So I am currently doing my student teaching in a world history class and I was hoping AskHistorians might help me get a better sense of what life was like for traders and merchants traveling along the Silk Road (from all regions of the road). Are there any first hand accounts from people like this detailing their travels?
My suggestion to you is to read Susan Whitfields "Life Along the Silk Road", it is a historical fiction book, but it beautifully illustrates the trials that people faced along the Silk Road routes.
The Silk Road, as I'm sure you're aware was not just one long trail that stretched from East to West. There was just as much trade North to South between the newly settled civilizations thanks to the threat of violent reprisal from the Han and Qin Dynasty, who had eliminated the nomadic tribes such as the Hsiung-nu.
That being said, just because the routes had become settled enough to traverse with goods, it did not mean that one was entirely safe from brigands and the like. Very often you would hire protection if you could pay for it, the journey could take months if you were planning on going from one end to the other, which you often were as the silk in the East was a very precious commodity throughout most of the Silk Roads lifespan.
Sources:
Waugh, Charles. University of Washington, "Narratives of the Han Dynasty." Last modified 1999. https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/hantxt1.html
http://books.google.com/books?id=uauW9cvqKGYC&pg=PA27&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false