Urumqi Travel Forum

My husband and I would be interested in the Silk route but have no idea where to start.? We would prefer 9 to 10 days duration for the tour because we plan to fly to Japan for another extend 4 days before flying home.
This is in the planning stage and would probably do in 2009.

I have other trips to China on my mind but will discuss later.

Thanks

You can start from Xian, to Lan Zhou, to Dun Huang, to Urumqi, to Turpan, to Kashgar, and back. It is possible to visit all of the above in 10 days if you fly whenever the route allows. If you are taking the train but still want to keep the trip within 10 days, forget about Kashgar because the train ride between Turpan and Kashgar takes 2 days round trip.

Another alternative is to start Silk Road by flying directly into Dun Huang, and leave Xian to your other China trips.

Thankyou

I would choose to drop Lanzhou in favour of Jiayuguan.

Thanks.

Hi, We too are looking at doing the Silk Route exactly how you have described it.How easy or hard is it without being able to speak any other language but English? What sort of time frame would we be looking at ? What is the best time of the year to do it? Thank Mary

I would recommend going in late August and September.

I went in early September 2001, in the middle of our trip September 11 (World Trade Center) happened!! Original plan was to get to Kashgar, then take the Karakoram Highway over to Pakistan to Hunza Valley. Well, given the circumstances, the whole Karakoram Highway thing didn't happened. So instead, we used the extra time to see the Heavenly Mountains (Tian Shan) from Urumuqi. Anyway, we spent three weeks on the Silk Road trip in a VERY leisurely pace. You can do it in half the time.

If you are visiting mountain area, start in early September so you don't have to carry too much warm clothes. If not, you can go a little later. I usually avoid August because I want to travel after students go back to school, also to avoid desert heat.

Oh, forgot to talk about the language issue. It is perfectly do-able if you only speak English. I ran into many English only speaking people in that trip and they managed very well. However, you have to ask yourself how comfortable you are when you are surrounded by unfamiliar things and at times it seems like nobody can help you. Will you panic? If you do, then go with a tour or English speaking guide.

If not, the followings are something I observed in my China trips.
1) Many foreign tourists stick with hotels recommanded by Lonely Planet, so what ended up happening is even if the hotel staffs speak little English, you will always run into hotel guests who are willing to help. Just wait around the lobby until you find a translator.
2) Bank, especially major branch of Bank of China, will have someone who can speak English. Besides, all foreign independent tourists, have to go there at some point. I met a few travel companions that way.
3) I always find helpful students in local university.
4) I'm always amazed at my non-Chinese speaking husband can spot a bank, a post office, a bus stop, a supermarket faster than me who can speak and write Chinese. His secret is to zoom in on logos, symbols, and other visual clues.

Hope this will help.

Thank you so much for your helpful reply. we have just returned from an 8 week trip which include Italy, Croatia and Turkey and we had no trouble getting around to see everything we wanted to see in each of these places. I spent alot of time researching it all before we went and I think this is the key. Do you have a suggested itinerey. Usually I grab a tour company's trip route and go from there and of course a trusty guide book. Thanks heaps it was the language bit that i wasn't sure of.

I think your strategy of itinerary research is just fine – that’s what I do, too. China is a big country with long history, it’s difficult to pin it down to one or two itineraries.

Let’s take Silk Road itinerary for example, I would fly into Beijing (for some introduction to the history of the country) before starting the trip in Xian. On the way out of the country, I’d exit through Shanghai to see the modern China and have some good western food (if you are tired of Chinese food by then).

Another recommendation is to check the internet for the latest about hotels. New hotels are popping up all over China, and the guide books just can’t keep up with that.

9 or 10 days is going to be a very hurried time frame. Unless you are intending to fly from location to location when possible. If I knew what you would like to see, it'd be easier to advise you of your plan.
Do you want to do the guided tour whereby you see the usual sights or do you want to hire private guides locally and go a bit off the beaten track where you won't see many tourists?

Hi, We will probably spend about 3 weeks along the silk route with time before in Beijing and time after in Shanghai. We definitely like to see all the spoken about sights but we also enjoy getting a bit off track with a local which is even better so if could could advise us or recommend anything that would be great. Thanks

When are you thinking of doing this trip? The busiest time of year is, not surprisingly July and August. Three weeks is a much better time frame as you'll have time to relax in places and soak up more. You also need to decide if you want to do the Southern Silk road, Northern or both. The Southern Road isn't quite as touristy as the Northern road. You'll want to do Kashgar and the Karakorm highway as you're going to be in the area. My best advice would be to start from Dunghuang and travel by train to Urumqi. On the way you can manage without the language and take in the sights along the way. When you get to Urumqi you'll need to decide if you want to get a flight (1.5 hours) to Kashgar or the train (24 hours). Personally I'd get a flight as it's only a couple of hundred RMB more expensive than the train and it saves a lot of time. From Kasgar you can spend 10 days around the Southern Silk road and sights down there.
Northen XinJiang also has a lot to offer in the way of things to do and see which you won't find in the guide books.
If you have any other questions, you can mail me at manus@fubar.com.cn

I just came back from about 20 days of travelling in Xinjiang and the Silk Road. The highlights would be Karakoram Highway (2 days), Kashgar (animal market and Sunday market -- 1 day; plus at least 1-2 more days in the city), Turpan (2 days), Dunhuang (1.5-2 days) and Hotan (1 day).

Hi Ellyse, Would love to hear more about your trip regarding transport, accomodation, ammount of English spoken. All the places you mentioned are on our agenda. Where did you start out from?

My approximate route was Xining -- *Huatugou -- Charklik (Ruoqiang) -- Cherchen (Qiemo) -- Hotan -- Kashgar -- Karakoram Highway (Tashkurgan, Karakul Lake) -- Kashgar -- *Urumqi -- Hanas Lake -- *Karamay -- Yili -- *Bole -- *Urumqi -- Turpan -- Urumqi -- Dunhuang -- Jiayuguan -- Shanghai. Destinations marked with * were just transit.
Hope to be able to upload my tips and photos on my travel pages soon.

BTW I speak both Chinese (Mandarin) and English at a native level, so I wasn't particularly on the lookout for English speakers.

Thanks ellyse
I'll keep an eye out for your travel pages being updated.Cheers Mary

Have been doing a little more research and was wondering which way is best to go - from Urumqi down the Cross desert highway and up to Hotan and Kashgar that way and fly back to Urumqi to fly out to Shanghai or go the northern silk road to Kashgar and down to Hotan then back to Kashgar etc. Ellyse which way did you do it as you have covered the route that we want to travel. Any suggestions? Also will National week in 1st week in Oct play much of a part on travel, accom etc around that area ? Thanks Mary

Sorry Ellyse I have just reread your post a couple of replies ago and I now see the way you travelled. I'm not sure we will do all the southern route that is why I ask about going the cross desert highway. Still would like suggestions. Mary

Well, no need to do my route the way I did it. Hotan is a gem on the South Silk Road... the places east of Hotan are pretty mediocre, no qualms about skipping those if you don't have enough time.
There're quite a number of buses going between Urumqi and Hotan, if you want to see the scenery then make sure you get an appropriate timing. I've heard that the good stuff doesn't start till 5 hours from Hotan (going in the Hotan -- Urumqi direction).