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,
Wedding Preparations in the Country Wedding Preparations in the Country "Wedding Preparations in the Country" (German: "Hochzeitsvorbereitungen auf dem Lande") is an incomplete work by Franz Kafka which depicts in great detail the journey of the groom, Raban, travelling to the country to meet his future wife, Betty. Written between 1907 and 1908, three fragments with missing pages have survived, and, as with most of Kafka's work, they were published after his death by his friend Max Brod. According to Brod, Kafka's intention was to complete the story as a novel. An English translation of the story appears in "The Complete Stories of Franz Kafka".