Kanch and I were sitting at Barnes & Noble in the spring of 2004 and decided that we needed some excitement.  We went to the travel section and found a book on the ancient Silk Road... we thought: what the hell? why don't we go there this summer???

Kanch and Will departed from Hong Kong and flew to Urumqi.  Aside from our guide book reading, we had never heard of the place.  We arrived to find a booming metropolis.

We decided to take a train from Urumqi to Kashgar.  The ride took over 24 hours and, despite the fact that we were riding first class (nothing but the best!) it was far from luxurious.

The most memorable aspect of the train ride happened at about 3 in the morning.  Shortly before pulling into a stop in the middle of nowhere (literally), the stewardess barged into our locked cabin and screamed at me until I switched beds.  As it turns out, our tickets were for bunks only one side of the cabin -- in other words we both weren't allowed to sleep on the more convenient lower bunks.  Nevermind the fact that we were alone in the cabin.  Of course, while this seemed totally arbitrary and ridiculous to us, we were, after all in a communist country.