Apologies for the lateness of putting this review on the Forum, but I have written to the Head of Customer Services with suggestions on improving the itinerary for future tour dates, and was going to wait until she came back to me, but appreciate that the September tour needs to know things now rather than later.

First of all, this is a fantastic tour and I thoroughly enjoyed it throughout. However there are certain things that you need to know! You need to be reasonably fit (I actually lost weight, and ate everything!), have no mobility problems whatsoever - there is a lot of walking/climbing up to palaces/monasteries etc. - you don't of course have to do these, but you will be missing out on some incredible experiences. I recommend seeing your doctor/practice nurse regarding getting a prescription for Diamox (helps with Altitude Sickness), using Sea Bands (for those long windy coach trips) and taking Cold/Flu remedies with you - you are in and out of air conditioning. You will also need lots of tissues/wet wipes/anti bacterial gel, rehydration salts, headache pills, a hat, suncream, comfortable walking shoes, a fleece, 3 pin flat plug adaptor etc. Be prepared for the pretty horrendous Tibetan loos, which are mostly hole in the ground ones. Take each day as it comes, and enjoy this wonderful trip.

I'm not going to do a minute by minute review, but will try and give a brief summary where possible. The itinery changed a bit from the planned one, but everything was covered.

A bonus for me was that I could fly from Glasgow and avoid Heathrow as all the flights had to change at Amsterdam to Chengdu. KLM were excellent. You have 3 nights in Chengdu in a good hotel. I recommend the Panda Breeding Researh Centre optional trip - we saw baby pandas playing which was a bonus. You have a free afternoon on Day 4, and I went to the Manjushri Monastery which is about 10 minutes from the hotel. If you are already fed up of Chinese food, there is a McDonalds near the hotel! This tour is good for vegetarians. You get a full Chinese "Lazy Susan" meal at lunch and dinner. The food is quite spicy in this area and they use a lot of chilli!

Day 5 was the flight to Lhasa and then a 2-3hr coach journey to Zhendang (Tsetang). Be sure to have enough water with you (there was none on the bus) and Tibetan hotels do not give you two complimentary bottles as in China. We were now at over 12,000ft, and there was the option of climbing up to the summit of a mountain where the Yumbulakang Palace is perched. If you are feeling OK, this is worth it. Several people were starting to feel the effects of the altitude, and some bought oxygen in the town - we all had to go out to buy water.

Day 6 A long but fascinating day. We left at 8 a.m and didn't get to the hotel in Gyantse until 1930. The scenery is spectacular, but be aware that you travel up to 16,200 feet and travel 200-300 miles today. The hotel has wonderful murals etc., but was cold (they had two room heaters). I recommend taking a thermal top and thick socks - I also used both blankets in the wardrobe. Beds are hard, but I had the best sleep!

Day 7 in Gyantse, and this is where you see the real Tibet with a walk down Cow Street, the Palkhor Chode Monastery and if you are up to it, a climb up the really interesting Gyantse Kumbum Stupa. If you want to take photos here you have to pay 10 yuan. In the majority of palaces/monasteries/prayer halls, you cannot take photographs. If you are lucky you will stop at a typical Tibetan farmhouse to see how they really live. The hotel at Shigatse was very good - walk in shower, and oxygen!

Day 8. A long coach trip (6-7 hours) but with dramatic rocky mountain scenery from Shigatse to Lhasa. Visit to Tashi Lhunpo Monastery first. The hotel in Lhasa has a great location and is only 10 minutes from the Potala Palace and Barkhor Street (the old part of Lhasa). Be aware, lack of hot water can be an issue at this hotel (they use solar panels), and some people changed their rooms.

The days in Lhasa covered visits to the Potala Palace (winter home of the Dalai Lama), Norbulingka Summer Palace and Johkang Temple. Also Sera Monastery. The climb up to the top of the Potala Palace is 1,080 steps, but so worth it! Lhasa is a fascinating city and is a photographer's paradise! Tibetan food is very good. Butter tea tastes like Scottish tablet (there were 5 of us Scots on the trip!)

Day 11. I am hoping that for the next tour, that flights can be changed for this day, as we travelled for 15 hours with two flights and a stay in Xi'an airport of 4 hours.

Day 12 Guilin in China. I didn't do the Longshen Rice Terraces which was a full day, but did go to the Reed Flute Caves. Two of us did a guided walk around Peach Blossom Lake, which I can thoroughly recommend. We had to revert to Starbucks to get a decent coffee!

