May 10 -Newport Beach, CA

                                                         May 10th
                                                Newport Beach, CA
                                                 Home Sweet Home




After such along journey it will be great to come home to the ocean and beautiful sun sets.
No matter where in the world you travel to, home is always the best!

May 8 - Why travel?

                                                 
                                                       May 8 - Why travel?

Well, it might not be fair to pick on poor Baltimore, but the comparisons of Istanbul or Xian to cities in the US are obvious. We will be seeing cities where there has been a continuous civilization for 3,ooo years.Comparing the chimney of a power plant to the Registan in Samarkand is fairly dramatic.  Of course the chimney is attached to the original John Hopkins medical school (circa 1910) and one can argue more lives were saved my modern medicine than religion but that is another debate..

May 7 Istanbul

                     
                                                           Tuesday May 7th
                                                                   Istanbul


                          

                  Today, we will have a chance to relax and maybe venture out for a tour of the old city.

May 6 Tashkent to Istanbul

Day 22

Monday, May 6

DEPART TASHKENT   Very early this morning you’ll be driven to the airport for Turkish Airlines flight TK0371 departing at 0305.  GeoEx arrangements conclude here. 

This is one of the places that the Silk Road ended.  The main terminals were through Aleppo in Syria ( whose bazaar is now being destroyed after 2000 years) and other ports in Anatolia.  The goal was to ship the goods across the Mediterrranian to Rome and other European destinations via the sea rather than continue by land through Istanbul ..

May 5 Buhara to Tashkent

Day 21

Sunday, May 5

BUKHARA ● FLY TO TASHKENT   Enjoy another full day of exploring this fascinating destination according to your interests.  Late this evening you’ll be driven to the airport for your flight to Tashkent where you’ll be driven to your hotel for a short night.

May 4 Bukhara

Day 20

Saturday, May 4

BUKHARA This morning’s visits include Bakhuddin's mausoleum, founder of the Nakshbandi Sufi order, one of the largest in the world.   You’ll also visit the nearby Sitorai Mokhi Hosa, the Palace of Moon and Stars, the summer residence of the former emir of Bukhara. Time permitting, you may also visit the fascinating Chor Bakr Necropolis before lunch in a local restaurant serving the best kebab in the country according to locals.

Return to town this afternoon and have time at leisure to walk about the ancient city. Bukhara was a major trading center on the Old Silk Road and even now it remains one of the best places to shop in the country. Three dome-covered bazaars remain, still occupied by carpet vendors and other merchants. Tim (market) Abdullah Khan, one of the city’s original shopping caravanserais is another traditional space where vendors today still sell crafts and souvenirs. Even if procuring is not an objective, the city is full of amazing artisans, crafts, and moving about you are certain to enjoy local interactions and further acquaint yourself with the city’s rich history. 

May 3 - Bukhara

Day 19

Friday, May 3

BUKHARA   Begin your explorations of Bukhara by walking a very short distance north of your hotel to Labi Hauz, a large pool lined with very old mulberry trees and a perfect spot to have some tea. On one end of the pool is a khanaqa and on the other is a madrasa—both named for Nadir Divanbegi, finance minister under Khan Abdul Aziz in the 17th century. Note the unusual images of herons and a sun with a human face on the madrasa’s portal; Abdul Aziz was a Shi’ite in a heavily dominant Sunni neighborhood and was less influenced by the usual interpretation of the Koranic injunction against portrayal of the human or animal form.

Continue walking to the Ulug Bek Madrasa, one of the oldest theological colleges in the country and one of three commissioned by Ulug Bek, Tamerlane's grandson, and Abdul Aziz Khan Madrasa, one of the last to be built in Bukhara. Continue to the Kalan Mosque, formerly the Congregational Mosque, and its nearby 12th-century Kalan Minaret, the most impressive minaret in Central Asia. Opposite is the 16th-century Mir-i-Arab Madrasa which was closed n 1920 in keeping with official Soviet policy but which like other religious institutions in the Soviet Union was opened by Stalin in 1941, when he needed to get the population behind him during WWII.

