Travel writer Colin Thubron retraces Silk Road from China to Turkey [audio 11min @1:55]

The Silk Road, or Silk Route, came into being around the 2nd century BC and was a network of routes splitting and converging across the breadth of Asia. Over 8,000km (5,000mi) long, the routes connected Chang'an in China with Antioch in Asia Minor, as well as other points. Theses routes played an important role in the exchange of not only goods but also of ideas, religions and inventions. Colin Thubron, award-winning travel writer and novelist, travelled from the Tomb of the Yellow Emperor to the ancient Mediterranean port of Antioch and recounts the 7,000-mile journey in his book Shadow of the Silk Road (Chatto and Windus). Colin was born in London. He worked briefly for a publishing company and as a freelance television film-maker in Turkey, Japan and Morocco. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature since 1969, Colin is a regular contributor and reviewer for magazines and newspapers including The Times, the Times Literary Supplement and The Spectator. In 2003 Colin had to abandon his attempt to follow the Silk Road because of the war in Afghanistan, but he returned a year later to complete it. Colin travelled by bus, truck, car, horse and camel through China, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey, taking in the most sterile desert on earth (the Taklamakan) and the war-torn mountain valleys of today's conflicts.