Day 13 A very relaxing cruise on the Li River from Guilin down to Yangshuo. West Street near the hotel has everything you could want souvenir-wise. I can thoroughly recommend doing the optional show on the lake in the evening - Impressions Liu Sanjie.

Day 14 A visit to a vegetable market in Yangshuo, and then on to the Cookery School to cook 5 dishes for our lunch! I was a bit apprehensive about doing this, but we all did it (bar one) and thoroughly enjoyed it. None of us set the place on fire or cooked inedible food! It is in a beautiful setting out in the country. The beer went down well too! Some of our tour did the bicycle ride in the afternoon, which they evidently enjoyed!

I did the add-on to Hong Kong, and will do a separate review for that. The others flew back to Chengdu and had a night there before flying back to the UK.

In conclusion, this really is a wonderful tour, and you need to go sooner rather than later, especially to Tibet, as the Chinese are building, building, building, and the old way of life may change very soon. Any questions, please ask.

Cheers,

Hils

Thank you the review and I'm glad you enjoyed the holiday. This tour is top of my shortlist for 2018 so I will certainly be back with questions if I do book. 

Taffy.

Many thanks for this brilliant review - I'd really like to do this tour and hope JY tweak it a little along the lines you've mentioned - particularly giving time to acclimatise and making sure water is readily available.  Glad you enjoyed it so much.  Next stop Crete!!

Cheers,

Bob

As you know I was on this tour with you and had a fabulous time. I'm glad I left the review to you as you have done a very good job. It has brought back good memories. This is a wonderful tour full of contrasts and variety. 

A can of coke at the evening meal worked wonders for me when in Tibet and there are no doubts you must keep hydrated. Tibet was the undoubted highlight but there were many other memorable moments.

Layers are the order of the day for clothing. I had shorts, T shirts, trousers, fleeces, light jacket and wore all of them .. not at once! We were lucky and had no rain apart from one evening that didn't really affect us. The hotel in Gyantse is cool but I was warm enough when in bed and it was only for one night. 

Flying from Edinburgh to Amsterdam avoiding Heathrow is great for me too. No changing terminals. You may have a bit of a walk but all the gates are in the one hub at Amsterdam.

A great holiday with lovely people.

A

Thank you for your wonderful review.  I really want to do this trip one day and hopefully the itinerary will be tweaked by then.  It does sound amazing apart from the toilets which you eventually get used to.

It looks like I will need to get myself a bit fitter before I book.

Warm regards Julie xx

Rae

Regards

Jaya

Thank you very much for your excellent review and yes, as I am on the September departure of this tour I had been looking out for a review since you all arrived back. So pleased that you wrote it before your reply from Customer Services!

I did want to see a review before I paid my final balance!

Despite the problems you all seemed to have enjoyed the holiday. I had already spoken to the GP regarding Diamox and stronger motion sickness tablets. I always take antibiotics with me on this sort of holiday anyway, but I hadn't thought of cold remedies. My case is my pharmacy, doesn't matter about clothes!!

All your comments are helpful especially the one about bottles of water and the fact that you can buy oxygen.

I will probably drink a bottle of coke in the evenings like Angie.

Best wishes

Di (Borneo and India)

.. In conclusion, this really is a wonderful tour, and you need to go sooner rather than later, especially to Tibet, as the Chinese are building, building, building, and the old way of life may change very soon. Any questions, please ask.

Cheers,

Hils

Hi Hills.  Well done on the thoroughness of your review - it was such an intense two weeks that a lot of it has got muddled in my head and I have to refer to my vast collection of photographs to remember what happened on which day 

One addition to the medication hoard that I would suggest ppl take is sudafed or similar for clearing the airways at night-time - barring a headache, my only altitude-sickness symptom was a few nosebleeds and general stuffiness, though that could as easily have been to do with the air con in all the hotel rooms, coach journeys, etc.  Tibet has stunning scenery and fascinating people though and so it was totally worth any discomfort.

