Review of 1 Day Badaling Great Wall Bus Tour by Gina

We loved the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, but our tour guide made our day very unenjoyable. She was like a tape recorder that only spoke when a button was pressed, and only spoke pre-recorded, memorized pieces of information. Any question from us totally threw her off and "conversation" was not part of the package. I would not define her English speaking skills as "fluent." Even though we told her where we wanted to go on the wall, and where we planned to hike (to the most scenic section), she purchased our lift tickets that took us to a different location, which made it impossible for us to go where we wanted, given our 2-hour time allotment. I was very frustrated when I realized what she had done. Once up in the lift, I was able to see more of the wall and saw the other lift that we were supposed to be on in order to drop us off in the section we wanted to see! She didn't even go with us to the wall to explain anything about it. Ours was a private tour, just my husband and me, which typically means you do not have to adhere to a rigid schedule, but can be flexible. Any time we wanted to spend less time in one place and more time in another, it totally freaked her out. For example, when we finished seeing the wall, we were to meet her at a "Farmer's House" aka restaurant for the lunch that was included in our tour price. We were too hot to eat so we wanted only something cool to drink. We didn't want our money back, just a drink in lieu of a meal. You would have thought we had asked for a miracle to be performed. We like to buy coffee table books about the places we go to. After reading through our books, we found that many of the answers she gave us to questions we asked were bogus. We didn't enjoy the Ming Tombs at all because she didn't tell us anything and we didn't know what we were looking at. She walked about 50 feet in front of us at all times, so asking questions was not even an option there. We traveled in China for 5-weeks and this day was our absolute worst, not because of the sites or the tour company, solely because of our guide being so impersonal, non-informative, uninterested in her guests, and at times rude. When booking, be very specific when requesting a guide who "speaks" your language. Make sure they also "understand" and can "converse" in your language. It will be a much more enjoyable experience.