Lynn, our tour guide, met us in our hotel lobby promptly as planned and we headed for our day trip to Hangzhou. We had an easy transfer to the Station. Lynn explained everything and took care of getting us through the security check in and ticketing process. The train ride was very nice. We were met by another driver after the train ride, and we headed to the West Lake area. Lynn was wonderful throughout and answered all our questions and told us about the history of the area during our drive, boat tour and visit to the tea tasting. We even had some time to walk around the city center and do a little shopping before heading back. Overall, a really nice experience for our family! Lynn did an excellent job from start to finish and we would definitely recommend!!
I thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of the trip. The scenery - the wall and the surrounding mountains - was stunning and constantly changing. The weather was perfect with mostly warm sunny days with cool evenings. Everywhere we stayed from good quality hotels to basic rural homestays provided great food and hospitality. Our group leader, Jerry, was excellent and I felt very lucky to be away with such a lovely group of fellow travellers. Finally and perhaps most importantly the Chinese people I met were warm, welcoming, interesting as well as curious about us and almost without exception delightful.
I enjoyed my trip to China very much, the weather, the environment, the people and oh my god the food! And I was pretty lucky to see an old friend in my group and that was a nice surprise. Everything I needed for my vacation to just let go and recover. The only downside was the ride back to the airport when I got stuck in traffic but it was not that long and I reached the airport on time for my flight.