Tian Shan

Tian Shan (Chinese: heavenly mountains) is the name of a mountain range and river in northwestern China and eastern Kazakhstan.

According to inscriptions written on the very portal that sealed the entrance chamber to the Infernal Machine (in Babylon), if one were to seek out the Machine's four vital parts, one should begin the journey at the "heavenly mountains." In 1947, Indiana Jones interpreted this to mean the Tian Shan mountain range and was correct in his interpretation. After infiltrating a Soviet-patrolled border region and rafting the whitewaters of the Tian Shan River, Jones arrived at Shambala Sanctuary, where the first piece of the Machine was kept.