5.  A road like the Milky Way should lead somewhere. Presumably the road for the wandering souls leads to the abode of the dead, or to 'nirvana'. The Chinese regarded the northern cap of the sky as the most important part, where the 'Emperor' ruled - at the pole, which was steady as a rock. The Emperor's abode was defined by two 'walls' or chains of stars:

The north pole slowly moved in a circle ... inside these walls of Ming Thang, The Bright Palace, 'the mystical temple-dwelling which the emperor was supposed to frequent, carrying out the rites appropriate to the seasons'. (Ref.: Needham 3)

Likewise, the ancient Egyptians regarded the region around the north pole as special:

"... The ancient Egyptians observed the stars and the circumpolar stars they regarded as qualitatively different from the ordinary stars which arrived at the eastern horizon and later disappeard behind the western horizon. The circumpolar stars had a circular motion, whereas the ordinary ones went straight across the sky ..." (Lockyer)

In a palace with walls like cobras Osiris resided:

"...  In the Book of the Dead we are ... told that Osiris, as 'Lord of the Duat', resides in a palace whose walls are 'living cobras' ..." (Hancock 3)

According to a Japanese legend a fisherman named Urashima visited the Land-of-Spirits where time slowed down.