|
The Silk Road tour has been organized at the request of
several clients who traveled to China with me on the Embroidery
Class tours and the Historical Sites and Textiles tours.
*Pictured above:
A Kashgari woman
sews beads into a Uighur hat and a prior tour group taking
a camel ride through the Gobi Desert near Dunhuang.
Pictured here: A young man sells dried peppers and tomatoes at a local
market in Kashgar.
|
 |
The Silk Road was once the most important route for commerce.
It is a history lesson of religion and cultures. Merchants
and animals traveled this inhospitable area challenged
by intense heat of the deserts, lack of water, and high
mountain passes. Death was common. The caravans carried
cargos of silk, spices and incense, gemstones, tea, and
other goods.
Urumqi is the most land locked place on earth.
We will visit a carpet factory and the Museum of Minorities
and Mummies. We have an evening flight to Kashgar. The
following morning we visit the Mosque and the tomb of Abakh
Hoja, a 17th century chieftain. We tour the old city and
local markets.
The major reason for visiting Kashgar is the world famous
Sunday Bazaar. We will see many ethnic minority people.
This is the most colorful Asian bazaar which is least changed
for centuries. Thousands of people come to sell produce,
spices, nuts and dried fruits, fresh fruits and melons
and grapes, tea, livestock including sheep and cashmere
goats, Kashgari (nan) bread, rock sugar, colorful rugs
and silks and furs. The enthusiastic traders add to the
excitement of this chaotic market.
|
An
old man offers his friend some bread in front
of a mosque in Kashgar.
|

|
In the afternoon we visit the home of a local family and
observe the making of the beaded hats worn by the Uighur
men.
The next morning we travel two hours by bus to Turpan.
It lies in a great land depression, 505 feet below sea
level. We visit one of the 950 underground canals that
carry melted snow used for irrigation from the nearby Tian
Shan Mountains. Here we visit the Great Mosque of Suliman
and its unusual tile work on the single minaret. Turpan
is a grape and melon oasis. It is situated on the northern
border of the Taklamakan Desert.
|
The Suliman Mosque near Turpan
features a number of striking architectural features,
including the Emin Minaret (pictured here).
|

|
We visit the nearby lost city ruin and military outpost
of Jiaohe. We visit Gaochang, an ancient city surrounded
by walls of yellow, beaten earth, 39 feet thick at the
base. Gaochang and Jiaohe are two of China's best preserved
ancient cities.
|

|
|
Gaochang and Jiaohe, ancient cities
outside of Turpan, are celebrated as two of China's
best preserved ruins. (Sept 24 2001) |
We bus to the Flaming Mountains and visit the Bezeklik
Caves that are also known as Ten Thousand Buddha Caves.
They are situated high above the river gorge with thousand
years old painted murals.
Dunhuang is one of the world's most engaging archaeological
sites. Devout worshippers carved the Magao Temple Caves
from steep cliffs. These Grottos contain some of the most
fabulous Buddhist art in the world today.
We end our Silk Road portion of the tour in Xian, that
was the starting place of the Silk Road at its easternmost
terminus. We enjoy a noodle and dumpling dinner. We visit
a farmer-painter workshop in the countryside and have the
opportunity to observe the locals in the village.
A few of these farmers have traveled to the USA and other
countries promoting exhibitions of their art works in galleries
and botiques. The paintings are inexpensive but highly
collectable.
The Terra Cotta Warriors are the most famous tourist site
in Xian.
|

|
This young man in Urumqi makes
his bread in a clay oven and sells it to passersby. Highly
recommended! |
ADDITIONAL TOUR NOTES
Tour includes hotels, daily buffet breakfasts, lunches
and dinners in China. It also includes all transportation
required within China to travel from site to site, and
any sightseeing costs for items listed in the itinerary.
Includes all airport departure taxes and tips to drivers,
local guides and national guide.
All hotels are four or five star, except in some remote
areas where only three star hotels are available.
Please email for
the tour price or for answers to any additional questions.
|