Hi Sunny,
We had a fantastic 12-day trip in southern China, thanks to the detailed planning of our trip with you before we left U.S., to the helpful and friendly tour guides in each city, and to the many sites and shows that we saw.

Shanghai:
Linco is a friendly and outgoing tour guide. She gave a good tour of the Yuyuan Garden, and when we asked for more time at the Shanghai Museum, she readily agreed.

Loved the Shangcheng Acrobats.

On our return to Shanghai from Guilin, we were met by Brad instead of Linco, and he introduced us to yet another acrobat show in a dome. Our daughters really enjoyed the show. Brad is a very experienced and good tour guide.

Suzhou:
Alan's command of English is superb, and he explained a lot of topics with ease and knowledge, as we headed to Suzhou from Shanghai. The tour of the silk factory turned out really interesting on account of his explanations of the life of the silkworm and the process of making silk. We really appreciated his sense of humor and his knowledge.

It was important that Alan helped us all the way to where we boarded the train, otherwise we would have taken a looonnng time to find our way.

Hangzhou:
Ella is a very thoughtful and considerate guide. When we were in Wuzheng, I stopped constantly to take photographs and she was fine by our no-schedule meandering. On our trip to Wuzhen and back, Ella talked with us about different facets of Chinese life.

We all enjoyed visiting the tea plantation. Learned a lot from the woman who showed us how tea is made, the different grades of tea, ...

When I asked if Ella could get us tickets to see another acrobat show in Shanghai, she suggested the Hangzhou show, and so that night we went to see the Hangzhou dance/singing show. Again, our schedule remained flexible enough to add different side trips and shows because of having a private tour.

Zhejiang Grand Hotel: the family's favoite hotel in terms of variety of food offered at breakfast & dinner buffets, an outstanding Chinese restaurant, comfortable hotel beds & quilts, plus excellent service.

Guilin:
Joanna is a terrific guide: cheerful, friendly, easygoing, attentive and very comfortable to be with. Beautiful English as well. Aside from the planned itinerary, when I asked her about getting tickets for another Shanghai acrobat show, Joanna suggested instead that we see the Chang Yimou's night show. The show was terrific, and for me, a wonderful celebration of the fishermen and farmers' lives. Also, as a tourist, I managed to glimpse into the culture of ethnic minorities in China through that show. Both Joanna and David, the driver, were extremely patient with the terrible traffic jam after the show.

A foot massage and the pearl museum were all unplanned stops as well. Both Joanna and David were very relaxed about whatever we wanted to do. Again, the flexibility of a customized tour worked extremely well in Guilin.

I highly recommend Joanna and David as tour guide & driver when in Guilin!!

Two things we were surprised about: 1) I really liked the relaxed atmosphere and the courtyard of the Yangshuo hotel, but the street noise was noisy. 2) The bike ride to Moon Hill took awhile to get used to. The traffic was hectic with other biking tourists, scooters, pedestrians, trucks, cars, exhausts ... but we had FUN. Just took some getting used to. The bikes were in poor condition.

Really liked Bravo Hotel, plus delicious food at the Chinese restaurant.

In conclusion, each tour guide added something different to our understanding of the Chinese culture and to the sites we visited. Overall, the tour guides provided excellent information and were very accommodating and friendly which made our trip to China a very positive and rewarding experience. We would definitely consider visiting China again, perhaps northern China next time. I would definitely recommend China Highlights for customized tours. In fact, I already recommended China Highlights to another American while on the ferry on Li River in Guilin. HA!

Two things that would have better prepared us mentally before going to China are 1) a warning about the smog in Shanghai, Hangzhou, and even Guilin; and 2) rather chaotic traffic, although our drivers were excellent drivers.

Sunny, thank you for your part in helping to make our trip to China a memorable experience,

Ana

• Client's Information: Gray, United States
• Tour Starting Dates: April 7, 2006
• Tour Itinerary: 12 Days Shanghai,Suzhou,Hangzhou,Guilin,Yangshuo Tour
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