After the visit of Kashgar I intended to travel along the Southern route of the silk road around the Takla Makan desert to visit another Sunday Market, this time on a Sunday. I decided to stop in the city of Yarkand (Shache), which apparently had to offer an impressive market.
Tag Archives: Travels
Kashgar: Split Personality
After the countries of Central Asia I crossed the last border of my trip entering a new culture. But the culture of the Uyghurs is not all that different from the Central Asian countries. But in Kashgar as anywhere in Xinjiang there live not only Uyghurs but in the meantime many Han-Chinese people.
Osh and the Irkeshtam Pass: Expecting Too Much
For the beautiful country of Kyrgyzstan I had a visa for a whole month. Due to the low temperature and the snow there were not many activities possible though, such that I decided to move on to China as quickly as possible.
Fergana: Traditional Uzbekistan
After the oriental and the Russian part followed the third yet again different part of Uzbekistan, which is the traditional Uzbek part in the Fergana Valley. The valley is the country’s most important agricultural region and is mainly settled by ethnic Uzbeks. One could observe this by the people’s dresses, their language and their religion.
Tashkent: Russian Uzbekistan
After the oriental cities in Uzbekistan, Tashkent meant a big change. The capital of the central Asian country sports a majority of inhabitants of Russian descendence but also the architecture is very much influence by the Russian period.
Samarkand: Capital of a Ruthless Warrior
One destination which appears on almost every itinerary through Central Asia is Samarkand. Timer made the city the capital of his empire in the 14th century, which reached all the way to modern day Istanbul. Today the city is known for its beautiful buildings, which survived many a storm during the past centuries.
Bukhara: Modern Babylon
After the long drive from Khiva to Bukhara I intended to spend two relaxing days in Bukhara. I used the time to get to know the wonderful old town and to learn a few interesting things about the people.
Khiva: The Open-Air Museum
I was definitely looking forward to the day when I left Turkmenistan and I could start discovering the famous ancient cities of the silk road in Uzbekistan. Also to the day when I could freely move around in a country again. But how would the border crossing work this time?
Dashoguz: The Turkmen Wheat-Chamber
The trip from Mary to Dashoguz was hopefully the one and only time I took the airplane during this trip. The flight leads across the Karakum desert to the North-East of Turkmenistan, where a large source of income is agriculture. The region was also an important trading center during the time of the silk road, connecting to current day Russia, Iran and Uzbekistan.
Mary: Junction on the Silk Road
After the surreal world of Ashgabat I was very curious about the looks of the rest of Turkmenistan. I was glad having chosen the car as means of transport to Mary, a very important point on the silk road.