Review of 2 Days Beijing Classic Tour by Matthew

I was very happy with my tour - I had never been to Beijing and don\'t speak the language - and had a brief two days to see the sites. David was a knowledgable and friendly tour guide and helped explain the history behind some of the lesser known (to me) sites like the Ming Tombs and Summer Palace, while making sure I had enough time to spend on the Great Wall and Forbidden City. One thing that was a bit suprising was that in some cases your tour guide will leave you to see some things on your own (lunch, visiting a Jade factory - where yes, they\'ll try to sell you things) . I would recommend setting a meeting place and time with your guide as it can be a bit unnerving to stand around wondering if you are going to be on your own in the middle of China! In other cases, David moved through a few sites a bit faster than I wanted to, but was also very agreeable to me stopping and saying I wanted to look around a bit more. That said, I wanted to see the sites and did - and it was amazing. Note to those climbing the Great Wall - you are CLIMBING some incredibly steep stairs and it\'s at high altitudes. It\'s exhausting (and well worth it) but I really wasn\'t prepared. I was luckily wearing good shoes but easily could have been caught in sneakers and that would have been tougher.