Bora’s Silk Road Tour (Central Asia – “Stans”) With Xinjiang (China)

Kazakhstan, Xinjiang (China), Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Istanbul (Turkey)

(Due to the Central Asia flights on this tour, the Istanbul schedule may be subject to change.)

(26 Days/ 24 Nights)

(visas required for all five countries)

BORA F

2010 Bora’s Silk Road Tour Dates and Prices [20K]

Day 1 – DEPART USA 
Your international non-stop flight will depart from the United States, arriving in Istanbul the next day.

Day 2, 3 – ISTANBUL
After customs and visa procedure, you will be met and taken to your 5-star Hotel Eresin in the old city.  On the way, there will be a great photo opportunity when we will stop at the 1700 year-old ancient walls of the city.  At the hotel, there will be time to relax and rest before meeting Bora in the evening for dinner at a local restaurant. 

On the second day, we will drive along the Bosphorus to the Black Sea where the straits begin.  We will stop at the private museum “Sadberk Hanim” and see the very rich archeological collections that go back 9,000 years as well as the lovely ethnographic collections.  We will have lunch at a fishermen’s village and then take a cruise down the Bosphorus in our private boat.  Back in Istanbul, we will have a Turkish rug and kilim demonstration and then we will visit Kumkapi, the taverna district for dinner and drinks.  They will have live gypsy music and Bora will play various instruments with the gypsies.

PLEASE NOTE: The Istanbul schedule may vary due to the Central Asia flight schedule, the group’s arrival times and member preferences (rest period, familiarity with Istanbul, etc.)

Day 4, 5 – ALMATY (KAZAKHSTAN)
In the morning, we will either visit Topkapi Palace, which was first built by Mehmet the Conqueror in 1453 and was home of the sultan until the 19th century, or visit an archeological museum and the Spice Market.  We will then leave for the airport late in the afternoon for our flight to Almaty, arriving early in the morning on the next day (Day 5).

On Day 5, we will check into the Otrar Hotel.  Afterwards, you will begin your city tour of Almaty where we will visit the Panfilov Park, the Cathedral of Zenkov and Medeo, the museum of Kazakh musical instruments.  Dinner will be at Yurt restaurant located in the mountains of Tian Shan.

Day 6 – ALMATY / TURGEN GORGE / URUMQI (CHINA)
After breakfast, we will drive to the Turgen Gorge, which is located on the edge of the State Park, Ile-Ala-Tau. Here, we will walk to a waterfall in the park where we will have a lunch box picnic.  We will then return to Almaty where we will have an early dinner before heading to the airport for our evening flight to Urumqi. 

Day 7 – URUMQI / TURPAN
Upon arriving in Urumqi past midnight, we will be taken to the Xinjiang Grand Hotel.  After breakfast this morning, we will visit the newly built Xinjiang Museum, which features twelve different cultures that once inhabited Xinjiang.  We will also visit the colorful bazaar, which has many merchants from all over Xinjiang including Uygur, Kazak, Kirghiz and Tajik vendors selling their wares.  We will then have lunch at the Uygur restaurant before driving to Turpan and visiting Jiaohe ruins, which was once a prosperous ancient trading center and the furthest western military stronghold that existed some 1900 years ago.  Another place we will visit is the Karez underground irrigation system, which was dug 2,000 years ago and is still used today.  This area, known as Grape Valley, is a desert oasis that produces grapes, raisins and wine.  Our stay will be at the Oasis Hotel.  Dinner will be at a folk music restaurant.

Day 8 – TURPAN / URUMQI
In Turpan, we will visit the Bezeklik Buddha Caves, built from the 3^rd to 7^th century.  Remains of beautiful Buddhist murals can be found in these caves.   We will then visit the Gaochang Ruins, which was a 2,000 year old ancient town that had been a trading hub on the Silk Road.  Here, we will see the Astan Tombs, a Gaochang graveyard.  A traditional Uygur lunch will then be prepared and served amidst the grape vines at a local Uygur family’s home.  After lunch, we will drive back to Urumqi where we will stay at the Xinjiang Grand Hotel again.  We will have a Muslim Chinese style dinner.       

