Our millennium-old romance with the tales of the ancient Silk Road continues to fascinate us all and shows no signs of abating. Like a phoenix repeatedly rising from its ashes, the memories of the road's ordeals and achievements constantly turn our attention to images of heavily laden camel caravans treading their way amidst a dusty twilight of churning haze. In our minds we bring to life the harmonic footsteps of the camel trains that reduce the sinking sun in the far horizon into a pale reddish disc. Yet like erect sentries, the surrounding majestic snow-capped mountains beckoned the...