Ping took great care of us. He found and booked our apartment, picked us up at the airport, and made sure we had water on our first night. He has a big comfy air-conditioned van with child seats.
On Saturday he took us to the Great Wall in Mutianyu. Due to a bike race we weren’t allowed to drive all the way up to the parking lot nearest the cable car, but Ping argued with the guards and convinced them to let us drive higher and park closer (the essence of his argument was “they have 4 small kids, you don’t want to make them walk all that way, do you?!” – and it worked). He carried Peter most of the first hour (that is, until Peter decided that he would rather walk and climb on his own – but that’s a separate story), took care of him while we had lunch (you see him in the picture showing Peter how to use chopsticks). And generally focused on keeping Peter whole and happy. Ping’s English is excellent, we had lots of interesting conversations about Chinese society and other matters. He didn’t do much guiding and explaining on the wall, but then we weren’t asking much either, so I don’t know if he would have been good at it or not. We were just walking around, playing and gaping. Besides, we had done some research before. One nice detail. He noticed during lunch that the kids really like their juice. So on the way home he stopped and bought us a whole crate of that type of juice. When the time came to part ways and pay him he reduced the total price by several hundred yuans, refusing us to pay even close to the agreed-upon price. That sure was a surprise! I’m used to other tour guides that find any excuse they can to inflate the price at the end. Ping said that we should save the money, since we were a family of four. He even stopped me when I tried to sneak in an extra 100 yuan. The most important characteristic, however, is his cheerful and compassionate attitude. He genuinely cares. So if you’re going to Beijing, especially with a family, I can highly recommend hiring Ping. Find him at http://www.privatetaxibeijing.com
Big Family Trip 