China Adventure

Customer Reviews

• KatherineStebbings

  · September 21st, 2019
  I love love LOVED this trip! I didn’t know much about China beforehand so went in with no expectations and was thoroughly blown away. Our itinerary covered everything that I wanted to do in mainland China and then some! For example massive bucket list tick with The Great Wall, but then to toboggan our way back down was something that I’ll never forget. Seeing the Terracotta Warriors and visiting the Panda sanctuary were two more highlights for me, especially as we had fantastic local tour guides educating us and answering our questions at each and every location. That being said, my favourite destination on the trip was Yangshuo, which was somewhere I had never heard of nor seen photos of before, so if I had ever attempted China without being in this tour I would have majorly missed out! That was the destination where I felt we were privileged enough to get a feel for the real China and their people. Speaking of, I personally found the Chinese to be wonderful, friendly, welcoming people. In my experience other Asian countries have been far less open to tourists. I’m Caucasian and yes, I had locals taking photos of me, but they were never rude about it or grabbing me, there were often lots of charades involved or broken English attempts but whenever I said yes to a photo the people were so grateful - and who wouldn’t want to spread that kind of joy?! I also did not find China to be at all crowded - they’re constantly developing and creating larger open spaces for their population, I’ve felt more crowded in London. We even rode the metro at peak hour in Beijing and Shanghai with no trouble at all. As for the mannerisms that you may have heard about e.g. spitting, farting etc, I also did not find that very prevalent or confronting, and even if you do - it’s part of the experience right? As for my experience of being within a tour group, I honestly could not have had a better one. This was my 4th contiki and the best group I’ve had thus far. We were a small crew of 16 (which I welcomed after 50 in the US), we weren’t just typically all aussies (about 50%) or all girls (about 50%) and 11 of us were each independent travellers so everyone mingled together really well*. We had some big nights of parting, and we had some chill nights of staying in and playing games, everyone was happy to stick together or split up and just do whatever they desired. As wonderful as the people on my tour were, our friendships would not have flourished so much if not encouraged by our exceptional tour leader Jelly. Jelly as a tour manager was second to none, and as a person is one of the kindest, sweetest people I know. Jelly made herself available to answer questions before I had even stepped on my flight to China (what do I pack? Is there internet? Ah!). Once the tour started her day sheets were full to the brim of educational info about what we were seeing that day, optional extra things we could do in that location that she recommended, transport info, ATM availability, and just cute fun facts about China for us to remember. She was always happy to answer questions, listen to our terrible jokes, and have us follow her in the only free time she got, like the herd of sheep that you become on tour. Jelly even came out and partied with us, truly sacrificing all her free time and sleep, she was a genuine member of the crew whilst maintaining a level of professionalism so we knew we were in safe hands and could go to her if or when we needed. She facilitated opportunities for us to mingle and make friends in the beginning of the trip, and now even months on she still chats and checks in with us and answers our questions regarding other tours (especially ones she runs that we all hope to go on). *in reference to our group all mingling, we did have one exception. The single scathing review on this page was written by our group latecomer who I believe proved Jelly to be a true saint that we are not worthy to have on this earth. Jelly was always composed, professional, and inexplicably patient whilst facing this person’s outbursts of rudeness, racism and cultural insensitivity. For this person to make such horrid statements about Jelly after all that Jelly did for them is simply abhorrent behaviour. Anyway. I sincerely hope that those of you reading this do decide to book this tour. I had the time of my life in this beautiful country and the more people who experience it, the more we can alter the poor perception or simple lack of education people have of China. You never know, you may be lucky enough to have Jelly as your tour guide. If so, my question to you is, are you ready for this Jelly?
  Show more
• Ash

  · September 19th, 2019
  I was quite apprehensive about travelling to China. I had no idea what to expect. Before I arrived I got an email from the guide, Yelitza (Jelly). Her email was so informative and instantly put me at ease. It was warm, fun and had helpful things to know before our arrival. From the time the tour started Jelly was positive, knowledgeable and engaging. The tour overall was a lot of fun. We stayed in hotels, ate at home stays, had fun adventures and were given pointers on all the good places. The local guides were also fantastic. Jelly took time for each of us and made the experience so much better than I thought it could be. Especially the Panda Party! This was my first Contiki and I have already planned my next one. My next guide has some pretty big shoes to fill. Do yourself a favour, suck down some ‘fire water’ and book this trip if you’ve ever been curious about China, black and white bears, big walls, buried soldiers, mystery street meat or delicious dumps.
  Show more
• Thashveen

  · September 19th, 2019
  China Adventure was my best trip so far. Contiki drafted an excellent itinerary which covered the vast cultural richness of the country from the history and fascination of Beijing (the Great Wall, Ming Tombs), the ancient walled city of Xi'an and the terracota warriors, the fasicinating and cuteness overload of Chengdu at the Panda Research Center, the 'out-of-this-world' scenery of Yanhshuo and the impressive Shanghai and its skyline. The highlight of the trip was however, by far, the trip manager Yelitza who was the epitome of professionalism, fun and human encyclopedia! She made the trip memorable in so many ways and will definitely do the rest of Contiki Asia trips with her! She reached our before our trip started to give us excellent tips, made sure to spend individual time with everyone to get to know them personally, was resourseful throughout the trip to make it as comfotable as possible. The accomodation was good, I was dreading the overnight train but it ended up being quite comfortable and fun night. I highly recommend signing up for all the optionals - I would thoroughly have regretted having missed any of them. The transport (coaches and flights) were spacious and high standard. It was a small group trip - 16 people - so it was easy to get to know everyone (except one - see below) - who were beyond amazing and looking forward to meeting and travelling with them again. I would also like to talk about the 1 star review below posted by American (written on Sept 19, 2019 - Jessica Rachel) who was on the trip with us! Although she is entitled to her opinion, they are absolutely not true and do not reflect the Group's views on Yelitza, as reflected by the thumbs down. Jessica was extremely rude, racist, not respectful of fellow passengers. She was late every single day at every single stop and we had to wait for her or go look for her, she would belittle fellow travellers and locals, she would never listen to instructions. I recommend anyone with common sense to ignore her review! To end on a possitive note, don't waste any more time! Book your trip!
  Show more