Dear Christine, Thanks for your e-mail. I'm glad to say that we had a good holiday in China thanks to your arrangements. Our tour guide John (Beijing) and Sunny (Xian) were both very good. Their English was excellent and we had no trouble understanding and communicating with them. John was extremely helpful when it came to making lunch arrangements for us so that we could try authentic local Beijing food. He was able to make the ordering and seating very simple for us even though the restaurant was very crowded and busy. We really appreciated this. On our final evening at Xian, Sunny and the driver offered to wait for us to finish our dumpling dinner so that they could take us back to the hotel, knowing that it would be very difficult to find taxis during the rush hour. We appreciated that very much as well. All the drivers were also good.

Days Inn in Beijing was comfortable and in a nice location. We were put up in the old wing, and the rooms were clean and comfortable. However, two rooms had no full-length mirrors, which was an inconvenience. However, we still liked this hotel and the service was good. As you already know, there was a mistake made in the booking for the 1st night at this hotel, and we were relieved there were still available rooms for us. My suggestion: Such hotel arrangements for guests arriving late at night must be made more carefully in the future.

Dear Choury: The lunch provided in Beijing was very good (except for the 1st day which was catered more for tourists who don't know how to enjoy real local Beijing food). Everything went smoothly although the timing was tight and there was a 45-minute delay from Xian to Beijing. I realised that we did not know which terminal we had to go to for our connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur. It turned out that it was in the same terminal building but we were very worried at first because of the flight delay. My suggestion: It would be good if information about terminals for connecting flights is provided. That's all from us. I hope these comments are helpful. In any case, thanks for all the effort you've made in providing us a good holiday in China. It was a good experience and quite tiring but we enjoyed ourselves very much. 

The Walnut Garden Guesthouse is a surprise!  after staying in I think that Walnut Garden Guesthouse is the best by difference, because it is very authentic, it is located in the Ancient Path of Walnut Garden, has an amazing view to the mountains.

Hi Sara,

First let me apologise for not having responded sooner to your recent
e-mail. We have finally managed to get reorganised after our trip away.

We enjoyed our trip to China very much and would have difficulty
finding fault with that part of our trip you organised.  We had spent
two enjoyable weeks Volunteering at the Bifengxia Panda Base prior to
commencing your itinerary. We will make comments about the different
components of that part of our trip Sinoway Travel organised for us,
which you may find useful.

- The Guides & Drivers.
The guides varied from  very good to excellent always meeting us on
time and being generally most helpful with a good level of English
language skills. In the excellent category we would place "David" who
looked after us in Pingyao. The drivers were generally very good,
managing the busy Chinese road conditions with great skill.

- Hotels
All were well chosen at the level of accommodation we were expecting.
All were well located.

- Food
The hotel food was good. The restaurants & food chosen by our guides
was very good and gave us a good appreciation of Chinese cuisine.

- Rail Transport
The level of cleanliness in the overnight soft sleepers varied from
poor to good. The train staff were excellent, both helpful and
courteous. A major difficulty was negotiating the numerous platform
stairs with bags weighing 18-20 kgs. & their storage in the limited
space of the sleeper. Fortunately we were fit and managed OK. As this
was our choice of transport we would not offer these comments as
criticism This form of transport would be best suited to young
backpackers with small packs.

- Sinoway Travel
Always very professional and helpful with sound suggestions regarding
our itinerary. Of particular help was the prompt  reply, within 24
hours, to e-mails. This was much appreciated.

Generally we has a great China experience meeting the  polite helpful
local people and learning a little of your culture & cuisine. We would
certainly  use Sinoway Travel for our next China trip which we hope
will not be too far away.

A special thanks to you Sara.

Kind regards

Hi Sara,

I am happy you find feedback helpful. Our trip in Xi'an was excellent. The guide, Derrick, was very good and professional. I highly recommend you use him as a guide. Also, the driver was excellent. We look forward to our tour tomorrow.