The World Challenge Far East Part 1

Part 1 will open on the Caspian shore in Aktau, Kazakhstan. The route will lead through the steppe into Turkmenistan: past the jagged rock colours of Yangykala Canyon and on to the marble, almost surreal setting of Ashgabat, while at night the Darvaza gas crater burns like an open wound in the desert.

At Khiva the convoy will enter Uzbekistan — a walled world of clay, minarets and courtyards. Then come Bukhara and Samarkand: names that carry their reputation with ease. Here the Silk Road becomes tangible.

From Dushanbe the mythical Pamir Highway will carry the convoy above four thousand meters, before Kyrgyzstan opens up with valleys, horses, yurts and mountain lakes — via Bishkek to Almaty for a brief moment of rest and maintenance.

At the Torugart Pass comes one of the great transitions of the journey: the border with China and the old caravan city of Kashgar. Along the Karakoram Highway and over the Khunjerab Pass the route will descend into Pakistan — Attabad Lake, Karimabad and villages that seem glued to the slopes. After Islamabad and Lahore, the Wagah border ceremony will frame the crossing into India. The mountains return one last time in Ladakh — monasteries, passes and silence — before the finish flag flies in New Delhi.