09 Dec 2018
We had a great day in Beijing seeing all the prime tourist sights and getting a taste of local life, especially in the Hutongs. Our tour guide, Flower, is informative and gave plenty of information at each site. There are a couple of issues though. Our tour to the temple of heaven was incredibly rushed. We went early in the morning when there were no tourists around but we were quickly hastened away back to the mini van to go to a "pearl factory" which involved a 10 minute video, 10 minute pearl extraction demonstration and then 30 minutes to look at a room full of pearls. Visiting the pearl museum was not listed in the online itinerary. Furthermore, while we made it clear that we were not interested in purchasing pearl items, we were still pressured to make a purchase. We didn't purchase anything and left. At the end of the day, after visiting the Hutongs we were taken to a tea ceremony, which again, was not listed in the itinerary. However, the tea ceremony itself was interesting and I felt less pressured to make a purchase here. Flower was also passionate about tea and gave very good tips on getting quality tea. Overall, good day. However, I was disappointed with the length of the tour because it was so rushed. We left our hotel at 8am, finished at 1.30pm and we were then taken back to be dropped off. This tour is clearly misadvertised as a full day tour and did not advertise the pearl factory or tea ceremony. This tour company should either advertise the pearl factory and tea ceremony or should not take tourists there. Very very disappointing. Not sure if it's worth the money you pay for a half day tour with ingenuine tactics to take you to undisclosed locations to only pressure you into making frivolous purchases. I hope the tour company takes my review as a stepping stone to improve their tour and properly advertise. Misleading conduct is never okay.