they would be at all times which made all the train stations and airport experiences easy.

We would definitely use you and your company again if we ever get the opportunity to return to China.

Thanks again for all your help and making this a very memorable trip for the 4 of us.

Dear Mark,

I have submitted my review to Trip Advisor. I have to apologize for the late reply as I was very busy last few days. 

1. How's the tour arrangement? And your travel consultant's service?

Overall it was an excellent arrangement by Mark who meticulously planned every detail and religiously monitoring our schedule throughout and had it executed by the caring and helpful guide Carrie. 

2. How's the hotel and meals?

The hotel in Zhangjiajie was good as it is expected of Pullman 's branding. The one in Fenghuang is not as good but Mark had forewarned me so I was prepared that the accommodation and breakfast would not be good. The meals are alright as Carrie had given us the liberty and good recommendation to order the food that suits our pallet as we cannot take spicy ones. Good advice by Mark and well executed by Carrie.

3. What do you think of our guides and drivers?

The drivers are all good and pleasant especially Mr. Du who was careful and polite .He drove at the right speed and I was impressed by his driving skill on a wet day. 

We would like to place on record our heartfelt thanks to Mark and the team in Chengdu, Yichang & Zhangjiajie. 

Regards 

Teo & Lily 

Hi Wendy,

Thanks so much for following up, I'm absolutely going to send you some reviews of the tours we did - they were all amazing. I'll hopefully get the chance to do this shortly, we've just returned from China and are so busy with work. As soon as I get the chance to I'll email you back with some comments :-)

Thanks again!

Jamie

你  好 Lily

Just a quick line of thanks for your time today and sharing your wealth of knowledge about the Pandas and the Chinese culture. My wife and I had a fantastic time and we really enjoyed our day.

We leave your fine country with so many great and fond memories.

谢  谢！

Jerry & Cheryl

Hi Johnson,

Hope this email find you well. 

My family and I have returned to Sydney after 6 weeks of travelling! I want to thank you for arranging our 25 days China tour which we have really enjoyed. The itinerary was good although a bit tiring! 

China was amazing and your service in organizing and trouble shooting while we were there was greatly appreciated.

On reflection, we realized the highlights during our tours were the cities where we had a good guide and driver.

FYI the guides in SuZhou (Sarah), Guilin (Summer), Kunming (Jessie) and Lijiang ( Susan) and Chengdu (Jane) were all amazing. Their English and knowledge were very good. They made these cities/ places come alive for us.

Alan in Hangzhou took us to the best restaurant and ordered the best lunch we had in 25 days. Again a memorable city for us

On the flip side, Dali which was a beautiful city but we did not enjoy mostly because our guide ( Shirley) does not speak English well. We could not understand her narrative or explanation most of the time. The guide in Wuhan ( Jennifer) was very unhelpful, was on her phone most of the time unless we asked her questions. For e.g. The highlight of Wuhan to us was the yellow crane tower but she did not even bother to walk up with us  ( and gave us 20 min to go up and come down) As we all could not read Chinese , it made all the beautiful artworks, poems and historical significance a complete loss to us! At the Eastlake, again a beautiful area she rushed us in and out because she said we did not have enough time but we ended finishing the day around 4 ! As you know she also ignore us during lunch so I had to send you the complaint myself! So Wuhan to use was the least enjoyable day.

For your reference, I think you have to ensure the guides you provide to any group you organize speak good English and are experience and helpful.

Overall, I think it was a great tour and your service is excellent from start to finish. I will certainly recommend you to my friends and hope to organize a Silk Road tour with you  in the near future !

Thanks again

Regards

Sharon

Hi Wendy - Tara and I just got home last night. Thank you again for arranging a great trip for us. Here are are a few comments:

What we really appreciated:

the great guides…while we weren’t able to submit a feedback form for Mamie in Changsha, we felt she was very experienced, and enjoyed her thoroughness

the way the guides accompanied us into the airport to make sure we got our tickets. the flights you booked for us, particularly the great seats at the front of the plane. the hotels were also good - we recommend the Crowne Plaza in Changsha (over the Pullman), which has a fabulous breakfast. we had a great, experienced driver in Chengdu, who put in a long day getting us back to Chengdu from Emei Shan

What could be improved:

it would be nice to include evening entertainment in the itinerary (or at least offer it as an option) - we were interested in seeing the evening performance in Chengdu and the ethnic minority show in Zhangjiajie, and the guides were kind enough to help get us tickets

the cable car at Zhangjiajie was closed for the month of November, so we were not able to visit Huangshi Village or the Golden Whip Brook - as a result, the day’s activity was very short, and we ended up arranging a separate tour of the glass suspension bridge (at our own cost)

the last day in Zhangjiajie was short; to fill up the time, the guide was kind enough to take us to a shopping mall

the van in Zhangjiajie was not as new/modern as the vans in the other cities (however, we really liked the driver)

In addition to Mamie’s experience, we loved Ruby’s exuberance (in Chengdu) and Tony’s vitality and personality (in Zhangjiajie).

Tara may have additional feedback. By the way, she had problems using her gmail account for email in all the cities (except for Guangzhou). 

Thanks again for working with us.

—Best, Royee

Hi Lyn

We received all the lovely pandas. Thank u very much. We enjoyed our trip very much. Jason is very pleasant and helpful.

Peggy

Hi Wendy,

We have just returned home today from our month away and, rather belatedly, I wanted to thank you so much for the lovely scarf and gifts you sent us to Chengdu.

Our Chinese trip was absolutely perfect and we loved it.  For your information I will give comments on the guides:

Chengdu – Yijia

What a lovely girl, a pleasure to be around, incredibly innovative and helpful, beyond the calls of her job. She helped us get SIM cards for our phones, told us about the Opera near our hotel, even joined us for the panda workday.  Am not sure about how much knowledge she has but it was certainly enough for us.

Chengdu – Shani

First whole day in Chengdu.  She was very nice and knew her history.  Very informative about the Temples.

Xian – Vivien

We didn’t get off to a good start with her unfortunately as, although the driver was waiting for us at the station, she had been delayed with other clients and was 45 minutes late.  After our initial anger and seeing how upset she was we all settled down and I have to say she was incredibly knowledgeable and most informative. The next day, when we went to the Terracotta Warriors I don’t think we could have been with a better guide.  She was excellent.

Guilin & Yangshou – Lona

What a pleasure this guide was and so informative.  She certainly knows her history of the sites she took us to.  Very dedicated and we thoroughly enjoyed being with her.  I think she was the absolute best.

Shanghai – Tracy (I think)

A different caliber entirely.  Arrived late but with lots of excuses and no apology!  She was fine when we got going but her English wasn’t up to that of the others, nor was her knowledge I think.

Beijing - Kai

Probably the most well informed of all the guides we had, and a charming person.  He was most caring and happy to share his knowledge of all the sites as well as impart information about life in general in China.

Pick-ups were all excellent, with good and careful drivers. All in all we had a wonderful time in China and thank you so much for arranging it all so well for us.

We will certainly recommend you to our friends and if you need us to give recommendations to future clients, we shall be happy to do.

All the Best,

Candy & Laurie

Hi Rita,

Thank you so much for the return of funds I left in the Hong Kong hotel. I really appreciate your efforts on my behalf.

Additionally that you for the lovely gift, reflecting the Panda, Gand Chinese opera. It was most thoughtful, and very much appreciated.

We were treated most wonderfully by our guide Cherry.  She was helpful, flexible, informative and kind

Superlative team and organization

Review of China Discovery

Our group of 7 toured 3 weeks across China from Shanghai to Tibet. It was to be the trip of a lifetime, and it was. In my due process to search for the best itinerary and TA for us, I found Leo Li of China Discovery. Compared to other top in-China TAs, CD and Leo Li gave me everything I wanted including the best price for the desired itinerary. None of us were strangers to China. I was born there and had been there 5 times since, while the others had toured the capital cities but never the remote regions of Hunan, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Tibet.

