This route through Central Asia crosses three countries and two very different kinds of travel. Uzbekistan's Silk Road cities come one after another by train: Khiva's walled old town empty at dawn, plov in the shade at Lyabi-Hauz in Bukhara and Samarkand's Registan lit up after dark. Kyrgyzstan turns rural and nomadic, with eagle hunting on the plains, horseback riding above Issyk-Kul and nights in guesthouses and yurts. Kazakhstan brings Charyn Canyon, the open steppe and Almaty.