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My brother and I recently toured Hangzhou with Jenny as a tour guide, and we were very pleased with her services.  She had a good grasp of English and gave some very interesting tidbits of information regarding the various sites we visited, including the Lingyin temple, West Lake, and the tea museum.  She was fairly quick to respond to my inquiries via email prior to our trip.  She created a nice itinerary that included the sites that I wanted to see along with some additional recommendations.  She also was able to reserve tickets in advance to the Impressions West Lake show that we wanted to see in the evening, and she gave some background on the story the show portrayed before we went to watch the show.  We wanted to use public transportation to get around Hangzhou, and though it can be a bit difficult to grab a taxi in that particular city, she handled it like a pro (but a word of advice:  getting taxis in Hangzhou seems to be a bit of a chore, so it may still be worth getting a private driver if you can afford it).  Since it was raining the day we went, she offered to change the tour schedule accordingly.  In fact, she was quite flexible as a tour guide, so when we got tired in the afternoon she was happy to let us take a break.  We enjoyed the various sites she took us to along with the background information she gave us on the history associated with these places.  Her restaurant recommendation was also highly affordable and quite tasty.  Before I went on my tour with her, I did see a few negative comments on TripAdvisor about her grasp of English along with one comment about her checking her phone several times over the day.  However, I feel these comments were fairly unwarranted.  Firstly, I felt that for a Chinese native, her English quite good.  While she struggled on occasion to find the right word, she was able to communicate some pretty complex information, whether it was regarding Chinese history, tea making, or buddhism.  She did receive a few phone calls over the day that she needed to answer, but I feel that is to be expected when she has to spend her entire day accompanying visitors on their trips to the area, and the phone calls never seemed to hinder any part of our trip.  Overall, we were quite satisfied with Jenny as our tour guide, and we would definitely recommend her services.

My husband and I spent 6 days in Hangzhou and had a wonderful time. Thanks to Jenny who was a BIG help to us. Her promptness in responding to my emails prior to our trip paved way to a strong, good relationship. With my proposed itinerary, conditioned by my health (partial immobile with own wheelchair), Jenny helped draft a flexible 4-day tour (31/10-3/11). She also arranged for a round trip airport transfer at a cheaper price than hotel limousine. All these prior arrangements eased out my mind a lot.

When we actually met, she was even nicer and took great care of us as if we were her elders. We used taxis in going to places and she wouldn’t mind pushing my wheelchair around or finding modern toilets for me, or supporting me on my short walks. As a guide, she’s more than capable. Her fluent English coupled with her in-depth knowledge of history and legends made our tour even more interesting and enjoyable one. One day I felt too weak to make a long trip to Shanghai as earlier planned, she immediately cancelled the pre-paid bullet train tickets and went to the station to claim part of the refunds for us. Then she came up very quickly with the back-up tour program for that day. Very flexible indeed! Not to mention that she always put our interests and welfare first, even if she had to argue with many black taxi drivers who were trying to rip us off during rush hours (my husband could pick up some Chinese phrases).

By the end of our 4-day tour we became close friends. Her efficiency, dedication, devotion, genuine care, laughter, tolerance, and the accustomed phrase “no problem” left such a great impression on our hearts.

If you’re looking for an efficient, good-humored, caring, understanding and honest tour guide in Hangzhou, then look no further. I strongly and wholeheartedly recommend Jenny as your guide.