To arrive in the Silk Road city of Khotan is to drink in an oasis of vivid patterning and audacious beauty. Your gaze alights on carpets offering up a shining lattice, fretwork extending in all directions, adorned with medallions of sumptuous fruit. A cultural crossroads – Indo-European iconography and Chinese geometry woven together – offering up new botanical architecture, at the feet of wide-eyed traders. And there! Pomegranates – the heart of this tribute to the legendary city – a sacred symbol of prosperity and power, wellspring of life – a feast for an ancient travelers’ soul.