Shanghai – Pékin – Pingyao – Xi’an – Zhangjiajie – Fenghuang – Zhaoxing – Longji – Yangshuo – Kunming – Dali – Weishan – Nuodeng – Shaxi – Lijiang – Gorges du Saut du Tigre – Shangri La – Kunming
Hello Serge,
As promised, here’s our feedback on the trip.
As far as the tour is concerned, we found it very enjoyable, despite the bad weather during the first 2 weeks.
The organisation was perfect, all the bookings for hotels, transfers and trains were made without a hitch! Well done!
With hindsight, we could have avoided a few visits to ‘old towns’ that weren’t very authentic and had been turned into huge shopping centres, in favour of more natural visits; for example, the stone forest near Kunming and the Meili mountains.
We’ve heard about visa extensions, so wouldn’t it have been possible to go as far as Lhasa?
Concerning the visits:
They were very good, here are a few comments.
For the Great Wall, we found the Gubeikou section not very interesting. We would recommend starting just after the military zone in the Jingshanling sector and then pushing on further than planned, even beyond the cable car, as this whole section is absolutely magnificent.
Zuolong Gorges.
There are 2 possible exits (Grand Village and Petit Village). In the absence of precise instructions, we took the second exit and therefore didn’t see the village and had to call the driver to find it (fortunately we had a network).
Hike from Tangan (back to Zhaoxing).
The descent is pleasant but sometimes difficult to find as there are many junctions that are not always well signposted. Perhaps a short guidebook would be useful.
Ping’an
On the first day, we had time to do all the viewpoints on offer. So the next day (Oct 19), we completed the programme with a visit to Guilin so that we wouldn’t be in Cuiping in the early afternoon.
Yangshuo.
The traditional fishing demonstration, in the middle of the town and on the edge of the quay, wasn’t very interesting.
The hike after Xianggong peak wasn’t great (we didn’t see any small hamlets, just a few orchards).
The old street of Xingping isn’t very interesting either and the raft trip is overstated in the description.
On the other hand, the bike ride along the Yulong river is really enjoyable.
Nuodeng.
There’s almost nothing left to see about the salt: just a building housing the remains of a well.
We didn’t see any distilleries either.
The Saut du Tigre hike.
In theory, there was no choice of difficulty in the upper part as indicated in the guidebook.
The 2 were really great!
The guides.
They were all very attentive, friendly and interesting.
Except in Beijing, where we felt that one person was just doing his job (we had to insist on visiting Tiananmen Square on foot, rather than just crossing it by car).
And, even if it’s a negligible sum, he didn’t reimburse us for the difference in price between the full-fare tickets you booked for us and the one he got because of the reduction due to our age (over 60).
In fact, I think you forgot to make use of this advantage on several sites, but the other guides reimbursed us.
A special mention for Chen in Shanghai, Claire in Xian and Zhang in Yunan.
The drivers for the transfers, even if they don’t speak English, are all punctual and considerate.
Only the one in Zhaoxing dropped us at the hotel without giving us any instructions for the next day.
Hotels.
They are all very well placed.
The boutique hotels are superbly beautiful, with a particularly warm welcome; we even often had the impression of having one of the best rooms in the establishment.
In Xian, there was no need for us to have breakfast in another hotel (to avoid the local breakfast).
Zhangjiajie: cold welcome, unattractive hotel and, above all, a room with a wall in front of it.
Furong: breakfast not up to the standard of the establishment: not much room, limited cleanliness and almost nothing to eat.
Shangri la.
The only downside was that we were woken up at 6am and then every 30 minutes by the bells from the nearby fire station.
In conclusion, a great experience and a great stay, even if the explosion in tourist infrastructure now makes it more difficult to visit authentic places.
Marc and Corinne