Reply Submitted by retired on Mon, 07/01/2013 - 17:05
We just returned from Eldertreks trip to Yunnan last month. The guide was terrible and the hotels were of a very poor, backpacker quality. Our guide slept through many of our long drives, providing no information at all. The food was repetitive and communication with Eldertreks during our trip to air our complaints proved fruitless.
Reply Submitted by thursdaysd on Sat, 07/06/2013 - 06:58
I've never traveled with Eldertreks, although I have considered them, and am very surprised to read that your experience was so bad. However, I traveled in Yunnan on my own without difficulty. You do need a good guidebook (I was using Lonely Planet) and a good phrase book - with characters, not just pinyin. I booked into hotels as I traveled (remember to bargain), but I didn't need Western chains. I used travel agencies for plane and train tickets (I handled bus tickets myself - and no, I don't speak Mandarin, although I can recognize some of the characters).
(Note - it's Yun-nan, not Yun-non - clouds-south - south of the clouds, very descriptive as the weather was much worse in Szechuan.)
Yunnan
We just returned from Eldertreks trip to Yunnan last month. The guide was terrible and the hotels were of a very poor, backpacker quality. Our guide slept through many of our long drives, providing no information at all. The food was repetitive and communication with Eldertreks during our trip to air our complaints proved fruitless.
Yunnan
I've never traveled with Eldertreks, although I have considered them, and am very surprised to read that your experience was so bad. However, I traveled in Yunnan on my own without difficulty. You do need a good guidebook (I was using Lonely Planet) and a good phrase book - with characters, not just pinyin. I booked into hotels as I traveled (remember to bargain), but I didn't need Western chains. I used travel agencies for plane and train tickets (I handled bus tickets myself - and no, I don't speak Mandarin, although I can recognize some of the characters).
(Note - it's Yun-nan, not Yun-non - clouds-south - south of the clouds, very descriptive as the weather was much worse in Szechuan.)