We were always prompted met with a guide as soon as we left the airport security area; we were transported in clean mini-vans with plenty of bottled water. It was always door-to-door everytime. We would be dropped off at one end and after the tour, the mini-van would be waiting for us at the other end -- no backtracking. Nothing was ever stolen or missing in the secured vans. The many guides we met were always courteous and spoke varying degrees of fluency but always well-informed. One even held my wife's hand as she walked slowly on icy pathways in Huanglong National Park.

Their pricing was reasonable -- better than if I booked myself. We stayed in not only elegant country inns, but also at Pullman, Sofitel, Shangri-la, and Grand Hyatt.

I have nothing but praise for Leo and his team. He is easily accessible 24/7. That is really necessary in China. His English is flawless, his personality infectious. We met him in Chengdu. Ask for Leo Li.

Date of experience: October 2019

Dear Tracy,

Just reached home this morning. Yes, we do have excellent vacation with a good guide and excellent driver. Billy is a good and helpful guide, he took care of us all the time and make sure we enjoy the trip. The driver is very skillful in driving because he is local from Jiuzhaigou .

Thanks for everything and let us have a good memorial time in Huang long and Jiuzhaigou .

By the way do you handle Muslim trip to Jiuzhaigou ?

Thanks and regards

Hi Lily

Thanks very much for organising the refund of admission fees for us.

We had a great time with Jim and really enjoyed our two days with him. The driver was very good too. We are pleased that we made the trip to Wulong.

Thanks again

Hi Rita,

Yes, it’s was cold but after seeing Jiuzhaigou the lifetime experience is definitely worth it!  Maybe we are just lucky in that day of visit rather than the snowing day just the day before at Huanglong.

Jason is a great guide.

Lifetime Experience in Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong

Hi Jack,

Sorry I meant to message you but I’ve been suffering a bit from jet lag! My whole family had a wonderful holiday. Every tour guide was lovely and we thoroughly enjoyed every experience. Thank you so much for everything you did to make it such an amazing holiday! I will be leaving an excellent Trip Advisor review shortly. Also thank you for the note and gift we received in Chengdu it was very kind of you and we all loved them. Thank you again for everything.

Kind regards, 

Hi Lyn,

Please ignore this mail. We’d a great time with Caroline today, yesterday we just had some misunderstanding. 

She was very nice with us, considering that we wanted to change the program in Shanghai.

She made her best to satisfy our needs, and we’d a wonderful time togheter.

I want to thank you because our trip was wonderful in China!

Everything worked perfectly, and we sastified all our desires.

Unfortunately we didn’t receive your present in Chengdu.

We’ll prepare a wonderful review for China Discovery and your job.

Thank you so much for everything!

Best

Wing,

We had a great time in China. Thanks for such a culture packed itinerary 

Below is the evaluation sheet from the confirmation letter

There is one thing in shanghai I need to bring up. I paid 720 rmb each for our Disneyland tickets. It turns out the shanghai tour guide bought 1 regular (standard) and 1 senior (selected) ticket for us. The senior ticket is 200 rmb cheaper than the regular ticket. Should I get a refund? I found that out at the entrance when the ticket checker keep checking my birthday on the passport and not my daughter’s. I asked her why and she said I have a senior ticket.   Please let me know

1. Is your travel consultant of our company fast enough to answer your E-mail and patient enough to answer your questions? Excellent. Ms Zeng responded to all my requests in a timely manner during the planning phase and during our trip

2. How do you comment your tour arrangements? It was more than expected. The trip to Chengdu introduce us to Chinese culture that we were not aware of. We are still talking about the face changing performance we attended. 

3. Are you willing to recommend our service to your people who also have an interest to visit China? Absolutely. I have been telling my co-workers about the private tour we had.

4.  Your general opinion on us? Very responsive and very familiar with the Chengdu area.

5. Do you have any suggestions on improving our services? better tour guides in Shanghai. however Ms Zeng was able to re-mediate the situation

6. Can we use your comments of our service, the photos or other images that you took on the tour for our websites, brochures, marketing and publicity? If yes, could you please send us some of your photos by E-mail? I am sending a few pictures of the pandas. A baby, an older one eating lunch and the forgotten red panda. These are pandas that we actually saw

7. We sometimes have requests from potential customers who would like to inquire from or our ex-customers. May they contact you for advice?  yes

Thank you China Discovery for an excellent tour

If we decide to visit other areas in China we will definitely engage your service again.

Giant Panda and Red Panda

Echo,

I finally have the time to say how thankful Valerie and I are to you for putting together a wonderful excursion.

Everything went very smoothly and we would certainly recommend you and China Discovery to our friends.

Ruby and Waldner were very knowledgeable about Chengdu and Xi’an and the places we visited. Both spoke very good English which made Valerie and I very comfortable. They were particularly very helpful at the airports and train stations.

The drivers also were very helpful and skilled.

You did a great job in selecting the Hotels and setting up the logistics of meeting with the guides.

I would like to let your supervisor know what a wonderful job you and the guides did.  If you send me a name an email address I will let them know 

Sincerely

Hi Mark,

Please see our feedback below:

1- Yes, he was fast to answer my emails. Mark answered all my questions until it was clear for me.

I felt very comfortable with all his answers He would let me know in advance if there was a festive day or he was going to be out of town.  Excellent service!

2: all our tour guides were amazing! Made every moment extra special!!  I liked all a lot specially our guide from Chengdu and Beijing

All were terrific and they know where to take us, the explanation of everything

I felt very comfortable with all of them. Kevin was great watching that I wouldn’t fall or get to tired

Increíble guides and choferes too!!

3.  I am going to recommend your company with friends and family

Excellent service!!! We felt save every moment in China

4. Of course I will send pictures

I will write in Trip advisor and recommend specially you mark

You were so kind with us all the time

Thank you so mucho for all your work and keeping us safe and happy

Increíble increíble trip!!!

Enjoy Our Time in Beijing and Xian

Dear Jack 

I would like to thank you for arranging a wonderful once in a life time China trip for us. We thoroughly enjoyed our tour. You have a good team of guides and drivers throughout our tour. Hotel were very good and comfortable. We will certainly reccomend your company to our friends who would like to do a similar tour like ours. My wife Manjula and Myself Ramniklal varu , Amita and Chandrakant Chandarana would like to thank you and your team for a lovely trip. It was lovely to meet you in a hotel and thanks for the lovely gifts. 

Thank you.

Hi Wonder, 

The tour was very good. We managed to cover a lot of places in a short period of time, thank you for arranging it. 

Here are the answers to your questions: 

1. Yes, very prompt with detailed replies. 

2. Tour guides were all good. 

Christy in Guilin was good, however, she could have done a better job in accommodating our food preferences as she preordered all meals for us without giving us the options from the menu or choice of vegetable/meat. She took us to many interesting places and did a good job of that. 

Eben in Chengdu was very good. His command over English was really good, and shared a lot of knowledge about Chengdu and China with us. He managed to get us into the Panda reserve without waiting in line at all. Food options from him were very good, and he helped us order even for dinner. 

Phoenix in Xi'an was also very good and showed us a lot in a short period of time. 

3. Yes

Thank you for all your help over the past few weeks!

Best,

Hi Lily,

We arrived in Chengdu last night. Thank you for the wodnerful honeymoon present, we love it a lot!

Can’t wait to see the pandas today.

Hi Wendy,

I hope you had a good National Week.

When we said goodbye to our guide Gila we thought we had lost our feedback form. However when we unpacked in Shanghai we found it. So I have attached photos of our feedback. I will try and also post it.

We had a brilliant time in Chengdu. Gila was a wonderful tour guide so please thank her for her hard work. After Chengdu we went to Xi’an and Shanghai and are now in Beijing. We are really enjoying time in China - it’s an amazing country.

