KRCreole

There is little need to have a tour of GW. We rented a van with driver that accommodated 12 with stop off at Summer palace for 1200 RMB or about $15 US per person. There are a number of car rental companies but we used Robert. They all have competitive prices. Do not look up tour companies, car rental companies instead. Robert didn't even require a deposit. The drivers do not speak english so you would need to have any communicarions written down in Chinese. Their dispatcher, Benny, speaks excellent english and will instruct the driver of your wishes. We usedHthem to take us to Temple of Heaven and on to the Bullet train to Tangu(the closest station to Tainjin port). They sent an Audi and for three hours we paid 200 RMB. Saved us a lot of time and hassle. It worked out great because we checked out of the hotel went on a tour, left our bags in the car. The driver returned and took us to the train. Excellent use of time with no hassle!!!

Marty

It is reasonable to hire a car/driver in Beijing. We reserved one to take us to Temple of Heaven from our hotel, wait and then take us to the Bullet train station for Tangu(the closest city where taxis will take you to the port). For this 3 hour trip and we paid 200 RMB(about $32 US) for a full sized Audi no less. The day before we contracted for a van to Great Wall with Dropoff at summer Palace in a 13 passunger van for 1200 RMB. With 11 passengers the price was downright cheap. Of course we had to pay our own entrance fees and tipped the driver. The car rental company was Robert Car Rent and Benny was the dispatcher. They don't even require a deposit!

I looked up Robert Car Rent online and I could not find any complaints. It costs a little more but it saves time and the hassle of riding and transferring on the subway.

MARTY

Vaccines are relatively cheap and have a very low risk of side effects. And it mystifies me why people try to avoid them. If there is any reasonable likelyhood of contacting a particular disease there is a good reason to get inoculated. As a retired Immunologist, I make sure that I have all my shots up to date. I was fortunate once, to have survived polio without any significant problems, so I will not take any chance of getting any other disease for which there is cheap protection. In my school with around 600 students, I was the only one that contracted the disease. If you do the math, kids there had only less than 1 chance out of 600 or more to get the disease. But the risk of not getting the vaccine can be paralysis or death for that one. Is it worth it? If you are willing to take the chance that you won't be #600 then don't get it. There are enough risks in life that we cannot avoid to be taking those we can avoid. Especially those risks that do not yield much good.

I found many internet postings for BeijingGuide.com.cn. They advertised no factory stops and a Chinese lunch with the tour to the Great Wall for $30. This is very reasonable. I contacted them and they offered to take our party of 7 to the wall in a van for 800 CNY and we pay our entrance fees. I used their e-mail address, thebeijingtour@gmail.com to reserve the tour that did not require any deposit. Their web site lists them as an afiliate of China Travel Service(CTS)but my inquiries were answered by a fellow on a cell phone. I wonder if anyone has had any dealings with this organization and if they are trustworthy and reputable. If anybody has anything that will shed light on them, it would be greatly appreciated.

Marty mmartinez160@cfl.rr.com