Following lunch this afternoon, visit the Arg which houses the 17th-century Friday Mosque. (Please note: in early 2012, a portion of the Arg’s massive outer wall collapsed, and at the time of writing, the area remains closed until they are able to accurately decipher the cause.) Just behind the Arg is a fantastic Zindon that remained in use until relatively recent times and still provides visitors with a fascinating glimpse of what life in a prison would have been like in the Middle Ages. From here, walk to the Bolo Hauz Mosque with its exquisitely renovated ceiling panels, formerly used by the Khans for Friday prayers. Continue on foot to the mausoleum of Ismail Samanidon—one of the best examples of Samanid architecture, and the nearby Chasma Ayub.

May 2 - Samarkand & Drive to Bukhara

Day 18

Thursday, May 2

SAMARKAND ● DRIVE TO BUKHARA   This morning, when the light is best, visit the spectacular funerary complex of Shah-i-Zinda. Many consider this largely un-renovated complex to be Samarkand’s most moving sight, here you see the city’s finest majolica tile work. The innermost and holiest shrine is thought to be the tomb of Qusam ibn-Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Mohammed. This is also thought to be among the oldest standing buildings in the city, and is of course, an important pilgrimage site. A majority of the tombs belong to Timur and Ulug Beg’s family and favorites; the tomb of Timur’s niece is particularly stunning, but one is hard-pressed to determine a favorite as it is entirely magnificent.

Afterwards, drive on to Bukhara which, unlike Samarkand, is a living museum and the buildings that you visit, the mosques, madrasas, khans, hammams, and khanqas were all built by Abdullah Khan II.

Bukhara was Central Asia’s holiest Muslim city, and its richest bazaar. Its emir (who ruled until 1920, though the Russians arrived in 1868) was traditionally and inventively inhospitable to heathens; more than one passerby was cast into a snake-filled pit before Alexander “Bukhara” Burns got in and out unpunctured in the 1830s and became a Victorian superstar. The duo of British army officers Stoddart and Connolly were not—both died at the hands of the emir after having been toyed with over months by the ruthless and capricious Khan. Locals often fared little better; the stone below the Tower of Death is supposedly hollowed by the impact of miscreants hurled from above.

Arrive late this afternoon with time to freshen up before dinner is served in the courtyard of your charming hotel. 

May 1 -Samarkand & Timur

Day 17

Wednesday, May 1

SAMARKAND   Samarkand grew as a city of importance under all the Central Asian invaders until it was destroyed by Genghis Khan in the 13th century. However unlike other cities destroyed by that most devastating of marauders which never regained past glory, Samarkand revived like the proverbial phoenix and became greater than ever, most spectacularly under a descendant of Genghis named Timur Leng or Timur the Lame, and his grandson Ulug Beg. What stands today dates back to the time of their rule.

This morning you’ll visit the Bibi-Khanum Mosque, or what remains of it, built by Timur’s wife. It collapsed in the earthquake of 1897 but it had been crumbling for years; the weight of its massive dome too much for the walls to bear. Wander through the farmer’s market next door.

Continue to the tomb of Timur—the Gur Emir. A rather famous story occurred in June 1941 as the famous Soviet archeologist Gerasimov disinterred the refined tyrant's body, ignoring the inscription on Tamerlane’s crypt that, “He who opens this tomb will bring upon his country an invader more terrible than me.” As the Professor held the conqueror’s skull in his hand, an assistant burst into the burial chamber with the news that Germany had invaded the Soviet Union - twenty million Russians perished during WWII and its aftermath. (Those privy to ‘spirit banners’ used by the khans, are delighted to see Timur’s actual spirit banner inside of his tomb!)  

Following lunch, you may wish to visit the tomb of the prophet Daniel, near the old site of Afrosiab where there have been extensive excavations. A small museum at the site catalogs some of the finds. You may also visit the Ulug Beg Observatory.

April 30 Samarkand

Day 16

Tuesday, April 30

TASHKENT ● DRIVE TO SAMARKAND   This morning you’ll head out for Samarkand. "For lust of knowing what should not be known, we take the “Golden Road to Samarkand," wrote James Elroy Flecker. You’ll follow that road to Samarkand, and soon understand what Flecker was getting at. Samarkand is a relatively up-to-date Uzbek city, but it still vibrates with antique intensity. Even Alexander the Great who conquered the city in 329 BCE said then that it was more beautiful than he had imagined. Known as Maracanda to the Greeks, the city was founded sometime in the 5th century BCE and was the center of the Sogdian Empire. The drive today is approximately five hours.

