During October 2024 Steven Kang of Silk Road Angel Tours and I travelled from Kashgar (Kashi), through Xinjiang and Gansu, to X’ian and on to Chengdu in Sichuan. This took 18 days and with Steven’s gracious facilitation, was one of the highlights of my life. This was the second trip I have done with Steven (previously in June 2023) and my faith in Steven’s capabilities was completely justified. We travelled by car (18 days), train (4 journeys – none more than half a day) and plane (two evening journeys) … meeting in Kashgar and parting in Changdu. We used our preestablished itinerary as a ‘guide’ and went ‘off-piste’ whenever we liked (not often because Steven’s planning was pretty good). I was tired the first few days, but the even pace of the travel and plenty of time to rest up, meant I got stronger and stronger as the trip progressed. Steven had a deft hand at knowing when to linger, when to step out smartly and when to just soak all the marvelous stuff in – Steven is indeed a bit of a past-master at setting the pace. At 70 y.o. I appreciated that! Our trip tracked along the route that Buddhism spread from India to central China – in fact this became a theme for our journey and Steven was revealed as quite the expert in this area. Key milestones were the Kizil Grottoes outside Kuqa, Bezeklik Grottoes near Turpan, the exquisite Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, the long ride out to the dramatic Bingling Caves near Lanzhou, the mighty Maijishan in Tianshui (surely one of the wonders of the world!), finishing at the Leshan Buddha near Chengdu. When we add in the Dafo Reclining Buddha in Zhangye (seen in 2023, on the trainline between Dunhuang and Lanzhou) we have a stupendous core of experiences as a backbone around which one can add any number of genuine sights and locations. Steven has our itinerary. For those that like local food, we were able to get the real deal every day … the BBQ at the Kashgar Sunday Market, the cold noodles in a small village restaurant outside Turpan, the beef noodles for breakfast in Lanzhou down near the Iron Bridge, the fabulous dumplings in a sensational standout restaurant in Mt Emei township outside Chengdu, not forgetting the brand new Muslim restaurant in Zhangye (scrumptious, we went back twice!) where two schoolgirls bought an icecream ‘for the visitors’. Don’t be scared off by the sight of plates piled high with red and green chilis – the locals themselves leave all the chili on the plate, picking out the delicious veggies, lamb, beef and fish . In summary, if you get a chance to go to Gansu or Xinjiang, then do so … I can recommend strongly the services of Steven Kang as your professional guide.

Steven and the Silk Road Angel Tour crew were simply wonderful! He arranged private tours for us in Chengdu, X’ian, Dunhuang and Beijing. Tour guides Steven, Sunny, Lily and Kathy were outstanding and impressively knowledgeable and helpful. I cannot recommend them more highly. Thank you!

Steven was very helpful and flexible ti help me thru my solo in Gansu. Lily was my guide. She was so knowledgeable, funny and made my trips more enjoyable.

We recently completed our 3 day private tour with Steven to Dunhuang/Zhangye and had a wonderful experience covering camel rides through the sand dunes, ancient Maogao caves, MoonLake Springs, Horse Hoof Temples and the amazing Danxia multi coloured hills. We are glad to have covered these two incredible areas with rich ancient history and Steven has been a great local guide, well organised itinerary and logistic support that is always on time. Steven’s local connection helped secured us with good VIP seats to the cultural shows and provided professional services with his impressive knowledge and China history which helped to enhance our China experiences. Overall, our group of 9 were well taken care of and I will not hesitate to recommend Steven/ChinaRoad AngelTours. He is also effectively bilingual in Mandarin although English tours is what he specialised.

Steven provide me with an excellent two day itinerary that allowed me to see everything that I wanted to in the Dunhuang area. He made the process easy and took all the headaches out of the logistics of getting from place to place and accessing the important things I wanted to. He is quite knowledgeable about the history of the area and I learned a lot from him during the two days.

