Ürümqi

Where the Silk Road branches meet; the gateway to the West reversed.

Ürümqi holds a singular distinction: of all the major cities on earth, it lies farthest from any ocean—the true heart of the Asian landmass. Crossing into China here, the Marco Polo Drive enters Xinjiang, where the northern and southern Silk Road branches, divided by the Taklamakan and the Tian Shan, came together again.

This is a city of bazaars and snow-capped peaks, of melons and lamb and a dozen languages braided in its markets—an old caravan capital that still feels the pull of every direction at once. For travelers from the West, Ürümqi is the threshold of China proper; for Marco Polo, it was the long-awaited approach to the realm of the Great Khan.

At the center of the continent, the road comes home to China.