This fully-escorted tour unquestionably lived up to its name by being truly delightful from start to finish. Over its 18-day duration we enjoyed uninterrupted sunshine and covered a lot of ground, not just literally (i.e. approximately 3000 miles of internal travel by air, coach, boat and train), but also historically and culturally. As a consequence, the pace was at times quite challenging, prompting occasional wistfulness on our part for a little more opportunity to enjoy the comforts and facilities of the consistently good, and sometimes very swish, hotels in which we stayed. Ultimately, however, a bit more downtime would have been a poor exchange for any of the many gems which Wendy Wu managed to pack into an itinerary which was always busy without ever feeling rushed. Highlights for us included, inevitably, the Great Wall, the Terracotta Warriors, and the Panda Conservation Centre, all of which surpassed our already high expectations. There were, however, many other less iconic but equally memorable experiences: e.g. a leisurely, spectacular cruise on the River Li, and our visits to a tea plantation at Meijiawu Village, the Reed Flute Caves near Guilin, and the Grand Buddha at Leshan. We also thoroughly enjoyed the 6 shows which were either included in the tour package itself or available as optional extras, most notably the Impression Liu Sanjie Show in the bay at Yangshuo, the Face-Changing Show in Chengdu and the Shaolin Monks' Kung Fu Show in Beijing. If, like us, you were to take up all of the optional extras, which number about 8 in all and include a ride on the high-speed Maglev train in Shanghai, you would need to budget for a locally-payable total of about £250 per person, but in our view this is very good value for money.
Our many adventures were expertly choreographed by our good-humoured national tour guide, David, who seamlessly organised the tour group's numerous excursions and micro-managed the complicated logistics of our travel, sleeping and eating arrangements. A mine of information about China in general and about his home city, Xi-an, in particular, he provided us and our fellow-travellers with invaluable help and support with routine issues (e.g. shopping advice, translation, locating banks, ATMs, pharmacies, etc.) as well as responding sensitively and efficiently to a range of minor ailments, an accidental injury and a -serious, but thankfully resolved, medical emergency. David regularly entertained us with amusing anecdotes and jokes, but we felt honoured that he was also willing to share so much about himself, his family and his hopes. He was ably assisted by a succession of local guides, all of them very personable and knowledgeable and one, in particular, deserving of special mention. Alice, our elfin but feisty guide in Shanghai and Suzhou, took very seriously her responsibilities for our well-being and for our better enjoyment and understanding of her region. A very warm, endearing character, she went way beyond the call of duty in giving us glimpses of her personal life, taking and circulating group photos and even, on a couple of occasions, singing to us all on the coach.
Alice it was who unwittingly labelled us as "The Vegetables", along with the only other non-meat-eater in our group, Nicola. Her innocent mistake was echoed by a seemingly limited understanding of vegetarianism in some of the restaurants in which we ate, where succulent, predominantly vegetable dishes were sometimes rendered inaccessible to us by small amounts of meat and where plain boiled vegetables were occasionally our only option. Indeed, at one stage it felt as though we were being stalked from one restaurant to the next by the same plate of boiled cauliflower!! Generally, however, we ate very well. This was partly as a result of the interventions of David, Alice and our other guides, but partly too because of the thoughtfulness and generosity of other members of our tour group, All of them at various times acted as unofficial tasters where the meat content of a dish was uncertain, and they regularly ensured that we and Nicola had first dibs and second helpings whenever tofu, aubergines or other vegetarian dishes appeared. In many respects these mealtime collaborations typified our 15-strong tour group which, contrary to our pre-tour reservations about spending almost 3 weeks in the close company of strangers, proved to be as kind, as companionable and as cohesive an assortment of people as you could ever hope to meet.
In conclusion, we would heartily recommend this tour, which even included a promotional 2-night stop-over in Hong Kong. To all at Wendy Wu, especially our guides and, in particular, David and Alice, and to each and every one of our travelling companions, thank you very much for making this trip so utterly exhilarating and memorable.
Our Response
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