Robert can't remember how many times he came to Guizhou Province as a bicycle tour leader, but every time he feels so differently. It's not just because of the fast changing of road conditions, the development of cities and scenic areas, but also because of the world outlook and experience of our guide changes too.
Experienced bike tour company know that the preparation works before tour started is always as much hard as it is afterwards. With tiredness coming from maintaining bikes and excitement and anticipation from new guests, we once again arrived at the starting point of this trip – a quiet village in the south east of Guizhou province, ready to cycle back to our hometown, Guilin. The guest’s first day is always the hardest time for driver and guide, because it is necessary to adapt to new guests and environment, we have to find the best way to communicate with new clients and get along with each other as soon as possible.
Our company sent two of the best guides, Robert and Bobby for this group. They are all multiple skilled in driving, foreign language, cycling, and they are licensed national guide and first-aider in China. We joked that this time, every client will have a VIP service, it was equivalent to upgrading our service level from 7 score to 10 for free, and the final result was very good as expected. In addition to being challenged again by the mountains of Guizhou, Robert experienced a very different journey too in this spring. The most important reason is because although riders of this group are from different countries, but they are all very kind, passionate about cycling, and all at good shape - the fastest group Robert have ever served!
Bobby got sick just on the second day of this trip, he tried a new way to cure diseases this time – an easy way to have Chinese Cupping and the bad fever was gone away in one night (we might need over 2 weeks before getting recovered by following the traditional way of having pills and taking injection) . As an cycling journey that over two weeks, too many stories could not be explained in a few words. It is very gratifying that guests liked our newly designed bike routes in south China, we changed some old parts because the previously ones had been affected a lot by the road rebuilding and high speed train railways. Unexpected picnics, occasional wedding reception of local villager, participation in the funeral ceremony and have banquet with local residents in remote village had become some of the highlights during the whole trip, our service staff is always giving guests more surprises, even more than what we have planned.
After passing through old streets and local markets, we lead the guests to experience the most pristine culture and scenery. Unlike many commercialized areas in China, Guizhou is a charming place as it is a world less travelled (at least before the bullet trains). Children on the road will smile at you; the old man in the village will touch your bicycle and chat with you even they don’t speak an English word. Here in Guizhou, even our guide Robert was slowly attracted by the unique architecture and culture. The complex modern life gets simple again on our bike journey, the comfortable feelings comes from everybody, not matter it is the restaurant's hostess, or strangers in the town.
Every time when we encounter guests who are riding faster than our leaders, the pressure increases. If we are slower (no matter it’s coming from waiting the clients less fit or clients who ride fast and never wait others), or when the team has such distinctive guests that holding own cycling pace and expectation, it is hard to control a join-in cycling groups even we are professional cycle tour company. The most fortunate thing was that we did a great job in satisfying the guests' needs and balance the value of the team's progress and safety. No matter how many mud, rain, heat and wind we have ‘suffered’ during such a long-distance China cycle tour. Everything was worthy when finally receiving the hug and gratitude from guests at the airport and train station.
The two most impressive things for Robert are that when we finish our riding in a rainy day, he was misunderstood and a small dispute happened with clients about check in hotel first or having nice lunch at a restaurant preserved (because the best dishes there are on limited sale, one of the best restaurants in Guilin). Robert – as the guide of this tour who cycled over 800KM through big mountains already, was facing double pressure coming from the ‘WET’ guests and the hotel guard not allowing us to put the dirty bikes in. Fortunately, some guests actively helped him to wash the bikes. In addition, this time, the guests’ opinions are more unified and rational. Faced with a large area of unavoidable muddy roads being built/rebuilt or damaged caused by high-speed rails, guests unanimously feel that it is worth spending a small amount of money to hire a car to jump those sections. We also recommended the best routes and suggestions, it was a great honor to have their trust without any condition, especially even when they noticed that they were facing unknown road conditions or potential risks caused by the changes of the itinerary, a collective ‘signature’ from all the guests gave Robert confidence and has become the most memorable image of this trip.
At the end of the trip, the delegation and our boss interviewed all the guests as usual to collect feedback. We were so happy to get the highest appreciates from all the tour participants on our tour guide and driver. Although few things in the itinerary could not be perfectly met with the expectations, the cycle holidays with us helped us to witness the real China, a rapid developing country with high-speed railways everywhere now. The guests left China with great satisfaction again. Robert believes that a perfect tour comes not only from the excellent service of our company but also the understanding from the valuable tourists. As an expert of Guizhou cycling routes cooperated with many top China cycle companies, we will definitely keep exploring more routes in China and introduce them to the world.
Blog written by Robert Liu, May, 2018.
China Cycle Tour in Guizhou Privince for Refference
