The China Silk Road
Reading about the famous Silk Road always sounded glamorous and adventurous. Just the thought of traveling the same route as Marco Polo gave me chills. What I didn't know is there are many, many Silk Road routes. Into and across the following areas...Asia, the various "Stans" (Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan), India, Yemen, Syria...an entire network of caravans traveling between China and Europe carrying spices, gold and textiles for trading, over 2,000 years. You may have even been on one of the ancient Silk Roads without even realizing it. But to me, China, particularly the Xinjiang region, and Marco Polo embodied the Silk Road.
The earliest, most direct, and heavily used route developed around 100 BC and was known as the Silk Road, for the precious Chinese silk cloth traded on it. Changing political and environmental conditions over the years determined the popularity of the various routes and after a sea route from Europe to Asia was discovered in the late 15th century, the land routes were gradually abandoned.
This region is one of the most interesting in China with ethnic variety, history and archaeological remains. Xinjiang is an autonomous region of China. In 1955, more than 90% of the population were Turkic-speaking Muslim Uyghurs, and nomads (the Kazakhs). My route of interest would pass through Lanzhou, skirt along the deserts and mountains, go through Dunhuang and the largest part of this Silk Road worked its way through Xinjiang.
I turned to Shi Ming (Cindy) of Shanghai Far East Expeditions (or e-mail her at: fareast@shfareast.com) who had planned other China trips for us and asked for input on Kashgar, Urumqi, Turpan, Dunhuang, Lanzhou with Shanghai and Beijing added on at the end. Kashgar, is the furthermost city in China's "wild west" on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert. This isolated city was the start of many Tibet, Pamir and Karakoram expeditions in the 18th and 19th centuries, and I recently read about a new trek heading for K2 in 2007 beginning in Kashgar, China operated by Snow Lion Expeditions. This trek really interests me but the timing is wrong right now.
I am a fervant believer in pro-active planning. To get the most out of a trip, I read and Internet to find whatever information I can on the area. Don't rely on a travel agent or tour operator to do all the work...only your input will make the trip as interesting as you hoped for unless you are completely satisfied with a boiler plate tour. Read my well-worn copy of the Lonely Planet China guide, Googled, explored many web sites and gave Cindy my input via many e-mails. She would then e-mail back with no, yes or other suggestions. ex-Marine (husband, Steve) was in one of his mellow..."do whatever you want"...periods and that's exactly what I did. Steve actually prefers to give "guidance" and "input" after the trip is over and critique whatever should have been done differently. As usual, I ignore...
There was a lot to see but we finally narrowed it down to 13 days in the Xinjiang area and 6 days in Shanghai and Beijing. Now for extremely in-depth planning...