Many thanks,

Hi Vivien

Our group of four would like to thank you for the fascinating Sichuan and Guizhou trip arrangements. The weather was good during this time of the year. The guides and drivers were all very professional. We especially like Mr Billy 張 of Guizhou. He was very dedicated to his job and so knowledgeable. The driver 王師傅was very nice too. Hotels were satisfactory considering the cost and environment. Will consider to pay more to upgrade accommodations in the future. 

You will hear from us pretty soon regarding future travel plans in China.

Thanks again for your wonderful service and sincerity!

Regards

Hello Mr Li

we really enjoyed our tour in China. Hotels in Beijing New World Bejiing Hotel, Sofitel in Xi'an, Sofitel in Chengdu and Grand Meridien in Shanghai were super (meet our expectations).

As for the train it has change a lot in 20 years and you were right it was alright and efficient

Our guides were Sally in Bejiing, Iris in Pingyao,Crystal in Xi'an, Kevin in Chengdu and Caroline in Shanghai. The four first one asked us to complete a form for evaluation of their services we gave them back the form with our comments, we really like them and what we saw

We liked the visit of the hutongs in Beijing, the forbidden city, the summer palace, the temple of Heaven, the great wall and the Ming tombs. Crystal in Xi'an took us on a place between the bell tower and the drum tower it was really a good spot for pictures; when we went to The Terra cotta museum it was raining heavily but she help us find good shoes cover

Chengdu also meet our expectations, the Panda research base, the Jilin street,etc

As we told Iris in Pingyao the bathroom in the hotel was dirty and the food were not good but Iris and the driver were very nice. We liked Pingyao

As for Shanghai heavy rain and smog made it impossible to visit as planned, we were told that Yu garden was under renovation.

We would be pleased to recommend China Discovery

Best regards

Hi Zoe,

Sorry for the late response.

Didn’t get the chance to check email until today.

We are really happy with your company.

Eric, Zoe and the drivers are really nice and professional.

They made our stay in China a memorable one.

We won’t hesitate recommending your company to anybody.

Thank you so much for all your help!!

Hi Vivien

Here we are!

I definitely want to tell you about our holiday but we are a bit busy in Hong Kong at the moment. Will contact you again soon. Thanks so much for organising it.

Our China Trip in Chengdu, Suzhou, Guilin, Shanghai

Hi Mark

We had a wonderful day with Ruby!! The day was a real highlight of our trip for all of us, and my parents were pretty proud of themselves for all the walking they did. Ruby was an excellent guide, she was very informative and knowledgable and didn't tire of answering all our questions and made sure it was the right pace for everyone. We really appreciated her willingness to share insights into chinese life and culture along the way with us and to learn about our way of life in New Zealand! It was also great having her join us for our local lunch and share the meal. A fantastic day. I will certainly recommend you to anyone I know visting china!

Thank you for the gift too!  I will share some pictures when I return to New Zealand.

Dear Zoe

Thanks for your reply.

Our visit to Chengdu was really interesting especially the pandas of course.  Our guide Ruby was excellent.

Thanks for the present of the toy panda and silk scarf.  Something to remind us of your lovely town.

Best wishes 

Dear Mark

We had such a wonderful day with the pandas! Martin was a great guide - very friendly and knowledgeable and he also took some lovely photos of us on my camera (I can send you some when I get home to the UK). In the meantime, here are a few from my phone.

Thanks also for the pandas you sent via the hotel - very cute!

We will certainly recommend you if anyone we know is planning a trip to China

Best wishes

Wonderful Day with Pandas

Hello Vivien,

Thanks for contacting me – and for all your help with our tour. Yes, we had a fantastic time. Everything went to plan and we were very impressed with all the organisation and the guides.

I am just a bit busy at the moment but I promise that I will send you a complete feedback in the next few days. Do send me the link to Trip Advisor and I will also complete a review there for you.

Thank you indeed for the gifts you sent us via jenny in Chengdu. That was very thoughtful of you and very much appreciated.

Best wishes,

Dear Ashley,

Thank you for your very kind and thoughtful text message of 9 Sept.

which we received on arriving home.

I am a little unsure just how to start to thank you enough for the manner and way that you have worked and the kindness you have shown to us to make our brief visit to your magnificent Country so enjoyable and one we shall always remember.

However I will begin by saying I was greatly impressed with the manner and honesty in which you displayed in the detailed planning stage of our trip. 

I want to thank you again for the gifts which you gave as at our only too short but enjoyable meeting in Chengdu. I don't know how you learned (or guessed) what Lindy favorites were: but you got them all. They were unexpected and a lovey surprise.

Every thing organized for the trip went off well. We did not encounter any problems and so were able enjoy are brief trip to the 4 cities. Although having done a lot of research on the internet prior to departing, the tours and sites visited at each city exceeded my expectations.

The guides and drivers were also great and the system of drop of and pick works well up saved us countless hours.

Each of our guides were very helpful, polite and most knowledgeable, and showed quite different strengths, character and personalities.

Kai in Beijing: a born teacher who is passionate about and loves his subject and was keen to impart it to us. A very intense personality, inclined to repeat himself a little, but with excellent fluent English and an easy accent easy for us poor mono-linguist Australians to understand. Lindy would have liked a few more coffee stops (what's new) but understand that they was not available at many of the sights we visited.

Ben in Xi'An: very knowledgeable about the Warriors, items at the Museum and the city, friendly and accommodating with a very good and easy to understand English. He also arranged every thing for us to see the Tang Dynasty Theater show at night.

Sandy in Chengdu: ensured that we were able enjoy the visit to the Pandas a real highlight of the tour. He was most accommodating to our every wish and Lindy's like for Starbucks coffee.

Danny in Guilin: The real friendly family "county" man. Out to do every thing possible to show us what we wonted to see on some-wot tiring hot days.  The country views here are breathtaking.

The two fast train rides were very pleasant and comfortable but the crowds at stations were a little overwhelming.

The two short domestic plane rides were uneventful (similar to ours)

The two Hotels you booked were great, The Bamboo Leaf, very friendly, quite and a nice change from the somewhat impersonal international chains. Thank you for getting their signature room for us, Lindy loved the country outlook.

The Hilton Capital suite was also a welcome surprise.

Although you may not have much to do with it, the weather was favorable with the only rain we experienced for the whole trip being a very light shower on the morning we visited the Pandas which they seemed to enjoy.

We are still in awe at the skill, patience and tolerance of your car drivers, but were in fear of the silent scooters every time we crossed the road.

You and your associates have helped China Discovery to earn the excellent reputation it has on the many Internet review sites.

So summing up, well done and thank you so very much.

Dear Tracy
Thank you very much. We had a very good trip in Beijing. Thank you very much.
We are now in Chengdu with Vincent.
Best regards

Aloha Echo,

We had a wonderful time on our tour through the four cities in China.  All of our tour guides were excellent each with their own special talent.  Our first guide, Forest in Beijing was extra attentive and flexible working around our special circumstances, traveling with my “special needs” granddaughter.  He was also extremely knowledgeable about Beijing and the attractions that were included in our tour.  His assistance at the train station also made our transfer to XiAn less stressful.  Waldner in XiAn was full of humor.  Unfortunately, my son was pickpocketed at the Terracotta Warriors Museum and his cell phone was stolen.  That caused a period of negative emotions during our stay in XiAn.  Waldner also assisted us at the train station to make the transfer less stressful.  Gila in Chengdu really went out of her way to allow us an authentic “taste” of Chengdu.  Gila also helped us check in at the airport for our flight to Shanghai.  Nanette in Shanghai was also very helpful when we got a late start to the airport.  She assisted us through baggage check to see us off in good time to make it to our flight.

The tour guides’ assistance were also valuable because of the minimal English that is spoken or understood throughout our travels through China.  I was quite surprised that even in the hotels that were booked for us, the staff’s ability to communicate in English was very limited.

