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,
God's Own Country God's Own Country God’s Own Country, is a phrase meaning an area, region or country supposedly favoured by God, that was first used to describe the Wicklow Mountains in Ireland, and has subsequently been used to refer to various places, including Australia, Canada, England (Cornwall, Surrey, Yorkshire, Northumberland), United States, New Zealand, Indian state of Kerala, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The expression was first used to describe the Wicklow Mountains of Ireland by the Georgian British writer Edward du Bois, writing under the pseudonym "A Knight Errant" in 1807. When used in reference to England, "God's own country" refers