silk road tour

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Message Submitted by plng on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 18:13
<p>Has anyone heard of the company called "Silk Road Tours", out of China? site adr: www.silkroadcn.com, company name: "China Xinjian Western International Travel Service Co Ltd"</p> <p>My husband and I are in communication with this company about a 14 day Silk Raod tour. The agent sounded professional and accomodating. However, I would like to find some reviews on this company before I commit myself to this.<br /> If you have taken trips through this company or have heard of it, please respond. Really appreciate your help. </p>

Reply Submitted by Pinky33 on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 23:23

I don't know this company but am interested in this part of the world so looked at their website. I notice they show logos for (thus inferring they belong to):
IATA - Intl. Air Transport Association (must be members to issue air tickets; each agency has a specific number)
PATA - Pacific Area Travel Association
ASTA - American Assn. of Travel Agents
These are top-notch organizations. You might want to check their membership on line -- they do not show up as members on the PATA membership list (this is the only one I checked). You might ask them if the company is a member of these professional organizations and in the case of IATA what is their number.
When I'm trying to decide between two local companies, if one is a member of IATA, I will choose them.

Reply Submitted by nie57 on Sat, 06/11/2011 - 12:36

hi there,
i need your help urgently. did you finally commit to this tour agent www.silkroadcn.com? i am about to use this company to take their 12 days silk road tour very soon. yes they seem nice and fast at getting back to me however, i am worried about fake websites. is this company real? what do you think of their service? do they deliver all their promises? would really appreciate it if you can provide some help regarding this matter. Thank you!

best regards,

Nie

Reply Submitted by TravelCenturian on Sat, 06/11/2011 - 21:53

Tourism has become highly organized out in this area the past 10 years. I get the impression China would allow too many flim-flam artists in their stream of organized tourism commerce. No facts to back this up, but we had such competent and detailed travel service in this part of the world on two separate trips that I think it is more likely your connection would be legitimate than not. There are no so many middle/upper class Chinese traveling to these remote corners of their country, the change we saw in just 10 years between visits was over-whelming. Get there soon before any hint of "Old Xingian" is gone, paved over or gentrified. We used Adventures Abroad and Betchart for our two trips into this area. Both excellent, locally oriented and knowledgable. Though I think our happiest memory was finding a ice coffee in Kashgar at a modern "burger" place in the heart of their downtown main park area. Several weeks of Uighar food did get old - just no variety and not as tasty as I think it was supposed to be. Tacky, eh? But seeing "western" fast food restaurants in these formerly remote corners of China is an experience in itself.

Reply Submitted by plng on Sun, 06/12/2011 - 23:53

Hello,
So when is your silk road trip? I ended up contacting 4 different website travel agents, all based in China, (3 in Xinjiang, 1 in Beijing). They all seem very nice and legit (I hope). I don't have any way of verifying their authenticity or reputation either but they all claimed to belong to several travel associations (ie IATA, etc).

The person who responded to me from Silkroad.cn.com is named Steven and he was very extensive in his answers to my questions. I asked for an extension to Dunhuang and Jiayuguan at the end of the trip and the quoted cost appears to be reasonable.

I plan to do this tour at the beginning of October when it's cooler and less crowded. I'd love to hear about your trip. Perhaps you can provide me with some words of wisdom after you've been there. By the way, is your first stop in Urumqi? Are you flying there by way of Beijing or Shanghai? We will fly into Hong Kong first as we have relatives there.

Best of luck!
Plng

Reply Submitted by cathy ericson on Fri, 01/27/2012 - 04:03

From the information i have gathered it says that it will Visit the most picturesque Kanas lake in Northern Xinjiang along the Altai Mountain range near Dzungarian Basin, beautiful high mountain Lake Tianchi (heavenly lake) special Yardang landformation-Ghost city, the primitive and crude rock carvings Kangjia Shimenzi, the most hottest and lowest city Turpan etc. but please check for all other major concerns and yes do take a travelling insurance, but still u need to be careful on your trip and best wishes for your trip.