Marija, can you please tell me if you used James (Jerry) for only the Wall Tour? Who did you use as a guide for the other cities?
Thanks!

Marija! Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful tour! We are very excited...we will also go to Zhondian, Dali and Lijiang as well as Guilin, Xian, Beijing and Shanghai! In Guilin, we are trying to book the Modern Art Hotel! Should be interesting! Again, thanks for your input it is so helpful!

We used Jerry only for an airport pickup and the Great Wall/Ming Tombs trip. We took cabs everywhere else in Beijing. We had guides/drivers in Xian and Chongqing, for the drive to Dazu. We reserved them from www.wacts.com. The Dazu guide was excellent, the Xian guide was adequate. Since we used non-CTS guides we met some very interesting people and didn't have to make shopping stops!

Marija - how much did Jerry charge for the trip to the Great Wall? Thanks!

Marija,
Who arrannged your car+driver+guide in Xian? Also, do you recommend getting JW Marriot to arrange a car for pick-up from PVG or is taking a taxi ok? The hotel is discouraging us from taking a taxi? Do you have recommendation on arranging car+driver for airport pick-up and for tour guides in Shanghai and Beijing? Wats?

Our car and driver in Xian was arranged by wacts.com. You don't need to arrange for airport pickup. Just make sure you have the name and address of your hotel in Chinese characters and that the driver uses the meter. The guide we used in Beijing was Jerry whose e-mail is
[email protected].
He did pick us up from airport when we arrived in Beijing and that cost $25. We arranged the airport pickup primarily to audition Jerry and see if we wanted him to take us to the Great Wall. We thought he was great. Shanghai was easy to explore on our own. We just took a cab from the airport to the JW Marriott. Prearranged transfers, especially by hotels, are unduly expensive. They just jack up the cab fare!

Thanks Marija. BTW, what is the difference between a NON CTS and WACTS guide? Did you try the guides through the hotel? Any good? Also, you mentioned Jerry was licensed (or atleast I thought I read that). How does one go about finding that out?

A non CTS guide is one who doesn't work for the government travel agency China Travel Service. Guides provided by wacts didn't work for CTS. There are many other agencies that provide guides that don't work for CTS. We didn't use hotel guides because we really didn't need them. We needed guides for the Great Wall, Xian and Dazu. Otherwise we could manage on our own just fine. I don't know how you find out if a guide is licensed. Jerry said he was licensed, and we believed him. We didn't do further background checking. I don't know how much "being licensed" matters.

Hi Marija and everybody,

Re: granola bars at the Great Wall, it dawned on me -- what do you typically do for lunch at Mutianyu when you're not on a group tour?

I'm planning on booking a driver, but I hadn't gotten any further than that. Suggestions appreciated!

There are some restaurants by the parking lot in Mutiyanu. If you want you can bring a picnic.

Thank you for your great trip report. We used much of the information you provided in planning our trip to Beijing, Xian and Shanghai. It was very helpful. (I am posting about our 11 week trip on the Europe travel board - Travelgirl's Trip of a Lifetime.)

Hi, I'm planning on going to Beijing and likely only one other place. I don't think I can manage three and I want to enjoy each fully.
I'm considering the Yangtze and Guilin. Would you recommend one over the other? I'm 37 and will be travelling alone once I leave Beijing.

jefegold -

I would really recommend going to Guilin for a day and then to Yangshuo. I was in China about 5 months ago and had this itinerary - Beijing (7 days), Guilin(2 days), Yangshuo(3 days) and then back to Beijing to fly out. Yangshuo was probably my favorite stop on the trip and it's only an hour by bus from Guilin. Wonderful views, lots of friendly people, great hiking. If you are traveling by yourself I would highly recommend it.

Whatever you choose will be wonderful, but that's my recommendation.

The "hotel cab" scam sounded so familiar. We fell for the identical scam in Paris, of all places. The hotel clerk swore we would have a very hard time getting a train to Charles De Gaulle airport and an even harder time getting a cab, so we signed up for their cab and got way over charged for a hair raising ride. How humiliating, after we had been taking the metro and buses, one of the best public transport systems in the world, all over the place. Well, live learn. These hotel touts must have some kind of international newsletter.

ttt

Those of you who have been to China , how have you found the people in China ? Are they friendly ,nice and welcoming ?

Yes.

I was amazed by just how helpful those who spoke some English were. People went out of their way to help me.

To those of you who wonder about the Chinese...are they friendly, nice and welcoming...yes, indeed on all counts.

I spent four glorious weeks in China way back in 1984, when the Western visitor was surely a strange sight to the locals...but everywhere we went, we were treated like royalty!(Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi, Nanjing, Xian, Kunming, Guiln, Guangzhou, HK and Macao)

Of course being friendly and pleasant, and non-demanding in return helps..as it does anywhere in the world.

We anxiously look forward to our return visit next April.

Stu T.

Thanks for all of the great info. We, too, are going to China - for the 1st time. And, unfortunately, doing a tour for the 1st time. We're taking my 11 year oldl daughter & going in February. Can anyone comment on the weather in February and on your thoughts of taking my 11 year old?