My wife and I had an incredible visit to Dunhuang with Steve at Silk Road Angel Tours. Steve organized our amazing two day private tour with visits to the sand dunes, camel rides, an excellent show, and the breathtaking Mogao Caves. He also booked a beautiful hotel for us near the sand dunes and treated us to some delicious meals. The booking process with Steve was very easy and he was very responsive to any inquires or requests.

Great trip and thanks for Steve and his good organizational schedule! We had an enjoyable travel experience

The trip from Lanzhou to Dunhuang was absolutely rewarding, including views of Yellow River, stunning colorful Zhangye landscapes, good museum of history, multiple UNESCO sites like remains of the Great Wall, and amazing buddhism caves. The trip was well planned by Steven in terms of timing, hotel, meals, sites.

This is very excellent trip. I enjoy it very much. The tour guide is excellent. He is very well organized, considerate, and makes everyone feel very comfortable.

I enjoyed so much the trip to Gansu province with the Silk Road Angel Tour . They provided excellent service. I’m sure I will come again and have Steve help me to arrange the trip again.

This 9 days Silk road tour organized by Steven Kang covering Lanzhou Zhangye Jiayuguan Dunhuang Urumqi and ended in Xian, Steven had done a very professional job and provided excellent service during the whole tour and all of us enjoyed with full satisfaction and we give Steven and Angel Tours 5 star rating on this tour

This trip of a lifetime started with three good decisions ... my interests pushed me to concentrate on two areas, Zhangye and Tianshui (driven largely by Danxia National GeoPark outside Zhangye and Maijishan Grottoes outside Tianshui). I decided to get a personal guide in order to make the most of limited time (6 days). From researching Tripadvisor I contacted Angel Tours by email and Steven answered almost immediately. This was the first time I had ever used a personal guide over multiple days - I can't recommend it enough - just the companionship and shared experience is sufficient, let alone the timesavings from being with someone who has all the answers and tricks at their fingertips. As Steven and I began to understand each other, I really got into the experience and the majesty and beauty of China began to grow on me. I found Steven to be an excellent professional, obviously very experienced and knowledgable (he is in a select group of about 1800 who have been awarded the Gold Medal for guiding in China). His relaxed manner and friendly nature made him more of a companion than a 'tour guide'. When planning the trip from New Zealand, Steven responded almost instantly, was amenable to change and always had some great suggestions up his sleeve. Meetup was easy-as, and his work associates were excellent (the driver who met me, off his own bat, brought his niece from Teacher's College to the airport to help me). I found the pricing for the guiding and driving very reasonable - the whole guiding/Angel Tours things was brilliant in a money/efficiency sense. Next year I am taking the family to the Dunhuang area and Steven and I have already started talking about his home town. Best of all, I fell in love with China, we are definitely sympatico ... thanks to Steven and Angel Tours for helping in that.

Steven Kang at Angel Tours arranged an incredible experience for us, identifying cultural and natural highlights along the Silk Road from Tianshui to Dunhuang. Steven was responsive from the start and engaged with us in a dialogue to identify what sights we wanted to see, what kind of hotels and restaurants we expected and how long we wanted to travel each day; he even helped us with our China visas. The transportation he arranged was excellent, the hotels met our standards (given our budget-- very good value) and he was knowledgeable about the region. During the over 1,500 km we traveled together (not including the train rides that he arranged separately for us), Steven was always responsive to our group's needs, was patient with us and engaging but not intrusive when we wanted to do our own things. I highly recommend him and his team if you want a special, customised, unforgettable experience on the Silk Road!

I booked a 2 day solo tour of Dunhuang with Steven only to have my plans impacted by a recent COVID outbreak in the region. I cannot recommend this tour or his services more highly! In a rapidly changing situation, Steven helped me figure out plans for onward travel and even followed up to make sure I arrived safe and sound. Even though in the end I only got to see the city and its sights for one day, it was more than worth it for the insight, historical knowledge and convenience he brought to the experience. Mogao Caves were more than worth the trip out west!

The natural landscape and cultural history of Northwest China are worth visiting. Every scenic sport is unique, especially the Rainbow Mountain in Zhangye, which is spectular and incredible