Ultimate Silk Road

Filled with the aromas of baking bread and sesame oil, the bustling main street of Xian’s Muslim (‘Hui’) neighbourhood, Beiyuanmen, comes alive after dark, when dozens of open kitchens serving traditional snacks and meals do a roaring trade. Try the famous Jiansan steamed buns and glistening red persimmon pies. Descended from the Arab and Persian merchants who first arrived in the Chinese capital in the 7th century, the Hui – and their trademark dishes – are a living legacy of the ancient trade across the great deserts to the west. Around one thousand of them attend Friday prayers at the city’s Great Mosque, an exquisite old building blending classical Chinese and Islamic styles.

The city’s impressive Ming ramparts form a huge rectangle around the centre that’s best covered by bicycle – a wonderful ride affording fine panoramic views. Next, pay a visit to the six-storey Wild Goose Pagoda, built to hold the precious Buddhist texts brought back from India by the monk Xuan Zang in the 7th century. In the afternoon you’ll head east out of the city to see the Terracotta Army. Apart from the pits holding the clay warriors themselves, the site encompasses a giant mound holding the unexcavated tomb of the Ching Emperor, and a museum jam-packed with precious finds.

Dating from between the 4th and 14th centuries, the Mogao Caves complex is the world's richest storehouse of ancient Buddhist sculpture and murals. For hundreds of years, precious manuscripts from India and beyond (including the Diamond Sutra, the world’s oldest printed book) were also brought here by travelling monks and secreted in a sealed cave on the site, where Aurel Stein discovered them between 1907 and 1914, eventually carrying the horde off to the British Museum (where it still resides).

Created over a period of around 700 years, Dunhuang’s cave paintings decorate hundreds of separate excavations, although only the 20 most impressive are open to the public today. You’ll probably get through around 15 in your tour, which will also pause at the site’s state-of-the-art Research and Exhibition Centre, to look at the detailed facsimiles and displays on the history of the Silk Road.

Dunhuang’s ‘Crescent Moon Lake’ occupies a depression amid a tract of vast dunes outside the town. Visits are best in the evenings, when the crowds who come to climb the sand hills and enjoy toboggan and camel rides thin out considerably.

The ‘Xinjiang International Grand Bazaar’, to give it its full title, is of relatively recent vintage and lacks the authentic feel of those further west, but it certainly merits a couple of hours’ exploration. Officially the largest market in the world, it covers a vast area that’s centered in an appropriately colossal minaret (modelled on the one in Bukhara, which you’ll see later in this tour) and is an excellent source of local souvenirs, such as Uyghur musical instruments, atlas silk, local rugs and knives. At sunset time, admire the gilded domes of the Grand Mosque, then duck into a traditional Uyghur restaurant nearby for a supper of traditional ‘polo’ (pilau rice) and lamb kebab.

The Xinjiang Provincial Museum ranks among the best in China, with finds from the abandoned cities of the Silk Road dominating its archaeological collection. The undoubted show stealers are the amazingly well-preserved mummies, some of which – intriguingly – have fair hair and blue eyes! After lunch you’ll set off for one of the province’s best-loved viewpoints, overlooking the shores of Tian Chi (‘Heavenly Lake’), in the lap of the Tianshan Mountains to the north of the city. Framed by snow peaks, pine forests and grassy meadows, the turquoise coloured water contrasts vividly with the backdrop of 6,000-metre mountains, which include mighty Bodga Feng.

An early start will be required today as you drive southeast across the Taklamakan to Turpan. Start with a visit to the pot-bellied, round-topped Emin Minaret, which you can scale for a fine view of the surrounding snow peaks, then head to Bezeklik ‘Thousand Buddha Caves’ complex and fascinating Karez Irrigation Site, where you can see the system of channels that has directed meltwater to the area from the Tian Shan range for more than 2,000 years. Experience the resulting fertility yourself in the afternoon with a tour of a local grape farm in the Uyghur village of Tuyoq.