Day 9 – URUMQI / KASHGAR
In the morning, we will take a flight to Kashgar.  In Kashgar, we will visit the Aba Khoja Tombs, a Muslim burial place built in 1644 for the family of Aba Khoja, a renowned Islamic scholar.  It is also the burial place of one of his descendents, Ikparhan, an imperial concubine of a Qianlong emperor.  Here, we will also see the Id Kah Mosque, built in 1442 and is the largest mosque in Xinjiang, and the tomb of Mahmud Kashgari, who was an early Turkic linguist and compiled the first Turkish dictionary.  Our stay will be at a 4-star hotel or a boutique hotel whose walls are decorated in traditional Uygur style.

Day 10 – KASHGAR
After breakfast, we will visit the Sunday market, which is one of most famous weekly markets in China.  Merchants sell fabrics and carpets but the main draw is the domestic animal market featuring horses, camels, cows, ducks and sheep.   Afterwards, we will tour the old sections of Kashgar and visit its craft mills.  Our stay will be in Kashgar again.  The evening will be highlighted by a wonderful folk dance performance in a dinner show.     

Day 11 – KASHGAR / TORUGART (Kyrgyz-Chinese border) (KYRGYZSTAN)
After breakfast, we will drive to the Torugart Pass, which is 3752 meters above sea level.  We will stop to have a lunch box picnic here (the road to the border in China and the first few hours’ drive on the Kyrgyz side is on stabilized roads and is occasionally challenging, but the scenery is breathtaking). When we arrive at the border, a Kyrgyz guide will meet us and take us to Naryn by minibuses.  Arriving in the evening at Naryn, we will have dinner and stay in a clean guest house, which also has yurts on its premises.

Day 12 – NARYN / KOCHKORKA/LAKE ISSYK-KUL
Today, we will drive to Lake Issyk-Kul after breakfast and will cross the Dolon Pass on the way.  Issyk-Kul Lake is the second largest high-altitude lake in the world (1607 meters above sea level) after Titikaka Lake in South America.  It is the largest and deepest (702 meters) lake in the country, which never freezes due to its saline content.  This lake has been the subject of much of Kyrgyz poetry and praise, often referred to by its admirers as the pearl of Kyrgyzstan.   Lunch will be in the village of Kochkorka where we will also see a felt-making demonstration and have a chance to purchase very reasonably priced and beautiful handmade items.  We will then visit Cholpon-Ata to see three thousand year old petro-glyphs (rock paintings) and tour Lake-Issyk-kul on a comfortable private motorboat.  The mountains on both sides of the lake will be spectacular.  Our hotel stay will be at a 4-star hotel, which is located at the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul.  Dinner will be at the hotel.

Day 13 – KARAKOL/LAKE ISSYK-KUL
After breakfast, we will drive to the town of Karakol near China’s border.  During the entire drive, we will have numerous stops for spectacular photo opportunities of people, sites, scenes and nature.  Karakol is situated near the eastern end of lake Issyk-kul, the highest mountains (Peak Pobeda, “Tomur” in Chinese, 7439 m and Khan-Tengri, Kan Too in Kyrgyz, 7010 m) and the largest glacier, Ynylchek, in Tien-Shan mountains.  During the sightseeing tour of Karakol, founded at the end of the XIX century, we will see Dungan’s mosque, which is built in the style of a Buddhist pagoda and is made of wood.  It was built without a single nail.  There is also the Russian Orthodox Church, “Sviato-Troitski Sobor” and we will also visit the Prjevalsky museum, which focuses on the first Russian explorer of Central Asia.  Lunch will be in Karakol.  After lunch, we will drive to the Djety-Oguz Gorge, where we will see an eagle hunting show, demonstrating the old sport of falconry.  Golden eagles are used to hunt for hares, foxes, gazelles and even wolves.  After the show, we will return to our hotel, “Raduga”.

Day 14 – LAKE ISSYK-KUL/BISHKEK
Today, after breakfast, we will drive to Bishkek.  On the way, we will visit the famous 11^th century “Burana Tower”, one of the remaining watch towers from the silk route times.  Here, we will also see the traditional horseback game, Ulak-Tartysh.  In this game, two teams of horsemen try to take away a dead goat from each other with the winner keeping the goat.  We will then have a lovely lunch at a Kyrgyz family’s home.   We will then continue to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, sits 800 meters above sea level amidst the foothills of the Tien Shan Mountains.  Two rivers, the Alamedin and Ala-Archa, run from the mountains through the city into the Chuy River, which also forms the Kazakh border.  The city is graced with large boulevards, friendly people, and more trees than any other Central Asian city. On clear days, the permanently snow-capped mountains looming over the city provide spectacular views.  This is a nature-lover’s paradise as 94% of the country is covered by mountainous terrain.  Kyrgyzstan is the least populated of the Central Asian countries, with roughly 6 million inhabitants.  We will take a tour of the city including the natural history museum, the Ala-Too Square and the Victory Square.  Our hotel will be the 4-star Ak-Keme Hotel.  In the evening, we will have a farewell dinner and see a superb folkdance show with singing and live folk dance instruments performed by one of the finest folk groups in Kyrgyzstan.

