Hi Sara,
I am back home in Qatar safe and sound & I had a great time whilst in China thank you! I thought that the organisation of the tour was very thorough and well executed. All the tour guides were friendly and knew a lot about the places we visited, in particular I like Selena (Beijing), Melody (Xi'an) & Chris (Shanghai) the best. Melody also arranged for me to attend the theatre in Xi'an in the evening which was very kind of her. I was met & picked up at every airport/train station on time, with no waiting around - which was nice & reassuring for me being a lone traveller. The sleeper train from Beijing to Xi'an was very comfortable and I would readily recommend that as a good way to travel that leg of the journey.
All of the hotels I stayed in in were fine, the best by far being the Magnificant in Shanghai. Breakfast was ok, but not much choice at any of the hotels for Western travellers & also on many of the days the pick up time was either when breakfast started or just after, making it either impossible or very tight to have any at all. Lunch was generally ok, it was definitely better on the days I was in a group rather than when I was on my own, as there was more choice etc, that is apart from the last day of the tour when I had the best lunch out of the entire week! (Shanghai)
Only one of the hotels I stayed in (also the Magnificant) had computers readily avaliable for its guests to use which I at, times as a independent traveller found hard. Usually this would not matter as there would be a choice of internet cafes to use, however there were not in any of the places I stayed & this made keeping in touch with family etc very difficult.
The transport used to travel in was ok, some better than others, however the drivers were good, knowing the routes and being avaliable all of the time.
Generally I enjoyed all of the places we visited on the schedule, however the zoo in Beijing was a big disappointment and I would even go as far as saying not worth seeing, as there were very few pandas to actually see and the ones we did see looked quite unhappy, which is not pleasant to witness. Also as interesting as it is to visit the jade, silk & pearl factories - once is enough! I think I went to at least 3 jade & 2 silk places during my 8 days!
Thanks once again
Customer: Ms. Watson
Update Date: Nov 13, 2011
Destinations:
Beijing - Xi'an - Shanghai
Related Tour: 8 Days China Highlights