Along the border between central Asia and India, behind the high Pamir and Tien Shan mountain chains, the Silk Road arrives at an immense basin forming a natural frame around one of the world?s largest deserts, the Taklamakan. Its exceptional size and the extremes of its climate had for many years spared it from intrusion. Merchant caravans made their way from oasis to oasis on the edge of the desert rather than risk becoming lost in an ocean of sand and dunes, a white zone on the map of the world. A crossroads of peoples, cultures and beliefs, discover the hidden civilisations of the Taklamakan, including the lost kingdom of Loulan and its mummies, the monastery-settlements on the Silk Road, long forgotten Buddhist frescoes and the mysterious citadel of Kara Khoto.