Having squeezed around the edges of the Taklamakan Desert, the northern and southern Silk Roads converged on Kashgar, Xianjing’s westernmost city. Crowds of farmers and nomads still flock in each week for its famous Sunday market, the Yekshenba Bazaar – one of the great sights of the Silk Road. Hand-woven carpets, kilims and jade jewellery from Khotan, along with ornately decorated knives from nearby Yengisar, can be bought at bargain prices. Relaxing in teashops, tucking into kebabs of charcoal-grilled lamb and watching the amazing assortment of Turkic faces, embroidered caps, donkey carts and camels lope past are what a visit to Kashgar is all about.

One of the finest examples of Islamic architecture in China, the Aba Khoja complex retains superb decorative tilework on its exterior and painted wood carving inside, where five generations of the same family are entombed. Your guide will also show you around the few surviving areas of Kashgar’s mud-and-thatch Old Town, where you’ll be invited to take tea in a typical Uyghur home. Next up will be the city’s covered bazaar – look out for local knives and instruments that would have been familiar to Tamerlane and Genghis Khan. If you happen to be here on a Sunday you’ll also be able to visit the famous great livestock market.

A succession of spectacular valleys, flanked by denuded mountainsides of scree and ochre cliffs lead to the gateway through the Tian Shan range: the 3,752-metre Torugart Pass. This will be a relatively taxing day involving potentially lengthy border formalities. Ensure you have a warm jacket on hand – the temperature will drop noticeably as you ascend. Once clear of Chinese customs, continue across to the Kyrgyz border, where you change cars and guide. Continue on to the beautiful 14th-century caravanserai at Tash Rabat, where you’ll spend the night in a traditional yurt.

Your ultimate destination today will be one of the most visually arresting, and uplifting, natural spectacles in Central Asia: Song Kol Lake – a shimmering expanse of blue water encircled by swaths of grass and hillsides. You’ll spend the night in a yurt camp by the lakeshore. Weather permitting, the night skies will be among the starriest you’ll ever experience.

Feeling more like an inland sea, the lake has its own mild micro-climate and is surrounded by magnificent scenery, and some fascinating monuments. You’ll spend the night in a small but comfortable hotel in the town of Balykchy, set back from the lakeshore. Lunch will be in Kochkor, where there’s a lively bazaar, as well as some interesting crafts workshops to visit should you wish.

In the course of the day you’ll visit a yurt-making workshop, take tea with a local family in a typical Kyrgyz village and enjoy picnic lunch on the lakeshore. Before reaching the end of the day’s journey, you’ll also explore the Skazka ‘Fairy Tale’ Canyon, famed for its weird red and ochre rock formations. Your night halt will be at a guesthouse in the town of Karakol, a former Russian colony that preserves much of its traditional Tsarist-era wood architecture, including a magical little Orthodox church. For supper, you’ll have the option of dining in a local restaurant or with a local family.

The Jety Orguz valley is known principally for its striking sandstone landforms, foremost among them the blood-red crags of the ‘Seven Bulls’. Beyond, the road winds along the river through beautiful forests of blue spruce, crossing no less than five log bridges before arriving at the flower meadows of Kok Jaiyk at the upper reaches of the Jety Orguz Valley, overlooked by the shining ice summits of Orguz Bashi peak (5,165m).

Spend the remainder of the day souvenir shopping. In the evening you’ll have the option of attending a culture show in a local restaurant featuring recitals of traditional Kyrgyz instrumental music and song.

After lunch at a local café serving traditional Kyrgyz cuisine, you’ll be shown by your guide around Bishkek’s largest market, Osh Bazaar – a great source of authentic souvenirs, such as the distinctive felt hats worn by many Kyrgyz men of a certain age.

After a late lunch at a traditional Uzbek restaurant, a gentle afternoon’s tour begins at the Hast Imam complex in old Tashkent, whose handsome 14th century mosques, tomb and madrasa today host workshops for traditional crafts. Highlight of the visit is a glimpse of one of the world’s oldest Qurans. We’ll wind up the tour with a stroll around the centrepiece of the modern city, Amir Timur Square, home to a huge equestrian statue of Uzbekistan’s eponymous national hero, better known in the West as ‘Tamerlane’. On western side, the gleaming white-marble Congress Hall is crowned by a pair of silver storks, symbols of ‘Peace and Happiness’.

