Area of inquiry 03
Inner Asia
Oasis towns, steppe polities and the frontier societies between the Pamirs, the Taklamakan and the grasslands.
- Oasis towns
- Nomadic polities
- Borderlands
- Manuscript cultures
Writing
Travel Journal · EN
The Trade Cities of Western Yunnan
Essay · EN
The Windcatchers of Hyderabad
Essay · EN
The Eight White Yurts
Essay · EN
Cheese Between East and West
Essay · EN
Asia’s Mink Blankets
Essay · EN
The Yarkand Sarai and the Kashmir Route
Essay · EN
The Ashura She-Camel
Essay · EN
The Eight Flavors of Beijing
Travel Journal · EN
The Walled Garden of the Chinese Market
Essay · EN
The Chinese Hamburger
Essay · EN
Sand and Tears: The Central Asian Slave Route
Essay · EN
The Coal Camels of Old Beijing
Essay · EN
The Eid al-Adha Market in Kashgar
Essay · EN
How Food Crosses Borders
Essay · EN
Guanyin of the Dali Valley
Essay · EN
The Elm Coins of Spring Hunger
Essay · EN
The Lychee, the Messengers, and the Scholar
Essay · EN
Yizhan: Notes from the Imperial Road
Essay · EN
Goiters on the Inner Asian Trails
Essay · EN
The Lidai Fabao: Memory, Lineage, and the Living Dharma
Essay · EN
Of Saffron and Strangers
Essay · EN
The Other Incense Road
Essay · EN
Horses, Selenium, and the Frontiers of China
Travel Journal · EN
The Afghan Walk
Essay · EN
From a Bowl of Porridge to a Plate of Spaghetti
Essay · EN
The Lost Legion of Liqian
Essay · EN
A Tangut Blessing for the Road
Essay · EN
Kingdom of the Wheat Line
Essay · EN
The Soul of the Chinese Street
Essay · EN
Coffee and Tea at Heaven’s Gate
Essay · EN
The Yogurt Revolution
Essay · EN
The Myth of the Authentic Tribe
Essay · EN
Between Shawarma and Doner
Research · EN
Spinning Gold from Straw
Research · EN
Journey to the Pamir Mountains: A Guided Tour (September 2021)
Essay · EN
Spies and the Twilight of Empire
Essay · EN
Feathers and Ice: The Gyrfalcon Road
Essay · EN
Listen to the Reed!
Essay · EN
Light and Blood
Essay · EN
Sea Breeze: The Odyssey of the Kashkul
Essay · EN
Faces of Eternity
Research · EN
Scent and Splendor: The Way of the Citron
Essay · EN
From Egypt to Susa: The Flight of the Falcon of Shiraz
Research · EN
Turks and Poets: From Skulls to Goblets
Essay · EN
Khoja Nasreddin: The Art of the Border Crossing
Essay · EN
The Tea Porters of Sichuan
Essay · EN
Invaders, Braids, and Borders
Essay · EN
The Day of the Kyrgyz Kalpak
Essay · EN
The Skeptic of Khorasan
Essay · EN
The Tulip Cult of the Turks
Essay · EN
“Wakhan, where the people worship Mahomet and speak a strange tongue”
Research · EN
The Cloud Binders
Essay · EN
The Hashish Eaters: Cannabis on the Silk Road
Essay · EN
The Blacksmiths of the Bonan Frontier
Essay · EN
Between Tavern and Mosque: The Path of Coffee
Essay · EN
The Noodle Kingdom
Essay · EN
The Long Shadows of the Poppy
Essay · EN
Doomsday Raki
Essay · EN
Empires and Teacups
Essay · EN
Silk, Strings, and Sacred Wood
Essay · EN
The Fate of the Copper Monastery
Essay · EN
Nomads: The Jews of the Silk Road
Essay · EN
Back to the Steppe: The Geography of Central Asia
Essay · EN
Architecture: Fortresses of the Soul
Essay · EN
Lotus from the West: The Iranian Roots of Buddhism
Essay · EN
Whispers of Paradise: A Journey into Sufi Music
Essay · EN
The Way of Khoja Nasreddin
Essay · EN
Seeking Figs, Even in China
Essay · EN
The Purple Apples of the Tian Shan
Essay · EN
To the Valley of Unity: The Sufi Path
Essay · EN
Thus Spoke the Old Camel Owner
Essay · EN
The Pichok: Central Asia’s Living Blade
Essay · EN
The King of Cuisines: Central Asian Plov
Essay · EN
The Last Refuge of the Silk Road Kings
Essay · EN
The Teahouses and Sufis of Kashgar
Essay · EN
Camels, Turks, and Climate Change
Essay · EN
Dumplings on the Silk Road
Essay · EN
Frontier Poetry
Essay · EN
Song of the Mad Lark
Essay · EN
Bones of Fortune
Research · EN
The Light-Bearing Melons of Samarkand
Research · EN
The Exiles of Samarkand
Research · EN
Exiles, Part II
Essay · EN
Of Rebels and Black Pots
Research · EN
The Caspian Tiger: A Ghost of Central Asia
Research · EN
Exiles #3: The Black Khitans
Research · EN
Qurut: The Salty Soul of Central Asia
Research · EN
Forbidden Apricots in Xinjiang
Research · EN
The Archers of Islam
Research · EN
Fragments of Iranian Buddhism
Research · EN
Nowruz: The Dawn of a New Day
Research · EN
Taming the Snow Leopard: A Central Asian Mystery
Research · EN
The Tarim Mummies
Research · EN
Central Asia in Photos: The Lens of Max Penson
Research · EN
The Mosaics of Soviet Central Asia
Essay · EN
China in Central Asia: Nomads, Greeks, and Blood-Sweating Horses
Essay · EN
China and the Steppe: The Rise of the Xiongnu
Essay · EN
Demons, Ascetics, and the Black Pen
Essay · EN
The Scent of Tibet: Along the Musk Road
Essay · EN
The Rose of Heresy: The Life and Death of Sarmad Kashani
Essay · EN
Visions of Central Asia: Part I
Essay · EN
Architecture #3: Gates, Domes, and Eternal Tears
Essay · EN
Horses for Tea
Essay · EN
Mongols, Cheetahs, and Slaves on Horseback
Essay · EN
Toxic Trees and Human Lacquerware
Essay · EN
German Trenches and Parthian Shots
Essay · EN
Architecture #1: The Science of Mud
Essay · EN
A Sufi Imam at Chabad House
Essay · EN
Architecture II: Fire, Wind, and Silence
Essay · EN
Iranians, Turanians, and the Art of the Raid
Essay · EN
When Asia Was the World
Essay · EN
Under Open Skies
Essay · EN
Leaves of Grass
Essay · EN
Jewish Traders on the Silk Roads
Essay · EN
Which Sky Would I Choose?
Essay · EN
Demons, Saints and Black Pens
Essay · EN
In the Gates of Turan
Travel Journal · EN
The Jewels of Badakhshan
Travel Journal · EN
A Thousand Celestial Meadows: Kyrgyzstan
Research · EN
The Lotus in the Sands
Essay · EN
Wandering: Jews of the Silk Road
Research · EN
Heaven in the Rock: The Lapis Road
Fieldwork
Expedition · Pamir · Tajikistan · Badakhshan · Summer 2022 · Completed
Pamir Highway 2022The high road through Badakhshan: fortresses, Wakhani villages and the roof of the world
Other areas