Sometimes our guests say the darndest things, and we just can’t help but brag on ourselves! Ricky, a Delta pilot based out of Atlanta (Southeast – represent!), has been an UnTour guest three times in the past year, along with his wife Patsy. He brought along his sister-in-law Awilda from Puerto Rico this past trip, and we just had a ball with our new(ish) Dumpling Delights & Street Eats-Breakfast tours. Below is the feedback he left on TripAdvisor:
I have been to Shanghai many times but never had the guts to go out and eat where the locals would only go. So last year my wife and I went on an UnTour with 4 other people on the Oodle for Noodles tour. We were guided by Kyle who did a superb job. We tried some awesome noodles, walked the streets and alleys in the local neighborhoods (not the typical touristy areas) and got a totally different perspective of the French Concession. We left the tour very full and skipped dinner that night. So, in light of this awesome experience, this year we brought my wife’s sister (from San Juan, Puerto Rico) and booked two tours one week in advance and it was once again an awesome experience. We went on the Dumpling Delight tour and this time we had Jamie as the tour guide. What an awesome guide she is!! She was ready when we came to our hotel lobby and took a taxi to our first stop. Yum Yum…the dumplings here were excellent. Next stop: Yum yum yum!! Even better. I would’ve been just happy with the first two stops. These dumpling shops were delicious and the 3 of us were very full right away, so we asked Jamie to take it easy on future purchases, since everything was so delicious we wanted to eat it all. Next stops were just as good, we were enjoying every bit of every minute with Jamie, asking her all kinds of questions about the culture, lifestyle, cost of living, and every other thing you want to know about Shanghai. She had all the answers and more. We went from the street vendors to a white table cloth restaurant. Talk about broad spectrum on culinary treats. Once again, we ended the tour very satisfied, both stomach and mind!! Needless to say, we skipped dinner again and just had a light snack before calling it a day that evening.
Next day we did the Street Eats. I thought the previous day was awesome and I could not imagine day two would be as good…WRONG!! It was just as good or perhaps better. We met Jamie at the corner of a park and once again, she was there right on time, this time holding a bag with some delicious snacks (Scallion Oil Pancake (Congyoubing). Way to start the tour: good morning, start eating delicious food!! I did not expect to see the morning “zumba” (tai chi?) sessions of the seniors on the parks of Shanghai. There we learned about retirement topics and elderly programs. Once again, Jamie was a wealth of information. Then we went on to the other stops for more yum yum yum yummy food. I can’t stop raving about how good all was. We even had an extra stop at one of my favorite noodle shops from the tour the previous year for my sister in law to experience. Jamie had no problem fitting it into the schedule and extending past our normal end time. Great flexibility and customer oriented approach. Jamie brought us water, napkins, wet naps, and she even had scheduled bathroom breaks at the “best” bathroom locations. Jamie had it all figured out and did a superb job. I cannot imagine coming to Shanghai for the first time (or like me for the 15th time) and not booking one of these tours; any of them. It’s an awesome intro to Shanghai that can set the pace for the rest of your stay. Next time I come to Shanghai I will set up at least one of the tours again. I’m not a runner, so I will not do that tour, but on the other tours, I am 3 for 3 rating all of them 5 stars; I highly recommend it!!!
Thanks for the kind words, Ricky! We hope that you guys come back again – maybe this time we’ll try the Night Markets.
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