Fred our guide meet us at our downtown hotel and was friendly with excellent English language skills. We had a good steady pace for the day seeing all the listed items on the itinerary. Fred’s knowledge of each site its history and purpose was excellent and no question was to difficult. Lunch was great with more than we could eat in a quaint Chinese restaurant with local foods.
We do quite a few tours and found the company kept us informed of time guides as we approached the date of our tour. Fred our guide was excellent his driver was efficient and safe.
We would have no hesitation in recommending this tour.
I chose this tour because I wanted to get as much historical and cultural background as possible on a city I’ve never visited before. The itinerary our guide (Wang Wei/Fred) fashioned not only met my lofty expectations, it (and he) exceeded them by far. Uncannily knowledgeable about Chinese history and culture in general and his impressive home city’s in particular, after consulting with us as to our interests (and continuing to do so throughout the day), he treated us to a day full of education, variety and interest.
We started with a brief visit to Xuanwu Lake, a pleasant oasis reminiscent of the far-better known but much more touristy West Lake in Hangzhou, and a perfect start to the day. Next stop was nearby Jiming Temple, where Wang Wei’s commentary (and incense-burning instructions!) perfectly complemented the Buddhist practices the locals were actually performing there, just as in olden times. Next was one of the day’s highlights, the Tomb and grounds of the first Ming Emperor, where the lush but well-groomed landscape perfectly complemented the imposing imperial buildings and ruins and provided the perfect setting for Wang Wei’s dramatic lesson in the romance and tragedy of the Early Ming dynasty, and where we were able to really stretch our legs. Next was a delicious quick but authentic lunch at an unpretentious restaurant full of locals. Yum! After lunch, a visit to the imposing Ming city walls, once comprising 35 km of towering earth and stone ramparts, huge parts of which are still largely intact, including the largest gate and barbican. Then a visit to an architecturally impressive new, mostly underground, museum on the 1300-year-long imperial examination system in the same Confucius Temple neighborhood where the examinations were actually held, and which, on the day of our visit, was filled with kids cosplaying as imperial scholars, lending a goofily surreal but pleasant ambience. Last but not least, a visit to the site of the shipyards where the 7 magnificent Ming Treasure Fleets were built and sailed from by eunuch Muslim Admiral Zheng He, whose statue stands at the far end, not far from a charmingly dilapidated replica of one of his massive flagships. We had the park nearly to ourselves and the atmosphere was incredibly romantic. The perfect end to the perfect day of sightseeing in the hidden gem that is Nanjing!
I highly recommend this city, this tour and this guide!