The region known loosely as Central Asia is a vast arena of desert, steppe and knotted mountain ranges. For more than 2000 years, this area has been the site of ancient east-west trade routes collectively known as the Silk Road. This was no single road, but rather a fragile network of intercontinental caravan tracks that traversed some of the highest mountains and harshest deserts on earth.

Much of Kazakhstan still looks the way it did when Genghis Khan and his hordes swept across the Central Asian steppes: vast, desolate and empty. The chief exceptions to this are the cosmopolitan city of Almaty, and the spectacular spurs of the Tian Shan and Altai mountains on the country's southern and eastern borders.

Kyrgyzstan, officially known as the Kyrgyz Republic, is a newly independent nation in Central Asia undergoing profound political and economic change. It contains the central Tian Shan and Pamir Alay ranges, Central Asia's finest mountains, and maintains many nomadic traditions, most notably its laid-back hospitality.

Uzbekistan, in the ancient cradle between the Amu-Darya and Syr-Darya rivers, is the most historically fascinating of the Central Asian republics. Within it are some of the oldest towns in the world, some of the Silk Road's main centers and most of the region's architectural splendors. The signature Central Asian Islamic architecture is the main draw: tall, arched portals, bulbous turquoise-blue domes, minarets resembling smokestacks or lighthouses – all covered in beautiful tile.

Turkmenistan is sparsely populated and its people, the Turkmen, are only a generation or two removed from being nomads. It's the second largest Central Asian country (after Kazakhstan), but four-fifths of it consists of a lunar-like desert called the Karakum, which conceals unexploited oil and gas deposits.