China

This trip was fantastic, informative from start to finish. We were a small group of 13. We were lucky: everyone was congenial and punctual, meeting up at the appointed times, and Big Mo, our guide, with years of experience, paved our way from start to finish doling out sound advice, tips and precautions.
There are a couple of things you might want to know:
1) The food is delicious but its best to avoid raw fruits and vegetables, and never drink water from the tab. I was overly careful, even used straws to drink from a canned soda, etc. and I felt only an hours worth of travelers diarrhea. My husband ended up with a much bigger hit. He ignored advice from our friend who'd traveled to India and China many times. Rather than run the risk of missing some of the activities, just go without salads for one week... There are plenty of great cooked food options.
2) The sleeper train was an experience from Cairo to Aswan. If you are young, can afford to forego a good sleep, maybe its an adventure worth having. For the return trip, Luxor to Cairo, we asked to upgrade to Egypt Air and an extra night at the 5 star, Sheraton in Cairo. In other words we scratched a return trip by sleeper car train, and were very glad.
We can't say enough good things about Encounters Travel and our Egyptian experience.

We have just finished a four day tour in Egypt and Encounters travel were accommodating with our requests, due to us not following an organised tour. Mr Mohammed Khalifa the tour leader met us at Cairo airport and was excellent from the minute we left him to the minute he left us, nothing was too much trouble and he always went out of his way to help us, he truly is an asset to the company. Our time in Cairo was excellent and our tour guide Hamdi was fantastic, his knowledge was second to none and he was enthusiastic about his country and its history. The Pyramids were definitely the highlight of our Cairo stay. We stayed in the Soluxe Hotel in Giza which was the only disappointment of the trip, the staff were great and very helpful, but the hotel itself may be a four star in Egypt but it is not up to European standards being Chinese owned. The rooms were clean, but we stayed here for two nights on separate occasions, the beds were comfortable if you are used to sleeping on a Chinese bed which is rock hard. The bathrooms were clean but were poor, the shower doors in both rooms did not close, hence the bathroom flooded; the drains were also inefficient, and our shower had still not drained an hour and a half agpfter using it. Internet connection was poor. Tea bags were the only form of refreshment available in the room with no complimentary water which we found surprising as you are advised not to drink the tap water. Breakfast was poor for the Western guests though they did make the effort, it was certainly geared toward the Oriental customer.
We travelled to Luxor on the sleeper train which was all part of the experience and one we wouldn't have missed though we returned to Cairo by plane. Luxor was excellent, our guide Makmood was also excellent, and he too was very knowledgeable about the area. The hotel here, the Steinberger Nile Palace was excellent with no faults at all, and again the staff were so friendly. Egypt is a fantastic country with a Welsh of history and this trip was excellent, we would recommend a trip here with Encounters travel to aha hone. The tour leaders, tour guides and drivers were all excellent and nothing was too much trouble for Any of them.