A possible Silk Route?

From London (somehow) to Moscow, then the 3-day train to Tashkent Central. Several April days to bask in the ancient glory of Samarkand and Bokhara before returning to Tashkent and onward to Bishkek to Kashgar to Turpan to Dunhuang to Jiayuguan to Lanzhou to Xian to Beijing. Then down to Shanghai and Hong Kong and Hanoi and Bangkok and Angkor and Singapore. And to a flight back across the Pacific.

It may yet be done. But within two years- by July 2009? That is now the looming question.