A Very Positive and Enriching Experience in China

Dear Vera,

Our trip back to Europe went smoothly, thank you, although our party was not complete, as you may remember : my husband stayed in Asia for business for another week.

My being alone also meant that I have had plenty of time (while washing, cleaning, gardening) to think back of our time in China. This was on the whole a very positive and enriching experience. We learned a lot about China and our vision on your country has been unanimously adjusted in favour of it, we must admit. We think China is a very clean country, in spite of the smog in some of the big cities (as in every metropolitan in the world, we suppose). We think the Chinese people are very friendly and hospitable to tourists and they are all also very industrious, which we respect greatly.

Vendors were not as provocative as we were told, they stayed polite. At no instance did we feel uncomfortable or unsafe. Your country has a lot of beautiful cities and sites to be visited (the city of Beijing with its temples, the Forbidden City, TienAnMen,... and of course the wall ; the city of Xian and its Terracotta army). China has a lot of assets (the only panda reserves in the world), extremely beautiful wonders of nature (Tiger Leaping Gorge, Guilin with its karst hills, the Stone forest and the Jiu Xiang caves near Kunming, the hills and planes by Zhongdian close to Tibet, beautiful big lakes), and picturesque "small" towns as Lijiang and Dali (especially their old town centres, I mean). China, moreover, has a very rich and old culture, about which we especially learnt a lot in Beijing (this is by far the best place to start a trip through China, to get acquainted with its history and dynasties). We also learnt a lot about religion in your country
Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism and we visited numerous temples and monasteries. Of course we also elaborately explored the palaces (Summer Palace in Beijng, Summer Resort in Chengde) and Bell and Drum towers in all cities. Your country should be on each traveller's list and even people who do not travel frequently should still pick out China as an interesting destination.

We all agree that Odyssey Tours did a great job in trying to match the tour with our wishes. Every item we liked to include in our trip was included.

Everything (the domestic flights, the hotels, the transportation) was very well organised. We had no problem with any of the flights while in China, we never had to wait extremely long. All the hotels (all in their own style) were of good quality. We liked the type of car we were driven in very much (not too big or too small, very comfortable) and most drivers were very friendly and professional. Most of the time we also had very experienced, patient and kind guides, who were flexible in (sometimes) adapting the itinerary to our wishes, all of them of course with their personal characteristics and style (some were even very funny). If we forget the few "individuals" that fell out of the line, our overall impression of the people who were assigned to us by Odyssey Tours is very positive. We want to thank you, Vera, once again, for everything you did to make this trip a memorable one. It was very nice to meet you in Guilin. Finally the person who had helped us up to then did not only have a name but also a face, we liked that very much.

I could also send you "a few" photos of our trip. The problem will be, I am afraid, is that our camera is a 10-million pixel one, and each photo takes a lot of memory. So I am not sure if it will work, but I am willing to try as soon as I have the time.

Dear Vera, thank you once again for your time and professionalism, your patience with us. We wish you : a lot of "interesting" new customers, a lot of pleasure and fulfilment with your job and especially a happy and healthy life !

Kind regards

Peter, Bettina and Hilde
Sep. 28, 2007