Testimonials from Our Most Recent tour Group Members

We have just completed a wonderful three week adventure to China under your guidance and organization. I can't think of a more complete survey of one country in the more than ten years of international travel that my wife and I have experienced.

China is a wonderful overload to the senses. Everything is new to most westerners. The people, historical sites, economic growth, building of new infrastructure, political issues, food and unique arts and crafts are topics that your tour with its well qualified national and local guides address to great detail. China has a magnificent past and even a more significant place in the future of the world. Every even moderately curious traveler should make the journey to China.

Your agenda covered the four major phases of experiencing China. We toured all the major historical sites; cruised the Yangtze to learn the rivers importance to the development of China; visited several minority cultures, highlighted by our visit with Mr. He and finally gained a good feeling of the crafts and culture of the people. All this was accomplished through the detailed organization you bring to your tours. Both my wife and I were impressed and humbled by your commitment to not only your client group but your Chinese friends alike. Your personal energy and excitement encouraged new client eyes to see things as new even you were repeating many of the experiences yourself. All this made lots of walking a joy.

Thank you for a great three weeks and a history lesson we shall not soon forget.

You and Jin sure know how to show us tourists a good time. Your knowledge and obvious love of China and its people is clear and you managed to pull us into your web in a way that left us feeling the same way you do -- awestruck by the tenacity, the discipline, the history, the comparison between big city living and rural living, the numerous minority groups, each with its own traditions and costumes, the food, the economy, the many challenges that face the Chinese people -- all introduced by you and Jin in a way that was both interesting and loving.

Mr. He was an example of a peak experience in my life. His story alone could and would make many men give up on life. He chose not to and his strength and stamina were conveyed in our delightful evening at his cultural cafe. I left with a sense of renewal and joy knowing how fortunate I am.

Of course, I have to mention the textiles. How special it was to observe the weaving and embroidery. Just thinking about the glorious silk threads the embroiderers used gives me chills. Watching the unraveling of the silk cocoons was amazing. Something I'll never forget.

So, Pat, you can see that you provided an experience for me and Kemper that we will not soon forget. And, you did it all in such a calm, pleasant and easy way. Jin did too. You guys are the best.

To anyone with an interest in China with its wonderful diversity of peoples, religions, arts, architecture, complicated history and its magnificent potential, energy, vitality and future, I recommend an extended in-depth tour crossing the country and meeting the Chinese people with Dalton Tours.

Our experience with Dalton Tours was a 21 day visit to China that took us from Beijing, home of the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, and the Summer Palace on Lake Kunming, north to the Great Wall, and on to Xi’an, home of the Terra Cotta Warriors and horses. From Xi’an we went on to Wuhan and up the Yangtze through the locks of the three Gorges Dam to Chongquing and then south, near Tibet, to see Lijiang, home of the Dongba Culture, and to Dali and the Bai people with their unique customs, art, and beauty. Then back to the east to Nanjing , Suzhou and finally to Shanghai.

We covered China crisscrossing it by air, ( thru airports that were all new and in the latest aircraft) by river boat with four days on the newly commissioned Victoria Katrina, by small boats first rowed and then tugged by the hands of the trackers pulling us up the Shennong river. We passed through the cliffs cut by millions of years of streams that will soon become lakes as the world’s largest dam raises the water level 150 feet. We traveled by trains, bus and rickshaw and, best of all, by foot, which allowed us to meet farmers, artists, children, tradesmen, authors, the aged and the young.

What made the experience so valuable was the more than 60 planned visits to museums, art galleries, silk factories, weaving research facilities, pagodas, mosques, jade museums, silver jewelry centers, local live theaters, regional ethnic theaters, country markets, city markets and private homes. In deep humility and open hospitality, people would invite you in to see their homes, humble country homes of mud and straw that now had plumbing, a phone, a flat screen TV and their pets. Homes may also include the magnificent high rises found rising in every major city we saw. The pets of city people included birds, or a cricket in a cage kept under the shirt next to the skin on cold days. .

Informed and relevant instruction by our national tour manager and local guides in every city and geographical area provided insights and understandings into the 11,000 years of China history and the local traditions, the developing economy and the energy and change that is dynamic in Chinese society today.

Pat Dalton’s personal knowledge and love of the country and her many Chinese friends gave a fresh personal feel and hospitality that expressed itself in the many local restaurants we were able to enjoy and the doors that were opened to us. Her team took us through all of the international travel and intra-China travel without a delay or lost bag. They performed flawlessly.

This experience was far more than a trip, it was a joyful adventure in rapid learning, gaining an appreciation for a people and part of the world I have never known.

I have been telling everyone what a wonderful tour we had in China due to you and your terrific planning. Everything went off without a hitch! You and Jin make a great team - thank you for all the hard work you did to give us such a variety of experiences. I loved every minute of it and have been telling all the people I know that if they want to go to China, they need to go with YOU!! It was fun eating at all your favorite places, going to Lihang and Dali - they were a very special part of the tour and one of my favorites! I loved seeing how you truly love your friends in China and are so thoughtful and good to them. They are lucky to know you. I thought the Chinese were very sweet and felt very safe there. I am amazed at the progress in the cities - wow, they are industrious! Just wish some of the people in the factories had better working conditions. I can't imagine having to deal with over a billion people. They seem to be pretty organized to keep track of everyone.

Thank you again for such a special experience! And our group was so great - everyone was terrific.