The Silk Road Page #2

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overland trade links

between two very

wealthy civilizations.

The sudden reappearance of his father

must have stimulated him

to think about perhaps joining him

on a travel of his own.

Going to China for Marco Polo

would be the most extraordinary

adventure of his entire life.

They probably don't suspect they're

going to get all the way to China.

But I think there's enough talk

at the time about modern,

what's now Turkey or what's now Iran

that he would have been very excited.

Marco imagined his journey

to the east

the wealth of Cathay,

the dangers ahead.

Some would say that an imaginary

journey is all that he ever took.

According to his story, Marco Polo

set off for China in 1271 A.D.

a merchant in search of

the world's wealthiest market.

His 5000 mile overland journey took

him through Tabriz, Baghdad, Hormuz

the great bazaars of the Middle East

where the trading energy of

the old Silk Road is still alive.

Marco was encouraged by what he saw.

"Traveling merchants

can make very good money.

For there is much gold and silk

cloth of great value."

Camping out in the open at night,

Marco was careful to protect his profits.

Anybody who traveled on the Silk Roads

had to be really quite

brave and courageous.

Many people just didn't make it,

in part because of banditry

all along the route.

One night in Persia,

Polo claims to have been robbed.

Many of his caravan were killed.

Marco was lucky to get away

with his life.

It's not as simple as taking a plane

in Venice and hopping over to Beijing.

This was a long, long

and demanding journey.

After a grueling trek through

modern day Iran and Afghanistan,

Polo describes his confrontation

with the Pamirs,

the infamous mountain range

that separates East and West.

altitude and frostbite were

the least of Polo's problems.

"There are innumerable wolves

and the bones of their kill

are stacked by the roadside

to serve as landmarks to travelers

in the bleak winter."

Polo sought refuge in local villages.

"I give you my word that

if a stranger comes to a house here

to seek hospitality

he receives a very warm welcome.

The host bids his wife do everything

that the guest wishes.

The women are beautiful,

vivacious and always ready to please."

Marco Polo's description of

these enticing beauties of the East,

of their being so subservient fits in

with a pattern that has continued

throughout the ages of eastern women

having some sort of exotic

and erotic appeal.

There's an attempt to make the east

more exotic than it really is.

According to his story,

Polo now entered the Taklamakan desert

the most forbidding obstacle

along the old Silk Road.

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