he southern Silk Road passes through a series of remote oases to the south of the Taklamakan populated almost exclusively by Turkish speaking Uygurs. In its heyday this route supported numerous thriving Buddhist communities whose settlements were made viable by Snowmelt Rivers coming off the glaciers of the nearby Kunlun Mountains. When these rivers largely dried up whole cities were swallowed up by the desert sands until their rediscovery by various acquisitive Victorian archaeologists in the early part of the last century. Today, though the situation is beginning to change, the area remains one of the least developed in Central Asia and provides a fascinating insight in to the oasis cultures of the Uygurs as well as a glimpse into an earlier past when the Silk Road was perhaps the world's most important transport artery. 　more>>