Looping the silk / silking the loop (preface)

After three days of lingering and resting in Urumuqi I am embarking on another adventure. This time I would like to follow entire Silk road on the Chinese soil and circumvent the Taklamakan desert. Silk road as, all of you know (at least I hope), starts in Xian and ends in Istanbul. In Gansu and Xinjiang (around Dunhuang) it splits into two branches (some say three, but the middle one is more like a shortcut connecting southern and northern path) - Northern, which leads north of Taklamakan along Tian shan mountains through Korla to Kashgar, and Southern part, which follows Pamir range through Hotan and up to Kashgar where the both paths reconnect.

Of course, I had already passed along a good portion of the northern route. Today I will board the train to Kashgar - the meeting point and great market where the caravans and traders exchanged their goods. This ancient city is going through renovation (Chinese style) in order to prevent any earthquake damage. Problem is that all the historical buildings and streets will be levelled and rebuilt using modern materials.

As I still do not know how much time I would have and how my journey will continue I plan to spend couple of days in Kashgaria and explore mountain passes into Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan (if possible). After Kashgar my journey will lead me through oasis towns south of Taklamakan (Yangar, Hotan, Niye and so on) specialising in knife production and carpet weaving. The end point is either Dunhuang (Gansu province), Xining or Golmud (both in Qinghai province) depending on transportation means available. Possibility of cutting the whole trip short and crossing Taklamakan to Urumqi is high as well - all depends on beauty of Pamir mountains and how the buses will work. Of course, the whole exploration is limited by time as I have to finish the whole journey in c. eight days in order to return on time to Shanghai where I am supposed to meet up with my friend and to proceed together in exploration of other provinces (awesome plan is taking shape already).

The whole Silk road all the way west to Istanbul might sound more adventurous (with all the 'stan countries with crazy political situation in there) but believe me, from what I saw in Urumqi it is much more travelled alternative. Urumqi, and the hostel we are staying in, is a sort of base for all the explorers planning to return overland to Europe (I plan this too but later - when situation and time will allow me to follow exactly the route of ancient caravans).

This preface to upcoming trip was written to clarify my travel plans for those not familiar with Chinese names and geography and in case there will be no access to internet along the way. If no "wan ba's" (internet bars) are going to be available, see you in eight days :)