Kungfu Panda Like 0

We were in China nearly a month and since we arranged our trip only two weeks prior to leaving, we consulted Synotrip for a guide service. Rain recommended excellent guides through her network of fellow guides in Shanghai, Xian, Guilin and Beijing. Our Beijing guide was Steven as Catherine was busy. Steven spoke excellent English, had a vast historical and cultural knowledge of the city, willingingly adapted the itinerary to our wishes, was enthusiastic and eager to make our touring memorable. We very highly recommend him. He picked the perfect day (sun!), less crowded area of the Great Wall, had a good car (with seat belts) and driver, and left the city early to avoid crowds. The Wall was better than we imagined. Steven took great pictures of us and for us throughout our 3 days with him--he knew just the right spots for the best photos. He was a delightful young man who takes a lot of pride in his job. We thoroughly enjoyed touring with him. We very definitely recommend Catherine to arrange outstanding guides in other areas of China as well as in Beijing if she's occuppied. (Yes, pay for the guide's lunch/dinner. He/she will take you to inexpensive, clean restaurants.) The cost of a guide, plus a nice tip, was well worth the expense because China would not have been negociable nor nearly as interesting if we didn't have guides. We learned as much from talking to our guides about China and their culture and lives as we did seeing the "sights". Each guide who Rain recommended was prompt in replying to our emails as we arranged pick up times and locations. If we hadn't discovered Rain and her network of guides, our trip to China would have not been as wonderful as it was.

I did my booking very late with Rain, because I didn't plan the trip ahead very well. She still met us on time at the train station for pick-up and was an excellent guide for the next 3 days.

We had young children with us and Rain kept them entertained all through. She and her husband happily helped out with pictures and all...

Rain has excellent knowledge of Beijing and the key attactions and she was very flexible, accommodating our ever-changing schedule.

She speaks very good English, a very important factor for us.

My kids had such a swell time that they've been asking me when we are going back to Beijing to see Rain!!!

I will definitely use her again when in Beijing. 

I was with my family in Beijing from Jul 7 - 10. We called Rain just the day before we arrived in Beijing and she was still able to pick us up at the train station when we arrived.

Rain speaks good English and knows all the places to go in Beijing. She was very flexible with our frequent changes and didn't complain when we took some more time than planned. Rain and her husband were very helpful with taking pictures and helping out with the kids every now and then. All this was done in a calm, relaxed and very friendly atmosphere.

All in all, Rain made our trip to Beijing memorable and I will definitely recommend her to anyone visiting Beijing.

I traveled to Beijing for business and since I was spending two weeks in Asia, I decided to stay the weekend in Beijing and see the city. Given my limited time, I decided to go with a private guide, and I am glad I did. While private guides are typically more expensive than going on a tour with 40+ people, you can go at your own pace and have a say in what you want to see. Personally, I like to see a lot of things and am in good enough shape to move fast and walk fast all day to do so.

I found Kungfu Panda tour through Synotrip , but unfortunately (or fortunately now) she was not available on short notice and instead suggested Emily.

Emily was great overall. She was younger and agile and that was perfect for my fast paced sight seeing I typically like to do.

Emily and the driver picked me up at my hotel at 8 am and she was there right on time.

We hopped in the car and off we went. Our first stop was Tiananmen square and the Forbidden city. On the way to our first stop, Emily was talking a bit fast for me at the start but it was clear that she knew a lot. She pointed out many things on the way along with explaining the history or why they were important. Once at our first stop, we did not actually go and walk onto Tiananmen square and instead looked at it from the Forbidden city side of a very busy street. At first I was slightly disappointed we didn’t actually go onto Tiananmen square, but in retrospect it probably wasn’t worth the time. Emily always seemed to be managing time very well.

I should mention that it was great to have a driver. He would drop us off, Emily would do her tour, he would park, Emily would then call him on her cell phone to either locate him or inform him to pick us up, we hopped back in the car and off we went. Very efficient. Very convenient especially with so many cars, so many people, so few parking spaces, so little time.

Emily gave the driver a caller and we were off to the Great Wall at Mutianyu. Emily took me to a section of the wall that isn’t as frequently traveled. While it was still busy, I am sure it wasn’t as busy as some other parts of the wall and therefore I could see more with the limited time I had. I mean, we still had to get back to the city to see the Olympic Stadium.

The drive to the Great Wall was long and most likely if you didn’t have a private tour and driver you couldn’t see more than that in a single day. With Emily and the driver though, we were going to see more than just the wall in the 9 hour day we had though. The trip to the wall took awhile. I forget exactly but it was at least a good hour drive. When we got to the area, Emily asked if I wanted to eat lunch then or after the wall. It was about Noon at the time and I indicated I would rather eat before hiking the wall. We found a nice little place at the base of the hill/mountain to the Wall and had lunch.

At the start of the tour, I didn’t know if it was customary to pay for the tour up front or at the end. I decided to pay at the end and Emily or the driver didn’t say otherwise at the start.

The driver was excellent too. I am sure they get forgotten a bit in the mix of these reviews but I would like to say that he was a safe driver, the Hyundai car was clean and relatively new, he seemed to always be happy, and he always dropped us off at the best spots.

Great 9 hour tour and I would recommend it to anyone that could keep up a fast pace and had limited time.

Rain has provided us with an excellent service for these days in Beijing. there were no bad surprises at all. All her recommended tour was just great. This was a privet tour for a family of 5, 2 adults and 3 children. All the expectations were clearly outlined bu Rain in terms of price, places and duration of the tour.

Rain also organized transfer from airport to hotel and vice-verse and the drivers were absolutely kind and punctual. No issues at all and definitely recommend this service.

It wasn’t planned this way. I went to Beijing on business. After interviewing six business interpreters, Rain was clearly the best. At the end of the first day of business meetings, Rain was so good at what she did that I voluntarily gave her a raise. She didn’t ask; I just thought she was that excellent. In the course of a weeks’ business meetings, I mentioned that after the meetings I planned to tour China for about 8 days. It was then that Catherine told me she was also a tour guide. There was no question in my mind as to her being my tour guide also. Eight days later, and many sites and cities later, I still can’t say enough fantastic things about her. I’ve traveled many places over the years, and although I normally don’t travel with guides, some places it’s either mandatory or one is foolish not to. China is one place where English speakers are foolish not to hire an English speaking guide. And of all the places I’ve traveled and all the guides I’ve been around, Rain is head and shoulders above the rest. If you don’t employ Rain when you’re in China you’ve missed out on simply the best.