It grew as a city of importance under all the Central Asian invaders until it was destroyed by Genghis Khan in the 13th century. However unlike other cities destroyed by that most devastating of marauders which never regained past glory, Samarkand revived like the proverbial phoenix in the aftermath of invasion. In fact, Samarkand became greater than ever, most spectacularly under a descendant of Genghis named Timur Leng or Timur the Lame, and his grandson Ulug Beg. What stands in the city today dates back to their time.

This afternoon you’ll visit the Registan, called by British Imperialist Lord Curzon, the "noblest public square in the world." Like the temple of Karnak at Luxor or Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Samarkand’s Registan with its shimmering azure and cobalt mosaics, its dazzling calligraphy and its monumental portals elicits a certain breathlessness no matter how many times it is seen. The square is anchored to the west by the Ulug Beg Madrasa, to the east by Shir Doh Madrasa, and to the north by Tila Kari.asa.

April 29 - Tashkent - Uzbekistan

Day 15

Monday, April 29

BISHKEK AND ALA ARCHA NATIONAL PARK    This morning you’ll drive outside of Bishkek with a stop at a traditional Kyrgyz cemetery and an excursion to the Gumbez (Mausoleum) of Baitik Baatyr, a respected tribal leader who in rebellion against the injustices of the Kokand Khan killed him in 1862 thus paving the way for the introduction of Tsarist rule.  Continue on to Ala Archa, a beautiful nature reserve, where you’ll have the option to take an easy walking trail up the main gorge for spectacular views of the Tien Shan Mountains.  Enjoy a delicious picnic lunch here before returning to the city.

This afternoon you visit the State History Museum which has an excellent display of traditional Kyrgyz culture including embroidery, carpets and entire yurts. There are also rock paintings from Saimaluu-Tash, excavated nomadic adornments from first to fifth century CE, Talas stones with runic lettering, and ancient coins. Next, visit the Manas Monument dedicated to the national hero of the Kyrgyz people and take a walking tour of the compact city beginning with Ala Too Square. If timed right, you’ll see the ceremony of changing of the Guard of Honor and the main government ministries in the Old Square: the White House, Parliament building, American University, and another of the few remaining statues of Lenin to have survived in Central Asia.

This evening you’ll fly to Tashkent where you’ll be met and transferred to your hotel for the night.

Radisson Blu (B, L, D)

April 28 - Bishkek

Day 14

Sunday, April 28

DRIVE TO BISHKEK VIA BURANA TOWER  Set out for Bishkek today, visiting Burana Tower, an 11th-century minaret near the ancient town of Balasagun, a Sogdian city and later a Karakhanid capital. Excavations here and at other sites in the Shamsy Valley yielded exquisite gold burial masks and Scythian treasure, much of which is now at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. Climb the tower for panoramic views over the city walls then visit the small museum which has collections of balbals, ancient stone figures, early Christian carvings, and Buddhist art.

Late this afternoon, arrive in Bishkek (formerly Frunze) situated in the Chu River Valley and at the base of the Kyrgyz Ala-Tau Ridge. Unpretentious and laid-back, Bishkek is a green, pleasant place complimented by stunning views of the ever-present Tien Shan Mountains. Here you’ll have dinner and the remainder of the evening at leisure to relax at your comfortable hotel. 

Hyatt Regency Hotel (B, L)

April 27 - Lake Issyk Kul

Day 13

Saturday, April 27

                                                       DRIVE TO LAKE ISSYK KUL 



Your road wends north and eastward along the shores of Issyk Kul which is known as "the Kyrghyz Sea." Issyk Kul, said to be the bluest lake in the world, sits at 5193 feet surrounded by 9000 foot peaks and is warmed by innumerable hot springs. Stop at suitable picturesque spots along the way and enjoy lunch with a local family and witness a felt-making demonstration in the village of Kochkor.  You’ll arrive at your lakeside hotel later this afternoon and enjoy an afternoon boat trip to admire the stunning scenery. Dinner this evening is at your hotel.

