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Following in the footsteps of Marco Polo: living and
breathing the Silk Road just a few weeks before 11-9
I first imagined this trip while travelling on the Trans-Siberian
railway somewhere
between Ulan Bator and the Baikal Lake at the end of 1992. There it was, in
my mind: images of camels wandering over the snowy, desert areas of Mongolia.
Then came the opportunity, in mid-2001, to make it happen, starting not from Venice, but
Frankfurt with a stop-over in Zurich. In today's world, the centre of
gravity, the poles of influence, have moved
slightly. It was as if I had jumped into a time machine and discovered what
Marco Polo and his brothers had witnessed a few centuries ago...
Facts F
History
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Diary F
People
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For thousands of years, the Silk Road was
the world's principle trade route linking Europe and China along which
traveled not only people and goods, but also idea and even religion.
Stretching more than 10.000 kilometers, the route crossed some of the
world's highest mountains, most forbidding deserts and endless steppes,
but was relieved along the way by fascinating cities (Gilgit, Kashgar,
Dunhuang, Xian) used as trading centers by the caravans hauling the
precious products of faraway lands. Silk of course alongwith gems,
spices, fine porcelain, furs, paper, gunpowder and other goods came from
the east, while from the opposite direction came gold, silver,
cosmetics, perfumes, ivory and glass. More...
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 About
people met, experience shared, food and beverage discovered. Day-to-day
progresses.
Han chinese, Uyghurs, Kyrgyz, Tajiks, Uzebks |
Views F
Landscape
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Orientation F
Maps
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 About
dreaming over a post card... and more, if afinities |
 About
getting there. |
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