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my experience in booking trips to more "unusual" destinations (including China and East Africa) is that most travel agents have no clue.
the best approach i've found is to basically set your *own* itinerary based on what you want to see and do, and then go to three or four local travel agencies (the larger ones are more likely to have people who've either been to the destinations, or who specialize in those areas) for their thoughts and advice. when you find the one who seems to be most in touch with the destination *and* your mind set, you give them your itinerary and ask them to book it, with any changes that you and the agent agree on based on his/her experience and suggestions.
the bottom line from my experience is that you have everything at stake and they have very little at stake - so you're almost always going to do a better job of planning your trip than they are...the time you spend on "pre-research" is going to be 100-times more than the time they'll spend on booking you, so you're almost always going to be more well-informed than they are.
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