The hotels that were included in our tour were very nice.  The location of the hotels in Beijing and Chengdu were exactly what I like with dining and shopping immediately surrounding the hotel.  The location of the Xian hotel felt a bit less comfortable. 

I would definitely recommend China Discovery to my friends and family if they are planning to visit China.

Thank you very much!

Hi Rita,

I would like to send a BIG thank you. We departed from Chengdu now, all went perfect!! Thanks a lot for the flexibility in changing the schedule and the good organisation.

How is Livia doing? Did she get the baby? Send her my BIG thank you too for all the preparations before her leave.

Dear Tracy,

Of course I Will write the positive review on Tripadvisor!

It was also a pleasure for us to travel with your Company and discover the Great Country that China is.

All the guides were very helpful and nice, especially Shanna from Chengdu and also Jennifer (Shanghai) and Amanda (Yichang).

It is a pity that we couldn´t do the excursion to Macau but…maybe next time. As you know, we did an additional excursion on Tuesday morning visiting Luntau Island. We needed to pay additional 3240 HKD to Cecile and push her a little bit to visit all the venues but it was finally good decision.

Best regards from Spain!

Good morning Mr.Leo Li,

Thanks for your email, we're at home safe and very happy for the great experience we lived.

It was our pleasure to meet you in Chengdu, we appreciated very much your gifts and all the efforts you made to make our travel memorable.

It was already our intention to share with you our thoughts about the travel, as soon we have some time we'll let you have a more detailed feedback about the whole tour.

Have a nice day

Hello Mr. Wonder.
We are back to Chengdu after a very beautiful and very nice trip in North Sichuan.
Thank you very much for your organization. It was perfect. Our guide Mary was really kind, efficient and helpful. The driver too. We really enjoy Huanglong and the Ruoergai region. A lot of amazing discoveries all along this trip.
Thank you very much also for the little gifts as souvenirs of Chengdu.
I hope that we will travel in China again.
Best regards.

Ok, perfect, thanks Vivien.

We will try and get laundry done in Chengdu I think.

Trip has been great so far. Angelina was a great guide. Zhangjiajie was amazing and a perfect start to our trip. 

We are just at the airport now waiting for flight to Chengdu. Looking forward to seeing some pandas.

Hi Leo,

Thanks for your email. We had a great trip in China and thank you for meeting us in Chengdu!

Of the various guides, the best guides were Laura (in Shanghai) and Smiley (in Guilin / Yangshuo). They both chose excellent restaurant, great ambiance, very good selection of food and also gave us choices. They both made us fell very much at home. I would highly recommend them. Smiley’s English was excellent and very much fun to talk to. She even made an effort to take us to clean rest rooms as she knew my wife was very particular on rest room cleanliness.

Eban in Chengdu was good as well, but it was a short meeting with him. 

Willy was fine in Xian and was helpful during the trip. His English was excellent! One area of opportunity for him is to become a better listener. He has great communication but sometimes does t listen. 

Lily in Beijing is an excellent person, but her English can be improved. Many a times we could not understand what she was saying and we had to keep asking her to repeat. She was very good with the kids. She gave us local Beijing candies (very kind of her) and the kids loved it. Also on the food in Beijing, I wish it was as good as other places. The quality of food was not great compared to the food we got in Shanghai/ Guilin/Chengdu which was great! Also the restaurant ambience was not very good. But lily was great. May be this is an area for improvement for Beijing section. Better selection of restaurants. 

Overall an excellent and memorable trip

Also thank you for taking the time to meet with us and for the great time we had chatting with you! Also thanks for the gift. 

Thanks

Hi Leo,

Here is my review. I will likely post it on TripAdvisor to help other tourists out so they know what to expect. Let me know if you would like anything edited (such as the Wire Transfer vs PayPal part) if you find it harmful for your business. My intent is to describe my experience to other Western travellers that may have similar fears about booking a trip like this.

Thanks for all you did. The trip was both flawless and amazing.

I took a 2 week personalized vacation with Chendu Bamboo tours through China. I wanted to put some thoughts down to the TripAdvisor community as I had a lot of reservations going into it, and I hope my review will help clarify some of the items that I was uncertain of.

First, while I researching, I determined that I wanted to do a custom tour as none of the packages that I saw had everything I wanted. The towns I chose were Beijing, Xian, Dunhuang, Chengdu, Guilin and Shanghai. I submitted inquiries to multiple companies and ChinaDiscovery came back to me promptly with a very comprehensive tour that was detailed and in line with my expectations. The scary part of communicating my requirements was that it had to be done mostly through email, although the company was also quick to Skype call me to handle some of my more advanced questions.

If you decide to book a tour like this (and you are firmly in the middle class) this is and expensive endeavor. For you to pull the trigger, you can expect 4 big expenditures. First, you will need to put 1/3 balance down on the trip to reserve the reservation. That 1/3 was placed through PayPay, and the Paypal account that I placed it to did not look anything like the business I was dealing with. It was scary sending the money to such a strange account, but in the end, the transaction was fine. One point of confusion...you may research and book through ChinaDiscovery, however the invoice then turned into (in my case) Chengdu Bamboo International Tours Co, Ltd. I don't fully understand the relationship, but it was legitimate, although a little confusing of why the website said one thing, but the actual contractor that was doing the work said another. Another scary thing came later when I was asked to pay the remaining 2/3 balance, I was requested to do so via wire transfer. Again, a scary endeavor which I felt I would have no protection if the company was not legitimate. So fearing loss of funds, I reached a win/win compromise to use the Paypal account again (with Visa) to submit the funds. Once I received confirmation, the company executed the hotel, train and plane tickets flawlessly, communicating the reservations about 1 week later.

In short, my fears were unfounded.

You will also have to handle 3 other expenses. First, and not surprising are your international plane tickets, which I handled shortly after the deposit. But the 3rd and 4th were not known. As a US citizen, I needed to get Visas for myself and the family. A Chinese Visa costs about $160 per person, and to get it, you must carefully submit a form to the Chinese consulate in a designated region of the country. Because I delayed doing this, I needed to do expedited service. And because the form is brutal and requires you to send your passports to the Chinese consulate, I enlisted a visa expert (CIBT.com) in order to get in processed. Long story short, about $1K later, I received the last of the passports back from the consulate with about 2 days to spare. 

The other warning, since all the trips have drivers and tour guides that take you around, you are advised (not mandated) to give them tips. Unfortunately, there are no guidelines given or direction of how much to give. I spent time researching on the internet what were fair tips for always outstanding service. Now, 1 week after the trip, I still have no idea if I tipped fairly, generously or cheaply. But, calculate 2 weeks and 2 persons a day, you can calculate that it will cost you hundreds of dollars or thousands of Yuan.

Last warning to give about going to China...you'll need cash. Only some (not most) banks and stores are hooked up to the Visa and Mastercard system. This means, (1) you may need to search for the right bank to get cash in China in order to withdraw funds and (2) the vendors that you'll see only will take your cash. This caused some stress the first couple of days as I had trouble finding a bank that worked.

Now...for the good stuff. Once prepping for all that, the trip that was designed by Chinadiscovery (or Chengdu Bamboo Tour Company) was pretty spectacular. The guides were beyond great, and did a truly amazing, amazing job of being everything you would want as a tour guide. Prompt, flexible, funny, sometimes motherly, sometimes brotherly, open, honest, kind, insightful, human, knowledgeable and ...simply great. Each one in each town was different...but each of them took such pride in their cities/country that you are given a great gift.

The hotels were as good as it gets as well. Breakfast was included in all hotels...some food good, and other food great. The hotels were within walking distance to all the good things. For Beijing, 15 min walk to the Forbidden City. Shanghai? 5 minute walk to the River and 20 minutes to The Bund. I could go on, but the accommodations were really good. Combine that with flawless execution of all travel arrangements, it made for a stress free trip. The lunches were all Chinese and again, and food ranged from good to great. They always gave our family of 3 too much food for one sitting, and I felt embarrassed about leaving so much food behind.

