Great tour in Guilin area

by Robert
(Shanghai)

We spend from May 2nd to May 7th 2010 5 days in the wonderful area of Guilin. We planned our tour with Jessie using email. Finally we ended up with the following tour we can highly recommend:
- Rice terasses in Ping'an
- Boot tour from Caoping to Yangdi
- Hike from Yangdi to Xingping (20 km)
- By car to Yangshou
- Bike ride from Yangshou to Pudi (20 km one way)
Jessie did a great job in planning. She knows the area very well. All the hotels she has choosen we liked a lot. Even the small hostel we stayed in Yangdi (there is nothing else). We liked very much. It was very basic but clean and very friendly people. When we arrived we discussed what we would eat for dinner so it could be bought fresh from the market and cooked for us later on (while we were watching to learn about chinese cooking).
In Yangshuo we stayed at the Magnolia hotel we can highly recommend.

As Jessie was busy with a bigger group this time our tour guide was Ping, a good friend of Jessie. Ping knows the area very well as she grew up here as well.
Ping is always good for a joke and you will not experience a boring day with her. Our kids loved her after one hour and they had a lot of fun together. Ping is very knowledgeable about culture and habits of the local people you will meet on your trip. It is very interesting to listen to her and get detailed information about the nice scenery you are experiencing.

The 5 days in Guilin area were a highlight of our China tour. We can highly recommend Jessie and Ping if you intend to visit this area. They will take care and you get a tailored trip according to your requirements which is far better than any of this standardized tourist trips you can book everywhere.