Chinese Silk Road Taklamakan Adventure

Tour starts in Xian: After a quick freshen-up, you may wish to explore the local area and have lunch in one of the many restaurants before the tour starts this evening in the fabled city of Xi’an, once considered to be amongst the greatest cities in the world and the easternmost point of the Silk Road.

We have the whole day to explore this ancient city today. We will take in the Wild Goose Pagoda, formerly the Temple of Great Maternal Grace, a well-preserved ancient building and a holy place for Buddhists. We’ll also head to the old town where we will be able to see the massive city walls, which are 14km in length and up to 12m high, enclosing the historic centre. We’ll wander through the narrow streets of the Muslim Quarter and visit the Great Mosque, one of the oldest, largest and best

A highlight of any visit to Xi'an is a visit to see the Terracotta Warriors – one of the greatest archaeological finds of the last century. Amazingly nothing was known of the existence of the life-size soldiers of the Terracotta Army until a peasant digging a well in 1974 stumbled upon them. The Emperor Qin Shi Huang Di spent most of his life until his death in 210BC constructing his burial place, conscripting thousands of people to build his tomb and the terracotta army that would guard him in the afterlife. The underground battle formations of life-sized pottery warriors, archers, horses and chariots have been left in situ in three large excavated pits. Pit number one contains over 6000 soldiers, each with its own individual facial features, and pit number two contains almost a thousand warriors and half the number of horses (also life-size). Later in the day we’ll return to Xi'an to board an early evening bullet train heading west and arriving in Lanzhou where we’ll overnight.

The capital of Gansu Province, Lanzhou was once an important link along the Northern Silk Road and a major crossing point of the Yellow River. Today it provides us with our gateway into the culturally rich landscapes of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Our first stop is at the Gansu Provincial Museum which exhibits over 350,000 artefacts of Buddisht Art, Fossils, Pottery and Silk Road Civilisation. We then continue on to Xiahe by road. Home to the famous Labrang Tibetan Buddhist Monastery, one of the largest outside Tibet, the town of Xiahe sits alongside the Daxia River, amidst a rural mountainous landscape populated largely by ethnic Tibetans.

One of the six great monasteries belonging to the Geluk (Yellow Hat) school of Tibetan Buddhism, Labrang Monastery was founded in 1790 by the first Jamyang Zhaqypa, Ngawang Tsondru. Situated at the intersection of four major Asian cultures - Tibetan, Mongolian, Han Chinese and Chinese Muslim, during the 20th century it was one of the largest Buddhist monastic universities in the world. Located at the foot of the Phoenix Mountain, the monastery boasts a collection of Buddha statues that number in their tens of thousands and is still an important pilgrimage site for Buddhists across the region, with the largest number of monks in residence outside the Tibet Autonomous Region. We’ll have the whole day to explore this fascinating place as well as the nearby Sangke Grasslands.

Returning to Lanzhou today, we catch the onward train to Jiayuguan, where we will find the first pass at the western end of the Great Wall. Before taking our train we will pay a visit to the Binglingshi Caves on the Yellow River, which have Buddhist carvings dating back over 1500 years. The overnight journey will be in soft sleeper class compartments, arriving in the city of Jiayuguan early tomorrow morning.

Arriving in Jiayuguan early this morning, we transfer to the hotel first to check in, after which the rest of the morning is free to relax at leisure. Later we’ll drive out of the city to visit the Overhanging Wall, located just a short distance to the northwest of the city’s famous fort. Located at the foot of the Black Mountains, this section of wall forms part of the defensive ramparts that once protected the extreme western edge of China. A mix of partially restored fragments and original wall, today it provides an excellent venue for a walk, providing some stunning views out across the barren emptiness of the surrounding countryside. We’ll also visit the Wei-Jin tombs that date back to 220-420 AD. Inside the tombs we can see some of the original wall paintings, depicting various social activities such as fishing, farming, hunting and drinking, including a very controversial depiction of ancient Chinese using knives and forks.

Jiayuguan marked the western end of the Great Wall and today it is still a symbol of the western boundaries of China. It is located at the end of a strip of land known as the Hexi Corridor. In ancient times Jiayuguan was known as the 'mouth' of China while the Hexi Corridor was referred to as the 'throat'. Jiayuguan Fort is one of the quintessential images of western China and was built in 1372 to guard the pass between the snow-capped Qilian Shan and Hei Shan peaks. It is a splendid construction and has been considered the last outpost of the Chinese Empire since the days of the Han Dynasty, when the Great Wall reached as far as the Yumen Pass, about 90km northwest of Dunhuang, our next destination.

Dunhuang was once a very important staging point, and the last stop for the camel caravans before the gruelling journey through the desert. It was from here that the Silk Road divided into its northern and southern routes. Dunhuang's fame, however, is largely due to the Mogao Grottoes, which are one of the world's richest treasure troves of Buddhist manuscripts, wall paintings and statues known as the Thousand Buddha Caves. The site was first carved out of the cliffs in 366 AD, with more caves being hewn out of the rock up until the 14th century. The honeycomb of caves runs along the cliff face and contains some 2,415 coloured clay sculptures and more than 45,000 square metres of mural paintings. Many of these were paid for by pious travellers facing the perilous journey across the vast desert, or as thanks upon their safe return to Dunhuang. The colours have remained lively due to the extremely dry climate, but natural and electric light and the humidity caused by the breath of thousands of visitors is slowly fading the precious art, and some of the caves are periodically closed. About 25-40 caves are open to the public at any one time and although guides carry a torch, it is also a good idea to take your own.

