No time to travel the Silk Road? Download this instead. This is the second book of my Ancient Silk Road adventure. Here we pick up the trail in Almaty, Kazakhstan, a thriving city before Mongol invasions. Leaving the land of yurts and yaks I venture west to Uzbekistan. Samarkand, the fabled caravan city, did not disappoint. Tamerlane's mausoleum is one of two such ribbed domes - the other being in Herat Afghanistan. Bukhara, another jewel, considered by UNESCO to be the most complete medieval city in Central Asia has glimpses of pre Soviet-era Turkestan. Bukhara was a pivotal city during the Great Game - the power struggle between Czarist Russia and British India. The journey continues through the Fergahana Valley to Tamerlane's home city of Andijan and back to Tashkent where little of the ancient walled city remains. From there I traveled by train to Moscow - another book.
There is excellent historical fact and background which puts the photographs of the Silk Road into geographical and historical perspective.