Lara Li Like 0

I was able to book Lara with relatively little notice, and she was comfortable coming for an interview before taking my job.  

My two day visit to Shanghai consisted of visiting a series of private children's libraries and talking with the owners, workers, and parents.  At each stop we conducted a 90 minute interview.  We even did a brief storytime in an apartment for a group of four raucous toddlers!  Lara adapted to this very strange situation like the professional that she is.  She was able to simultaneously translate my questions into Chinese, and summarize the responses.  She asked clarifying questions.  She can speak and listen at the same time.  With no prior knowledge of my project, she was able to help me discuss early childhood development, trends in the Chinese publishing industry, and the importance of reading out loud to children.

As a bonus, she knows the city like the back of her hand, and was able to navigate to places faster than I could pull up my saved maps on my tablet.  She took the pressure and mystery out of ordering lunch.  And she's good company.

I highly recommend her for a business or site seeing trip!

I recently engaged Lara as a guide during a quick (two day) trip to Shanghai.  Lara was absolutely excellent, and I was very happy with the experience.  I had a number of specific things I wanted to see, and Lara designed an efficient path through the city that enabled us to accomplish all of these goals despite the time constraints.  She also made a series of wonderful suggestions (most notably, the fantastic propaganda "museum") of things that she thought I would like which I hadn't discovered during my preparatory research.  I was very impressed with her competence and professionalism.  In addition, Lara was very friendly and engaging --- it was a pleasure wandering around in her company.  I highly recommend her if you are going to Shanghai.

Lara was extremely welcoming and definitely made the trip much easier. Without her, maneuvering through the busy streets of shanghai would have been stressful. She felt less like a formal tour guide and more like a friend by the end of the day. She was very knowledgable about the history of Shanghai as well as its current state. Lara made great recommendations for restaurants as well as sites. Book her and you will not be disappointed!

I contracted Lara to help arrange a very aggressive business travel schedule and to assist with meetings and translations. We were to visit 6 different factories in various cities from Beijing to Guangzhou. Lara was very helpful and arranged all of the air and train travel in advance. She also helped with hotel accomidation.

Throughout the 9 days, she was very professional and helpful. Se assisted in translation/communication, daily travel, and identified good places to eat. I would recomend her for any tourism or business assistance needs that you may have in China.

Brock Hemmingsen

2-17-14 through 2-26-14

Hmmm, I never write reviews, but Lara is worth writing about.  She is very professional, her English is excellent and she has a great sense of humor.  

I hired her back in June for 2 days when I had a weekend free in Shanghai.  I don't like to do museums or typical tourist sites, and Lara was able to fulfill my wishes.  We spent time going to a glass blowing museum (cool! well hot really if you think about blown glass) and a food and wine tasting tour that happened to be in town.  I enjoyed my time with her immensely.  We also spent a day at an ancient water town.  I did bow to a typical tourist spot, the Vue at the top of the Hyatt on the Bund.  Well worth it for the views of course.

In fact, I hired her again just this past weekend for another odd adventure, a dim sum cooking class in Shanghai.  I'm sure Lara can take you to your standard tourist spots if you so wish, but she can also take you to places where most tourists don't go.

Hire her, you wont' regret it!

I've met Lara during my last business trip to Shanghai and for sure she was the best choice I could make!! She was very professional and always helpful during my stay. Open minded and traveler, Lara speaks fluent English and even if my first language is Italian, we never misunderstood each other. She knows a lot about Shanghai and Chinese culture. I would definitely recommend her both for business and leisure travels!