With Delaplane in China

We recently returned from the Far East on a route similar to that traveled by your Stan Delaplane, but we were on the Golden Odyssey and he was on the Royal Viking. We were much surprised on our return to find Delaplane’s articles, about which we must point out several gross errors. He wrote about being arrested for dropping a cigarette butt on the Great Wall (June 21). We were warned by our tour director about such behavior; surely he had been similarly warned. On June 28 Delaplane talked about the beautiful buses provided for tourists in Beijing and said they were from Yugoslavia; ours were from Japan.

On July 5 he reported that cruise passengers “must spend their Chinese money. It can’t be reconverted to dollars.” The Chinese paper money we were advised to buy can be spent anywhere in China and can be converted into American dollars (or Hong Kong dollars) at the airport at the regular bank rate. This paper money is issued specifically for foreign tourists. The money Delaplane talks about is regular Chinese money, which normally does not come into the hands of tourists and cannot be exchanged for dollars.

KATHLEEN M. SELMAN

Pacific Palisades