An Indian tourist in China

I wonder how a Hong Kong journalist knew that China Highlights has been "carved out of the original Government monopoly'. This is a story I found from travelpod.com

An Indian tourist in China By N.N.Sachitanand

It was 2004 , two years after my retirement. My wife and I , both inveterate travelers, had already done the usual round of the Indian outbound tourist - U.S.A., U.K., Western Europe, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Bali etc. We considered a number of new places to visit . "How about China ?" suggested my son . " You can get to see the glorious Forbidden Kingdom in Beijing ." He had just seen a rerun of The Last Emperor. My wife was reluctant . " I believe the Chinese do not speak English at all . How will we get around ? And what will I get to eat as a vegetarian ? " I e-mailed a journalist friend of mine in Hong Kong. His advice : " China is a fascinating place to visit. The best bet is to plan your tour through one of the major travel agencies there , preferably one that has been carved out of the original Government monopoly. You can try out China Highlights . Go for guided tours or ask for personal English speaking guides. Tell your wife not to worry. There are plenty of vegetable dishes available in Chinese cuisine."So, I went to the Internet and the Chinahighlights.com web site . A young , very helpful tour operator named Elaine efficiently hand - held me through the tour planning process. I already knew something about China's places of tourist interest and was clear in my mind about some of the places that were a "must see" , such as The Great Wall, the Terracota Soldiers and the Giant Panda. Being a fan of Kung Fu films since the days of Bruce Lee , I was also very keen to pay a visit to the birth place of Kung Fu - the Shaolin Temple. Again , whenever my wife and I visit a foreign country, we are very interested in experiencing the local culture in the form of evening entertainment. It was quite a handful that we demanded but Elaine pitched in quite enthusiastically to chart out a tour that would take us from the East coast entry point ( Shanghai), up North to Beijing, onwards to the heartland and down South-east to Kunming . It was a very complex 15 day tour combining overnight halts at Shanghai, Beijing, Xian ( home of the Terracota Warriors ) , Zhengzhou ( near Shaolin Temple ) , Yichang ( headworks of the gigantic Twelve Gorges Dam ) , Chongquing, Chengdu ( where the Giant Pandas are bred ) and Kunming ( where tea originated ). The trip combined a number of methods of travel including air , day train , overnight train, inter-city and a day-long trip cruise up the Yangtze river. At every major city , we were promised an evening variety show. I was a bit anxious about anything going wrong . But Elaine assured us that everything would go according to plan and we need not have any worries. Of course, she provided us with a very detailed tour schedule , along with the names of the guides who would meet us , the hotels where we were booked and all the relevant telephone numbers including her own , in case of emergencies. Incidentally, all the negotiations and payment transactions were made through the Internet - a sign of the times.
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