April 26 -Day 12 -Turguart Pass

Day 12

Friday, April 26

    

TURUGART PASS TO NARYN, KYRGYZSTAN   Many places are called the Roof of the World, but we give this honor to the Pamirs for two reasons. One: sheer ancientness. When Marco Polo passed through here 700-odd years ago, it already had long and logically been called Roof of the World.

The Pamirs aren't a spine, but a broad and high back, complicated by meandering peaks. Polo called it a land of "many rivers and desert tracks, without...any habitations or the appearance of verdure." It was a place as high as the ancients wanted to get. Second: the Pamirs are one of Earth's great artworks. From the whorls of the Pamir Knot radiate five of the planet's highest mountain ranges: the Tien Shan (the "Celestial Mountains"), the Kun Lun, the Karakoram, the Hindu Kush (the "Hindu Killers"), and the Great Himalaya itself. For the geographer, the historian, for the armchair explorer, these names are a heady incantation of adventure and romance. Geographic Expeditions' (formerly InnerAsia) 1989 Pamir Knot travelers were among the very first group of westerners since Marco Polo's day to cross the Sino-Soviet border at the Turugart Pass (12,307 feet). These are rare precincts, fragrant with intrigue, hardship, and beauty. Francis Younghusband, spy, explorer, invader of Tibet, mystic, and all-around Great Gamesman, recalled his first view of the Pamirs as "one of those sights which almost strike one dumb." Skrine praised their glorious "cleanness and spaciousness." And one is reminded of the old caravaner's warning "Here thou art as a tear on an eyelash!"

This whole area is a remote yet crucial flashpoint for three empires. Britishers like Younghusband roamed the Knot, probing Russian defenses and intentions while the weak and wary Chinese Qing Dynasty tried to keep from being engulfed.

In a very long day of driving and border crossings, you’ll cut the northern cord of the Pamir Knot, crossing the multifarious watershed, and from the basin of the Taklamakan Desert, across the Turugart Pass, to Naryn in Kyrgyzstan.

April 25 -Day 11 Kashgar

Day 11

Thursday, April 25

FLY TO KASHGAR   A morning flight to Kashgar carries you along the elegant curve of the Tien Shan, snow peaks to the right, the deadly Taklamakan to the left (we're reminded again that the oasis cities of the Silk Road depend on snow melt from the mountains for their existence). Kashgar's history goes back more than 2,000 years. The main trunk of the Silk Road passed through here before crossing the Pamirs into what until recently was Soviet Central Asia. A southern spur branched off southward toward Hunza, Kashmir, the Punjab, and India.

One of the loneliest, and at the same time, most pivotal outposts of imperial power, Kashgar was at the center of the Great Game, a centuries-long jousting for hegemony in Central Asia between Britain and Russia, both expansionist, covetous powers. The British Consul in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was Sir George Macartney, who bravely served for 28 years locked in an odd personal and diplomatic fandango with the Russian Consul, Nikolai Petrovsky. Peter Hopkirk, author of The Great Game, writes that at the time Macartney arrived in Kashgar in 1890, "his unofficial duty was to keep a watch on Russian machinations, particularly those of the wily Petrovsky, who...had made himself [Kashgar's] virtual ruler."

In An English Lady in Chinese Turkestan, a poignant reminiscence of her long years in Kashgar, Lady Catherine Macartney wrote that when she joined her husband in 1898, "glass was almost unknown in Kashgar, and oiled paper was used for windows. Mons. Petrovsky had, as a great mark of friendship, lent my husband a large pane of glass...but unfortunately before long they had a quarrel, and the precious piece of glass had to be returned." It was a quarrel that lasted for many years.

Kashgar, like many of the Silk Road oases, is experiencing a new wave of construction and modernization. Kashgar’s historical significance as a crossroads of the Silk Road is now being expanded to accommodate the burgeoning commerce within Xinjiang and across its international borders. You are witness to Kashgar’s old and new battle for the making of a modern Silk Road junction.

