Like I've blogged about earlier in my {Beijing Adventures} Ming Tombs 31.0, I found the website online and after doing some research, it was a real company (yay!). I honestly believe that the major concern, as a foreigner traveling to China, is trusting a random company to do its job and mainly take you to visit the site safely. (Unless you have the money to spend to hire a private tour guide, which costs at least RMB$1200 per person depending on the sites you wish to visit.) There is a BeijingToursGuide.com, BeijingTourGuide.com, and a BeijingTourGuides.com. How confusing.
My main goal was to visit the Ming Tomb and the Great Wall. There are a couple options for budget savvy travelers.
- Bus-- This is the cheapest option but one that requires more time. Finding the bus stop would be the first challenge and waiting for the bus to return to the city would be another. I didn't want to deal with that since we were only there for a couple of days. I rather pay a little more to take us there and back.
- Group Tours-- Less expensive option but still pricey depending on the tour company.
- Taxi-- Most expensive option and there's no guarantee that there is going to be a taxi by the Great Wall to take you back. Being stuck out in the rural parts of Beijing was not apart of my plans. #enoughsaid
After extensive research and considering all the possibilities, BeijingToursGuide.com was the best option to see exactly what I want. I booked the tour via phone for a tour the following day and received a confirmation the same night around 9PM, as promised according to their website, from the designated tour guide. The booking coordinator mentioned that there were going to be two shopping sites but I made him confirm that buying was not compulsory. And the total would be US$30 per person/RMB$200 per person. Our tour guide happened to be Mark. I don't know if it was his accent or he wanted to sound like he was the bomb dot com but he sounded pretty arrogant over the phone. Brushed that off. Fast forward to next morning and we met Mark in the lobby along with a couple from France who spoke minimal English.
Our itinerary was: Ming Tombs, Jade Factory, Lunch at the Jade Factory, Great Wall, Pearl Factory, then taking pictures outside of the Olympic Stadium.
In the beginning, it was obvious that Mark tried his best to engage everybody. Even though he didn't get much response.. At least he had Amar to talk to. He did try to tell us facts along during the ride to the Ming Tombs. So I'll give him that but as soon as we finished "shopping" and "learning" the facts in the Jade Factory (below) and we all didn't buy anything, his attitude totally changed.
Talk was minimal (which was fine with me) and he would walk really quick like he was trying to get rid of us. But we all knew that he would get commission if any one of us buys anything. One of the Jamaican guys we befriended said he overheard the owner of the Jade Factory tell his associates to bring the group to the cheaper area to get us to buy anything. I have to give them props for trying, especially since we were walking around to get rid of the associates following us.
Really.. You're in China. Give it up. Great Wall was great as always but Mark didn't explain much. I basically told Amar everything I knew about it.. After we all tobogganed down the Great Wall, we were all exhausted and ready to go home. But guess where we went next! Yes, that is correct. The Pearl Factory! Yay! It was located near the Olympic Stadium so we went to take a few pictures first. Mark said the Pearl Factory was apart of the government's.. weird. The tour of the Pearl Factory basically told us pearl's history and how to tell real from fake.
This is where we were all like =__________= and ready to go. (Their pearls weren't even that nice. They all looked fake to me.) We were standing in a circle, all talking when Mark came up to us to tell us to look around and to not stand around. Um, how about no. We basically walked to another area to start talking again. We all looked around and decided we didn't want to buy anything. Therefore, we were waiting for the time to be up and to be taken back to our respective hotels. The guys got fed up and decided to confront Mark after awhile to let us leave to take the subway/taxi ourselves so we can get away from the Pearl Factory. He then targeted ME. Yes, me (since I was the only Asian person in the crowd, he decided to target me hoping I was going to stand on his side. Hellno!) He asked me during a heated argument whether I read the itinerary before booking the tour. I ended up telling him Amar booked it. Lol! Mark said if we don't stay, it would affect his salary. And then the boys were saying that it's irrelevant since we paid for the tour and his salary had nothing to do with us. That's some personal business you got with your company. When we finally got to leave after 15 minutes of arguing, you can tell was Mark was:
Oowee. When we were boarding, our Jamaican buddies bid their farewells and went to take the subway themselves so they left us with the devil. Once we got back in our mini bus, he whipped around and went on a rant about how we should look into the itinerary before booking etc etc etc. And how if we wanted a tour without all the factories, we should've booked a private tour.
Sounds personal. This surely cannot be the only tour he's taken where nobody bought anything from the factories. During his rant, we hit heavy traffic (awkward) and the driver figured out what happened and was literally trying to kill us. It was to the point where Amar and I were dropped off at our hotel and the other three people got off with us cause they couldn't stand being in the car and would rather take the subway/taxi back.
//end of rant//
Overall I think if you are patient and willing to wait and brush the sales associates off, you'd enjoy the tour especially if you are visiting those places that are in the outer areas that is harder to get to. I definitely enjoyed the sites but the tour company needs to reconsider who they hire. #ohChina. It is definitely the most reliable, budget friendly company out there.
A RECAP:
The Good:
The Good:
- Ease of booking and confirming
- Transportation from site to site
- Meeting people from different countries!
The Bad:
- Tour Guide and Driver's attitude
- Shopping sites-- Honestly, I don't mind going to the shopping sites as it is a good experience, especially since we all know it's a tourist trap. However, to be so persistent to the point where standing in a circle with my fellow tourists was not allowed. Are you serious..
- Shopping is not compulsory but forced
xoxoxoxo
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