trace the silk route through north and central asia

                         North and Central Asia
                           - a view from the
                             "Roof of the World"
                             - lonely stretches of
                                the Pamir Plateau,
                                  Tajikistan's awesome
                                  mountain ranges, the
                                  cold and wild mountain
                          forests of Kyrgyzstan,
                              the sweeping steppes of
                            Kazakhastan, Mongolia's
                           desolate Gobi Desert, the
                                  impossible terrain of
                             strife-ridden Afghanistan,
                    the minarets and mosques of
            Islamic Republics.

                        The magic and mystique of Samarkand, Tashkent and
                  Bukhara; the romance of laden caravans travelling down the
          Silk Route through Central Asia... the Cossacks of the Siberian
    heartland and the marauding hordes from Mongolia..... images that
clash with the Christian culture of the Eurasian hinterland. A thousand
years of oscillating power struggles culminating in chilling images of the
Cold War... And then, the collapse of the Soviet Union - a landmark event
that changed the history, the geography and economy of North and
Central Asia.