There's one week to go before Bob and I depart on Saturday, 18th August for China to join a Far Horizons tour - an archaeological trip along the portion of the Old Silk Road in western China.
We fly in to Beijing, landing on Sunday, 19th August. After a night at the CITIC Airport Hotel our adventure proper starts bright and really early on the Monday reporting in at around 5.30 in the morning for flights to Dunhuang, at the edge of the Gobi Desert in Gansu Province, northwest China.
The plan - or itinerary - is as follows:
- Day 1 - Monday, 20th August: Fly to Dunhuang the centre of East-West cultural and trade exchange during the Han and Tang dynasties and the last town before the start of the Silk Road from China. We will be based at the Silk Road Hotel and have a free afternoon with an optional outing to the Singing Sand Dunes. But since we're here to see as much as we can - I don't see anything optional about it...
- Day 2 - Tuesday, 21st August: A visit to the Yangguan and Yumenguan Passes - we travel to the former military strongholds in the mountains to see remnants of formidable walls and beacon towers built under Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty. This was the strategic pass to the southern Silk Road route traversed by camel caravans heavily laden with silk, spices, jade and much more.
- Day 3 - Wednesday, 22nd August: Our last day in Dunhuang. We finally get to tour the Mogao caves with their famous Buddhist statues and paintings. After having lunch with the Dunhuang Academy staff members we fly to Urumqi.
- Day 4 - Thursday, 23rd August: After an overnight stop at the Hoi Tak Hotel we visit Urumqi's International Grand Bazaar before hopping on a fight to Hotan and a planned later afternoon horse drawn wagon trip to the Melikawat city ruins at sunset. We rest up at the West Lake International Hotel for two nights.
- Day 5 - Friday, 24th August: We head out to Rawak to see the ruins of the earliest known stupa or pagoda (not sure which is correct) in China. The last part of the journey is on camels. Then we visit the Hotan museum, the Damko Temple ruins followed by silk and jade workshops if time permits.
- Day 6 - Saturday 25th August: We say farewell to Hotan. We have a long drive through the Taklamakan Desert travelling via Yarkand and the Yarkand tomb to Kashgar with three nights at the International Hotel in Kashgar.
- Day 7 - Sunday, 26th August: We visit the Sunday market in Kashgar, visit the Id Kah Mosque, the largest mosque in China, in the afternoon and have dinner in a Uighar home.
- Day 8 - Monday, 27th August: We visit the Upal Kashgari tomb and travel to Karaqul Lake for lunch - which at 3,600m is the highest lake of the Pamir plateau - before returning to Kashgar for the evening.
- Day 9 - Tuesday 28th August: We visit the Kashgar arts and crafts streets and the old town before leaving, by train, for Kuqa where we stay at the Kucha Hotel for two nights.
- Day 10 - Wednesday, 29th August: We visit the Kizil caves - a grotto complex containing 236 caves from the Wei and Jin dynasties. In the afternoon we head to the Subashi ruins to explore two temples ruins from the Sui and Tang dynasties.
- Day 11 - Thursday, 30th August: We fly back to Urumqi in the morning and drive out to the oasis town of Turpan. Turpan is 500m below sea level and the second lowest place on earth. It will also be the hottest place on our trip. We have dinner at the Jiaohe ruins - a city destroyed by Gengis Khan - and spend two nights at the Huozhou Hotel.
- Day 12 - Friday, 31st August: We visit the Tang-era Astana tombs, Bezeklik and the thousand Buddha caves - one of the earliest points of the arrival of Buddhism in China - and then go on to Tuyuq Valley caves at the far end of the Turpan depression.
- Day 13 - Saturday, 1st September: We head to the Sugong Minaret and visit the old Karez irrigation system. Irrigation systems commonly fed glacial melt water to the various oases towns before the melted completely. We drive back to Urumqi in the afternoon for another night at the Hoi Tak Hotel.
- Day 14 - Sunday, 2nd September: We visit the Xinjiang Regional Museum before flying back to Beijing. We have one night at the CITIC Airport Hotel.
- Day 15, 16, and 17 - Mon to Wed, 3rd to 6th September: We have free time in Beijing, staying at the Double Happiness Courtyard Hotel before starting our journey back to New Zealand.
I hope to add daily pictures and updates of our trip as we progress - but the frequency will depend on finding a 3G or WiFi signal for internet connection and assumes that access to the likes of Flickr and Blogger will not be blocked, or at least that I'll be able to access then using a VPN.
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