Day 15 – BISHKEK / ALA-ARCHA / TASHKENT
After breakfast, we will spend the full day at the Kyrgyz State Park, Ala- Archa where we will have a picnic and hike the beautiful mountains.  Late in the afternoon, we will return to Bishkek to take an evening flight to Tashkent.  In Tashkent, we will stay at the luxurious Tashkent Palace Hotel.  Dinner will be at a fine local restaurant.

Day 16 – TASHKENT / SAMARKAND (UZBEKISTAN)
We will visit Tashkent until early in the afternoon.  Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and, unlike its silk route sisters, is a modern city.  Much of its two thousand years of architectural history, however, was reduced to rubble by the earthquake in 1966.   During the city tour, we will visit the handicraft museum, the old part of the city and the amazing underground metro.  

Afterwards, we will take a four hour and a half drive to Samarkand with various stops.  This is one of the most intriguing places on our itinerary.  Samarkand has been called the Mirror of the World, the Pearl of East and the Center of the Universe and was always a major Silk Road crossroad.  The greatest conquerors all came here – Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan and Tamerlane and we will see what drew them there.  Our stay will be at a 4-star Hotel Asia or another fine 4-star hotel. 

Day 17 – SAMARKAND
Highlights of our sightseeing include the colorful bazaar and the historical and religious monuments such as Registan Square, which is considered to be Central Asia’s noblest square, Gur Emir, Shah-i-Zinda, Bibi Khanum Mosque and the Ulugh Beg Observatory. The grandson of Tamerlane, Ulugh Beg, was enthralled with stars and constructed the best-equipped observatory in the medieval world.  It was an amazing undertaking. 

Day 18, 19 – BUKHARA (UZBEKISTAN)
We will drive five hours to Bukhara by coach.  Arriving in Bukhara, we will stay at a very nice 4-star hotel, which is located in the old portion on Bukhara, and have lunch there.  Legendary Bukhara is perhaps Central Asia’s finest example of a preserved silk route town.  Much of its center is an architectural preserve hardly touched by the 20th century.  We will enjoy strolling through the twisted streets, past brilliant floral tile designs, lush gardens and a small chaikhana (teahouse) under the grape arbors. We’ll explore and enjoy the best shopping opportunities in the covered bazaars, which offer antiques, spices and crafts of all kinds. 

Highlights of our tour include the Labi-Hauz pool/square and its adjoining mosque and madrassahs, the Saifuddin Caravanserai, the Magok-i-Attari mosque and the massive Ulugh Beg and Abdul Aziz Madrassahs.  We will also see the Kalon Minaret “Tower of Death” and the Kalon Mosque, the second largest mosque in Central Asia after Bibi Khanum in Samarkand.  One of the most enjoyable visits in Bukhara is to the summer palace of the last emir located several miles outside the city in an environment of vegetable fields and suburban clutter.  This structure was built by the Russians to keep the last emir comfortable but politically isolated, while native artisans created the beautifully decorated interiors.  We see various samples of Uzbek and Chinese ceramics at an outbuilding full of Uzbek royal costumes and at the museum of suzana national-style embroidery in the complex’s former harem.  Dinner on the second day will be a cultural event with folkdance, live music, a costume show and the very tasty traditional foods of Uzbekistan.  On one of the nights, we will have dinner at a local family’s home.

Day 20, 21 – KHIVA
We will drive through the Kizil Kum (red sand) Desert, stopping for a picnic lunch and for any photo opportunities including – wandering wild camels and shepherds living in yurts. 

