The route: China Urumqi > Turpan > Kuerle > Kuqa > Kashgar > Kuqa > Nalati (via Duku Scenic Drive) > Kuerdening > Yining > Sailimu Lake > Yining > Urumqi > Buerjin > Kanas Lake > Hemu > China…
From Urumqi, I next headed to Turpan, 180 km away. I provided my passport number and bought my train ticket online. At the train station, after they verified my passport in a split second, I queued with hundreds to board…
16-18 June 2024 Kuerle, Xinjiang I went to the train station to try to catch the train after failing to book the ticket online. After waiting for half a day at the train station, I eventually got on one in…
Kuqa, Xinjiang, China, visited 18 -21 June 2024 From Kuele, I now boarded the train which sped across a desert landscape to arrive in Kuqa, less than 4 hours away. Kuqa was the homeland of the ancient Buddhist Kingdom of…
Kashgar, Xinjiang, visited on 22-23 June 2024 From Kuqa, I took the night train to near the Western border, Kashgar, perhaps the most well-known of the Uyghur cities in Xinjiang. The old city is extensive, consisting of West Old Town…
Duku Scenic Drive (独库公路) to Nalati. Visited 25-26 June 2024. With the Kashgar visit, I completed my tour of Southern Xinjiang, known more for its cultural experience. I now set my sights on Northern Xinjiang, more for its natural sceneries.…
Kuerdening, Ili, Xinjiang. Visited on 27th June 2024. After a full day enjoying the grassland in Nalati, I again joined a pool car to go westward into the state of Ili. Many from around China drive here, enjoying the freedom…
Yining, Ili, Xinjiang. Visited 29 June – 1 July 2024 I arrived in Yining, the capital of Ili State, Xinjiang, after exploring the grasslands of Nalati and Kuerdening. I took the opportunity to take in more of the Xinjiang and…
Sailimu (Sayram) Lake, Xinjiang. Visited 30 June 2024. I stayed a few days in Yining, Ili, to rest from the gallops on the grass the past few days. While resting, I made a day trip to Sailimu Lake (Sayram), only…
Buerjin, Xinjiang (布尔津). Visited 4 July 2024 From Yining, I returned to Urumqi by train, then took the night train to arrive at Beitun (北屯), and the last leg by bus to Buerjin (布尔津). Buerjin is the stopover point before…
Kanas Lake, Xinjiang. Visited 5 July 2024 After spending a day in Buerjin, I am now ready for Kanas Lake. As with most scenic spots, the Kanas Scenic Area is gated so visitors could be charged a fee for the…
Hemu, Xinjiang. Visited 6 July 2024 From Kanas, I booked a taxi to take me to Hemu, only an hour away. In the Hemu Scenic Area, I took the cable car up to the summit at Yun Xiao Feng(云霄峰). At…
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Visited 10-11 July 2024. After spending 25 days exploring Xinjiang in China, I wanted to hop over to Kyrgyzstan, next door to Xinjiang, a neighbor of China. So, on the 9th of July, I flew from Urumqi to…
Bokonbayevo/Issyk-Kul Lake. Visited 12 -13 July 2024. After 2 nights in Bishkek, I rode a public shuttle eastward for 5 hours to Bokonbayevo, almost touching Issyk–Kul Lake. Bokonbayevo is a small town; even the head statue of Lenin is unusually…
Karakol, Kyrgystan. Visited 16th July 2024 The following morning, I took a shuttle bus to go towards the eastern end of the lake, Karakol. A large part of the road was unsealed as it was being resurfaced and reconstructed. The…
Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) to Khujand (Tajikistan). Visited 20-25 July 2024. I planned to go south to Nardyn and then to Osh after Karakol. When I heard there was flooding down south, I changed my plan to return to Bishkek and headed…
27 July 2024 Panjakent and The Seven Lakes (Haft Kul), Tajikistan My journey in Tajikistan started with Khujand. I then took a shared shuttle bus to Panjakent, five hours away. In Panjakent, I joined a group of four other Europeans…
Iskanderkul Lake, Tajikistan. Visited 29 July 2024. I left Panjakent in a shared MPV. It dropped me at the junction of a highway and the mountain road leading to Iskanderkul Lake, 22 km short of the lake. I was informed…
Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Visited 30 July – 4 August 2024 After a night at Iskandarkul Lake, I made my way to Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, less than a 3-hour bus ride away. I ended up staying for a week, to lick…
Dunhuang, Gansu, China. Visited 8 August 2024 I started this journey by flying from Kuala Lumpur to Urumqi on 12 June 2024. I toured South and then North Xinjiang in 25 days. I then explored Kyrgyzstan, followed by Tajikistan. From…
9-10 August 2024 Jiayuguan (嘉峪关), Gansu, China From Dunhuang, I next went to Jiayuguan, 360 km away. The high-speed train whizzed me to my destination in less than 3 hours. Godspeed to my journey! You know The Great Wall is…
Zhangye (张掖), Gansu, China. Visited 11-12 August 2024 After scaling the Great Wall at Jiayuguan and reconnecting with ancestral history, I continued eastward in northern China, pretty much still along the ancient Silk Route. The next destination was Zhangye, just…
Lanzhou, Gansu, China. Visited on 14 August 2024 From Zhangye, I made an unplan detour to Xining in Qinghai after hearing that there were attractions worth seeing. The train only took 2 hours to arrive. After failing to find suitable…
Xian, China. Visited 15-19 August 2024 I wanted to culminate my travel along the Silk Route in Xian, where it started. It was also the ancient capital of 13 dynasties. I read the stories of Qin Shi Huang as a little…