I did go on the rice terrace excursion that Hills missed and would certainly recommend it - I thought it was perhaps a bit pricey beforehand, but it does in fact include an entrance fee to a sort of preservation area with its own shuttle bus up the mountain-side (plus you get a truly enormous packed lunch box).  The scenery was fantastic, even during early season when the rice hadn't actually been planted yet, and it was so peaceful as there were no other tourists to speak of.  It is a reasonably long walk uphill to see the village (where we had impromptu visits inside a traditional home, as well as a fume-filled brewery with a taster of the goods) but plenty of time just to wander along the lane at leisure taking in the view and nature.

Just a note on the walking - in at least a couple of places there was the option of paying for a donkey ride (up to Yumbulakang Palace) or sedan chair (reed flute caves) (not that anyone in the group did, so I can't comment on value for money or anything!)  The pace everywhere was reasonable though and our lovely tour guide was excellent at looking after everyone's needs.  As she'd grown up in China she also supplemented the local tour guides' commentary with her own insights.

I had a fabulous time on this trip and my fellow travel buddies will be amused to hear that I've already invested in some new, larger luggage in anticipation of (eventually, after a stretch of saving up) going on another adventure some day - possibly back to China for a third time 

Glad to hear you have got a bigger case! Your take on travelling light was a true inspiration to us all !  I hope you get to try it out soon. 

I'd put lip balm in the case. Never wear the stuff but would have liked it in Tibet. Stuff for the airways is a good point as it affected a few of us. Our guide in Burma gave us a gift of a small container of something equivalent to tiger balm and I swithered about taking it on this hol. I didn't. I wish I had. 

Still think about this holiday a lot ... particularly Tibet.

Angie

thank you for a brilliant and very helpful review especially loos ok for the chaps but dodgy for us girls !!, glad the water situation has been dealt with and hope the Lhasa days have been switched around, Looking forward to meeting fellow travellers hope to find another Tibetan Buddhist to chat to.

Thanks again Chris

Hi All,

Apologies for the lateness of putting this review on the Forum, but I have written to the Head of Customer Services with suggestions on improving the itinerary for future tour dates, and was going to wait until she came back to me, but appreciate that the September tour needs to know things now rather than later.

First of all, this is a fantastic tour and I thoroughly enjoyed it throughout. However there are certain things that you need to know! You need to be reasonably fit (I actually lost weight, and ate everything!), have no mobility problems whatsoever - there is a lot of walking/climbing up to palaces/monasteries etc. - you don't of course have to do these, but you will be missing out on some incredible experiences. I recommend seeing your doctor/practice nurse regarding getting a prescription for Diamox (helps with Altitude Sickness), using Sea Bands (for those long windy coach trips) and taking Cold/Flu remedies with you - you are in and out of air conditioning. You will also need lots of tissues/wet wipes/anti bacterial gel, rehydration salts, headache pills, a hat, suncream, comfortable walking shoes, a fleece, 3 pin flat plug adaptor etc. Be prepared for the pretty horrendous Tibetan loos, which are mostly hole in the ground ones. Take each day as it comes, and enjoy this wonderful trip.

I'm not going to do a minute by minute review, but will try and give a brief summary where possible. The itinery changed a bit from the planned one, but everything was covered.

A bonus for me was that I could fly from Glasgow and avoid Heathrow as all the flights had to change at Amsterdam to Chengdu. KLM were excellent. You have 3 nights in Chengdu in a good hotel. I recommend the Panda Breeding Researh Centre optional trip - we saw baby pandas playing which was a bonus. You have a free afternoon on Day 4, and I went to the Manjushri Monastery which is about 10 minutes from the hotel. If you are already fed up of Chinese food, there is a McDonalds near the hotel! This tour is good for vegetarians. You get a full Chinese "Lazy Susan" meal at lunch and dinner. The food is quite spicy in this area and they use a lot of chilli!

Day 5 was the flight to Lhasa and then a 2-3hr coach journey to Zhendang (Tsetang). Be sure to have enough water with you (there was none on the bus) and Tibetan hotels do not give you two complimentary bottles as in China. We were now at over 12,000ft, and there was the option of climbing up to the summit of a mountain where the Yumbulakang Palace is perched. If you are feeling OK, this is worth it. Several people were starting to feel the effects of the altitude, and some bought oxygen in the town - we all had to go out to buy water.

Day 6 A long but fascinating day. We left at 8 a.m and didn't get to the hotel in Gyantse until 1930. The scenery is spectacular, but be aware that you travel up to 16,200 feet and travel 200-300 miles today. The hotel has wonderful murals etc., but was cold (they had two room heaters). I recommend taking a thermal top and thick socks - I also used both blankets in the wardrobe. Beds are hard, but I had the best sleep!

