"News from Tartary" is the title of a wonderful 1936 book by Peter Fleming, Ian's more interesting brother, which tells of his seven-month overland (over desert, over the roof of the world) trip from Beijing to Kashmir.

The concept of Tartary is still valid today. I suppose it would best be defined as east of the Caspian, north of India, south of Siberia, and west of China. But its cultural and biological boundaries do not obey the maps. China occupies what its inhabitants call "East Turkestan", land of the Uighurs, and call it "Xinjiang," the "New Lands." The Soviet Union once held much of it, and Turkic horsemen ranged and still range into the Siberian steppes. Mongolia is traditionally separate in religion and language but the Mongols are "cousins" of the Turkic people, and accompanied Chingiz (spell it how you will—nobody in Asia pronounces it with a hard "g") on his conquests; besides, there are Turkic Kazakhs in the western part of Mongolia, where I have visited them.

Today, Russia and China still exert their influences on this enormous and anciently-inhabited expanse of mountain, steppe, desert, and taiga. Rich resources make it an object of interest to nations far from its borders as well, as Kipling's "Great Game" resumes. Meanwhile, more and more, the oldest origins of domestication seem to be here, rather than in the Middle East, where they traveled on an early version of the Silk Road. A Finnish geneticist has traced dog origins there, as has a controversial American anthropologist. Horses were first domesticated in Eastern Kazakhstan, and eagles tamed there. And some of the mysteries of human migration, including the origins of the people who came to North America and the ancient, European-looking inhabitants of the oases of Xinjiang, lie buried here.

I am going to provide links to all of the above, and eventually book reviews also. I hope you will find it all half as fascinating as I do—I could spend another lifetime, or two, there.

• A Virtual Tour of Almaty: http://www.virtourist.com/asia/almaty/index.html
  Eventually I will post some of our own photos of this delightful city in the northern foothills of the Tian Shan, but this will show you a lot. Almaty, "Grandfather Apple", covers a zone btween the plains to the north and the conifers to the south, centered in the deciduous zone where the apple was domesticated and still grows wild, with the jagged icy peaks of the Celestial Mountains on the south horizon. It is a pre- Bolshevik city (Fort Verny) with colonial cathedrals, tree- lined boulevards, and sidewalk cafes. And, as a friend says, "You can take public transportation to snow leopards".
• Asia Times Online: http://www.atimes.com/
  Best general Asia news, including C. A. and China
• Beijing Forbidden City Pigeon Loft: http://www.pigeon-china.com/
  Though this site is based in Beijing, many Asian pigeons wear flutes and whistles.
• Books and Articles on Tibetan Nomads: http://www.cwru.edu/affil/tibet/tibetanNomads/books.htm
  A comprehensive site , on another occupied territory of the Han Empire.
• eXile: http://www.exile.ru/
  A raunchy Moscow- based alternative newspaper In English. Amidst stories of drunkenness and debauchery are some good ones on politics and the smart, cynical, and deadly reporting of the "War Nerd".
• Vladimir Dinets: http://dinets.travel.ru/index.htm
  This wonderful site should probably be under at least "Science" as well, but it has pages and pages of Central Asian travel and natural history. A young naturalist, born in Russia but now based in the States, tells of his adventurous travels in search of the wild. Highest recommendation.
• Horsebows: http://www.horsebows.com/
  Not Asia- based, but these are the bows and techniques of the steppe horsemen.
• Horse Origins: http://www.carnegiemuseums.org/cmnh/anthro/olsen.html
  The earliest domestication, in Eastern Kazakhstan.
• John Derbyshire's home page: http://olimu.com/
  A lot of non- Asian cultural, political, and literary commentary, but also much on Central Asian issues. Derbyshire speaks Chinese, is married to a woman from China, and has lived there-- he knows what he is talking about, and is not given to comforting the rest of us re Chinese ambitions.
• Mongolia Altai Expeditions: http://www.mongoliaaltaiexpeditions.com/index.htm
  A good way to get to the Mongolian Altai and enjoy your trip. I am quoted.
• Registan.net: http://www.registan.net/
  Best blog on Central Asian politics and current events I know, with many others listed in the blogroll.
• Rock Art in Russian Far East and Siberia: http://rupestre.net/tracce/russib.html
  A large archive of Central Asian petroglyphs-- which are everywhere. I will have some of mine from sites in Kazakhstan up soon as well.
• Silk Road Newsletter: http://www.silkroadfoundation.org/toc/newsletter.html
  A treasure trove.
• Silk Road Project: http://www.silkroadproject.org/
  Yo Yo Ma's musical project. Get the recording!
• Silk Road Seattle: http://depts.washington.edu/uwch/silkroad/
  Links and resources.
• Silk Road e- History: http://faculty.washington.edu/dwaugh/srehist.html
  Essays on history.
• Turkish Tumblers: http://www.turkishtumblers.com/
  Did pigeons-- like dogs and horses-- come down the Silk Road?
• Welcome to www.falcons.uk: http://www.falcons.co.uk/default.asp?id=131
  Despite the title much on Central Asian habitat, migration, and conservation.