I know that we (including me) are generally against tours and tour guides, unless complex logistics or odd locations are chosen (and even then we try), in which case some of us plug Wild China.

I just heard about this other company, Real China and some of the stuff offered looks interesting, but it would be great to get the opinions of those better informed than I about it - if anyone has heard anything or has any experience.

Cheers

http://www.realchinallc.com/

Don't know anything about them, but took a look at the website. Their schtick seems to be "charity tours" and some of their verbiage hints at voluntouring, but the offerings listed are pretty much straight tours.

I'm generally not a fan of the voluntouring concept for a number of reasons I won't get into here. As far as this company goes, it seems a bit overpriced. "From US$450" for 3 days in Taiyuan-Pingyao?!? and $1300+ for 3 days in Beijing. Whatever they are selling, I'm not sure how many takers they'll get.

I prefer to keep my touring and charity separate. As in, do these kinds of tours myself, independently, saving a lot of money, and then contributing to an appropriate worthy cause of my choice directly. I need to see a real value-added before inserting a middleman in a process or service...and I'm not seeing it here.

What tour are you looking at specifically? I doubt it's the 4-day Shanghai for 1000$/person

Tours look interesting, but overpriced, the ones I looked at can be done on your own, though?

Litang, Mt. Meili, Qinghai etc... Nothing like Beijing/Shanghai, Xi'an (or even the Yunnan stuff - which is well marked on the tourist trail).

I guess I just have not done a lot of stuff (or any) in that area... These guys do have nice photos, as does Wild China...

Litang sounds good - I have never heard of this place, to be honest (but found this, which suggests it is not that "new" for tourists). More than 6000 USD for two per week sounds extremely expensive, I wonder if anyone's been to this area, and also whether you could simply arrange a car and a local guide in CTU or Litang...

Meili (xue) shan is not that much off the beaten track - I only know because some of my friends considered going hiking/climbing there (but eventually didn't). You could get a car from Deqen, and there are probably locals selling tours or rent huts/tents.

Thanks. It is posts like this and so many others that makes FT such a valuable and why I try to give as much information/data points/suggestions as I can. It is very clear that I have not done any research into these areas...

But the 7-day Colorful Yunnan starts from only $0.001
http://www.realchinallc.com/ps/LineD...aspx?i=122&c=9

I know, it is typo. What happens if one booked that?

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