6/22/2023 0 Comments The silk road marco poloFrom the repetitive plates of bland beef and rice offered up in Turkmenistan, to the jovial supper invitations offered by every Iranian we met. From bidding adieu to sleep on overnight trains in China, to playing a starring role in countless Uzbek wedding photos. Of course, the statistics don't capture the encounters and experiences - the mundane and the remarkable. To achieve it, we replaced four-legged dromedaries with a few trains, planes, buses and boats, but nevertheless have stuck to the original east-west route, taking in six countries, 7,456 miles, 15 UNESCO World Heritage Sites and accumulated a camel-load of souvenirs (like good merchants) along the way. In 47 days, we've managed to cover what would have taken a camel caravan - capable of travelling 20 miles a day - a minimum of 400 days. When Marco Polo returned home to Venice, dressed in Mongol rags, after 24 years tracing strands of the Silk Road, his relatives promptly disowned him. "Travel is more than the seeing of sights it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living." – Miriam Beard
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