mailee - We went to China to meet up with my daughter who was on the last but one leg of her gap year after she graduated. We booked on the net with a Chinese travel agent. We were picked up from the airport in a limo and then transferred into a people carrier in the middle of a bustling back street, where we paid the $2000+ as the tour balance. Apart from this disconcerting start the tour went exceedingly well. We were with a couple of Americans for the first two days, they then went off to the Silk Road, and then we transferred to a Lexus 4x4. For the next 15 days my wife, myself and daughter plus guide and driver were the only people on the trip. We went to all the local bars, cafes and restaurants with the guide and driver, so we really saw a lot of the real china. The best being in the mountains near the panda reserve when the local cafe owner went out of the back door dropped his net in the river and 2 mins later hauled out a fish. Don't know what it was but it was certainly fresh and tasty. In fact all of the food was very good and the only bout of dickey tummy we had was after we ate the food on the flight home.
I would certainly go back, I have enough stories and memories to fill a book.
