The Silk Road by John Borthwick

Pliny the Elder, that relentless chronicler of the foibles of ancient Rome, was struck by the huge sums his fellow citizens were splurging on silk. He might have been equally struck by the tortuous path that the exotic fabric had to travel to reach those markets of Rome.

That path was, of course, the Silk Road. Yet there was never simply one Silk Road (or Silk Route, as it is also known). From Chang'an (today's Xi'an) in China this westward-wandering caravan trail frayed into strands that stretched, variously, over the mountain passes of Central Asia, the deserts of Persia and the plains of India. With later advances in shipping, the route - ever seeking the quickest way west to market - took to the sea, ensuring the eventual demise of the old land trails.

Travellers today can trace the major stops of the Silk Route across Central Asia, from Xi'an, the starting point for the great trade caravans, out to Kashgar in Xinjiang region, and even further to fabled Samarkand, Tashkent and beyond.

Xi'an, capital of today's Shaanxi province, once rivalled Rome and Byzantium in glory. Its history reached a high point with the rule of Qin Shihuang who in 222 BC became the first emperor of a united China. His tomb containing the famed Terracotta Warriors was unearthed in only 1974 and since then has become one of China's greatest tourist attractions.

A major garrison on the Silk Road was Lanzhou (capital of Gansu province) on the Yellow River. Here we begin to see how the Silk Road was in fact a two-way street, with precious goods flowing one way and ideas the other. Along this "Gansu corridor" Buddhism travelled east, and many cave temples, such as Lanzhou's Bingling Si Caves, can be found from here on.

Moving ever north-west, the caravans passed Jiayuguan, the farthest point of the Great Wall, of which there still remains a remote section. Equally notable is the 1372 Jiayuguan Fort, the "Impregnable Pass Under Heaven", that dominates the city. Mountains soon give way to arid lands and travellers on the Silk Route - now as then - welcome their arrival at Dunhuang oasis. The stunning Buddhist art of the Mogao Caves, dating to 366 AD, is the great attraction here, as well as the Singing Sands Mountains and Crescent Moon Lake.

The Taklamakan desert oasis of Turpan, at 154 metres below sea level, is the second lowest point in the world. However, its Emin minaret, the Bezeklik One Thousand Buddhas Caves and the ruins of the ancient city of Gaochang mean that Turpan is far from culturally barren. Next stop, Urumchi, capital of Xinjiang province is far from pretty, having been slam-dunked with heavy industries. However, it is the gateway to the Tienshan - Heavenly - Mountains and its appropriately celestial scenery at Tianche, Heaven Lake.

Follow the Silk Road south to Kashgar and you step straight back into old Turkestan, into Marco Polo and Tamerlane time. "Like Genghis Khan come to Chinatown", was one visitor's description. The faces and dress are Uygur, Kazak and Tartar. On a Sunday, Kashgar's market, the largest free market in China, erupts with well over ten thousand people thronging its colonnaded bazaars, buying or selling everything from carpets to camels.

The walls of the Pamir Mountains rise to the south, the gaps in them being the old trading passes leading to Afghanistan, India and Russia. Beyond here and the borders of China, one can follow the caravan route to Uzbekistan's capital, Tashkent and on to the "three pearls" of the Silk Road, Samarkand, Bukhara and the walled city of Khiva.