Crossing the enormous Kyzulkum Desert of Uzbekistan, which lies to the west of the Himalaya plateau, I am struck by its vastness. As the 15th largest desert in the world, it is also one of the least known in modern times.

Things were different when we flip back through the pages of history: trade routes that became known as the famous Silk Road traversed this region between 200 BCE and roughly 1500 CE, carrying precious goods from west to east and vice versa. Thousands of caravans, people, ideas and stories crossed unimaginable distances between vastly different cultures and continents.

This region has played a pivotal role throughout many chapters of human history. From the various Persian empires ruling over its vast lands to Greco-Bactrian influences from Alexander the Great, and later Islamic and Mongol influences, to the 5th-century Timurid rule and eventually 20th-century Soviet tyranny—there's always a bigger fish, I suppose.

Trade routes have crisscrossed this area for much of recorded history, until the advent of the industrial age, when steamships dominated the oceans, and eventually airplanes conquered the skies, providing far more efficient means of transportation.

Now, flying the modern Silk Road in my aerial, four-engined chariot, I carry over 100,000 kg of precious goods from the Far Orient to Europe in barely twelve hours of flight time. A magical feat, if you'd ask anyone from beyond a hundred years ago.

As I look down at the world beneath us, I can’t help but wonder about the buried history, treasures, and forgotten knowledge hidden beneath those sand dunes and valleys—a future Indiana Jones treasure trove.