Did anyone do Silk Road DIY before?

[gunyhake]

Anyone do Silk Road DIY before? Can share your experience of a diy traveller?

I have been there but on a tour so wanna hear a different experience hehe

 

[HighNoon]

The best way to get such information is look at Chinese web sites. There are many such trip reports by back packers. I reaserach their sites extensive for information.

At one stage I was considering a silk rtoad tour, using a an agency at Xian, but did not manage to make the trip. In any case my plan would be to amke a trip just for Xian itself in the near future. Staying there for 9 days or so,

You may want to read what is written here ..
http://www.yododo.com/area/guide/01307CAF0D520A74FF808081307ADC3B

for such a trip report ..

HN

 

[tycosiao]

I reckon lonely planet would have such trip reports too.

 

[asiafrenz]

yes many many years back when i was still very very young, very gungho, went alone on a silkroad trip in China, took a flight to Xian and making my way west by train, stopping along the way to visit some sights......was pickpocketed at Lanzhou after getting down a bus, lose quite a substantial amount of cash and stuffs, spoilt my mood......continued the journey all the way to Dunhuang, continued to feel really lousy and sickening by the people along the way, finally thought that enough is enough and cut short my journey and headed back to the more modern part of China, coastal region.

Maybe now should be better, be it hotel, train, etc, and hopefully less petty crimes.

but really its an experience!

 

[chengying]

yes many many years back when i was still very very young, very gungho, went alone on a silkroad trip in China, took a flight to Xian and making my way west by train, stopping along the way to visit some sights......was pickpocketed at Lanzhou after getting down a bus, lose quite a substantial amount of cash and stuffs, spoilt my mood......continued the journey all the way to Dunhuang, continued to feel really lousy and sickening by the people along the way, finally thought that enough is enough and cut short my journey and headed back to the more modern part of China, coastal region.

Maybe now should be better, be it hotel, train, etc, and hopefully less petty crimes.

but really its an experience!

woah so cham ah!

which are the good place to visit along Silk Road, I heard it's quite similar path to the Journey to the West show hehe

 

[AhPORK]

Went on the silkroad fieldtrip organised by my school.

It was quite an eye-opening experience for me. Managed to see the heavenly lake and the huoyanshan. They were damn pretty haha...

 

[asiafrenz]

woah so cham ah!

which are the good place to visit along Silk Road, I heard it's quite similar path to the Journey to the West show hehe

hahaha, not really cham lah, just that when something unfortunate happen to you, it just knock on you, making u feel so lousy, and way back then, the west part of China is really backward, undeveloped, train is really 3rd world standard, hotel too, so really like "journey to the west", have to endure the hardship! hahaha. In term of scenery, I think nothing to say "wow" as compared to other parts of China. Xian's Terra Cotta Warriors yes its 2000 years of history, its massive, impressive, and thats it. Dunhuang the sand dunes are interesting since never seen a sand dune in my life, and its different, nice experience, thats it. As for huoyanshan, just a mountain range that is hot, of course hot in the dessert! And ventured off the track to a place called Xiahe which is tibetan, quite nice place with Tibetan monasteries, green meadow, but thats about it. After been to quite a number of places in China over the years, I think the are other places in China which give me the wow factors, such as Jiuzhaigou, Huangshan, Zhangjiajie when it comes to scenery. Of course i'm sure there will be beautiful scenery on the silk road but it is a long stretch of china, u wont be getting beautiful scenery from end to end in the whole silk road journey, you really need to spend a long time a appreciate it, but it is definitely going to be an experience!

 

[elliotreble]

better not to save on this, if you got lost not v worth it. but you can always get a cheaper guide, or nego with the many tourist shops there for a better deal, bargaining works even for svcs. sometimes if you reach there then enage a local guide and pay in rmb u get a better deal than say pay in sgd

 

[Jianhao84]

I actually done my silk road trip back in 2008 together with 1 more friend, my route as below:

Beijing - Xi An - Jiayuguan - Dunhuang - Turpan - Urumqi

I can say really an eye opener for me cos a lot of things is 1st time experience in my life

 

[touchme]

Bookmark for trip next year mid

 

[m1kid85]

I am hoping to do a silk route tour in September next year. Anyone can advise is it a good month to travel. I do not wan to travel on a winter. Cooling temperature like 15 - 25 degree is good for me

 

[Infectant]

Bump, any recommendations? I'm going towards the end of the year for a month!

 

[kittyfan86]

try lonely planet, they have quite extensive coverage on silk road. Go before mid Oct, or it will be too cold and hard to travel, many sights will be close.