In Beijing, our guide took us through Tienanmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, The Great Wall, and Temple of Heaven (among other places). When she took us to the train station, she insisted in walking us down to our seat on the High Speed railway car. When I asked if that is the company policy, she said 'that MY policy' (to ensure her clients get to where they are going). Amazing. We reached Xian for a day and Zoe gave us great insights of the growing city, the crowds, and life in China. Then onto Dunjuang, where Lily and her driver rearranged the schedule to ensure that we saw all the Silk Road sites. The schedule changes included her and the driver starting at 6AM (after we were picked up at the airport 10PM the night before) in order to ensure we saw everything. Then in Chengdu, Cherry helped so patiently with my wife's shopping at the Panda sanctuary. And in Guilin, Kennedy was awesome describing the land and China's ethnic minority. The insight for the rice fields and rivers were wonderful. We ate probably the best Chinese food of the trip in the fresh country air. Then finally, to Shanghai, where Zack was truly a joy, and one of the friendliest and enjoyable people I have ever met in my life. The city of Shanghai was amazing, and my son enjoyed it tremendously.

Two things I would do over if I could. First, I would plan to take it in June, not late July. We had to compete with the rest of China, which has summer break at this time. As a result, the places were packed with China tourist going to the same sites, which made the crowds a bit much. Second, I would have also altered the trip to spend 1 less day in Guilin and 1 more day in Shanghai. Other than that, I would not have changed anything.

Our Customized China Trip

Hi Vivien,

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in China. Thank you so much for coordinating things so very well. Thank you also for the thoughtful gifts. We highly recommend your tour company. :)

Greetings Lily!

Firstly we want to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the very kind gift you left us at the hotel! We also want to tell you that we love your city and had a wonderful day at the panda reserve! 
Thank you again and have a wonderful weekend!

Hi Wonder,

I just wanted to say that Gila was great. She is very nice and easy to talk too! She knows a lot about Chengdu and pandas and I had a great time with her. When I come back I will book her again for sure.

Thank you for organising everything, it was great. Very happy with the service.

Hi Lily,

Thank you so much for the little pandas and present. My kids loved them!  It was a very nice surprise at Chengdu. 

We are enjoying so much everything. I will send you an email when I get back home with some suggestions. Usually I never give reviews but because we love our trip to China so much I will take the time to send you some comments. 

Thank you again for everything! We are on our way to our last stop Beijing! 

Have a great afternoon!

Dear Wonder,

See my response below. Thanks.

Is your travel consultant of our company fast enough to answer your E-mail and patient enough to answer your questions? Yes. Wonder was very responsive and patient in addressing my questions and flexible with changes needed.  

How’s the service of the tour guides during your whole tour? The tour guide Eben was very professional and spoke excellent English. He was knowledgeable and experienced, making our tour relatively stress free while helping us learn a lot about the history and culture of Chengdu.  

Would you like to recommend our company? Yes.

Hi Wendy,

Apologies for the delayed reply, please see my answers below and I’ll leave a review on TripAdviser as well.

I have been recommending this trip loads as I really really loved it!

Here below are the questions for you: 

1.  Was your travel consultant of our company fast enough to answer your E-mail and patient enough to answer your questions?

    Yes, Wendy was excellent and answered all my questions as well as gave me great recommendations for things that I wanted to do, I would definitely recommend.

2.  How was your tour? Are you satisfied with the tour we arranged for you? 

    The tour was fabulous, Jason was very. Knowledgeable, answered all my questions and his English was superb (which was great since my mandarin was non-existent!) The tour was just what I was after, the food was excellent and I’ve been raving about it ever since!

3.  Do you have any suggestions on improving our services?

    My one suggestion would be to have the accommodation closer to some walkable dinner spots. The hotel itself was lovely but as a non-mandarin speaker, I found it a bit isolated in the evenings when I needed to wander on my own to find things for dinner. If the accommodation was closer to Jinli Street perhaps it might be better?

Otherwise, everything was pretty much perfect!

Thanks so much for all your help.

Thanks,

Dear Ms Wendy

Thanks for your arrangement for Chendu Tour

Really sorry - I can not using company email for this family tour..

1. Was your travel consultant of our company fast enough to answer your E-mail and patient enough to answer your questions?

Yes, travel consultant were response fast and patent for all question

Even Ruby as our tour guide has very good knowledge, patient and give good support and information  

 2. How was your tour? Are you satisfied with the tour we arranged for you?

Overall tour were Good and Well managed

Yes, it`s very good, we satisfied with the arrangement and it`s really tired, especially for Emeishan

 3. Do you have any suggestions on improving our services?

I think transport Car need to re-new, I felt it`s quite tired with travel 3 hours with that cars ..

I understand that mostly all car for travel agent same model..

I would like to write an overview in tripadvisor, unfortunately currently quite busy – I will wrote if I have time

If Jiuzhaigou already open – please inform me

We will arrange another trip for Jiuzhaigou and huang long

Thanks
Best regards

Hi Ashley,

We are very happy with your service.  I have forward your phone number and emails to couple of my friends who are interested in volunteer program in Dujiangyan panda base.

Thanks again

Dear Echo,

Good afternoon! Sorry for late reply as was travelling. No worries for Lehsan tour, I enjoyed Chengdu Panda research centre visit instead.

I will like to thank you for organising the Tibet tour and would like to speak highly for the tour guide and the driver who made sure that the trip was a pleasant stay for us. I will like to also thank you for organising it since starting and being of utmost help at any time.

Thanks again and will get in touch in case I plan my next China trip.

Best,

Good morning Lily.

My family had reached KL safely and is on our way taking bus to go back home in Johor state. Again, many thanks for the excellent arrangement for us to have a nice stay in Chengdu and Xian. We had enjoyed the nice sight seeing and histories of our old ancient cities, as a Chinese. Hope that the tips paid to the tour guides and drivers are to their satisfactory.

Dear Johnson, 

Good afternoon, I have also received the gifts you had sent. Love it. 

Please find your requested feedback below.

How are you? How’s the tour?

The trip arranged was pleasant and fun. My mom and I enjoyed it. 

1.    Is your travel consultant of our company fast enough to answer your E-mail and patient enough to answer your questions?

Yes, the travel consultant (Johnson) was very prompt and quick in responding to our enquiries. In fact, the trip was almost a last minute arrangement and Johnson was able to schedule and arranged it accordingly. 

2.    How do you comment your tour arrangements?

The tour arrangement was relaxing,not that the plan was not packed. We had a lot of sights to visit according to the tour plan and I originally had doubts that we will be able to visit them. The tour guide was also flexible enough to rearrange the tour according to the weather and time of visit and made full use of it to enable us to visit as much as possible. 

Not forgetting, the driver as well was good in his job. The drive was long and tired and can be mentally exhausting; he did his best and the trip was comfortable. He was also courteous and his car was clean and spacious. 

3.    Are you willing to recommend our service to your people who also have an interest to visit China?

Yes, definitely. Its my second time using and overall experience were great. 

4.  Your general opinion on us?

Quick and prompt, Flexible in arrangement (without accomo or meals) and most importantly easy to contact and communicate with. 

5.    Do you have any suggestions on improving our services?

Overall, I had enjoyed your services in the 2 times, will definitely use your service. 

6.    Can we use your comments of our service, the photos or other images that you took on the tour for our websites, brochures, marketing and publicity? If yes, could you please send us some of your photos by E-mail?

I have discussed with my mum and family, unfortunate, we are not comfortable with using images of us in it. Hence, we will share the landscape photos in which we have taken during this trip for your website, brochures, marketing and publicity purposes. We will share you in another email as we are unable to attach it here.  

