Review of 1 Day Mutianyu Great Wall Private No-shopping Tour by Martin

Lack of communication, guide very softly spoken, guide badmouthed us to the driver, driver said he thought she was a poor guide. Promoted as 'no stops', but stopped as a jade shop. Were at the wall entry without discussion, so had no water, sunscreen, or bug spray with us. Guide did not introduce herself. Car was nice enough and AC was good. No itinerary was described, so we assumed it would follow as booked. Great wall, lunch, summer palace. So we arrived at the summer palace first. We knew this when we saw the signs. Unfortunately guide did not have a loud voice, and was hard to hear, even when quiet around us. Guide fell asleep on the way to the great wall. When she woke she read a description of the history of the wall from her phone. She lost track a few times where she was up to and had to backtrack, but no worries as we really couldn't hear her anyway. I just googled the history while driving. Then we stopped at a jade shop, which was unexpected as tour emphasised 'no stops' Got to the wall. She asked if we wanted lunch now and we said maybe after the wall, so she took us straight to a restaurant instead. After that we walked out and she took us to the entry. Would have been nice to let us know where we were going at that point as we did not have our packed drinks, sunscreen and bug spray. So we all got sunburnt. All the claims of skipping queues were not important as there was no real queue to entry or to the cable car. Guide did not accompany us over the 3 hours we were on the wall, but she told us that the chairlift was a better option due to queues, which would have been good to know when we booked. At the end our pre booked toboggan slide had a massive queue which we joined at the end. As we got close to the front, they stopped the slides due to thunder and potential storms. So we raced to the chair lift only to find that close as we got there Neither of these were the tour's fault However when we finally got on the chair life I we chatted the guide to let her know we were on our way down on the chairlift and that the slide was closed. We got to the bottom and found our way to the car and the friendly driver. Tour guide was missing and there was a back and forth between the driver and her over the phone. She was waiting for us at the bottom of the slide. Driver said she was blaming him for some issues and was also talking ill of us to him. He said the he didn't think she was a very good tour guide. Guide said she was angry that she had been waiting for 4 hours. It was actually 3 hours, and the last 1 and a half hour was us waiting in the slide queue, and then waiting for the chairlift to recommence after the storm passed. Not our fault. No conversation on the way home.