Silk Road Exploratory Overland Trip Bishkek to Beijing

This overland trip to China forms part of the Tunis to Beijing expedition. Travel along the Silk Road from Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan, through China to Beijing.

If you're looking for a ground-breaking trip of a challenging nature in the true style of overlanding from years gone by - then this could be your adventure of a lifetime!

Our first exploratory departure left Tunis in March 2008 - why not join us for our next adventure in 2010!

Price

From: GBP1590 per person (7 weeks)

Price Includes

• Fully equipped Oasis Expedition Truck
• All road tolls and ferry crossings
• All Camping & Accomodation fees
• Camping and Cooking gear
• 3 Meals per day whilst with truck (when in hotels 1 - 2)
• Services of Oasis Crew
• See below Accomodation for a list of other included activities

Price Excludes

• Local Payment of US$1200 Visas - £250 - £400 (depending on nationality) Tips and Optional excursions as listed Meals taken while in hotels/hostels Airport Taxes and Transfers Travel Insurance Drinks Flights

We recommend arriving a few days before the start date to explore Bishkek. The capital of Kyrgyzstan is a largely Soviet-built city and along Ulitsa Sovietskaya are the Kyrgyz State Opera and Ballet Theatre and the State Art Museum. Other attractions include the Lenin Museum and an hour's drive from Bishkek the Ala-Archa Nature Reserve which offers spectacular scenery for trekking and skiing.

Days 1 - 3:- Kyrgyzstan
We spend a few days driving south through the mountains to reach the border with China. This is a difficult journey along rough roads and at high altitude so expect cold temperatures and a challenging time.
Torugat Pass in the Tien Shan Mountains is one of the highest passes in the world and is where we cross into China.

Days 4 - 12:- China
Kashgar (we visit the local market which attracts a rather staggering 60,000 shoppers!)

Takla Makan Desert (one of the largest moving bodies of sand in the world, stretching west from Kashgar for over a 1000 kms to the mysterious desert of Lop in the east, its dunes conceal the ruins of numerous ancient civilizations)
Hotan (best known for its carpet making, silk production and jewellery made from the local jade)
Korla (situated at the foot of Mount Tianshan)

Bosten Lake (surrounded by the beautiful scenery of the Gobi Desert & here we take a boat ride or water-ski)
Urumqi (where we visit the nearby Tain Chi 'heaven lake' beneath the mighty 6000 m high Bogda Feng mountain. Here you can choose to stay in yurts with the semi nomadic Kazakh population)
Turpan (one of the hottest places in the world.) Visit the town's old mosques and take a tour to the ruins of Goachang City
Visit the Thousand Buddha Caves which were dug out and painted by monks from the 4th century

Days 13 - 20:-Gobi Desert crossing
Dunhuang (we visit the famed Mogao Grottoes, one of the world's richest treasure houses of Buddhist sutras, murals and sculptures)
Min Sha Hill and the Crescent Moon Pool (where spring water trickles up into a depression between huge sand dunes, forming a crescent-shaped pond. There is the opportunity to take camel ride on a two-humped camel over the sand dunes)
Great Wall of China (take a walk along the wall and visit the Jiayuguan Fort which was the last outpost of the Great Wall. We also visit the Wei Jin Tombs which have early rock art on the walls and the mummies unearthed at the tombs can be seen in the adjacent museum

Wuwei (places of interest include the Haizang Temple, Loshi Pagoda, Confucian Temple, Leitai Taoist Temple and the most famous object, the Han-dynasty Flying Horse of Wuwei)

Lanzhou (a city that has a 2,000-year history and is capital of Gansu Province)

If time allows we make two short excursions:
Lanzhou to Maijishan Grottoes (a steep rock face with 194 cave-shrines chiselledout of it that provide shelters to 7,200 stone and clay figurines and 1,300 square metres of murals)

Bingling Grottoes (also known as the Bingling Temple, a series of Buddhist caves on a cliff face, some 80km from Lanzhou and accessed by boat across the Yellow River)

Days 21 - 35:- Xiahe
Tibetan style Buddhist Labrang Monastery (tens of thousands of gold Buddha statues decorated with ivory & jade)
Huanglong National Park (also known as Yellow Dragon Valley, it is studded with terraces and waterfalls, coloured limestone ponds of blue, yellow, green and white)

Chengdu (a great place to see giant pandas, we visit the Panda Breeding & Research Centre, where nearly 50 Pandas have been born and successfully reared)

Emeishan (one of the four mountain ranges in China that Buddhists consider sacred and there are a number hiking trails punctuated by Buddhist temples that offer food and beds to pilgrims and tourists alike)
Leshan (we visit the 71m high Leshan Giant Buddha, the largest stone sculpture of Buddha in the world)
Chongqing (here we embark on our three day boat trip down the Yangtze River)

Days 36 - 49:- Wuhan & Luoyang (world-famous Longmen Grottoes and World Heritage Site (there are 2345 caves, 100,000 massive Buddhist images, more than 2800 inscribed tablets, and 43 Buddhist pagodas)
Shaolin (thought to be the birth place of Kung Fu)

Xi'an (there are an abundance of relics and sites to see, of these the vast Terra Cotta Army is probably the most famous
Beijing (after a 15 hr train journey we are ready to explore China's capital and soak up the atmosphere. We include a guided city tour on our last day of the trip, before enjoying our last night party in some of the many bars and clubs in the city)

There is so much to see in Beijing so we recommend staying on for a few days to see all the main sights and also to relax. Well known places to visit here include - Tian'anmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Temple of Heaven. You will also see the towering skyscrapers and the endless stream of traffic. Nowhere else on earth will you find such a variety of gourmet Chinese restaurants. Then there is of course the shopping and the nightlife too!