Taklamakan Desert of water, accounts for the somewhat wide diurnal temperature variation. The Taklamakan Desert has very little water, therefore it is hazardous to cross. Merchant caravans on the Silk Road would stop for relief at the thriving oasis towns. It was in close proximity to many of the ancient civilizations — to the Northwest is the Amu Darya basin, to the southwest the Afghanistan mountain passes lead to Iran and India, to the east is China, and even to the north ancient towns such as Almaty can be found. The key oasis towns, watered by rainfall from the mountains, were Kashgar,
In God's Country that he originally didn't know whether the song was about Ireland or the United States, but eventually dedicated it to the Statue of Liberty. The song characterises the United States as a "desert rose" and a siren whose dress is torn in "ribbons and bows," a depiction both "sad and seductive". The lyric speaks of a lack of political ideas in the West which Bono later contrasted to the revolution in Nicaragua where he had travelled during the recording of "The Joshua Tree". Along with "Where the Streets Have No Name," the lyrics and sound of "In God's Country" reference