Once again, Thank you so much Johnson, the guide - Mei and driver for making our trip possible and comfortable.

Thank You. 

Regards, 

Cute Pandas in Chengdu

Buddha in Mount Leshan and Mount Emei

Hello Lily 

Thank you very much for the gifts, what a surprise!!!

We love them very much. 

We have a great time in Sichuan, next month we go to Switzerland for 2 week hike so our short hikes were a great worm ups. We hope we didn’t exhaust Robert too much :-) . 

Working on our schedule for next year, this year booked already. Will send you updated website when put all the Sichuan photos.

Hi Catherine:

This is Susan Lee. Thank you for organizing my trip to China (Chengdu, Tibet and Xi'an). I was in China in 1987 but did not visit these cities but in general I see such so much modernization. I had a great time. Attached are the evaluations for each of the cities. Would you kindly send the evaluations to the local agencies in Tibet and Xi'an. Under separate cover, I will send some photographs of pandas. Once again, thank you preparing the itinerary. Best regards.

Happy Panda Eating Bamboo

Tired Pandas Resting

Hello Jack

Thank you so much for organising our tour in China. The tourists destinations, tour guides and drivers as well as the hotels your company organised for us were very very good and comfortable.  We enjoyed all the places we had been and it exceeded our expectations. 

There were only two hotels we stayed (Zhangjiajie and Aba Songpan) that did not really cater well for breakfast during our stay. However the overall experienced we had were all valuable ones.

Lijiang Show was spectacular and was the highlight of the optional shows.

Driving from Songpan to Chengdu throughout the old road was an interesting journey, thanks to our very good driver.

Once again thank you for your professionalism, your prompt reply to our emails and making our stayed in China a memorable one and easy. We really felt that during our stay there we can easily access you together with our tour guides and drivers that were assigned to us we feel very much looked after, Thank you Jack and China Discovery Tours.

Cheers!!

Hello Tiffany,

Thank you for your follow up email. I have returned to the US and it has been a good trip in Chengdu!  We enjoyed every part of the tour, and our tour guide was very helpful. We will definitely recommend to our friends if they are making their own travel arrangements. 

Thank you,

Hi Zoe,

We’re doing great. We are in Tokyo now for few days. We had such an amazing fun time! We loved all the pandas. They were so cute and lots of personality. It was neat to feed them. Ryder loved the red panda & when the panda came in the window to see him. It was wonderful:) Nancy was great! Thank u for the gift. Such a sweet surprise :) appreciate all your organization!

No worries you were on train. We got it all figured out :)

Thanks again.

Dear Jack,

Sandy and the driver was great. Sandy was very informative and helpful. He took care of us every step of the way. Thank you for showing us a great time in Chengdu. Happy holidays.

Best Regards,

Dear Rita,

We had a great weekend in Chengdu and the trip to see the pandas was an amazing, never to be forgotten experience. Thank you very much for the excellent arrangements and communication. Also, thank you for the gifts that we received on Saturday evening, it was very unexpected and a very nice touch. Just so that you are aware, the letter from a doctor was not required. They did not ask to see it.

We will certainly look to use the services of your company the next time that we visit China.

Best regards,

It's amazzing to hug the panda

We made food for cute pandas

Hi Tracy

Just want to thank you very much for organizing such a wonderful holiday for us.  Everything went according to plan and our guides were all excellent. A special thank you to Laura in Shanghai who ensured that we got a connecting flight to Hong Kong when our original flight was delayed. The highlights, of course, were the pandas followed by the terracotta warriors. The weather was great with only one day of rain in Chengdu. We will certainly recommend your company to our friends and relatives and hope that we may return to China one day.

Kindest regards and with grateful thanks,

David and Hellen

Hi Jack,

Finally back home.

Had a fantastic trip in Chengdu and Tibet.

Weather could not have been better.

Great guides and drivers - all became good friends.

Thanks for the small gifts. I gave all to my friend Oren to give to his american friends.

Best

David

Hi Vivien

Just to say a big thank you for all your help and efficiency arranging our holiday. We had a great time, especially the day in Chengdu - the morning at the panda reserve was wonderful!

Please can you send me the link to the trip advisor website so I can write something there about our lovely holiday?

Best wishes

Heather

Dear Stephanie,

We had a great time. The trip went without a hitch from start to finish.

Only 1 little thing worth bringing up was the train ride. The tickets were purchased when we got to the train station. Possibly a little later. 4 of us (my 3 children an their aunt) were seated in carriage 6 and 2 more (my husband and I) at carriage 8. So I was unable to share their fast train experience with them.

Feedbacks as following”

1. Yes. Stephanie for planning my family’s 1st china trip.

2. We were very impressed by all the tour guides assigned to our group. special mention for Chengdu

3. Definitely, we’d like to recommend our company.

Sue

Hello Wing Zeng,

I have to say sorry that I answer you so late. But sadly I got sick directly after arriving in Shanghai.

Thank you very much for your nice present which Kevin gave to us. I feel really sorry that the hotel does not give your nice present to us and that we are not at our room when you arrive at the hotel.

I was really happy with the whole trip and the organization around operating by you. Thank you very much for this organization. For us it was not the last visit in Chengdu. We hope that we can come back soon.

Hope to meet you one day,

All the best for you!

Best regards,

Jana

Dear Vivien,

I can send photos when I get home.  You may use my comments on your website.  Answers are below:

Vivien was very responsive and thorough.  I was able to book a second tour and a transfer easily from my phone using email.

Mars was an excellent guide.  Since we had to wear gloves to do the Panda keeper experience, she followed us around with our camera and took good pictures of us.  She was very flexible, pleasant to be with, and after we returned to the hotel she helped us plan our evening activities.

Daniel was also excellent.  He is flexible and he adapted well to our style of travel.  When we returned to the hotel he gave us suggestions for dining and assisted in booking a transfer.

Both guides went above what was expected and I would easily recommend Mars and Daniel for English-speaking tourists.

The consultant, guides and drivers were all excellent and I would definitely book with you again.  It was so great to be able to have immediate access to an English-speaking consultant to book additional tours for me while I was busy touring in Chengdu.

Johnson

Hi Bertina,

Thank you so much. We arrived in Chengdu. Beijing was wonderful. Andie was a great tour guide and we got along well. Food was delicious and hotel was amazing. I was able to climb up to tower 1 at the Great Wall which amazed me. We also really enjoyed the summer palace. We are looking forward to spending the day with Shannon tomorrow.

Laura     

Dear Catherine,

Everything went well and in order.

Many thanks for your help, guidance and quick responses.

Now we are in Chengdu.

Best regards,

Fabian

Hi Rita

I am well thanks, I hope you are too.

The tour was great, seeing and holding the Panda’s was an amazing experience.

Many thanks and all the best.

Bhavna

Hi Wonder,

I hope you are well.

We are having a fantastic time in China so far & are very excited for our Yangtze River cruise starting today. Can you tell us exactly where to find the Victoria Katarina please? We will be arriving at Chongqing North by bullet train from Chengdu & plan to take a taxi to the ship.

Many thanks,

Andrew

Dear Laura,

In the meantime we are back home and have had a lovely trip to China, to Chengdu and to the Yangtze Boat trip. Everything has worked out fine and we have had a very nice guide in Chengdu.

Also in the name of my family I would like to thank you very much for your assistance.

Best regards

Hansruedi

(The following photo was shared by Hansruedi)

Hansruedi and his group visited Chengdu 2015

Dear Jack

I just submitted the following review at the Trip Advisor link you sent us. Thank you for such a wonderful trip planning: 

"We would highly recommend China Discovery for arranging individualized private tours throughout China. This is the second time we have worked with Jack Li; each time, we provided him with a list of things we wanted to do, and also asked for suggestions. This time Jack suggested a side trip to Inner Mongolia, which turned out to be very interesting and enjoyable. We have found Jack to be attuned with and sensitive to our needs. He is also flexible, hard-working, and sincere. All of our guides were wonderful and very responsive to our needs as well, especially Barry (Chengdu) and our Inner Mongolia guide and driver, Peter (Min) and Mr. Qin. They went out of their way to insure that we visited areas of particular interest to us, which made for a very memorable trip."

