SILK ROUTE JOURNEYS
The Silk Route is the greatest trade route of all time, which stretched from the Roman Empire to the ancient capital of China, Xi'an. It is now possible to retrace the footsteps of Marco Polo and ancient camel caravans, traversing the desert of Uzbekistan, the Tien Shan Mountains of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and the Great Wall of China.
A Silk Route journey can either include Uzbekistan, or one can bypass Uzbekistan, travelling by train between Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Moscow. Between Almaty. Kazakhstan and Urumqi, China, there are two train connections each week, and from Urumqi there are daily trains to Beijing, with possibility of stops at Liuyaun, Jiayuguan, Lanzhou, Xi'an, or Luoyang along the way (world-famous terracotta army exhibition at Xi'an, Longmen Buddhist Caves and Shaolin Buddhist Monastery at Luoyang).
Uzbekistan includes the very picturesque cities of Khiva, Bukhara, and Samarkand (capital of the empire of Tamerlane), with spectacular Islamic architecture previously forbidden to Western eyes.
The best connections between Moscow and Uzbekistan are via Tashkent (air or train), but one would then have to backtrack to visit Khiva, Bukhara or Samarkand. There are 1-2 flights/week between Moscow and Urgench.
Air flights are preferable in travelling between Moscow and Central Asia than trains, which can be uncomfortable.
Domestic trains in China, and the Chinese train between Almaty, Kazakhstan and Urumqi, China offer two classes of travel, soft-class and hard-class. Soft-class is a compartment sleeping four persons, with comfy bunks. Hard-class is a bunk in a partition of six, in a common, open area. Trains between Moscow and Central Asia offer 1st class (place in a 2-person compartment), or 2nd class (place in a 4-person compartment).
