Tibet

Damara and I want to thank you both so much for arranging such a wonderful trip for us. What we thought would be a once in a lifetime trip has left us both anxious for more. We were sorry to lose the treking part of our trip due to my illness, but so glad that we really got to see nearly everything from the landcruiser anyway. Our guides and drivers were fabulous. We got really attached to Lopsang Lungdock from Lhasa–especially in light of his help and concern when I had to go to the People’s Hospital! Krishna Kharel in Kathmandu was was a true gift. He was so well-educated and so well-informed on all subjects of interest to us. Jack Wang in the Lhasa travel office is commended for his patience while we waited out my illness.

Thanks, again! You guys do a wonderful job!

Cheryl and Damara

California, USA

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Ugen,

09/06/2005

We had a great trip and I wanted to thank you for your part

in making it so!!

Choki in Bhutan was excellent and Dawa in Tibet a really nice guy.

My only comment however is that Dawa’s English speaking ability

was limited and this effected the quality of our experience.

Choki and Dawa were keen for us to provide comments – I don’t have

the forms any more but will happily complete them if you can email

copies.

Thanks once again.

Sincerely,

Stuart Parkin, New York

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06/21/2006

Dear Postak,

The trip is excellent , the guide and the driver takes very very good care of me through out the whole trip. They even take good care of me and help me out on the days when I am on my own. The guide can speak fluent Manadarin and English and she is considerate and helpful. The driver is very experienced, he checked the car thoroughly whenever a long trip is made and he can smell any abnormalites on the way.

The only one thing that I am not happy with is the local agent’s trip to Namtso Lake. If the person concerned tell me that I will join the a group of 20 people I am sure I will not even try. We started the tour at around 7:40 but ends up at 9pm, and the guide of that tour is very terrible, he went to three different places and asked the tourists to visit and go shopping. But there is one guy who is having Altitude illness and I am not feeling well with my stomach. But he paid no regards to this and asked me to do him a favour to walk around these shopping places so he can have some profits. But I told him that I am sick and I preferred to stay on the bus, he was angry and at the end of the trip he just left the whole group of people outside these shopping places and focused on helping an elderly couple for buying things so all of us take a taxi back home by ourselves.

I think Postak you did a very very good job I wll recommend or I will actually join your group some time in future. This is a very very happy journey and I really enjoyed every moments in Tibet.

Fanny Ip, Honkong

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06/06/06

Hi Postak,

We are back from our Himalayan adventure and it was fantastic! We really had a great time and were humbled by the mountainous beauty of both the landscape and the people. Thank you for making it a special occasion.

We did have one minor change to our itinerary which included myself not being able to travel to Tibet.(We were worried about Tina because she has a minor heart condition, but it was me who did not feel well enough for the high altitude of Tibet). While in Nepal, High Asia Tours reimbursed me for the airfare from Nepal to Lhasa. However, the guide in Tibet had told my husband that the refund for my Lhasa/Chengdu and Chengdu/Bangkok flights would have to be done through your office.

Please let me know what you may require of me…

Many thanks,
Stephanie G., New York,

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05.20.2006
Postak,

I meant to contact you over a week ago to let you and Windhorse know that our trip to Lhasa was wonderful. Our guide Twinley and our drive, Mr. Dawa, could not have been better. Both were kind, fun, patient, and simply great people. Twinley truly knows all about Tibetan Buddhism. They truly “made the trip” for both Kate and me. The people of Tibet are amazing. Everyone was so happy, kind and spirit-filled. It was inspiring just to be with them.

Our hotels were excellent. We were very impressed with both of them. The staff at the Du Ghood in Lhasa was exceptional. Some spoke English and all were extremely fun. The food was very good. Our room was clean, a good size, and quaint with lots of Tibetan color. I highly recommend both accommodations.

Mr. Dawa’s car, a Land Cruiser, was clean and comfortable. He is a very good, conservative driver. Rather than taking chances, he always drove at a safe, more cautious speed.

Twinley (pronounced Tulla) is a very good looking, slightly shy, young Tibetan man who has a good command of English. His pronunciation can sometimes be a bit difficult to understand, but he is very fluent and exceptionally knowledgeable. We met his mother and father by happenstance near the Jokung Temple and they, too, were amazing. He always arrived looking clean and “dapper” in his leather jacket and khaki slacks, was right on time, and patiently waited for us to collect our cameras and water bottles.

