A Chinese Tour Bus

[DGS49]

I recently finished a seven - day bus tour of major western parks and other attractions. The cost was surprisingly low, and the tour was to be given in Chinese and English. It was.

My wife and I were the only Caucasians on the bus. No one else spoke fluent English (tour guide was OK, but not great in English).

The itinerary was perfect and included as much as possible, considering time and geography. Some corners were cut, in recognition that all passengers were presumed to be cheap bastards (I am).

Th e only element that was missing was the lost opportunity to interact socially with fellow passengers. Not only were they unable to converse in English, but they were divided into a couple of groups traveling together, so tended to be clannish.

Surprising to me, most of the other tour buses we encountered were also Chinese, owned by the same company (CTours). So most of the tourists we encountered were Chinese. All of the parks had Chinese - speaking support, so they expected these demographics.

Near the end, an interesting concept came up. On a previous tour, one couple rented a car on the last day, and did highlights of the tour in reverse, having made note of the places where they would have liked to spend more time. Nice idea.

 

[jasonlee3071]

Tha'ts interesting. Did you take this Chinese bus tour because it was more affordable than a regular American one?
Btw I hear some real horror stories about rude ignorant Chinese tourists doing things that would be hard to believe much less find acceptable from anyone
regardless what their ethnic or nationality is.
Hopefully you didn't encounter any of that on your trip.

 

[Unkotare]

Good economic stimulation.

 

[DGS49]

The tour I took was less than half of what the AAA-sponsored tour would have cost. I think I got a tremendous bargain.

When I first inquired I had no idea that it was a Chinese company. It was only after I heard their voicemail recording: "Press 1 for English, 2 for Mandarin."

 

[Unkotare]

I recently finished a seven - day bus tour of major western parks and other attractions. The cost was surprisingly low, and the tour was to be given in Chinese and English. It was.

My wife and I were the only Caucasians on the bus. No one else spoke fluent English (tour guide was OK, but not great in English).

The itinerary was perfect and included as much as possible, considering time and geography. Some corners were cut, in recognition that all passengers were presumed to be cheap bastards (I am).

Th e only element that was missing was the lost opportunity to interact socially with fellow passengers. Not only were they unable to converse in English, but they were divided into a couple of groups traveling together, so tended to be clannish.

Surprising to me, most of the other tour buses we encountered were also Chinese, owned by the same company (CTours). So most of the tourists we encountered were Chinese. All of the parks had Chinese - speaking support, so they expected these demographics.

Near the end, an interesting concept came up. On a previous tour, one couple rented a car on the last day, and did highlights of the tour in reverse, having made note of the places where they would have liked to spend more time. Nice idea.

I had an inverse-universe experience that was very similar.