When he refused, the king sent him on his way with everything Xuanzang could possibly need. Xuanzang crossed the Tien Shan Mountains and descended to the Issyk-Kul lake in what is now the Republic of Kyrgyzstan. He traveled capital of Tashkent and the city of Samarkand and then through the Iron Gates to Bactria (modern Afghanistan). He visited the city of Balkh, where there were many famous relics of the Buddha. Xuanzang arrived in Bamian. He traveled down the Kabul River through the city of Peshawar to Taxila (now ruins near the Pakistani capital of Islamabad). Xuanzang then went to Srinigar, the capital of Kashmir.