Jay,
I am very sorry about the delay in responding to your inquiry below. Steven did not receive the message (since the only email address you have is my email address), and the message below was not sent to my inbox but was rather placed in my quarantine/junk mail.
My thank you note is below (and while we appreciate the offer, we politely decline the need for any reward). I want to thank you so much for all of your help in arranging our Tibetan tour. The Tibet re-opened the day before we flew to Shanghai. Originally, our plan was to explore Shanghai, the canal towns, and the West Lake areas of China. However, upon our arrival, we heard about the re-opened Tibet and we decided, even though the possibility was remote, that we would try to find our way to Tibet. We had eight days total in Asia before our return flight to San Francisco, and we had heard rumors regarding how hard it was to get a permit to Tibet. We did not have high hopes, but we began calling tour agencies on the Sunday after we arrived. Most were closed and did not answer, and I tried contacting an American agency who specialized in tours to Tibet as a back-up option as well. Then we called China Highlights, and Jay answered. We explained that we essentially wanted the impossible: we needed a Tibetan permit within 48 hours, and we wanted a private tour with guide and driver for four days in Tibet arranged for this coming week, so that we had enough time to return to Shanghai and make our flight back to the United States. Jay was extremely nice and amazingly efficient. He emailed us with the paperwork to fill out that Sunday morning. While we explored Shanghai Sunday afternoon and Monday, Jay was hard at work getting our Tibetan permits. I believe it was by Tuesday morning we had our Tibetan permit, and while we leisurely explored the canal towns outside of Shanghai on Tuesday, Jay was hard at work planning our flights, hotels, and guides for the Tibetan tour. By the time we arrived back at our Shanghai hotel Tuesday afternoon, Jay had arranged our private Tibetan tour and provided us with our flight, hotel, and guide information. We were beyond impressed. On Wednesday morning, we were picked up at our hotel in Shanghai and escorted to the airport. Our flight was amazing on the way into the Lhasa airport, as the Himalayas took your breath away. We landed and outside of the airport were our Tibetan guide, Danny, and our driver. Danny and our driver were really just fantastic. They presented us with a Tibetan welcome scarf, introduced themselves, and we were on our way. I cannot speak enough about Danny and how wonderful the four-day tour was with Danny as our guide. It was a real treat to have a guide who spoke English so well but grew up in Tibet. He had a perspective on the culture, people, and the historical sites that no other could have. Despite the fact that it had re-opened, I was a little nervous about safety issues and that was at the forefront of my mind when we arrived. I should not have been nervous, as we felt very safe in Tibet during our stay. Because it had just re-opened, we experienced something very special. We were one of the first handful of foreign tourists in Tibet at the time, so we had unfettered access to the various sites on our itinerary since it was not at all crowded and overrun with tourists. In fact, some sites usually have a maximum amount of time you can visit so that other tourists can see the sites, as well--but with our trip, all of the rules were set aside due to the low numbers of foreigners. We strolled around monasteries and palaces at our leisure, and Danny explained the history and significance of all that we were seeing. Language barriers were no problem at all - Danny knew Tibetan, Mandarin, and English so we were always in good hands everywhere we went. During the times that we had free to explore on our own, there were no safety issues or language barriers then, either. Most shopkeepers have a passing understanding of English and we felt very welcome everywhere we visited. All in all, the trip to Tibet was an unforgettable and amazing experience, and I want to thank you for all you did to assist us in making it happen.
Amy

• Client's Information: Amy, United States
• Tour Starting Dates: July 2, 2008
• Tour Itinerary: 4 Days Shanghai, Chengdu, Lhasa Tour

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