Everyone is very familiar with the famous Silk Road including the places it passed through, the benefits it took, etc. However, no one could imagine the colorful cast of Silk Road. Today, I would like to introduce you the colorful Caravan Cast. It will bring you much than you expect!

Difficult Stages on the Old Silk Road

Silk Road is hard and dangerous. What the most difficult stages on the Old Silk Road are those that crossed the Tarim Basin circling the barren central Taklamakan Desert and the passes across the Pemir and Karakoram ranges. Caravans would generally halt for a longer rest, perhaps for a week or two, before setting out to face these natural difficulties. This imparted particular importance to the bazaar towns on the Central Asian Silk Road, and further to the west at Palmyra and Petra in the Syrian and Jordanian deserts. For different climate, different locations, as well as different geography, there will be always difficulties appeared!

Basic Cast of Silk Road

Trading along the Silk Road in either direction was no small undertaking, whether for small-scale trader or merchant prince. This road was tough, often beset by bandits or dangerous animals, and suffered extremes of weather. Along this road there was a greater safety in numbers, and travelers would wait in urban centers or even at remote caravanserais to join major caravans that might include hundreds or even thousands of camels and horse, sometimes accompanied by armed guards. As well as merchants sometimes accompanied by family members, servants and translators, there were many specialties, including camel-drivers, doctors and vets, local guides, cooks and guards. Journeys could last for weeks or months, with the precise distance covered per day liable to the availability of water and the exigencies of the weather, nomadic raiders and local politics.

Mixing People in Caravan Cast
Merchants Caravan were often joined by private individuals, whether itineraries traders, monks and religious teachers, entertainers moving between urban centers, adventurous, or even covert criminals and escaped slaves. Musicians would travel east from Persia and Sogdiana, Khotan and Kuqa, while some travelled west from China into Central Asia, adding to the sounds of the journey, and though their songs are lost to us, we can see from murals and paintings the kind of instruments they played. Because of this mix people, as well as for purpose of taxation, regulation and promoting peaceful commerce, notably at times of dynastic strength.

Silk Road is deserved praising and exploring. Waiting for your booking!