Jack, be assured that we both respect you and admire your devotion to your job so please take these comments as friendly critique so that you can improve with other customers.

Please be assured if we decide to return to China, Jack Li will be the first person we will contact.

Thanks again.

Shaheer

Hi Jack,

Just to let you know we are having a great time in China, and looking forward to meeting you in person. Will you be at work on Sunday the 27 Sept or is your office closed We are in Chendgu as you know from the 26 Sept and leave on the 30 Sept and need to pick up booked tickets.

Cheers,

Rick

Hello, Ian,

We enjoyed a great tour of Mainland China and of Hong Kong. I thought you did an excellent job of making our tour arrangements and assigning tour guides. 

For me and my children, our trip highlights were climbing the Great Wall, cycling the ancient walls in Xi'an, sharing lunch with Angela and her family, visiting the Panda Research center, rafting on the Hongkou River, cycling through the Yangshuo villages, visiting the Urban Planning Museum in Shanghai and walking on the Bund.

I was very pleased with the quality of guides and drivers you selected. The children adored Mr. Jong (Beijing driver). He has a very warm and funny personality, and he was so accommodating, taking us to and from the Kung Fu Theater and out to the Olympic Village at night. Bruce in Xian is a truly exceptional guide. If you can give me the names of the owners of China Discovery, I would like to write them a letter regarding Bruce. Penny in Chengdu really did a great job for us at the Panda Research Center and also the rafting trip. My youngest Natalie just loved Candace in Guilin.  At the Guilin airport Natalie looked sadly at me and said, "Mom, I'm really going to miss Candace." Since she's been home, Natalie has mentioned Candace several times . . . .she made a tremendous impression on Natalie, and the rest of us enjoyed her very much, too.

Tim and Frank were very capable guides, too. Tim has peaked my interest in future travel to Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. Frank is very knowledgeable about Shanghai and accommodating. I appreciated that Candace was able to attend the Impressions show with my daughters and me.  Without her there to explain each of the seven impressions, we would not have understood the beauty unfolding before our eyes.

I have tasked my middle child Lauren (14) with putting together a Shutter fly book.  She's just settling into school, so it may be a week or two before she starts.  Once she has selected her favorites photos from among nearly 800 we took on the trip, I will ask her to pick out her top ten favorites from mainland China and send them to you.  We'll add a brief explanation to each photo.

Ian, we enjoyed a marvelous trip. Our travel went incredibly smoothly, and I thank you and all the guides and drivers for ensuring a smooth, safe, and hassle free trip.

I am sure to return to China, but I intend to wait for the rapid (bullet) train to reach more destinations. I am incredibly impressed with the train service from Beijing to Luoyang and to Xian.  I look forward to the day when I can travel to all my destinations via the rapid train. 

I have given your name and email address to several friends contemplating trips to China. I will continue to refer you when the opportunity presents.

Best wishes, Ian.

Jeanne

Hi Wendy,

Thanks. I have enjoyed my stay in Xian and looking forwards to Chengdu. I hope I will be able to meet you there.

Regards,

Siromi

Hi, Rita!

Thank you so much for the great pictures, and for helping us arrange the trip on short notice. We had a wonderful time at the Panda base!

All the best!

Asle & Beate

Dear Jack,

The train ,hotel and cruise were excellent better than we could have hoped.

Your countrymen were of great assistance when we needed help.

All in all it was a fantastic experience and we look forward to revisiting China in the future and I would really recommend the Sofitel Chengdu for any Western clients you have in the future. 

Regards

Thomas

Hello Ian,

I had a wonderful time in China. I will put my responses in the order you have asked them.

1. Tour arrangements were excellent. I always knew when I would be picked up and from where. I was never made to wait. My flight into Chengdu from HK was more than 3 hours late because of inclement weather, but when I arrived in Chendu, my guide and driver were still waiting there for me – fantastic.

2. I would certainly recommend your service. Your advice was accurate and relevant to my needs. Travelling and touring each day was not tiring – everything paced nicely.

3. Genuinely wanted to assist me, co-operative, allowed me to make changes (extra days, etc.) – could not fault your service.

In short a wonderful holiday, much of it due to your company’s dedication.

Regards

Michael

Hi Ian,

We are back to Geneva! Please find below a short summary of our trip which you may feel free to edit or shorten it as you deem appropriate.

We have so many photos to share, though you may decide which one you would like to publish it.  I am going to forward those photos to you by different emails.   

Many thanks again.   Best regards.

“Quote Unstoppable WOWs for our Amazing China Discovery Tour!

As orchestrated by Ian Wei of Chengdu Bamboo International Travel, two of us were wandering from one natural wonders to endless wonder spots of China. We were wandering from the soft fertile earth of red land to multi-formed stone forest and strolling in the village of diverse ethnic minority of Yunnan. Our journey continued to nonstop amazing historical heritage and nature beauty in the land of world roof in Tibet.  Worldly cute panda and Giant Buddha as well as Luodai and Jinli ancient places plus shopping spots of Sichuan made our visit simply unforgettable. We were following the track of silk road and visit numerous wonder places in the Gobi desert of Gansu province, for example, climbing up sand dune mountain and circling the crescent lake of Dunhuang, walking inside mogao grottoes, Yardang geopark, western great wall, Jiayuguan fortress, reclining buddha of Zhangye.  Every view point in the area of rainbow mountains gave us no chance to brink our eyes and kept exclaiming Wows!  Lastly 4000 steps of stairs plus a double downs to tops ride of cable car to reach the peak station of Huashan in the outskirt of Xian was such a stunning and challenging trip.  

The above merely captures the essence of our 18-day (1-18 April 2015) trip organized by the impressive services of Chengdu Bamboo International Travel. Ian Wei is our host who stood ready to track/follow and response to our request throughout the tour. I have a full confidence and offer a big applause to the second to none service of this travel agent. Many thanks to Ian and his tour guides and superb drivers who made our trip every possible and so memorable.    

Cheers.  A couple, residents of Geneva, Switzerland ”

The following are some of the photos shared by Boonshan Sangfai

Dear Yachne,

Thank you very much - I am sorry for the late reply, wo gongzuo hen mang :)

I have already left a reply, I think they are revising it now on Tripadvisor as usual.

Please accept my deep thanks to you and the team as well as Ricky and Penny, my two wonderful tour guides. I had a lot of fun during all the tour! The panda base with Penny was a great day - I really enjoyed seeing the pandas with her.

Kind regards

Rea

Hi Tiger,

Our trip to Sichuan was fantastic, we enjoyed every minute. The organization was perfect and we will recommend you and your company to all our friends, who are planning the China trip.

Special thanks to Zach, So young, but very professional, intelligent and talented guide. We, from our side, tried not to make him troubles and let him do his job. 

After Chengdu we moved to Lijiang, Dali, Kunming and Beijing. Without the local guide, the trip became more challenge. But everything was ok, excep  the bus trip from Dali to Kunming, that took us 10 hours instead of 5.5 because of the construction works. Everywhere attitude to us was very friendly and local people tried to help us especially those speaking English. (Taxi divers are the only exclusion). We felt, that Chinese people are proud of their country and wanted we also like it.

We took thousand of pictures. It will take time to classified them. I will share some of them with you, when they are ready. Do you want me to upload the pictures to any server?

I left to Zach this my mail address, and he sent me some message, but I got nothing. Can you, please, ask him about his mail. I'd like to send him some pictures too.

Thanks a lot.