                                                                                                                                                    

Enjoy time to roam this fabled oasis city. China's largest mosque, the relatively undistinguished but centrally-located Id Kah, is a good place to sit quietly and watch the city's kaleidoscopic ferment.  From here you may amble through the bazaars and winding, walled paths of the old city, watching theatrical vendors make, praise, and sell indecipherable local delicacies, fast food in timeless Central Asian style.

Following lunch with a local family, visit the Abakh Hoja Tomb. Also known as the Fragrant Concubine's Tomb, the Abakh Hoja houses more than 70 descendants of Muhatum Ajam, a distinguished Islamic missionary. It's known for its magnificent architecture and unique green tiling.                                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                                                    

Barony Hotel or similar (B, L, D

)

April 24-Day 10 Urumchi

                                                       Day 10 Turfan to Urumchi

URUMCHI   This morning you visit the ruins of Jiaohe. Built on a bluff bordered by two rivers, Jiaohe is protected by sheer cliffs (it was known to the Uighurs as Yarkhoto, or "cliff city"). Built in the 2nd century B.C. and abandoned in the 14th century, this Silk Road metropolis remains in good, evocative condition.

Later this morning, embark on the approximate three hour drive through a cleft in the Tian Shan to Urumchi, Xinjiang's capital. Situated on the northern slope of the Celestial Mountains, Urumchi (2997 feet) commands an outstanding view of the range's easternmost peak, Bogda Ola (18,132 feet). Urumchi is a distinctly modern city, notable chiefly for being the most landlocked place on earth. Unlike the rest of Xinjiang, which is heavily Uighur, with dollops of other Muslim peoples, Urumchi is roughly 90 per cent Han (which accounts for the pronunciation "Uru-muchi," or "Wulumuchi.") 

Enjoy a delicious Uighur lunch at Miraj Restaurant followed by a visit Urumchi’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region Museum to see its outstanding archaeological and ethnological collections, including the remarkable“Xinjiang Mummies,” some of which date back 4,000 years. In a remarkable 

state of preservation, these prehistoric people are not Asian but Caucasian — tall, large-nosed and blond or brown-haired. Archaeological clues, such as their pottery, tools and especially their clothes of dyed woolen twill and felt, have shown that they migrated from the northern steppes and ancient Iranian lands well before China established its claim to the region in the first century BCE.

Dinner tonight is at your leisure and you may wish to head to the lively People’s Square, an ideal meeting place for families and young people, and a perfect place to sit and watch folks learning tai chi and ballroom dancing.

 a 

April 23 -Day 9 Turfan

Day 9

Tuesday, April 23

TURFAN   Arrive very early this morning in Turfan located on the brink of the Turfan Depression (at 505 feet below sea level, Asia's lowest spot and the second lowest place in the world). Known as the "Land of Fire" (no, it will not be cool during your stay), Turfan lies on the northern border of the fierce Taklamakan Desert, just south of the Tian Shan, or Celestial Mountains. The oasis collects water from these high peaks through an intricate and ancient system of underground karez, or channels, which you’ll learn more about during your visit.

Blessed by geography and engineering genius, Turfan is a delightfully verdant spot whose grapes, melons, and cotton are famed throughout China. After some time to rest from your journey, you’ll visit neighboring Tuyog, a small village which has become something of a pilgrimage site for Muslims as it honors the tomb of the first Uighur Muslim. After time to walk through the village and perhaps meet with locals, continue by road out of the oasis, past some theatrical hills known as the Flaming Mountains, and visit the Bezeklik Caves, one which offered some of the best remnants of Buddhist art in Xinjiang. Many of the original wall paintings were carted off by the German archaeological explorer Albert von le Coq in the first decade of the 20^th century, some to be destroyed during Allied bombing of Berlin in World War II.        

This evening you’ll visit Turfan’s old town with its dusty, tree lined streets as well as the pretty Emin mosque.

