My first cultural tour --- a trip to the Great Wall

My first cultural tour  --- a trip to the Great Wall

March 16^th, 2010 was really an exciting day for me as I had my first cultural tour: to take Professor Scott Davison’s family of seven people to the Mutianyu Great Wall. I had been anticipating the day with keen eagerness and a slight nervousness as I was not sure how my first tour would turn out.

To guarantee a successful trip, I made a conscious effort to attend to details and these included laying out a well-thought itinerary, working out the estimation of the cost, securing a safe and comfortable vehicle, booking a decent restaurant. Although I had already acquired much knowledge of the Wall, I still spent many mornings memorizing the tour guide talk from a guide book so that I would be able to deliver my talk fluently.

It was a lovely day on the day of my tour with blue sky and bright sunshine. We left for the Great Wall at 9 am as scheduled. As it was my first time to meet Scott’s mother and sister, I started my talk with a very brief self-introduction and then proceeded to introduce the Great Wall. The Scott family is really easy going and we had a good time chatting and laughing on the way.

The ride to the Great Wall was smooth and uneventful and after about one hour and a half, we arrived at a restaurant near the Great Wall. It was a very nice restaurant with tropical trees and bushes growing inside. Having dined out with numerous foreigners before, I was very confident about ordering Chinese food that would please westerners. Scott gave me some good suggestions too. The food was very tasty and they were very pleased.

After lunch, we were ready for the hike on the wall. We went up by cable cars which saved us quite a lot of energy. Although I had been to the wall many times, it was still my first time to visit the wall when it was still covered in white. The wall wound its way on top of the mountains till as far as our eyes could see. Around it the world was clothed as if in thin white veil. What an amazing scene!

We hiked with easy pace on the wall for about half an hour, appreciating the beautiful scenery from our Mother Nature. Then we had much fun sliding down from the wall. What an experience!

It was really a great day for me and I couldn’t be more satisfied as they were very pleased with my service. Scott later sent me an email and said that they look forward to the possibility of being my second and third clients. This is really a great encourage for me and I’m actually very grateful to them for the opportunity they kindly offered me.

 

   
 

Comments

[Ben Davison]

Once again, thanks Kevin for taking us to the Great Wall

[Rebecca Bouldin,Elementary School Teacher Columbus, Ohio USA]

When I think of Kevin and his help, I think of two things: kindness and honesty. Kevin was so kind to Grace, age 4, and to me, an older person. When we asked him questions about China, he was so very honest and open with his answers. He was thoughtful of all our needs. We had a great tour of the Great Wall, thanks to Kevin.

[Professor Scott A. Davison, Morehead State University Morehead KY USA]

Kevin organized a day trip to the Great Wall at Mutainyu for my family. We had an informative introduction to the history of the wall on the way, a wonderful lunch, and an exhilarating hike on the wall. Kevin made all of the arrangements in advance, including some special dietary needs, and even helped us to negotiate when buying some souvenirs. Thanks to his patient attention to detail, we were able to relax and enjoy the trip, our best so far in China.