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KAZAKHSTAN - UZBEKISTAN - TURKMENISTAN

Central Asia by Private Train

19 culturally magnificent days

Departs from Australia Tuesday 28 March 2017 | Including ALMATY to ASHGABAT by PRIVATE TRAIN.

This Travel Masters Small Group Fully Escorted Tour departs from Brisbane and promises the finest and best located accommodation, all-inclusive sightseeing and exclusive, unique experiences – all at great value.

Tour map

No one knows for sure when the miraculously fine, light, soft, strong, shimmering, sensuous fabric spun from the cocoon of the caterpillar first reached the West from China. In the 4th century BC, Aristotle described a fibre that may have been Chinese silk.

Some people give credit for history's first great industrial espionage coup to a Chinese princess who was departing to marry a Khotanese king: the legend goes that she hid live worms and cocoons in her elaborate hairstyle, in order to fool customs agents so she would be able to wear silk in her 'barbarian' home. Others give credit to Nestorian monks who allegedly hid silkworm eggs in their walking sticks as they travelled from Central Asia to Byzantium. The Romans probably first laid eyes on silk when the Parthians unfurled great blinding banners of the stuff on the battlefield.

But even after the secret of sericulture (silk farming) arrived in the Mediterranean world, the Chinese consistently exercised the advantages
of centuries-acquired know-how. Parthia, on the Iranian plateau, was the most voracious foreign consumer of Chinese silk at the close of the 2nd century BC, having supposedly traded an ostrich egg for its first bolt of silk. In about 105 BC, Parthia and China exchanged embassies and inaugurated official bilateral trade along the caravan route that lay between them. With this the Silk Road was born – in fact, if not in name – to flourish for another 800 years.

Geographically, the Silk Road was never a single road, but rather a fragile network of shifting intercontinental caravan tracks that threaded through some of the highest mountains and bleakest deserts on earth.Though the road map expanded over the centuries, the network had its main eastern terminus at the Chinese capital Ch'ang-an (modern Xian).

West of there, the route divided at Dunhuang, one branch skirting the dreaded Taklamakan Desert to the north while the other headed south. The two forks met again in Kashgar, from where the trail headed up to any of a series of passes confronting the traveller who attempted to cross the Pamirs and Tian Shan Mountains (one pass again in use today is the Torugart, on the border with Kyrgyzstan). Beyond the mountains, the Fergana Valley fed westward through Samarkand and Bukhara, past Merv and onto Iran, the Levant and Constantinople.

Goods reached transhipment points on the Black and Mediterranean Seas, where caravans took on cargo for the march back eastward over the same tracks.
In the middle of the network, major branches headed south over the Karakoram range to India and north across the steppes to the Volga (Russia).

Travel Masters offers a great small group tour with rewarding cultural experiences and friendly people in wonderful and intriguing country, with many highlights, as detailed below.

Tour Highlights

19 days (8 train overnights) by Private Train, with Hotel Stopovers at Almaty (2 days), Samarkand (2 days), Bukhara (1 day), Ashgabat (1 day) and 2 days in Chengdu for a special Giant Panda encounter.

DISTINCTIVE CAPITALS

  • Tashkent (Uzbekistan): the cultural capital of Central Asia
  • Ashgabat (Turkmenistan): most modern city in Central Asia

EVERYDAY LIFE IN CENTRAL ASIA

  • Valuable cultural insights: lectures, fairy tales and information about history and regional traditions
  • Dinner & costume show in courtyard of an old madrasah - Bukhara
  • Lunch in the summer palace of an Emir - Khiva
  • Lunch in a typical Uzbek house
  • Siab Oriental Bazaar in Samarkand
  • The making of traditional art objects: eg silk and carpets

PLACES THAT MADE HISTORY

  • Almaty - "Father of Apples" - a touch of Russia
  • Registan: the most beautiful square of the Orient
  • Grave City complex of mausoleums - Samarkand
  • Wall murals of ancient Afrosiab town - Samarkand
  • Ark Fortresses in Bukhara & Khiva
  • Ismael Samani and Gur Emir mausoleums - Bukhara
  • Ancient Ulug Bek observatory - Samarkand
  • Tower of Death complex - Bukhara

HIGHLIGHTS UNESCO'S WORLD HERITAGE

  • Turkestan: Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasavi - first Turkic Holy Man
  • Historical Centre of Shakhrisabz - Home Town of Timur
  • The inner town & historic crowded alleys of the old Khiva oasis
  • Historical Centre & the Caravansarai Markets of Bukhara
  • Samarkand & its famous Registan - an Intersection of Cultures
  • The Pearl of the East; Ancient Walls & Ruins of historic Merv
  • The old Parthian city excavations of Nisa

SPECTACULAR NATURE

  • Giant Panda encounter - Sichuan, China
  • Karakum desert & the snow-capped Tien Shan Mountains

Why Travel Masters

With over 20 Years' Experience, Travel Masters boasts an award-winning team of highly qualified international consultants trained to assist you in all your travel needs.

Having travelled most continents of the world and experienced a number of the most diverse cultural backgrounds known to mankind, they offer clients a personalised approach to booking holidays, with extensive personal knowledge and understanding.

Managing directors Beth and Bob Malcolm are champions of the travel industry, with collectively more than 25 years' experience. Beth is well recognised in the travel and tourism sector as the past National Vice-President of the Australian Institute of Travel and Tourism, and as the two-time winner of the Australian Travel Management Award.

Bob and Beth personally escort small groups to unique and culturally diverse destinations throughout the world, ensuring that each person on the tour has the experience of a lifetime. Whether it's travelling to tourism meccas or exotic islands, you will be guaranteed a well organised, well paced and memorable holiday.

Awards

  • Best Regional Travel Agency in Australia
  • Australian Travel Centre of the Year
  • State and National Awards for Excellence

This brochure covers the regions and holiday types listed below. Click on the links to see more free travel brochures covering the regions and holiday types you are interested in.