This trip links the greatest and most resonant of the place names along the famed Silk Road. Our journey begins in China’s ancient capital of Xian and continues through western China, across the Turugart Pass just west of the desert oasis of Kashgar to the new Central Asian nations of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. It’s an epic that ties together whole passels of civilizations, epochs, and sceneries, the kind of journey generations of far-fetchers would have mort­gaged their souls to make.

Day 1: arrive Xian, China • Days 2 & 3: Terracotta Warriors, Shaanxi Museum, etc. • Day 4: to Dunhuang • Day 5: Caves of a Thousand Buddhas and Singing Sands • Day 6: Dunhuang and fly to Urumchi • Day 7: Xinjiang Museum and Uighur lunch • Day 8: to Kashgar and roam the fabled oasis city • Day 9: Sunday Bazaar and livestock market • Day 10: cross the Turugart Pass into Kyrgyzstan • Day 11: Naryn and Lake Issyk-kul • Day 12: to Bishkek • Day 13: explore Bishkek and environs • Day 14: to Tashkent and visit the old city • Day 15: city touring and arts • Days 16 & 17: Samarkand • Days 18 & 19: Bukhara • Day 20: return to Tashkent for farewell dinner • Day 21: depart

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