Urumqi, capital city of Xinjiang province, witnessed a transnational wedding on August 15, 2012. The groom was Fares Abdullah, a Swiss native, and the bride was Li Miao, a Chinese girl.

More and more people have chosen to take wedding tour flights around China thanks to the customized services offered by the China Travel Depot tourism agency. Fares sent us a letter expressing his wish to spend his honeymoon on a Silk Road tour, along Kashgar, Turpan, Kanas and finally Lhasa in Tibet.

During their China tour, the couple hoped to have a special wedding in Urumqi with 25 guests, including the groom’s family members and friends from Switzerland, Germany, Palestine, the US and the UK.

Though the Tibetan local government launched restrictions on inbound tourists, the agency helped them with all required documents. They had a wonderful time in China.

On August 5, the wedding guests flew to Urumqi and were picked up at the airport by an agency tour guide. After one day of rest in the hotel, the group flew to Kashgar where they enjoyed the scenery in Dawakun Desert.

On the morning of the third day, the guests took a 3.5-hour (200-kilometer) car ride to Karakuri Lake. The lake sits 3,600 meters above sea level and is surrounded by snowy mountains to the east of the Pamirs. It offers fertile grassland for local herds and extraordinary, charming scenery for visitors. The guests also saw yurts, camels and horses inhabited by the local Tajik people.

On August 8, the wedding group took a tour of Kashgar city. First, they visited the famous Id Kah Mosque in the city center. The next day, they went to Turpan to see the Jiaohe Ruins and Karez Well, two of Turpan’s most famous tourist attractions.