Silk Road

From MaxTravelz

The Silk Road crosses Asia from China to Europe.

Contents 1 Understand 2 Prepare 3 Get in 4 Route 5 Sleep 6 Stay safe

Understand

Caravans have been travelling the Silk Road for over 2000 years, and Chinese silk was reaching Rome before the time of Christ.

Ideas also travelled this road. Both Islam and Buddhism reached China by this route and some Silk Road areas have important relics of those religions. Various ideas from the East also reached the Islamic countries, and sometimes Europe.

Many travellers today follow all or part of this ancient path by train, bus, and private car. Some MaxTravelz itineraries partly follow the Silk Road.

• Istanbul to New Delhi over land
• Europe to South Asia over land

Marco Polo followed this route, reaching China overland via Kashi and beginning his homeward journey with a ship on the Maritime Silk Road from Quanzhou to Iran.

Prepare

This is not an easy route, or one for the novice traveller. Consult a travel medicine specialist about vaccinations, and about medicine to take along. If you are doing the full route, bring phrasebooks for at least Chinese, Russian and Farsi (Persian).

Get in

You could start a Silk Road journey from anywhere in Europe or China, but the obvious jumping-off spots are the two ends of the historic road, Xian and Istanbul.

To explore the just the central part of the road, in Central Asia, it would be easiest fly into a city in that area with good air connections, either Tashkent or Almaty.

Route

The main route from China:

• start at the (then) capital, Xian
• go West via Lanzhou to Dunhuang
• then the route splits to go around the Kalamakan desert
  • either go North of the desert, via Korla
  • or go South of the desert, along the Northern edge of Tibet
• the routes rejoin at Kashi in the extreme West of China
• into Central Asia toward Tashkent, Samarkand and Bokhara
• Southwest through Turkmenistan and into Iran
• West to Baghdad, Damascus and Istanbul

There were also

• alternate routes — for example crossing into Central Asia further North into Kazakhstan
• branches off the road — for example South into Afghanistan and India
• a Maritime Silk Road — from Chinese ports like Nanjing and Quanzhou to India and the Arab countries

Note that parts of this route may be difficult or impassable in winter, and various borders may sometimes be closed for political reasons. Check country listings for details.

Sleep

The traditional inns of the area are called caravanserai. They are built around a walled courtyard and have stables for the horses and camels. Some still exist; anyone travelling this road should try to stay in them at least once.

Stay safe

The whole area is Muslim which implies at least:

• a tremendous tradition of Muslim hospitality, wonderful treatment of visitors
• some conservatism, especially in matters such as womens' clothing
• risk of foreigners who do not understand Islam giving offense
• complicated politics, mixed with religious issues
• considerable hostility toward both Western and Russian influences

Some of the people are still nomadic herdsmen, and even in the cities tribal loyalties may run strong, which implies at least:

• tremendous hospitality again
• suspicion of outsiders, even from neighboring tribes. Foreigners are sometimes exempt
• many of them are heavily armed

That said, with a bit of common sense and goodwill, and a lot of flexibility on the part of the traveller, the risks are moderate.

See individual country and city listings for more.