Yuri and friends

Hi Ian,

All are well for our day one in chengdu.  Mr. Rosky and Ger are very nice.   Hotel is great and we had a good chat with the general manager of the hotel.

We would like to request that you kindly organize a day trip for us to visit the bamboo sea/forest on Friday 10 April.  If rosky,ger and car could be prepared for this trip.  We will pay you for any additional costs.

Thank you very much and wait to hear your confirmation.

Best regards

Hi Jack,

The tour was great. The tour guide was engaging and very efficient. He even took us to get traditional Hot pot which was a highlight! The pandas were great and we loved People’s square and all of the chaos. All in all it was a good tour.

Thanks!

Kare

Hi Wonder,

In Shanghai:
"I want to thank you for arranging a very good guide & driver in Shanghai. Both Rocky & Siao Ma are very efficient & caring, Rocky is very knowledgeable and very well verse about our Chinese history, very impressive. I highly recommend both of them."

In Huangshan:
"We had a wonderful time in Huangshan, we were brave to climb that mountain, even my husband did it, slowly, but we did it.  The Huangshan guide was excellent, the hotel you booked us was beautiful and people there were very friendly. Love the food too, especially bamboo shoot."

In Chengdu:

"What a pleasure to finally met you!! Meeting you was the highlight of my visit to China!! And thank you for taking us to dinner and given us such wonderful experience! The food was so tasty, the ambience was wonderful, my husband liked it very much! But the best part of all was having it with you! We enjoyed it enormously! This is such a memorable journey, and you helped made it happened Thank you for being so detail oriented; it is incredible for you being so young yet so thorough!

Yesterday we saw the Big Buddha at Ling Yun Mt, the weather was perfect and no crowd. We did not go down the stairs to the foot of the Buddha cause it really is too high and steep. Later we went to the Ebony Museum, what an amazing & massive collection! In the evening we went to see a show, it was the 4th show we saw,  one in Shanghai, one in Huangshan, one in Yangshou, and the best one here on Sichuan. It was almost 10:30 pm my time we got back to the hotel.

And this morning we had to wake up early for our 8 o'clock journey to Mt.Emei. We climbed the steeped & very wet steps, it was a little hard today because it was so cloudy and cold and the air is so thin on top! We did not walk down the mountain, instead, we rode the Sedan Chair! What an experience! We loved it. Those guys are so strong and fast!! "

Thank you.

Rosy

(The following photos are shared by Rosy)

Rosy and his family visited Chengdu in March

Rosy and his family visited Fenghuang Ancient Town

Rosy and his family visited Tulou in Nanjing County, Fujian

Rosy and his family visited Tulou in Li River, Guilin

Hello Mr. Wang!

I didn't have an opportunity to send you a message because after Tibet I went to Chengdu and then flew back to Russia. Our trip was great, I had a wonderful time.

Svetlan

Hello Tiger,

First of all, I want to thank you and your company for 12 amazing days in China. It will be 12 days I never will forget. The whole journey from standing almost alone and just enjoy the view and the silent on the Great Wall to see all the Pandas was enjoyable! This was my first visit to China, and I am pretty sure I will be back.

I also want to say thank you to my guides and drivers. Specially Peter in Beijing was fabulous! He helped me with everything. Everything from hotel check-in to getting the train tickets. He also explained me about the city and advised me what to do on the evenings and where to go.

And the main reason for how this tour was possible and completed I will say is my travel agent Tiger Wei. To be honest, I think he has done more than any other travel agent could have done. Sometimes when I had some questions he often answered me less than an hour later. And always the next morning. You know, we live in different timezones, so when I sent him an e-mail I knew that the next morning when I wake up, he had already answered my question. I also had some issues with my flight bookings to China. I was not sure which date I would arrive and departure, but Tiger was flexible and said that we could change the date. No worries there!

So all summed up. I am very pleased with China Discovery. From Tiger who made the tour possible to Peter and the other guides who guided me around in China.

The day I return to China I am sure I will use China Discovery again.

Have a nice weekend!

Best Regards,

Andreas Hansen Strand

Dear Laura,

We were back to Hong Kong in 1/1. We are very, very happy in this trip. 

I think I will never forget the precious volunteer experience with theses cute pandas. Besides the exciting volunteer experience, there are also lots of memorable events. Sitting in a traditional tea house and sipping a cup of green tea, we enjoyed the traditional Sichuan opera which includes the fascinating 'Face Changing' and 'Clothes Changing' show. Going to the southern part of Sichuan, we were amazed by the Bamboo Sea. Oh! Yes! It is Sichuan.  Of course there are lots of bamboo.  Unfortunately, it was foggy. I thought, "Hmm!  It is Sichuan Basin. Foggy weather is supposed to be normal, right?" Then, we went to Luobiao to see hanging coffins.  Being able to see these mysterious coffins in a close distance, we were really satisfied.

Thanks for helping us to experience Real Sichuan (the Sichuan Opera, the bamboo forest, the weather, the hanging coffins and of course the pandas).

After this happy trip, I decide to take my students to Sichuan in 2016.  1-2 days volunteering in Panda Base, Sichuan Opera, 寬窄巷子 and Sichuan cooking class (as suggested by our tour guide) are included in my plan.  By the way, I have given written feedback to our tour guide.  Have you received it?

Thanks again for your help.

Best regards,

Karno

(The following photos are shared by Karno)

Dear Karen Zhou,

I am writing to acknowledge the excellent service we received from your Travel Consultant, Mr. Wonder Wang.

Throughout our negotiations, we found him to be very conciencious, friendly, accommodating and efficient in putting this package together.  He made sure that we were looked after and received best value for our money.  We are grateful to him for making our trip to China a memorable experience. 

We had the opportunity to meet him in Chengdu and were very impressed by his mannerism and his professional conduct. The fact that he took the time to meet us at the airport showed his deep concern for his customers.  This made us feel secure that we were in good hands. This talented young man has a great future ahead of him and is a valuable asset to your organization.  He is passionate in what he does and takes his job seriously.

We will not hesitate to recommend China Discovery and the services of Mr. Wonder to anyone who is planning to travel to China.

Best Wishes for 2015.

B. Alfredo and Luisa Lena Fernandes,

Dellano Fernandes & Lindsay Schloegel

Hi Ian,

Thank you for organizing our trip in China; this was a great experience and we enjoyed the trip very much. My overall impression of the services provided is excellent. We had no issues with hotel reservations, flights, guides, etc. 

All our guides, especially those who we had a chance to spend more time with (Guilin, Chengdu, Lijiang, Zhangjiajie) were great. Always very accommodating, punctual and attentive. The drivers were good. The hotels in the big cities (Chengdu, Chongqing, Shanghai) were excellent.

Chongqing - Dazu Rock Carvings were a great suggestion. It was a little far, but well worth the trip.The Yangtze River Cruise accommodations, cruise and tours were great. The only letdown was that we passed one of the gorges in complete darkness so could not see anything at all. I am still glad I chose this cruise and got to see the Three Lesser Gorges. Also, on the cruise we paid extra to dine at a smaller dining room and based on what we heard from other travelers, this was a good option. The tours in Chengdu were great. We did not get to see the sunrise on Mt Emei, but the night we got there, it was crystal clear and no people. It was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. Lijiang tours were great. I highly suggest Tiger Leaping Gorge for those that want a more active vacation - it's beautiful and peaceful. In Zhangjiajie we were able to visit Tianzi Mountain and Huangshi Village on the same day. We had enough time, but I suspect it was because we did not have to wait in long lines anywhere.

I also appreciate your prompt e-mails and your answers to all my questions during the entire time you were planning this trip and I appreciate you checking in with us a couple of times during our trip. It's been a pleasure working with you and I look forward using your services again some day when we visit China. I hope you find my comments useful. Please let me know if you would like me to go into more detail about any part of my trip.

Thank you and take care,

Zane