Day 7 in Gyantse, and this is where you see the real Tibet with a walk down Cow Street, the Palkhor Chode Monastery and if you are up to it, a climb up the really interesting Gyantse Kumbum Stupa. If you want to take photos here you have to pay 10 yuan. In the majority of palaces/monasteries/prayer halls, you cannot take photographs. If you are lucky you will stop at a typical Tibetan farmhouse to see how they really live. The hotel at Shigatse was very good - walk in shower, and oxygen!

Day 8. A long coach trip (6-7 hours) but with dramatic rocky mountain scenery from Shigatse to Lhasa. Visit to Tashi Lhunpo Monastery first. The hotel in Lhasa has a great location and is only 10 minutes from the Potala Palace and Barkhor Street (the old part of Lhasa). Be aware, lack of hot water can be an issue at this hotel (they use solar panels), and some people changed their rooms.

The days in Lhasa covered visits to the Potala Palace (winter home of the Dalai Lama), Norbulingka Summer Palace and Johkang Temple. Also Sera Monastery. The climb up to the top of the Potala Palace is 1,080 steps, but so worth it! Lhasa is a fascinating city and is a photographer's paradise! Tibetan food is very good. Butter tea tastes like Scottish tablet (there were 5 of us Scots on the trip!)

Day 11. I am hoping that for the next tour, that flights can be changed for this day, as we travelled for 15 hours with two flights and a stay in Xi'an airport of 4 hours.

Day 12 Guilin in China. I didn't do the Longshen Rice Terraces which was a full day, but did go to the Reed Flute Caves. Two of us did a guided walk around Peach Blossom Lake, which I can thoroughly recommend. We had to revert to Starbucks to get a decent coffee!

Day 13 A very relaxing cruise on the Li River from Guilin down to Yangshuo. West Street near the hotel has everything you could want souvenir-wise. I can thoroughly recommend doing the optional show on the lake in the evening - Impressions Liu Sanjie.

Day 14 A visit to a vegetable market in Yangshuo, and then on to the Cookery School to cook 5 dishes for our lunch! I was a bit apprehensive about doing this, but we all did it (bar one) and thoroughly enjoyed it. None of us set the place on fire or cooked inedible food! It is in a beautiful setting out in the country. The beer went down well too! Some of our tour did the bicycle ride in the afternoon, which they evidently enjoyed!

I did the add-on to Hong Kong, and will do a separate review for that. The others flew back to Chengdu and had a night there before flying back to the UK.

In conclusion, this really is a wonderful tour, and you need to go sooner rather than later, especially to Tibet, as the Chinese are building, building, building, and the old way of life may change very soon. Any questions, please ask.

Cheers,

Hils

Hi Hils,

I’m booked on the May 2018 trip.  I’m a pretty seasoned traveller so reasonably prepared for all eventualities, however I’d really appreciate advice on what weather/temperatures we can expect in May.  I believe our luggage allowance is limited due to the internal flights so don’t want to pack more ‘just in case’ clothes than necessary.  Any advice you could give would be very greatfully recieved ?. 

Many thanks,

Bridget

Sorry, just seen your post. There was one really cold night, so I did pack a thermal top and thick socks. A light fleece is always useful - looking at the photos that were taken of me (luckily just the back of me!) I was wearing a fleece on early morning excursions, but this was shed later on. I would suggest lighweight trousers/capris/t-shirts that can be washed, and dry, overnight (Craghoppers, Rohan etc.). Best to check the daily weather forecast online for each of the places you are going to.

Enjoy!

Cheers,

Hils

Hi Bridget,

Sorry, just seen your post. There was one really cold night, so I did pack a thermal top and thick socks. A light fleece is always useful - looking at the photos that were taken of me (luckily just the back of me!) I was wearing a fleece on early morning excursions, but this was shed later on. I would suggest lighweight trousers/capris/t-shirts that can be washed, and dry, overnight (Craghoppers, Rohan etc.). Best to check the daily weather forecast online for each of the places you are going to.

Enjoy!

Cheers,

Hils

That’s brilliant, thanks Hils ?. I wasn’t sure whether to pack the duck down, thermals and hiking boots or t shirts, shorts and sandals ??. Looks like layers are the order of the day. Xxx