Early in the morning we’ll head out to a wonderfully iconic spot – the singing sand dunes of Crescent Moon Lake. Here we can climb to the top of the enormous dunes for amazing views of the crystal-clear spring hidden amongst the sands, and enjoy the stunning views of the sunrise in the desert. We then return to the hotel to freshen up and have a leisurely morning. After having an early lunch in town, we will transfer to nearby Liuyuan to catch a train to Turpan where we stay the night.

Turpan is one of the lowest places on earth, where rain never falls and summers can be scorching hot. It was once an important staging post on the Silk Road and its large oasis produces the best grapes in China. Here we can see the ancient karez system of irrigation whereby the melted snow from the surrounding mountains is brought down to the town in underground channels, all dug by hand and stretching some 3000km. This is similar to the Arab falaj system or the Iranian qanat. We’ll also visit the 18th Century Emin Minaret built in Afghani style. During our time here we’ll visit the fascinating ghost city of Jiaohe, the ancient capital of the Jushi people, a city founded in the 2nd century BC but abandoned in 14th century AD, following its destruction by the Mongols. It stands on an isolated plateau and has a haunting silhouette and atmosphere. Among the ruins are remains of a large Buddhist stupa and headless stucco figures are set in niches adorning the central part of the main temple. From here we take our final overnight train all the way out of Gansu Province into Xinjiang, once known as Chinese Turkestan.

This morning we arrive in the Uighur town of Kuqa, part of an ancient Buddhist kingdom that was located along a branch of the Silk Route that ran across the northern edge of the Taklamakan Desert. Birthplace of the 4th Century linguist Kumarajiva, one of Chinese Buddhism’s most revered scholars, it prospered from the wealth of the trade caravans. Huge monasteries were built here and during the Tang dynasty it was one of the ‘Four Garrisons’ of An-hsi, the ‘pacified west’. The extensive ruins of the ancient capital (Subash) lie to the north of modern Kuqa. On arrival we’ll make a tour of the city, taking in the 2nd and 3rd Century ruins of Subash, as well as parts of the old town.

Leaving Kuqa this morning we head west towards the famous Kizil Thousand Buddha Caves. Dating back to the 5th and 6th Centuries, this remarkable series of caves are said to be the earliest major Buddhist cave complex in China, older even than those at Mogao. Filled with frescoes and sculptures, the caves have been linked to the ancient Tocharian Kingdom and of the original 235 caves, some 135 remain still relatively intact. After our visit we then continue on to the oasis city of Aksu on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin. Lying at the crossroads of trade routes, the city was fought over for centuries by the Chinese Tang, the Tibetan Tufan and the Uighurs, before falling to the forces of Genghis Khan in 1208.

Leaving early this morning, we take the Taklamakan desert road to Makit County, situated amongst one of the most arid and desolate climates anywhere on earth. The Taklamakan covers an area of some 337,000 square kilometres and translates as ‘The Desert of Death’ or ‘The Point of no Return’. One of the highlights of our journey, today’s drive takes us through just a small portion of this incredible landscape, offering a chance to experience for ourselves something of the harsh reality that faced the caravans of old as they made their way towards the markets of Yarkent and Kashgar. We will explore Kumikisa Village and then take our own ‘ships of the desert’ – the camel – and ride into the desert to enjoy the remote beauty of this area.

After breakfast we will continue across the Taklamakan Desert to Kashgar, an oasis city with approximately 500,000 residents. Kashgar’s Old Town is a traditional Islamic city, though much of it has sadly now been destroyed by the Chinese. Kashgar sits today, as it has done for centuries, at a major crossroads of trade routes. We will of course see the somewhat controversial statue of Chairman Mao in the city centre, as well as visiting the green-tiled Abak Hoja tomb in the quiet suburbs. We visit the huge Id Kah Mosque, one of the largest mosques in Central Asia, is located in the heart of the city. There will be ample time for personal exploration of this ancient Silk Road city.

This morning we will leave this bustling city for a few hours and head towards the Irkeshtam pass to visit Shipton’s Arch. This amazing natural rock arch is named after Eric Shipton, who served as the British consul in Kashgar in the 1940s. He visited the arch in 1947 and wrote about it in his book, Mountains of Tartary. Shipton’s Arch is often considered to be the highest in the world, though its exact height depends on how it’s measured. For many years, Shipton’s Arch was forgotten by the outside world, though it was brought back to the world’s attention in May 2000 with a National Geographic expedition. We will hike up the gorge and then climb to the arch, where we will be rewarded with spectacular views across the Tien Shen mountains.

This morning we will visit the famous Yakshambe Bazaar, or the Sunday Market as it’s otherwise known. Here we spend the morning watching the locals trade everything from woodwork and iron wear to sheep, donkeys, cattle, horses and camels. The afternoon will be free to explore the city or maybe take a cup of tea in one of the old chaikhanas, watching the locals going about their everyday lives in the street markets.In the evening we will regroup to head out for our final night in China.

The tour ends after breakfast.