Among the many on display at the national museum are some of the Asia’s most sumptuous antique carpets, a collection of ancient suzani embroidered silk wall hangings and Buddhist figurines from the pre-Islamic Silk Road era. Lunch today will be at the famous Plov Centre, high altar of the national dish of Uzbekistan, plov – a regional take on pulao made with sizzling lamb, rice, vegetables and apricots. Afterwards, we’ll head uptown to explore Tashkent’s bustling market – Chorsu Bazaar – where you can buy everything from embroidered Uzbek hats to wedding gowns and bowls of juicy mulberries. Photographers will be in their element.

Located 50 miles (80km) south of Samarkand, Shakrisabz was the birthplace of Timur – a fact celebrated by a crop of wonderful 14th and 15th century monuments, foremost among them the majestic Kok Gumbaz mosque, with its three vibrant turquoise domes. The remnants of Timur’s own Summer Palace, the Ak-Saray, come a close second: sublime blue, white and gold mosaics embellish the surviving gateway of the building. Crafts traditions dating from the time of Timur still thrive at the famous Khudjum Embroidery factory, an all-women cooperative where 1,600 workers weave carpets, mats, traditional Uzbek silk gowns and skull caps.

After breakfast, visit the spectacular ‘Registan’, Samarkand’s great showpiece. The complex is made up three separate madrasas, or theological colleges, lining three sides of a huge plaza. Behind the richly decorated facades are hidden cloistered courtyards where the former priests’ and students cells hold small crafts and souvenir shops. After the Registan, you’ll visit the giant Bibi Khanym mosque, before a wander around nearby Urgut market. In the afternoon, watch how silk is processed and woven into exquisite rugs at a local carpet factory, then head to the Shah-i Zinda to see the intricately tiled tombs of the Timurid queens.

Highlight of Afrosiab’s site museum is the fabulous ‘Ambassador’s Painting’, a rare survivor of the distant Sogdian era, painted over two-and-a-half-thousand years ago yet still full of vitality. Time permitting, you’ll also be able to visit a museum devoted to the legacy of the great Uzbek ruler and polymath, Ulug Begh, whose scientific discoveries, particularly in the field of astronomy, were admired by Sir Isaac Newton, among others. All being well, you should arrive in Bukhara in time for a short wander around the historic centre, near your hotel, before supper. Start at the shimmering Lyab-i Hauz pond at its ensemble of 16th century architectural masterpieces.

Highlights include the sprawling Poi-i-Kalan complex and Laub-i-Hauz ensemble – both examples of Central Asian architecture at its most chimeric. In the north-west of the old walled city, the Ark fortress is a more forbidding edifice, redolent of the darker side of the regimes who ruled the city from the 5th century AD until the flight of the last Emir in 1920. In the evening, you’ll have the option of attending at folklore show at the Folklore Show at the Nadir Divanbegi Madrasa, featuring traditional Uzbek music and dance, or a fashion show showcasing the textiles and couture of local designers.

Nearly a mile wide, the Amru Darya is still an impressive sight, despite the fact much of its water is nowadays diverted into vast fields of cotton. Your lunch stop today will be at a traditional Uzbek restaurant just off the highway. Green-glazed domes and tapering minarets soar above the flat rooftops and medieval mud walls of the beautifully restored Itchan Kala, Khiva’s historic core. There will be time in the afternoon for a short walking tour of the principal monuments, beginning with the squat, elaborately tiled Kalta Minar and nearby Jama Masjid (‘Friday Mosque’), which retains carved elm pillars dating from the time of Alfred the Great!

The city’s tallest and most prominent building, the Islam Khoja Minaret is embellished with handsome bands of turquoise tiles. A narrow, steep flight of steps corkscrews to the viewing platform at the top where a fabulous 360-degrees view over the city is revealed.  Sumptuous tilework, painted ceilings, finely carved wood pillars and exquisite calligraphy adorn the remarkable ensemble of palaces and madrasas surviving in the Itchan Kala. Your guide will lead you through the highlights in the morning, leaving you free to wander, shop or lounge on your hotel balcony in the afternoon. It’s also worth squeezing in a second visit to the Kunya Ark Palace in the evening for the sunset views over Khiva’s exotic skyline.