We and another couple thoroughly enjoyed a private tour of the China Golden Triangle covering highlights of Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai over 8 days in May 2014.
I cannot rate Qing’s organisation and passion highly enough!!! She is bubbly, enthusiastic, speaks English incredibly well and she wants you to have a brilliant time.
We had booked our own accommodation based on Trip Advisor reviews (you can see my other reviews for where we stayed) and we also had some ideas about restaurants based on Trip Advisor reviews. Qing kindly booked restaurants for us for dinners before we left for China. The restaurants that Qing took us to for lunch were great too.
Qing’s integrity and professionalism stands out and you can rely on her to do right by you. Some examples:
– Because we wanted to eat peking duck at another restaurant (one with great reviews on Trip Advisor) than the one she had planned in this tour (a local restaurant not featured on Trip Advisor), she gave us back the money for the meal! How many guides would have done this?!!
– When going past the local market stalls at the sights, Qing would tell us the maximum limit of what we should be paying for things. Qing doesn’t like the practice of guides taking tourists to shops in order to make something for themselves and this tour avoids such practices.
– When our camera broke, Qing immediately detoured and took us to an electronics centre and helped us get a new camera (a real Sony, not a fake) at a fair price that a local would pay.
We also had an amazing privilege to visit Qing’s Mum’s house in the local hutong for lunch on our last day in Beijing. We ate a delicious banquet with Qing and her Mum and Qing’s little boy. This was priceless and a wonderful insight in the old style houses and courtyards.
Our guides in Shanghai, Jack and David, were brilliant too. Their English was without fault and they really are proud to show the sights and to share with you as much information as you want to hear. Qing’s, Jack’s and David’s English was so fluent that you could have conversations about anything. We had a ball in China and we would not have gotten as much out of the sights without their insights and passion for this country.
Emily ,Australia
