02 May 2023
Our trip was on a Saturday, 22-Apr. Since China had just opened up, there were no English tours available. Nora (our contact person from the tour company) informed me about this before finalizing the bookings. Rather than joining the default Chinese group tour (w/c included coach service from Guilin hotel to cruise port and from Yangshuo to Guilin hotel), we agreed on the ff. customized booking:
✅ ???? Private car from hotel ???? to cruise port ⛴️; driver helped claim our cruise tickets ???? at the port - he barely spoke any English, but he was very friendly and helpful ???? We were able to get by trading few words of English & Chinese (I studied basic Chinese), with matching improvised hand-gestures ????
✅ ⛴️ 3-star Li River cruise ⭐⭐⭐; ⏳4hrs from Guilin to Yangshuo; inclusions: ????assigned seat, ????️ packed lunch, ???? unlimited complimentary tea, ???? Chinese-speaking guide (who speaks very clearly, so translate apps are able to convert her Chinese speech to English text well). There's also a pedestal toilet ???? onboard (a rarity in China). Again, staff onboard did not speak English, but they were very hospitable ????. We were the only foreigners onboard, but we felt like we received the same quality of service as the locals. We were lucky too that our fellow passengers at our table on the cruise were polite & friendly.
✅ ????(Free time to explore Yangshuo on our own)
✅ ???? Private car from Yangshuo ???? to Guilin hotel ????; ⏳ total travel time was around 2hr (departing Yangshuo at 5pm; heavy traffic at the city/town centers due to a local holiday/festival)
The change from shared coach to private transfers required an additional payment, but it was well worth it.
Nora was very helpful ???????? On top of arranging all the bookings, she kept in touch with us online (via WeChat) during our tour day to continue helping us. For example, she would speak to one of our drivers (who did not speak English) on our behalf.
I highly recommend this service to foreign tourists (esp. first-timers in China) because it spares you the trouble of having to book transport & cruise tickets yourself, which is VERY challenging if you do not (1) speak Chinese and (2) have WeChat/AliPay. Note that:
[] Most local websites (to buy tickets or make bookings) are in Chinese only, so they may not even turn up in your Bing search. (No Google in China)
[] Most establishments only accept WeChat/AliPay (i.e. cash/card not accepted); you can only setup accounts for those if you have a Chinese bank account or credit card
...so, it's a BIG deal that you just pay once on Viator (via card or PayPal) for all those travel bookings.