Wonderful trip
I am from Singapore. After reading the reviews by many whom travelled with China Highlights, I decided to plan a family trip to Beijing, Xi’an, Shanxi and back to Beijing. Thanks to my travel adviser Leah Zhou whom entertained my many enquiries and changes in plan. She had been thoughtful and would highlight to me of things to take note of. I want to thank Leah for her lodging recommendation. My family is very happy with the lodging. In Xi’an, we stayed in Somerset hotel apartment rooms which were spacious and there is a playroom and swimming pool. We had fun playing table tennis, pool, arcade machine and table soccer. The hotel is next to a shopping mall and we could do some shopping there. Staying in the Chong Ning castle hotel (part of Wang’s mansion) and the hotel in Ping Yao ancient city, experiencing the olden architecture, modern facilities and hospitable service was a special memory. Our trip was from 1 - 18 December 2025. I will like to thank our guides for making the trip a wonderful one. When we landed in Beijing, we took quite a long time to finally come out from the arrival gate. We were warmly welcomed by our tour guide Selinda, with a great relief on her face. She had been waiting for a very long time and worried (I forget to install WeChat, she couldn’t contact me). We had arranged to visit Simatai Great Wall before boarding the overnight sleeper train to Xi’an. Though our time with Selinda was short, she was very caring. In Xi’an, we are greeted warmly by our guide, Yuan. Our focus in Xi’an was on the history, with visits to the Terra-cotta site and the Shaanxi museum. Yuan is very knowledgeable about the exhibits. She also recommended Mr Wei burger, a local western food restaurant which serves good food at a very reasonable price. The tour package came with a promotion - a welcome dinner. Yuan brought us to a good restaurant. The dinner was superb. The highlights were lychee prawn balls served hanging on artificial lychee tree and edible dessert crafted as Chinese calligraphy brushes, and ink set. Before we leave for Shan Xi, Yuan even got her dad to make us nice bookmarks with local phrases on it as farewell gift. Next was the most memorable 10 days of our tour spent in Shan Xi. I want to give a big shout out to our guide Jenny, a bubbly, pretty and responsible young lady. Also not to forget our driver who is cheerful and will initiate conversation with us (most in the family speaks Mandarin). We had to change hotel almost everyday and we had a lot of luggage but the driver was always glad to load and unload the luggage. Now back to our guide Jenny. When we first arrived, she showed us a map of Shan Xi that she drew as she introduced her hometown to us. She has a caring nature. She interacted with everyone in the family regardless young or old. She played with the kids when it snowed and held my mum’s hand when walking the steps. She would offer to take photos for me in the cold winter when the others were too cold to remove their gloves. When we asked to change our itinerary, Jenny responded positively and made the necessary arrangements. We appreciate her efforts. When Jenny saw that we would boil water from the hotel and bring our water bottles, she surprised us by arranging for a donkey ride and photo-taking at the Hukou waterfall using the fund allocated for providing bottled water. My family is very fond of Jenny. Knowing that she will be happy to help us, when we were later in Beijing and wanted to get food delivery to the hotel but did not have a local number, we asked Jenny if she would lend us her number. To no surprise, she readily said yes. I am glad to have Jenny arrange for a birthday celebration for my niece and I, who have our birthdays on the same day. Finally, we parted with Jenny and left for Beijing. This time, our guide is Joshua. All the guides are good in their English, especially Joshua. We visited the iconic places in Beijing. Glad to see Beijing after the snow. Thanks to China Highlights, I could arrange for a trip which everyone in the family gets something on their wish-list, for example, overnight sleeper train experience, horse-riding, curling and sightseeing of some well-known or scenic places. Great memories.