Eco-friendly Train and Bus Trip

Train and Bus Trip Almaty - Beijing along the Silk Road

This train and bus trip will lead you from the former capital of Kazakhstan through the "Wild West" of China along the Silk Road to the world-famous town of Xi'An and on to the capital of the Middle Kingdom and is specially designed for travelers, who want to explore China in a eco-friendly way.

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Quick Introduction

Lying in northwestern China, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, also called Xin for short, was referred to as the Western Region in ancient times. It has an area of 1,66 million square kilometers, roughly about one-sixth of the total territory of China. Xinjiang is the largest and has the longest boundary line among China's provinces and autonomous regions. It shares 5,600 kilometers of frontier with Mongolia in the northeast; Russia, Kazakhstan, Kirghiszstan, and Tadzhikistan in the west; and Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India in the southwest. Xinjiang is divided into two basins by Mount Tianshan, Dzungarian Basin in the north and Tarim Basin in the south. The Karakorum highway links Islamabad, Pakistan with Kashgar over the Khunjerab Pass.

Xinjiang's lowest point is 155 meters below sea level (lowest point in China). Its highest peak is 8611 meters above sea level on the border with Kashmir. The Xinjiang-Kyrgyzstan border is marked by the Tian Shan mountain range. The Torugart Pass (3752 m) is located on this border.

In Xinjiang live 1,073,300 people from 46 ethnic minority groups, or 61.42 percent of the total population, and 6,601,000 Han people. Thirteen of the 47 ethnic groups - the Uygur, Han, Kazak, Hui, Mongolian, Kirgiz, Tajik, Xibe, Ozbek, Manchu, Daur, Tartar, and Russian - have lived there for generations.

Gansu is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It lies between Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, and the Huangtu Plateaus, and borders Mongolia to the north. The Huang He River passes the southern part of the province. It has a population of approximately 25 million and has a large concentration of Hui Chinese. The capital of the province is Lanzhou, located in the southeast part of Gansu.Gansu province has an area of 454,000 km², and the majority of its land is above 1 km over sea level. The Huang He (Yellow) River passes through the southern part of the province. The Yellow River gets most of its water from Gansu province. The Yellow River also flows straight through Lanzhou. Part of the Gobi Desert is located in Gansu.

The landscape in Gansu is very mountainous in the south and flat in the north. The mountains in the south are part of the Qilian mountain range. At 5,547 meters high, Qilian Shan Mountain is Gansu's highest elevation.

Gansu province is home to 26,033,400 people. Most of the population, 73%, is still rural. Gansu is 92% Han and also has Hui, Tibetan, Dingxiang, Tu, Manchu, Uyghur, Yugur, Bonan, Mongolian, Salar, and Kazakh minorities.

Shaanxi is a north-central province of the People's Republic of China, and includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River as well as the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of the province.

Shaanxi (and the city of Xi'An therein) are considered one of the cradles of Chinese civilization. Thirteen feudal dynasties established their capitals in this province during a span of more than 1100 years, from the Zhou dynasty to the Tang dynasty. It is also the starting point of the Silk Road which leads to Europe, Arabia and Africa.

During the Mongol rule in the 13th century, Shaanxi became a provincial unit. In the ensuing years, wars and famine had decimated and depopulated the province. As a result, large populations of Muslims, or Hui people, emerged, as evident today. Under the Ming dynasty, Shaanxi was incorporated into Gansu but was again separated in the Qing dynasty.

The northern part of Shaanxi is cold in the winter and very hot in summer with dry winter and spring. Its southern portion generally receives more rain. Annual mean temperature is roughly between 9°C and 16°C with January temperature ranging from −11°C to 3.5°C and July temperature ranging from 21°C to 28°C.