Anyway, this is more than you needed to know, but I wanted you to know how much we enjoyed everyone and the entire trip. The only glitch we had was on our return flight. We landed and immediately went to catch our next flight back to Shanghai. As it turned out Kate and I had been booked on different flights. She was not allowed on hers because there was too little time between her flights. She ran to check in and they said they had cut-off giving out boarding passes seven minutes earlier. We should have been booked on the same flights all the way through, but the local agent did not do this. Luckily this was fixed. Instead, I was scheduled to leave Lhasa in the morning and Kate in the late afternoon. Then Kate’s flights ended up being too close together so it was impossible to make the connection in Chengdu. We worked it out with China Air and she made the flight I was on, but only after she explained that she worked for the US Consulate and needed to be back at work in Shanghai the next morning. Anyway, everything worked out and these are travel glitches that can easily occur. I just recommend everyone check their tickets and not have connections booked too close timewise.

I can and will highly recommend Windhorse Tours. If you have another form for me to complete I will gladly do so. Twinley gave me a form, but I typically misplaced it. Please fax one to my office (949-721-9938) and I will fill it out and send it back to your offices.

Thank you again for all the arrangements –

Lorian Petry (Lhasa and area – Ancient Tour – 4-19 to 4-23-06)

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05.11.2006

Postak –

Lhasa was excellent. Too short a trip, but still worthwhile. Thanks for all your help.

Now, a friend and I are interested in going to Bhutan this October.

We (2 persons) are looking at two possible dates:

October 14 – 23 (10 days 9 nights)………………….

Christopher H., US National, based in Bangkok
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07.03.2006

Hi Postak

We thought the tour / trek was very well organised. Please find comments as follows;

The driver was very good and a credit to your company. He maintained the vehicle in very good condition.

The Yak man was a credit to his country, whilst he could not speak English he kept us entertained and showed great compassion toward his animals.

The accommodation was what was expected, except for Ganden Monastery. In the travel arrangements it was suggested that we could have stayed in tents at Samye Monastery, this should apply to Ganden Monastery. The floor resembled that of a hen house, during the night it rained and rats invaded our room.

The food cooked at lunch time was then left out over night and reheated for breakfast, a good way to get travel sickness.

The tents and sleeping bags were of good quality. The tent was to small to accommodate a 6 ft man and his partner with our backpacks. We had to place our back packs in the cooks tent as there was insufficient room. The other tour group who accompanied us has large cook tent to accommodate trekkers in case of rain, as we had to eat outdoors, which was OK on this occasion as it did not rain. My partner Cath suggest a toilet tent, when camped, which the other tour group provided would be ideal as there were only two ladies amongst seven men, and finding some privacy was not always available.

The food was of good quality on the trek. I supported this with a resume for the cook.

The tour guide Celli was very knowledgeable with regard to Buddhism, Monastery’s and Tibetan history. However we found that he appeared bored with his job. He would often disappear without telling us where amenities were at our accommodation, this was most prevalent at the Monastery Guesthouses. He would just leave us to our own devices to find toilets and where to eat. Once we found a place to eat we had trouble communicating what we wanted, this was especially bad at Rongbuk guesthouse as no one spoke English and they did not have menu’s. On the trek he would walk on ahead without regard for the stragglers in our group. We would wait for the straggler to catch up, on one occasion Celli had walked more than two miles in front leaving the rest of us behind. It was only for Cath going to the top of a hill to see where he went, we knew where to go, she could see him in the distance. It was very enjoyable to have three others join our group at Ganden Monastery, especially as they were Chinese and could communicate with the locals and with us. They were from Singapore and spoke excellent English.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Tibet and the problems that eventuated did not detract from the overall holiday. We must thank you for your well organised tour of Tibet and would recommend your company for other travellers wishing to tour / trek Tibet.

Regards

Colin V., Legana, Australia

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07.09.2006

Postak ! Thank you for everything and being patient with our bookings. it was difficult process but was one of my best trips,,sites were magnificant,highlight was Mt. Everest. I just got my pictures today and they are gorgious. We had great guide and driver,very helpful,very caring. Only difficult part was with shefali since she is

brought up in USA,she had tough time with roads,for me I had prepared for worst. One other thing I would advise is that people from USA expect better accomodations. In our trip except for Segar accomodation,and base camp( we went back to Segar), it was wonderful. WE were happy to have Indian meals available being vegetarian. We really had best care from Dhood Gu Hotel staff,very courtous,very good food,walking distance to everything including market,temple,international phone center. I enjoy five days at lhasa. Thanks for preparing us ahead of time and was in great details. Thanks again. I would love to visit Tibet may be in two years if roads get better.

Dr Kartikeya P. , New Jersey, USA