Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - just returned China Focus trip

Fodor's Travel Talk Forums (https://www.fodors.com/community/)

- Asia (https://www.fodors.com/community/asia/)

- - just returned China Focus trip - comments (https://www.fodors.com/community/asia/just-returned-china-focus-trip-comments-234071/)

just returned China Focus trip - comments

My husband & I just got back from the China Focus June 1 Best of China Plus Hong Kong trip. (Itinerary includes a couple days each in Beijing, Xian, Guilin, Hong Kong & Shanghai.) Generally had a great trip. I thought the highlights were the Great Wall, boat trip on the Li River (Guilin) and Shanghai. Thanks to all on the forum for their comments & tips. Here are my impressions & advice. Strong points - The logistics were excellent. We were constantly running and they really do take care of all internal plane, train & admission tickets, checking in at hotels etc, We had one national guide who dealt with herding us around (very good) and a different local guide in each city. The local ones were all fine except one whom we could not understand at all. The one in Hong Kong, Patrick, was a real comedian. I asked a few of them if they work for China Focus, CITS etc. They seem to be independent contractors who usually work for CF. The other good feature were the shows - Beijing opera (so-so, but you have to see it & it's short), Tang Dynasty (excellent & don't miss the dumplings!), minority dances (optional, but worth it) & Shanghai acrobatics (just amazing-never seen anything like it). Weak point-The one thing that really drove us up a wall were what I refer to as forced buying stops. This is where they take you to a "factory" where they make silk, jewelry, jade, pearls etc, you see a 10 min demo and then waste an hour looking at the goods in their overpriced store. Often, we were told there was no time to stop in the local bazaars, but we could not leave early from these places, always in the middle of a day's sightseeing. I'm sure all tours do this to some extent, but we had one of these scheduled every day! I would appreciate comments on this from people who have gone with other companies. For the most part, CF made good use of our time. The exception was Guangzhao(sp) - instead of flying into Hong Kong, we spent half a day here in both directions & it was a waste of our time. Our group was very nice & amazingly on time, but 29 is more than had been predicted. In fact, originally we were supposed to go a week earlier, but they told us not enough people had signed up and it was cancelled. A little suspicious. BTW, we had people from ages 14-80 in our group. Hotels were of good quality with all the conveniences of home - air conditioned, private bath, fridge, TV etc. They tended to be not in the center of things, though. This doesn't matter when you're taking the tourbus. However, if you want to go out on your own at night (definitely worth it), you need to take a cab. Cabs were cheap, but drivers did not speak any English. You must have someone in your hotel write down your destination in Chinese. Also, be sure to get one of the cute take me home cards with the address in English and Chinese from each hotel you stay at. Food was OK - lots of dishes at each meal served family style. However, if you can, it is definitely worth it to go out on your own sometimes. I know it's included, but the food is inexpensive and much better. We used Fodor's China guide and were not disappointed. As others have mentioned, do go out early in the morning to watch people do exercises and dance. You don't need to be near a park, they seem to be everywhere. Also, do carry kleenex and wipes on you at all times. The roads may be great, but the bathrooms are not so hot. We used to make a game of rating them one to four stars. Finally, surprisingly, we never felt any more crowded than we do in a big city in the U.S. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to ask now, while it's fresh in my mind.

I guess you get what you pay for. We went with China Focus two years ago and knew why they did what they had to do. Don't get me wrong, we liked the tour and definitely could not complain about the price. There were 38 of us. The reason we had to go through Guangzhou was because of the much cheaper airfare to and from the city than going directly in and out of hongkong by air. That's why you wasted half a day in guangzhou. We were taken to a lot of tourist traps as well but we made good use of the time instead of being gouged. Although we are looking for a different company this year that guarantees small group size and limited shopping stops, we agree China Focus offers terrific value. But then again, it is important to set your expectations reasonable when they charge so much less than most other companies.

They take you shopping because they get a cut of what you spend. It took me a while to get fairly used to such overbearing sales tactics. They would literally run around the store after me. I had to learn to be firm when saying no. Of course sometimes that worked to my advantage as the price would get lower and lower the more I said no!

Thanks for the good information. We are going on a China Focus tour in Sept. and would like to know if you took any flights in China. I have read several other posts that say that the airlines in China have very strict weight restrictions & that you can only have one bag to check & one carry on. Did you or anyone on your tour have any problems in that area? I read your comment about the shopping. Did you have any chance to go shopping on your own anywhere, and what are some good buys. Did you use US dollars only or did you have some Yuan also?

Hi again. Yes, I realize the company gets a cut at the forced shopping places and I still think CF is a good value. However, I don't recall anyone else mentioning this aspect & thought people would like to be aware of it when making decisions. I advise others to note the location of the store when entering & immediately ask how long the visit will be. Towards the end of the tour we wised up & would take a walk elsewhere if possible. We took several internal flights & found the service comparable to the U.S. So far as I know, everyone in our group had only one checked suitcase, but I never heard of anyone being charged for overweight baggage. We did do some shopping on our own - it depends on the itinerary of the trip you take. I'm not a big shopper, but one thing I noticed is that things are very regional. For example, I lost my Great Wall T-shirt & could not find another one, even in Shanghai. One great little bargain was small embroidered purses for $1 each sold on the street. You definitely need to change money into Chinese yuan. Big tourist places take credit cards & some others take US money. Didn't see any ATM's except in Hong Kong. Have a good trip.

Thanks for all the info. We are going on the 22-day trip of the Gorges with CF on Aug 31. Wooohoooo!!!! This is my first "tour" so the advice you've listed so far is great. Thanks Jeri. Feel free to add more.

Thanks for feedback, Jeri! Anybody else been on a China Focus tour?

I took a tour with China Focus in 1997 and loved it. I never ran around so much in my life! Guides, both national and local, were excellent. I shall definitely use them again. I lucked out in that my original date was pushed up and we only had 11 people on my tour. You do need Chinese money to shop and, sure, they drive you to the Friendship Stores for shopping but unless you want to skip stuff you won't have any time to shop on your own and it only is about an hour stop. If you have any questions or would like my trip report, please e-mail me directly.

Thank you everyone for your comments. My family and I are signed up to take the trip in August. I do hope that you all will continue to share any tips so that we aren't too surprised. Thank you in advance!

A couple more tips that have come to mind since I wrote. The hotels on our trip all had soap, shampoo and often other items such as a toothbrush, comb etc. However, none had any conditioner. We wound up taking lots of showers due to the hot weather and lots of walking. Bottom line - take lots of conditioner - leave the other stuff at home. Also, I suggest a backpack or fanny bag with a separate water bottle holder. We put ours in our backpack and had to worry about it leaking on film etc. Bottled water can be found most everywhere, so you don't have to take a day's supply with you in the morning - a starter bottle is fine.

Even though we arenot going on a China Focus tour, I appreciate all the comments. I am taking my 16 year old grandson for two weeks beginning MOnday. We will have a car and driver rathe than a bus. Thanks to all of you again.

I just got back from backpacking a lot of asia, for the folks who are not taking the tour definataly go and stay in Yangshou rather then Guillin.. Guillin is for tour bus folk and is a mess of a city.. I tried going on a long'sh tour once but left after the first 3 hours of getting herded around and showed up 3 days later... a tip for the car a driver person ask when the tour busses come in.. and shop before they get there.. you will save lots of money..