Hello, Kathy,   I am sorry I had not emailed you sooner.  Suffering from jet lag, a cold and back to work.   WE HAD SOOO MUCH FUN.  The trip you planned was almost perfect.  Our guides and drivers and cars were wonderful, on time, flexible, knowledgeable,  I just cannot say enough good things.  We were all very pleased.  ( now also very tired).   The hotels were lovely, everything very first class.

Jay, my boyfriend bought the soccer uniforms.  He has or will contact you directly on  sending them to the US. I am not a part of that.

For your info,  I want to make a few suggestions.  You told me that we were trying to put too much into our 14 days.  You were right, but I would not have wanted to leave out anything.   Guilin was a highlight of our trip.  If I we to do this trip again ( and I will recommend you to everyone I talk to)  ,  I would suggest 17 days.  An extra day in Shanghai,  Xian, and Beijing,  just to relax or shop.  We did not get our fill of shopping.

The Ritz, Sheraton in Guilin and Peninsula  were all under various stages of construction.  You had warned me about the Ritz, but not the others.  It did not matter, because the service and rooms were still first class, and I imagine everyone is under construction for the Olympics or do remodelling in the winter.
Probably the only disappointment was going to and from the cruise ship.  I wish we had taken the later flight out of Guilin and spent the day there.  When we got to Chongqing, the guide had nothing planned ( we revised the lunch to go to a hot pot restaurant and pay extra). We did go to the 3 Gorges Dam museum  at our request, which was wonderful.  She acted like she did not know what to do with us, so we went to the boat at 3:00 pm.  Boat did not sail until next morning.  So we more or less wasted the day. And when you got to the boat, there was no food on board for dinner meal, and we were a long way from anywhere for dinner.  We would have enjoyed staying in Guilin for a massage and shopping, taking the later flight.  We asked about changing to later flight, but they were not sure when the boat left, and did not want us to miss it.
We loved our cabins on the boat, so we setlled in and made a relaxing evening which we needed.  The cruise was amazing, and except for not having any food service between meals ( we Americans eat all of the time) it was perfect.

Then when we got off the Century Sun, ( actually the Victoria boat looked nicer from the outside, but we loved the Sun),  we went to Yichang.  There was absolutely nothing to do there ( it was new's years day and everything was closed, so we would have been better off leaving on an earlier flight to Beijing if available and getting there in time for a nice dinner.  Our flight did not leave until 19:50 instead of 17:00 per the schedule,   so again we wasted one day.  The airport was cold, but our guide took us to massage,  Jay had a massage and our guide taught us to play Ma Jong, which was so much fun.   Again,  the guides were just wonderful ( except no plan in Chongqing), and they help make the little inconveniences like late flights OK. 

Finally,  I probably would not book the food as part of the package except for breakfast.  The food was great, but by the end of the trip we wished for a continental meal maybe at the beginning and end of the trip and we would probably have asked the guides to go do a little different type of places (like the hot pot, which was amazing).    We just did not know how it all worked.

These are all just little things, so that you know our experience,  but sunset at the Great Wall,  was a great way to end the trip.

We were also very lucky.  In spite of the snow which made the Administrator's gardens, and everything just beautiful, we were lucky because the Li River boat had just started running again the day we arrived (because prior to that not enough water).   I am not sure what we would have done if they did have go down the river.    SHOP?????

Also, I should have asked you what the normal tip was for the drivers and the guides.  Hopefully we tipped them well because they were  all worth every penny and MORE.
 And I should have asked you about frequent flyer miles and hotel points.  Could we get Asia Miles and or Starwood/ Sheraton points?
 I also wished we would have had time to visit you and take you to lunch, and GIVE YOU A BIG HUG for the trip of a lifetime. 

THANK YOU SO MUCH KATHY>    I have already given your info to a girlfriend of mine that would like to book a boat for the solar eclipse off of Shanghai.

Thanks again.  I cannot wait to come back to China  ( as long as Kathy plans my trip.).    Johnnie