Tuha Petroleum Hotel (B, L)

April 22 -Day 8 Train Dunhuang to Turfann

Day 8

Dunhuang to Turfan by Train

Monday, April 2

DUNHUANG   Enjoy a leisurely morning before heading northwest of Dunhuang for a visit to Jade Gate Pass, named for the traffic of Khotanese jade that traveled this route.  You’ll have lunch here and visit the small onsite museum as well as a nearby section of the Great Wall. Continue on to the less-visited Western Cave of a Thousand Buddhas before returning to Dunhang. Here you’ll have time to browse the local market or even have a refreshing reflexology foot massage.

Later, board your overnight train for the desert oasis of Turfan.  Leave classic China and enter the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, a huge and beautiful land largely populated by Turkic peoples: Uighurs, Uzbeks, Tadjiks, and Kazakhs. (The people we call Chinese are called Han in China, and make up 91 per cent of the country's population. In China this means there are upwards of 125 million non-Han Chinese). Xinjiang was a daunting, romantic place for the Chinese, a weird and wooly west. And it still is in some ways. One of China's most vibrant literary genres specializes in stories of present-day Xinjiang and Tibet. It's called by its practitioners the "Chinese Western," with a conscious nod to Western films and novels.



The "Jade Gate" represented the end of the Earth to the Han Chinese. Every caravan had to pass through the gate and the goods were recorded.  At Cambridge, I learned that every person was "stripped searched" and cavity searched to make sure they were not smuggling silk worms our of China.  

April 21-Day 7 Dunhuang

Day 7

Sunday, April 21

DUNHUANG Spend today at the fabled and wondrous Caves of the Thousand Buddhas (now called the Mogao Grottoes by the Chinese). The story of the Caves is the story of Buddhism's slow progression up from India, eastward along the Silk Road, and into China proper.

The Caves are a scintillating textbook of the history of China, Central Asia, and, intriguingly, Greece.  They were more than a thousand years old when Marco Polo wrote that "The Idolaters...have a great many abbeys and ministers full of idols of sundry fashions, to which they pay great honor and reverence, worshiping them and sacrificing to them with much ado." At the turn of the century archaeologists like Stein and the Frenchman Paul Pelliot pounced on Dunhuang (your local guide may refer to them as "cultural spies"). In 1907 Stein discovered a walled-up trove of molding documents. One of them was a copy of the Diamond Sutra, an important Buddhist scripture.  According to a monograph published in Beijing in 1961, this "Diamond Sutra, printed in the year 868...is the world's earliest printed book...[it] was stolen over fifty years ago by the Englishman Ssu-t'an-yin [Stein], which causes people to gnash their teeth in bitter hatred." (The Diamond Sutra, indeed the world's oldest printed book, is on display in the British Museum.)

One does not have to be a cultural spy to sense the importance these caves had for the craftspeople who created their thousands of statues and brilliant murals, hundreds of years of traders, travelers, and pilgrims who worshiped here, and the Chinese dynasties from the Wei (in the mid 300s) to the Qing (which ended in 1910) which built shrines here. Leave the Caves, like Stein, "with pictures full of vivid color and grave pomp, all of ages long gone by, which the day's sight-seeing had left impressed on [our] mind's eye.

This evening, drive a short way out of town to Singing Sand Mountain. The area has become quite a popular tourist destination, so you’ll take a private jeep or ride camels out toward a less-visited side of the dunes for sunset. Here you sense what Mildred Cable wrote of the stupendous ocean of sand that stretches from this desert edge: "The range is so long, and the hills so lofty, and so massed one behind the other, that it seemed incredible such a mighty rampart could be composed wholly of shifting sand."  

April 20 Day 6 Dunhuang

Day 6

Saturday, April 20

FLY TO DUNHUANG  This morning you begin with a visit to the Big Wild Goose pagoda.  Later, you fly west to Dunhuang, a Silk Road metropolis perched on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert (thought by many to be the world’s fiercest desert). One of Central Asia's greatest explorers, Sir Aurel Stein, who spent many months unearthing Dunhuang's forgotten treasures, wrote of the town's "geographically important position...near the point where the greatest old high road of Asia from east to west is crossed by the direct route connecting Lhasa, and through it India, with Mongolia and the southern portions of Siberia.

Note: when one travels from Xian to to Dunhuang we will be passing through Gansu Provence.  it is also known as the Xein Corridor (pronounced Hershey corridor).