China Tour Guide Roundup

Image: Taken 6/21/07 at Hu Xueyan’s house. That is the main building facing the garden. Relaxing in the shade of the fishtail eaves are two of our tour guides: Molly (left), our local guide in Suzhou, and Spring (right), our national guide throughout China.

What would we ever have done in China without our tour guides? We had one national guide, Spring, who stayed with us throughout the duration of the trip, while other local guides would take us around each of the cities they lived in. They hooked us up with the meals, the special goodies like kites and Maglev tickets, and they had to put up with us and all of our grumblings for so many days. As a small aside, Spring did say we were a good group though, since none of us got lost or passed out. (Then again, she was used to touring older groups…like retiree-old.) But here is a short review of all of our tour guides in China.

Beijing (National Guide): Spring- Spring was the best national guide we could possibly have asked for. And that is no exaggeration. She was very well organized, very professional, and very nice. When I was in Beijing, I needed to buy a SIM card for my phone so that I would be able to call home. Nobody else had an international phone, so nobody else needed one. Yet, Spring went out of her way to take only me to go to a phone store and buy one. And this wasn’t just a leisurely stroll. It was a fifteen minute march through construction and the summer heat. But she did it anyway. She was a wonderful tour guide, and I think that we were all happy to have her with us.

Luoyang: Vivian- We only spent a day with Vivian. She really knew her stuff when it came to Buddhist history. Unfortunately, she talked a tad bit too much, and not too many of us were interested in the comprehensive history of the artifacts we were seeing. She would also ask questions that none of us would have the answer to, since we don’t really study Buddhism much, except in World Religions…which was back in 9^th grade. But Vee did hook us up with kites, which were quite fun.

Xian: Kathy (Cassie?)- Ah, Kathy. Where to start? Well, the first thing we heard her say was “Let’s move.” And the trademark phrases just followed: “Boys and girls, follow me quickly!” and “Follow me, no problem.” and “Follow me, save money.” She just couldn’t be chill like or Guilin guide, Peter, and needed us to follow her – and quickly without question, all the time. Ah yes. We will always have wonderful memories of Kathy and her parasol and heels. She wins some truly epic lulz.

Guilin: Peter- Peter was one of our more quiet tour guides. He was a cool guy who really helped us to do the stuff we wanted. His approach was pretty hands-off, and tended to let us do as we wished, while providing occasional commentary on the stuff we saw. He was surprisingly knowledgeable in chemistry, and talked about the kinds of anions and cations in the rocks we saw. He also told more jokes than any of the other tour guides.

Yangshuo: Peter- Yay, we had the same tour guide as in Guilin! More Peter!

Hangzhou: Molly- Molly was our youngest tour guide, and was still a college student. She was pretty much fresh to death, and was totally my favorite. Her trademark was that she was extremely proud of her city and wanted to show us all of its opulence and progress. Oh yes, and her other trademark was her tendency to repeat certain phrases, certain phrases. Oh god. We shouldn’t tease her. English isn’t her first language, and the Chinese like reduplicating phrases. Besides, she was so nice, so nice. (And I mean that.)

Suzhou: Rose- Rose was so quiet that it didn’t really feel like she was there during our time in Suzhou. Of course, that could be because we didn’t have very many organized tour activities. But since I don’t have any complaints about her, she must have done a good job. And the few times I do remember her giving information on the stuff we were seeing, she knew what she was talking about, and kept it concise.

Shanghai: Julia- Julia, like Molly, was very proud of her city. I can’t even remember how many times she reminded us about Shanghai heights, speed, and the city by night. I guess it worked, because I still remember those three things. She was pretty cool, and hooked us up with a ride on the Maglev, which was very chill.

Ah yes. We had so many good memories with these guides. Hmm, maybe since Spring has our emails, she’ll email us some pictures from her wedding!