Along the Silk Road -- Wandering around the Grand Bazaar

What trip would be complete without a market place visit? I'm not a shopoholic, but when you are exploring the thousand-year trading route, a visit to the grand bazaar is not to be missed!

The grand bazaar consists of several big buildings, and has quite an Islamic feel to it.

Along the Silk Road, Tian Shan Tian Chi -- the Heavenly Mountains & Lake

Part of the Himalayan orogenic belt, stretching 2,800 kilometers (1,700 miles), Tian Shan is a large mountain range in Central Asia. The Xinjiang portion made the World Heritage List by UNESCO for its outstanding natural beauty, superlative natural features and as an example of ongoing biological and ecological evolution process. Of course we were not going to miss this spot!

Along the Silk Road, Ürümqi -- the Most Remote City from Any Sea

As previously mentioned, our family trip this year was along the ancient silk road. Although the original silk road no longer exists (modern highways and railroads have replaced a large part of it), I thought it would be fun to visit some towns and cities located along the ancient route, both to learn about the history and experience the current local life a bit.