Skirting the edges of the harsh and inhospitable Taklimakan desert, the Silk Road actually had several different branches, each passing through different oases. All roads began in Changan (Xian). The northern route wound its way through places such as Turfan and Kuqa before finally ending at Kashgar. The southern route followed the lower fringes of the Taklimakan to eventually end up at the same destination. Numerous other routes were also plied throughout the ages, reaching all the way to Samarkand, Tashkent, India, and the Caspian Sea.