On August 16, 1995, Brice Minnigh and Scott Urban set off from Beijing, China, on bicycles.

Their destination -- 6,000 kilometres to the west -- was the fabled Silk Road junction Kashgar, in the vicinity of Pakistan.

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The following account picks up their story some 4,000 kilometres into the ride, as they prepare to trace the original route of the Southern Silk Road into China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and its Lop Nor Desert.