Overall 3 stars. The guide was very good. 5 stars The hotels were comfortable. 4 stars The attractions were well chosen. 5 stars. 1 star for the following: There was too much time spent on the bus. It was uncomfortable to be seated for so long (two days!) The return air trip was AWFUL. The trip took 31 hours from Chiang Mai to LAX due to poor connections and long layovers arranged by Smartours! The long layovers in Bangkok and Beijing were simply not acceptable. They were excessive and stressful. Leaving Bangkok at 1:05am was very bad planning by ST. We arrived from Chiang Mai at @6pm and left for Beijing after a 7 hour layover! It is almost a week after the return flight and I am still exhausted due to the bad flight planning. The NY office staff was disorganized and non-communicative for long periods of time. I had to contact them for information that should have been sent but wasn't. They seemed unaware of problems even when explanation was given repeatedly. They required a doctor's letter for a seat request which Air China repeatedly told me they did not receive or require. The ST staff refused any other help with the matter, not even supplying a contact number at Air China, which was extremely difficult to contact. Help finally came from another airline giving a number at AC that was actually answered. This trip's travel plans were in stark contrast to the wonderful previous trip I made to Africa with ST.