Just a data point to add here:

We took a short tour because our objective was the Li River cruise--it's only served by tour operators.

1) The bus had a fuzz-buster. (Not that I've ever seen a cop with a radar gun here in China.)

2) We asked specific questions about the lunch that would be served. It's quite obvious that they simply gave my SIL the answers she wanted, not the truth.

3) They were more interested in taking people to a second tour than to our final destination. (Due to low water levels the boat couldn't go all the way and thus the bus that took us to the dock also picked us up from there and took us to the destination.)