Pein and Charchan mentioned by Marco Polo were the names of two ancient areas that flourished in his time. The ruins of the city of Pein lie in a place called Laodamagou in the Taklimakan, and Charchan Province was probably the region between Yu tian and Ruoqiang.

This section of our journey would take us from Yutian to Minfeng, not a great distance on the map, but it turned out to be one of the most arduous parts of our trip. Travelling across vast expanses of the Taklimakan Desert by jeep, we began to understand why camels are still the most reliable means of transport.

Like Marco Polo, we also found precious little in the way of spring water, needing to carry all potable water with us wherever we went. Thankfully, hostile armies no longer maraud their way tkrough the desert - for us the greatest enemies were mosquitoes and the endless, all-consuming sand.

Unlike going to the bazaar, going on a pilgrimage to the mazar is a sacred, solemn activity for devout Muslims. Muslims in the rest of the world make pilgrimages to Mecca, but Xinjiang Muslims go on pilgrimage to the mazar in Minfeng, where it is said that a legendary islamic prophet is buried. Each August, the Uigurs in southern Xinjiang, and even followers of Islam in northern Xinjiang, drive their ox carts, mule carts and tractors through deserts and over snow-covered mountains to Minfeng.

Of course we did not want to miss this rare oppottunity.

This lone pilgrim prays in the direction of  the mazar.