Decided that it is important to share my experiences about different shops/services provided..as it will really help many people on the net when they search for reviews online. Got this revealation after researching for my wedding preparations and find it so hard when there are lack of reviews from customers who had used their service. Vice versa, when there are a lot of reviews about a company. So, from now on, i am going to blog about my own personal experiences!
At first, we booked our tickets from Dynasty Travel at a travel fair. This is the second year in a row we tried to go China using their agency, because in 2014, the money was refunded to us due to not finding enough people to start the tour. This year, once again, the same thing happened. Paid the money, and they told us there wasn't enough people to go. Money refunded back to us. Felt abit disappointed, but quickly searched for other travel agencies.
Found Neway Travel Services Pte Ltd, a small shop in Chinatown. My dad was quite worried initially, because a small shop means that it may be a fraud company, and since there are so many cases of companies closing down after receiving your hard earned money, it is a valid concern. Researched online for reviews, and found SOO little reviews about them! Finally found one good review on them in 2012 for a taiwan family trip, so i decided to take a risk, and booked 4 packages to China! This is also one of the reasons which motivated me to write this post. More customers reviews are needed on the net!! haha. :)
The package i booked was a shopping tour. So, for those who have not went to China before, there are basically two types of tours. Shopping tours, and non shopping tours. Shopping tours, as the name suggest, brings you to places to shop, and also to sceneric places. It is generally much cheaper than non-shopping tours, as i guess commissions are earned. I got a $628 package, including return China Eastern Air tickets, 46kg luggage check in, free food and accomodation for 6days?, so it was a really good deal. IF, AND I REALLY MEAN IF, you are firm and not easily convinced to buy the things they recommend you.
Lu Yan from Neway Services was very friendly and helpful, and answered all my queries patiently. The tour guides in China were awesome, humourous and made us laugh throughout the trip. The hotels exceeded expectations too. Even the China Eastern airline, where i read so many horror stories about, was punctual, no delay, no baggage lost, etc. Everything went smoothly! I really thank God for His grace as i prayed for everything to go well, especially the flight where so many of our friends and online community complained about.
We went to places like Su Zhou (famous for silk and teapot), Hangzhou (famous for tea), Nanjing(Jade), Wuxi(Pearl), Shanghai(Chinese medicine). The reason why i can tell you so easily what they are famous for, is because..unfortunately, we are not firm, and bought EVERYTHING. =(
They were SOOO good at convincing us, and this is the downside of the trip. At some instances, i felt there was a large scale scam involved, where the boss/shi fu will "accidentally" walk in when the salesgirl was explaining, and say that he was in good mood and reduced the price to about 10% of the original price. The salesgirls will look slightly uncomfortable and say "you sure? it cost RMB20000" etc. Everyone will then go crazy and buy the jades, pearls, etc.
Another case happened when we were in this shopping centre. My dad won a "LUCKY SCRATCH AND WIN --- PAY 10% of original price", out of alot of people, and the salesgirl who was serving us, (a very innocent looking and gentle lady) gave a very uncomfortable look, and pleaded us to choose a jade which is not so expensive. Her expression made our greed grew, as we thought we had strike jackpot, and we could invest in it.(RMB80000 become RMB8000), how good was that?!!
So we bought some jades. :( Have not went to check for its authenticity yet, because it will cost another $150++ to check in singapore..and our pockets were already burnt.
All in all, we bought a ridiculous amount of tea (but that's the only thing which i felt was worth it. Long Jing Cha..I am selling it at $33/125grams). The rest were things like silk pillows, jades, pearls, and a stupid teapot which cost $250) My mum bought some medicine for 6 months costing $1100.
OK you are right, we really lost our senses. =(
Seriously, what was i thinking?!! I am such a thrifty person but after going there..i just lost it. (Although i spent the least out of 4 of us who went to China :) but still..i should not have bought the teapot...why would i need a teapot, and such an expensive one!! and i don't drink tea somemore -.-".. seriously, i feel so lame when i see that green teapot. )
So after coming back, we laughed at our sillyness..and also have to face the consequences of paying the $5000+ we chalked up in our credit card. SIGH!!!! WHAT A CHEAP TRIP IF WE DID NOT BUY ANYTHING!!
LOL, so conclusion is... if you want to go China, this is a good deal, but don't buy anything!!! just get the tea from Hangzhou will do(In my opinion)..but don't buy 3kg of tea leaves. like us. *faints*
Pictures time!!
Will definitely remember this trip:)
ok, shall stop blogging, and go back to drink my tea. X.X
No comments:
Post a Comment