It was in June when Carla asked if I would be interested in joining her and the family on a 10-day Silk Road Tour from 4 to 13 October. I was just turning 40 then and thought -- why not? It will be my birthday treat this year!
The Silk Road consists of ancient trade routes across Asia, Africa and Europe. It goes through ancient cities, mountains, deserts, and oasis towns. It is amazing that as early as 100BC, tradesmen were plying these routes trading silk, jewelry, crafts, opium, livestock, and everything one could possibly think of. Along the way and through all those thousands of years, cities were built, destroyed, and rebuilt.
Here are some highlights of the ten-day tour. We only had time to go through some sections of the China part! So, there is plenty of ground left to explore.
The Terracotta soldiers in Xian - over 8000 clay soldiers, chariots, and horses were unearthed in the 1980s. Restoration of these relics buried to accompany Emperor Qin (210 BC) in the next life is ongoing.
The Silk Road consists of ancient trade routes across Asia, Africa and Europe. It goes through ancient cities, mountains, deserts, and oasis towns. It is amazing that as early as 100BC, tradesmen were plying these routes trading silk, jewelry, crafts, opium, livestock, and everything one could possibly think of. Along the way and through all those thousands of years, cities were built, destroyed, and rebuilt.
Here are some highlights of the ten-day tour. We only had time to go through some sections of the China part! So, there is plenty of ground left to explore.
The Terracotta soldiers in Xian - over 8000 clay soldiers, chariots, and horses were unearthed in the 1980s. Restoration of these relics buried to accompany Emperor Qin (210 BC) in the next life is ongoing.
The main Xian city gate -- where the Silk Road officially starts
View of modern Xian from the old wall
Desert in Dunhuang
Camel-riding with Carla, Chiara and Phil
The Ancient City of Jaiohe
The EMIN MINARET -built in 1771 in honor of Turpan General Emin Khoja; the largest minaret in China
The ancient city of Gao Chang
The Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves
Just outside the caves
Cruising on the Heavenly Lake 
Abakh Hoja's Tomb
Walking the streets of Kashgar and seeing the Uygurs' everyday life
Scenes from the Big Sunday Bazaar
Thanks to Carla, Phil and Chiara for being excellent travel companions. Special thanks to Carla for organising the whole trip! Carla, I am waiting to attach a link to your own account and pictures!
More of my very amateurish pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/mjurado1hk/200810TheSilkRoadWithTheWooldridges1#
Carla's professional pictures of Kashgar:
Beautiful pictures.
ReplyDeleteIt's a nice blog.
Keep blogging.
Good luck
Wow, so interesting! Wish I can visit those places as well!
ReplyDeleteamazing photos, missy!
ReplyDeletei like best that man astride wearing a long robe and boots and those kids sitting on top of the cart, sunday bazaar. the photos have kinetic energy (specially that of the man!)
i am sure you have equally amazing tales form your Silk Road trip to share with us -- cannot wait!
Wow, what an AWESOME experience!
ReplyDeleteHi Missy ang galing. I hope I can bring Joanne as well next April. Send me the Itenerary ha :)
ReplyDeleteOh my god, pictures are beautiful! i can tell you guys had a wonderful time there!
ReplyDeletedear missy,
ReplyDeletewhat a great opportunity for you to do such an exotic thing.
i love how both informative and beautiful this post is. i will have to read it many times to retain what you just taught me about history.
the picture of the dried red peppers frightened me at first.
i thought they were dead rats!!!
love the camel ride photo.
(only missy gets to do such things)
Hi Missy! Great photos! I see a trend here: Everyone's into photography lately. You should get a DSLR because you travel a lot. ;-)
ReplyDeletehi missy. your silk road adventure is very interesting and educational. where does it start here in europe? maybe someday, we can start from the european side all the way to china....very ambitious ba? why not?!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDear Lillian,
ReplyDeleteOf course, this can be done! You can start in Rome and make it through parts of Turkey, Central Asia, and then China!!! That will be a BIG adventure.
Missy