Asia Active outdoor Trips

This trip was brilliant. It covered the main tourist sites all in one go, from stunning scenery at Gulin to Yangshou to beautifully crafted architecture and temples in Xian and Beijing. The people were friendly and the food was fantastic. My highlights were the boat to Yangshou and the country lanes bike ride - the contrast of the paddy fields and Karsts, such beautiful scenery. I could have spent 2 more days in Xian, there is so much to see. What we saw was spectacular - the only complete city wall left in China, the beautiful buddhist art at the Wild Goose Pagoda, the serene Great Mosque and the stunning Terracotta Army. I didn't want to leave and I'll definitely go back to see more of this fascinating country.

It was an area of the world I had always wanted to explore and it lived up to expectations. In part to our excellent Tour leader Alex, who was very knowlegeable and companionable. As well as the stunning landscape, history, architecture, food, I could go on! Another benefit was being in such a small group, meant we could all gel together and not have to fight for the leaders attention. Not forgetting the the skill of the driver Edward, ensuring we all arrived safely!

Excellent travel experence,very well organised with a highly efficient knowledgeable and personable tour Leader ,Alex and two great drivers. We managed to visit the major cultural sites vast distances apart thanks to an internal flight and a speed train plus two long bus journeys. The food was good and the bread delicious. The people were so friendly. All in all a lovely holiday.

I did the Cycling Tour in March and our Vietnamese guide tour was Doan who was truly excellent and made our experience very special. Always above and beyond. He shared lots of interesting knowledge and had always good recommendations. The cycling was wonderfuly through villages, along the coast, one day up a mountain pass, around a lagoon, through towns and villages. We always stopped at markets or places of interest, where other tourists would not get to because the cycling took us of the beaten track. The itinery is very busy but we saw a lot in 2 weeks! There is a lot of coach travel too but that was needed to cover the length of the country. Everything was really well organised and the support team were also fantastic. I would recommend it - it's an adventure. I felt I saw and learnt a lot about this beautiful, complex country.

The tour itself was fantastic. Great pace, a good amount of sites and not too much travel. It was our guide, Ildar who let down the experience. Among the group there was lots of chatter about his dismissive tone towards some of the older group members (one in particular who had a lot of questions), and his inadequency to listen to the feedback of the group, especially when it concerned group safety. At every attraction he would walk far ahead, only turning around to check on us after he had walked too far. The sites were often busy, so it was difficult to keep track of him as he didn't wear any identifying clothing, carry a flag or even wear a brightly coloured hat to keep himself visible in crowds. The group was often left to keep track of each other, guiding each other in the right direction. His fast pace was brought up by several group members many times, but he never took the feedback on and continued his fast walking at every site and location. Many of the group members were older and this was a huge oversight by him. This led to a very scary and unsafe situation where the group needed to cross a fast moving and busy freeway in a rural area of Uzbekistan. He was so far ahead that only half the group were able to cross safely with him, the rest, despite calling out for him to wait, were left stranded on the other side of the road. He did not look back once before crossing to check that everyone was with him. This was a 4 lane freeway where large trucks and cars were EASILY going over 100km/hr. A few of us had stern words with him when we reunited, and he apologised, but it made no difference to his behaviour going forward. He continued to walk ahead and neglect to check behind him for the group before leading the group into new areas/sites. He knew his information, but it felt often rehearsed like a script, and when extra questions were asked, his responses were often very short, like "yes" or "no". By the end, many group members decided not to ask him questions anymore as they knew they weren't going to get much information out of him. His demeanour was also unpleasent. When he sat with us for dinner he was often on his phone, rarely talking or interacting with us. It was very awkward! Outside of the overload of information that he would give us at the sites, he rarely spoke or interacted with the group. This is such an important part of being a guide. Interacting and joking with the members and being personable helps keep morale high and just makes the whole trip more enjoyable! The trip itself was fantastic, and I would highly recommend it to anyone, but I can only hope for new groups going forward that they have a much more plesant guide!

We had two leaders - one in Sri Lanka and one on the boat. The Sri Lanka trip was fabulous - the tour leader was passionate thoughtful incredibly knowledgeable about his country and culture. The tour leader on the boat was also incredible. We love snorkelling so this part of the trip was awesome - we snorkelled for about 3 hrs every day. It is called a cruise - we went to two islands/atolls briefly but in reality it is an incredible opportunity to snorkel with expert guides. The food on the boat was incredible and the company - guests and staff was fabulous. It was the trip of a lifetime. please contact me if you want any more photos