We will arrive in Khiva early in the afternoon.  In Khiva, we will have an introductory tour of the city.  Dinner and our stay will be at the Hotel Malika, a nice tourist class hotel at the edge of the city.  Khiva is one of the most ancient of Khorezm towns – a desert citadel.  It was the capital of Khivan Khanate from the 16th century until its incorporation into the Soviet Union in 1924.  Khiva is an impressive ensemble of fabulous architecture.  Our second day will also be spent in the city of Khiva, touring the bazaars and enjoying a folk dance show.  Dinner will be at a local restaurant.

Day 22, 23, 24 – ASHKABAD (TURKMENISTAN)
Today, we will cross the Turkmen border and arrive in Tashauz where we will have lunch.  Afterwards, we will then take the first flight to Ashkabad where we will check-in to the luxurious Nisa Hotel.  Ashkabad, the “city of love”, is the capital of Turkmenistan, an ancient country with a history many thousands of years old.  It is a small metropolis surrounded by the Kara Kum (black sand) Desert and the Kopet Dag Mountains.  Despite the antiquity of its culture, Ashkabad today is one of the most modern of the Central Asian capitals and due to the hospitality of its people, also one of the most enjoyable to visit. The Turkmen were nomadic and much of the population still live in rural areas.  Many still dress in the traditional costumes and are engaged in the art of carpet making.  Our stay in Ashkabad will include visits to the Lenin Monument, the new mosque, the Turkmen-Turkish cultural center, a local Russian Bazaar, the National Museum of History & Ethnography and the Museum of Carpets and Textiles.  On the second day, we will visit the Tolkuchka Bazaar, which is situated in the middle of the desert at the edge of the city.  Acres of goods, ranging from jewelry, camels, food and handicrafts to nuts are sold by local vendors, mostly women.  It is an amazing photo opportunity.

One of the highlights of Ashkabad is a visit to ancient Nisa, located just outside the city.  Nisa was once the capital of a great Parthian Kingdom that existed 2,300 years ago.  This settlement was no ordinary military fortress, but instead a luxurious center of ancient civilizations.  The Parthians pushed back Alexander’s Greek armies and survived succeeding ruling dynasties at Nisa until the Mongols laid siege in the 13th century. Today most of the glorious structures have all but vanished into the desert landscape, but a visit to their impressive remains brings to life the history of old Nisa.

On the final night we will have a lovely dinner with a costume show and folk dance in a local home.   There will be more handicrafts for sale there as well.

Day 25 – ISTANBUL
Very early in the morning, we will go to the airport for our flight to Istanbul.  We will check-in to the Eresin Hotel where you will have the rest of the day free for shopping and/or other activities.  Dinner will be at a local Turkish restaurant.

Day 26 – DEPART FOR U.S.A.
You will depart on your airline to the United States the same day.

**Itinerary is subject to change**

NOTE:  Please note that if you are unable to walk up to approximately half a mile on your own or cannot carry your luggage without assistance, we strongly advise against traveling on this tour without a companion (friend, family or caretaker).

NOTE: This is the day-to-day itinerary for what we are hoping and planning to do during our tours of the Central Asian republics on the great Silk Road.  There will be more events, spur of the moment activities, visits, and interaction with the people. We always aim to give more then we promise and with minimal regimentation. We may change the program slightly before or even during the tour, or we may have different domestic flight departure times than planned all for a better tour which will be memorable for all Cultural Folk Tours clients. If you are a person who demands “exact” adherence to the written itinerary or if you expect American-style luxury 5-star hotels throughout Central Asia these tours will not appeal to you.  Although all the hotels have private western facilities, please be aware that there may be times when only eastern-style facilities are available while away from your hotel room.  Central Asia (as is the case in eastern Turkey) is wild, wonderful, remote and beautiful. It is a less-traveled destination and all we require is a bit of flexibility. If you are tolerant and flexible, you will have one of the best tours ever.

PS:

1. Most of the hotels that we use will be pleasant surprises.
2. For parts of the tours, we may have a bus with on-board western style facilities.
3. Flight schedules and itinerary are subject to change.
4. Throughout Central Asia, three meals per day will be served.
5. Throughout Central Asia and in all of the countries that we will visit, Turkish is spoken.

WHAT IS NOT INCLUDED:

1.  
   • The cost of the visas for the five Silk Road countries
   • The gratuities for the entire staff (guides, tour leaders, assistants, drivers and driver assistants) in the five countries; four hundred dollars per person in cash collected at the start of the tour.