2008 Eclipse Trip - Page 29

Chinese Luxury Train

After checkout from the hotel this morning ( July 29), we will board the famed China Orient Express to begin our adventure by rail as city sprawl gives way to the terraced fields of the countryside, then yielding to the desert. Each sleeping carriage has eight private cabins decorated with mahogany and brass. Silk-lined walls and rich carpet embellish the hallways. Between every two cabins is a compartment with a sink, and there is a toilet at each end of the sleeping carriage.

Xinjiang is a large region in northwest China that covers one-sixth of China's land. It consists of two basins that are surrounded by mountains on three sides. The Jungarian Basin lies south of the Altai mountains and north of the Tian Shan (Heavenly Mountains). This latter range in turn provides the northern and western boundaries for the massive Tarim Basin, most of which is covered by the Taklimakan Desert. This basin is bounded to the southeast by the Pamir and Karakoram ranges and to the southwest by the Himalayas.