The map above shows the incredible journey that Xuan Zang made on foot, horseback, camelback, and even at times on the backs of elephants. He was gone for 19 years during which time he passed by way of the Silk Road through the Gobi desert, Hami, Turpan, Kucha, modern day Kyrgyzstan, Tashkent, Samarkand, Amu Darya, Balkh, Jalalabad, and traveled extensively within India itself. Upon arriving in India he studied at the world famous University of Nalanda for two years. Xuan Zang was able to study Buddhism firsthand in it's place of origin and take that knowledge back with him to China. The faith might not have survived if it had not been taken to the Far East. Buddhism disappeared from India after the Turko-Mongolian conqueror Bakhtiyar Khilji destroyed the University of Nalanda in the 12th Century.