Four Weeks in China (Spring 2018)
First, thanks to Grace Wang (Wang Yu 王瑜) at China Culture Tours for organizing our first trip to China. We loved it! She did a great job and we would be more than happy to recommend her services to others. Meanwhile, here are some general and specific comments that might be helpful in planning ours or your next one. At the outset I should warn you that my wife, a college professor born in France, and I, an oil trading company president born in Texas, have traveled all over the world and are VERY DIFFICULT. I have also studied Chinese for two years. The trip lasted four weeks, from May 7 to June 6, 2018. We flew from our home in New England to Beijing and returned via Hong Kong. We visited Beijing, Luoyang, Xi’ian, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Shanghai and Hong Kong. We stayed in five star hotels (better than five star hotels in the USA). The itinerary was organized to reduce sitting and stress and emphasize hiking. At first we thought we would avoid the polluted cities of the north but in the end we decided that a little pollution was worth discovering the soul of China. This trip first focused on ancient China leaving modern China of Shanghai and Hong Kong for the end. The accommodations, food, means of travel, sites, even weather: all turned out good or great. The pollution in Beijing was bad, less bad in Luoyang and Xi’an, but a 3M 95-particle mask with air escape valve worked very well. No asthma problems which I feared. We didn’t feel the pollution in the south at all, some days glorious. The itinerary was laid back, we never felt stressed. I swam and lifted weights in the hotel most days. My bad back and pulled hamstring (too much tennis) actually improved during the trip. We were very glad to ride business class in trains and planes. Not checking luggage was a great luxury. Need to have private guide or “Red Cap” guide in train stations to find your train car. Track numbers are well indicated but car positions on the platform are not and prone to last minute changes. No one speaks English in train stations, neither at domestic airports. If you miss your train or plane, it’s a problem. Having said this, we made all our trains and planes, and the flights, despite warnings to the contrary, were all on time. The jet lag at the beginning of the trip was difficult but bearable. After five days the worst had passed. By the time we reached the end of our trip in Hong Kong, we didn’t want to go home. My one comment for next trip is in the form of a question: how to balance visiting tourist sites with seeing and experiencing how the people actually live? Not sure how best to do that yet…a command of Chinese and visiting the countryside would seem key. Reading Chinese classics and seeing Chinese films and TV all helpful. Here are some brief comments about the stops, drivers and guides, of supreme importance in your experience, along the way. The guides and drivers were all good, all very flexible for changes (e.g. in case of rain). Beijing: Jin (Jin Qiang 靳强) guide, among the best. Very attentive, knowledgeable, English good too. Excelled at anticipating our needs rather than just responding to them. Very thoughtful person. Give him a 5++ (on a 1-5 scale). Renaissance Beijing Wangfujing Hotel was great, perfect location/facilities. Fabulous restaurants in Beijing. City beautifully landscaped. If they would just fix that pollution…! Luoyang: Cherry (Du Ying 杜瑛） guide. Very good English, slow to warming up to us, but by the second day, we were all very comfortable with each other. Give her a 5+. Christian’s Hotel very good, good location too. Live shark swimming in tank in lobby. Xi’an: Lucy（Zhang Xiao Ping 张小平）guide. Also very good English, very flexible, experienced, extremely nice, made extra effort to make us comfortable and to see some night life. Give her a 5+. Sofitel Legend Peoples Grand Hotel Xian Hotel was the best of all the hotels, good location, great facility and the best hotel service we have ever experienced anywhere. Hangzhou: Gerry（Zhu Xiao Bo 朱霄波）guide. His English very good, seemed experienced. Give Gerry a 5. Whndham Grand Plaza Royale Hangzhou Hotel not quite as good as other hotels, so big, but well located near West Lake. Suzhou: Deng（Deng Ying Ying 邓映英）guide. Deng and Cecilia Mak (Hong Kong) seemed the most experienced guides. Both elegant and excellent English. Give Deng a 5+. Tonino Lamborghini Hotel Suzhou: facility, gardens and room were superb but service a little weird and location pretty far from the old town. Shanghai: William (Chen Hailing 陈海梁) guide. Also experienced and knowledgeable, very nice. Attentive, anticipated our needs and questions. Good English. Very smiley…Give William a 5+. Shanghai Fairmont Peace Hotel full of tradition and great service, well appointed, well located and as a result a little pricy but well worth it. Hong Kong: Cecilia Mak guide. Very good English, very knowledgable. Only a day and half spent with guide in Hong Kong, so hard to judge longer stay. Give Cecilia a 5+. Harbour Grand Kowloon Hotel, killer view of Hong Kong Island and harbor. Wonderful friendly swimming pool on top of roof. Hong Kong Island might be better location. We look forward to Grace Wang arranging our next trip, maybe Silk Road in conjunction with a longer stay to study Chinese later this year…and then the south, the north and Tibet… Glancing back at the other stellar reviews of China Culture Tours, I wonder if some of our readers might question who could be this good? If our own recent trip experience is any measure, CHINA CULTURE TOURS IS THAT GOOD. Robert January 陈波