Reviews

Firstly I’d like to commend our National Tour Guide Sophie Jin who was outstanding and couldn’t have been more helpful with our group of 27 travellers from Australia, New Zealand, England and Ireland. Nothing was too much bother for her and she even insisted on getting up to meet us in the hotel lobby at 6.15 on our departure day, even though we told her not to! Sophie really is an asset to Wendy Wu Tours and her dedication is second to none.

Now for the tour itself: SOOOO much is packed in that we (and others in our group) found it quite exhausting. There is little to no down time with early morning starts, and late returns to the hotels meant we often went straight to bed. Our group was mainly people in their 70s, with 7 or 8 of us in our 60s and a couple in their late 50s. Age is not taken into consideration - you book, you do it. And boy do you need stamina!
Also be prepared to do trips in all weathers. There is no contingency plan for bad weather - we were up Tianmen Mountain despite a Gale warning and driving rain. We all ended up freezing and soaking wet. Because of this we (and a few others) decided to opt out of the Old Town and Yu Gardens trip in Shanghai next day, only to find we had to write a letter explaining why.
We also felt the ‘Optional Tours weren’t very optional. The bus is geared towards those paying for these trips and those who choose not to go must find their own way back to the hotel.
There was also a problem with my food. I’m vegetarian and told Wendy Wu this before booking. Unfortunately the Chinese seem to have no concept of vegetarianism and assumed all that I ate was boiled vegetables. Meat eaters had Kung Po Chicken, Sweet and Sour Pork etc while I was given boiled cabbage, aubergine and Pak Choi. Basically I had side dishes. I did speak to Sophie about getting dishes without the chicken or pork (Sweet and Sour Veg for example) but she said a lot of restaurants wouldn’t do this. I did have a bowl of Sweet and Sour sauce one night, which was lovely, but the boiled tomatoes and ketchup was not appetising with rice and vegetables! I have been in touch with Wendy Wu about this and am awaiting a response.

All in all it was a fantastic trip, hotels were great, everything was well organised and it is a beautiful, clean and safe country. Maybe fewer things to do and a wee bit of downtime would make it more appealing Wendy Wu!

This tour has completely changed my perception of China. The terracotta warriors and the Great Wall were what I wanted to see, however there was much, much more to this trip. We were extremely tired because of the variety of opportunities provided. There was a lot crammed into one day but if the itinerary was altered to cut some sights it wouldn't be value for money. One could have left off the optional extras but if you wish to experience everything that China has to offer, just go for everything! It adds so much to your cultural learning.
Our guide Hoffmann was brilliant. His humour, patience, respect, dedication and knowledge allowed us to participate with confidence while absorbing all that China had to offer. The Chinese people were overwhelming with their welcome, friendliness and hospitality. Highlights were the pandas, the glass bridge, Zhanjiajie Mountains, Tianmen Mountain cable car, and the many local shows with a riot of colour, skills, performed on a grand scale. You have to go and you won't regret it.

This Wendy Wu trip was a wonderful mix of experiencing both some of the most amazing natural scenery in the World and the hustle and bustle of Chinese city life.

Our prime reason for booking this tour was to visit places like Zhangjiajie and Jiuzhaigou and these places were indeed AMAZING! For us, however, we found that the two weeks were extremely "full-on", action packed with one visit after another after another, with very little opportunity to come up for air. We would have loved a little more down-time, with opportunities for us to opt out of some of the city visits to go and explore a little more for ourselves. For example, squeezing in visits to some of the extremely crowded places like Hongyu Dong in Chongqing after a long day was not a lot of fun.

We have come home with fantastic memories and photos, but also really exhausted, far more so than after our previous Wendy Wu "China Delights" holiday in October 2019.

The highlights:
1) EVERYTHING in Zhangjiajie, from the National Forest Park to the Glass Bridge and especially the visit to Tianmen Mountain - just breathtaking! LJ, our local guide was exemplary, guiding us as best he could through the crowds and queues around for the Qingming Festival. He was so informative, a great communicator and a real "people person", an absolute gem.
2) the visit and walk in the Black Mountain Valley was an unexpected delight. So tranquil and picturesque - a perfect day!
3) The simple breathtaking visit up to the astonishing Huanglong area, so high up in the mountains and just the most amazing sight to behold - and such a sense of achievement ascending to 3500 metres altitude!
4) The Dazu Rock Carvings were so interesting and awe-inspiring! I now need to read up on all the history and origins.
5) Inevitably, the pandas in Chengdu were just a joy to see.
6) All the meals were excellent (except the Farewell HotPot dinner in Chongqing which was arranged for 4:30 pm, far far too early to enjoy, particularly as we had tucked into a good lunch just a few hours before with no knowlege that dinner would be so early! Such a shame, as we would have loved to indulge fully in this special meal).

We also particularly enjoyed the odd occasions where we had time to go off and explore by ourselves, away from the organised schedule and experience the sights and sounds in our own time, in a more relaxed manner. These included:
- travelling on the subway over to Orange Island in Changsha, and then trying some of the street food
- our scheduled free evening in Chengdu after the panda visit, strolling along the riverside and trying food at one of the street food restaurants.
- an early morning hour's stroll around the little city park below our hotel in Chongqing, at Louis' suggestion. Such a peaceful start to the day, watching groups and individuals doing their early morning exercise, inspiring us to do some of our own stretching exercises by the lily ponds!
- The scheduled free evening stroll around Fenghuang, taking in all the beautiful illuminated sights and sounds along the river. A really vibrant and colourful scene.
- it was just great fun interacting with Chinese people, trying to talk some mandarin with them, and enjoying their requests to have photos taken with us westerners! We found them so helpful and friendly when trying to master Alipay, or buy tickets for the metro or select food in the street food restaurants.

The downsides:
We felt that the tour was just a bit too relentless, with too much being squeezed into absolutely every day. There were moments when we were too exhausted to appreciate everything. It would have been preferable to have some of the visits, particularly in the cities, as optional extras that you could either partake in or opt out of. Being jostled by crowds and crowds of people, trying to "follow the flag" and not lose the group were not our idea of fun, or time well spent. Maybe the tour could be a extended by a couple of days to allow for a bit of "recovery time" between places and activities.

Specific suggestions:
- maybe have an opportunity to see the night life of Chongqing from a river boat cruise (rather like the experience in Shanghai), rather than in the thick of the crowds?
- maybe in the Nine Villages Valley have a private shuttle bus for the Wendy Wu Group to take us from lake to lake, rather than having to join the manic jostling for a place on the shuttle buses with everyone else. This was exhausting! A private mini-bus would also give us more flexibility on timings and walks we could do between lakes?

Finally, a word for Louis, our Wendy Wu national ******. He was wonderful, quietly efficient and friendly and patient and very very knowledgeable. Our group of travelling companions were great fun. A group of strong and very individual personalities who all gelled very well together right from the start.

Thank you Wendy Wu for such a wonderful trip. Now the task of sorting through all the photos ....