Touring in Biejing
 

Four of us visited Beijing for six days in October 2006 prior to us cruising from Xingang to Bangkok. Before leaving the States, we did some research on sites and touring. We contacted Robinson Li, owner of Beijing Taxi. He was very responsive and we chose him for our touring in Beijing. What a wonderful choice. Steve, Robinson Li’s son, was our guide for four days. Excellent is not good enough to describe our experience. Steve was knowledgeable on all locations visited. His keen insight, not only to the places that we visited but in planning our days was superb. We visited: The Great Wall, Temple of Heaven, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Summer Palace, Hutong areas and more. He guided us to great shopping locations where we could get good prices and great values. One of the highlights was Steve’s choice of luncheon/dinner restaurants. He ensured that when we got to the restaurant, they were ready for us as to not waste time. The food choices were always delicious, varied and represented authentic Chinese delicacies. We went to a dumpling restaurant that was out of the way and fabulous, a hot pot restaurant that was a true experience, a traditional Chinese restaurant and a roast duck dinner. We could find no fault with any of the choices. Steve treated us as if we were family. His command of the English language was perfect. At the end of our stay in Beijing, Steve drove us to Xingang port (about 2 hours away) for our cruise departure. In addition to Steve our guide, Andy, who was our driver, always drove safely, had a big smile and was extremely friendly, making our days even more enjoyable. If you are planning to spend any time in Beijing, you will not go wrong choosing Beijing Taxi. We all loved it.

Thanks for the tip...I was trying to get jane Yeo who is also hihgly recommended, but no response to my e-mails...How do I get in touch with the Beijing Taxi? Do they also fetch you at the airport coming in? What is their rate per day?

Stu T.

Stu, This person has advertised in other posts too. Beware!

Pat...I figured this was somewhat "troll-ish" sounding...Thanks for the alert Pat...I'll be careful. I googled them...nowhere to be seen.

Stu T.

Some one else, on another of their ads, replied they had used them and they were terrible!

Stu--

I strongly recommend Jerry who picked us up from the airport and took us to the Great Wall. Good English and comfortable car. His address is

[email protected]

This was our first post. We are not a travel agency or have any vested interest in Beijing Taxi. We just wanted to voice our pleasure of an excellent experience. We are world travelers from the U.S. and have stayed at five star hotels most of the time. Even the five star properties get some bad reviews. We guess that all can not be pleased all of the time. We appreciate the feedback above, even if it is negative, that is the purpose of the forums. Although mentioned that that there were a few unhappy individuals with their service, we were extremely satisfied. We did some searches and have found more good feedback than bad. Once again, thank you for your feedback to our post.

BB:

As you so kindly stated:
"We are world travelers from the U.S. and have stayed at five star hotels most of the time."

La-dee-dah!

If you indeed are first time posters, I strongly suggest you temper some of your statements....most all of us here are "world travelers", and the fact that you stay only in 5-star hotels is no big deal, kids. Are you trying to set yourself way above the average poster? Come down a notch or two and maybe you'll get more congenial responses next time.

Stu T.

Marija...thanks for remnding me of Jerry...I will check him out. Sounds good.
Stu T.

We have Jane Yeo lined up based on recommendations from our real good friends. She has always been very responsive to my emails so I'd try emailing her again.

After reading a review on this forum, I recently booked Robinson Li (Beijing Taxi) for an airport transfer and a day trip to Mutianyu. I was very unhappy.

First he asked me to email nearer the time to remind him, strange, but I did it anyway,

Second, he tried to change the Great Wall tour date only 3 days before.

Third, he did not turn up at the airport. He said he did, but we waited for thirty minutes at the arranged meeting place, and one of us walked up and down the arrivals area constantly. We then had a very difficult experience trying to get a taxi driver to recognise the name of our apartment (we were not staying in a mainstream hotel). This was late on a Sunday night.

Lastly, despite his promises, the driver/guide we were provided with to take us to the Wall spoke no English at all, despite this having been agreed in writing in advance. I could have hired transport only for around half the price that I paid for a tour. I felt he was a late substitute because I did not agree to change the date.

So, all in all a waste of money, a very bad experience, and one I couldn't recommend to others.

I don't think you can do better for responsiveness, competence and professionalism than Kong Lin.

We used him for five days in Beijing and to visit the Huangyaguan Great Wall site in July and he was great!

Bob

AND, he just bought a brand new Buick van!

Bob:

>>>AND, he just bought a brand new Buick van!<<<

A Buick Van...I just knew that we gave him too large a tip!
(Only kidding KongLin!)

Stu T.