Muraille de Chine: Vivez l'inoubliable en privé depuis Tianjin!

My husband and I, with two friends booked two private days with Sunflower, being picked up each day from our ship, The Azamara Quest docked in Tianjin. It was a long journey from the port (3hours) but we had a very comfortable vehicle and Sunflower entertained us with lots of information about China and all the places we were seeing about us. The wall at Huangua Pass was spectacular . Amazingly we had it almost to ourselves. Everything about the day was very well organised. Sunflower had lunch with my husband and our friend Billy in a local restaurant which they really enjoyed. My friend Mary and I remained in our vehicle as I had a bad back and Mary had a bad knee and after the exertions on the wall we needed to rest!!! The roads were amazing. Long straight highways going on forever. The following day we were being taken to Beijing by Bullitt train with the strict proviso that we must be back at the dock by four pm. Unfortunately the train station is a long way from the port and because of fog the road we needed to take was closed which meant that it took two and a half hours to get to the station. Once there the security was incredible. Two lots of showing our passports and three lots of baggage checks. This was because the big holiday parade was taking place the following week in Beijing. Finally we were on the train, in business class seats and the experience was amazing. The seats allowed you to virtually lie flat. Tea was provided and snacks. Also slippers. I was sorry that the journey time was only 30 mins. We reached speeds of nearly 350k Because of the delays caused by the weather we only had one hour in Beijing but the driver showed us as much as we could see in that short time. The Forbidden City was closed and Tiannamen (?) sq was tightly secured because of the upcoming parade. However we managed a visit to the Temple of Heaven which was a sublime experience. . Sunflower had us back on our train in time and we arrived back at the ship in good time. Sunflower was so lovely. Kind and thoughtful and it was quite amazing how she got us through all the various queues in Tianjin Station and onto our train for Beijing. I’m quite sure we would have wandered around for days if we had to navigate the way to the train on our own! Although we missed out on Beijing the experience of negotiating our way through the station was amazing. My husband had wanted to go back each night to sleep on the boat but if I were making the trip again I would have an overnight stop in Beijing which would cut out much of the travelling. However the section of the wall we visited was so wonderful I’m glad we travelled there from Tianjin port and not to the much more crowded sections visited from Beijing. All in all we would have no hesitation in recommending Sunflower and her team. We felt very well cared for during our two days.