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Thread: Three weeks in China

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[quote=BARONTWANGLE,277763]I am not sure - I booked it at a hostel, but on the side of the bus it said "Jinshanling to Simatai Great Wall Tour"!  Must have taken them ages to think up that one! haha

On the way back, the guide was talking to driver (in Chinese - and probably assuming no one else would understand).  They were basically complaining how bad their company was, how low they get paid (1500!), and how unprofessional their boss is.   I must admit, if the boss was the same guy who I briefly met in the morning, then I would have to agree with them.

When we booked this tour, it said transport was by a "luxury air conditioned bus".  My girlfriend gets travel sick in small vehicles, so this was important.  You can guess what turned up the next morning - a 6 seat mini van.  We were collected from a hostel close to Dongzhimen, and then went spinning around Beijing to collect others (most of which we never found), and exactly 1.15hrs later, we were back in Dongzhimen, only about 200 metres from our hotel!

There was of course a big "luxury air conditioned bus" (although I would have used the word "standard" instead of "luxury"), but this was now full, so we were told we would have to do the 3 hour journey in the mini van.  When we explained the problem to the guy (who I think was the boss), he wasn't at all sympathetic, and started arguing.  Then after a couple of minutes, the driver of the large bus said he had "found some seats for us".  I don't know where they had been hiding before, but all of a sudden there were 2 extra seats (which I suspect had been holding sandwiches until this point).  Anyway, I have no doubt that this problem would not have solved by communication with the boss alone.  I was grateful when the bus pulled away, and we departed without him.

No matter how good or bad a tour company is however, what can do about the bickering Americans?!!!!!

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