Sunday, August 26, 2007
Climate
Conditions along the Silk Road vary from a typical continental climate around Xian to a desert climate as you travel westward. Average daily variation is about 12C. Temperature in certain desert areas may vary up to a maximum of 36C in one day between noon and midnight. Although the hottest, the summer months of June, July, August and September are a popular time to travel when the oasis towns are full of life, flowers are blooming, fruits are in season, and the fragrance of sweet melons and grapes fill the air. Spring and Autumn though short and barely noticeable, are a comfortable season to travel. Winter is cold but offers a different perspective in scenery.
Landscape
It was the world's first superhighway, a series of desert and mountain crossing that enabled silk to make its way from the ancient Chinese capital of Xian. The Silk Road allowed links between China and the West to flourish, an exchange of art, ideas and culture as well as trade.
Xian, with its delightful Chinese-style wooden mosque and high city walls, is the ideal starting point for tours along the Silk Road, beginning in the same place as camel trains of yore
The Uygurs are followers of Islam, as are the Kazakh nomad herders who spend part of their year around the shores of Heavenly Lake, close to the Xinjiang region capital city of Urumqi.
The rich blue of the lake and the bright green of the meadows contrast with the stark white of the snow-capped mountains.
History Recorded at... 4:24 AM
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