26 Jun 2024
First of all, and the main positive, is that the great thing about using Charles Tour is that you can customize 100% of your itinerary whether you want just to be picked from the station or airport and be guided to your hotel or be attended through the entry to the various sites or you want full and very long guided adventure days like us.
It was very smooth to communicate with Charles from way before the trip until after the trip as he was so honest that he refunded the cost of the Guilin 4lakes&2 rivers Cruise which did not take place due to floods in the days preceding our visit.
Apparently the biggest flooding since 50 years!
That was unfortunate and the bad weather totally out of his control.
The only criticism could be that we were told on all communications that there would be him in person as a guide plus a driver.
Instead, as he was busy with something else, there was just the driver Sundy who spoke English and was very accommodating, patient and sweet with us.
Basically we were expecting a guide and a driver but those two roles were condensed in one person only.
Perhaps this should have been clarified earlier and using first person sentences avoided (I will come collect you, I will take you,.. I will show you etc.).
However Sundy gave us an excellent service, second to none, making things happen for us in very particular days when things were cancelled or barely opened because of the flood.
For instance, with a series of frantic calls he managed to organize for the cormorant fishing show to still go ahead, which turned out to be the highlight of the day (and perhaps of the whole trip in China) and tried for us to be able to take a bamboo raft cruise when in Yangshuo instead of the cancelled Guilin lakes cruise .. unfortunately also the bamboo raft trips were not running due to the dangers of the Li river floods and speed of the water rapids.
Still we appreciated the attempts to make up for something out of their control.
Recommended to personalize your trip for your days in Guilin area.