Marco Polo's Epic Route Through Central Asia | Marco Polo Reloaded (3/4)
Bradley Mayhew continues his journey into Afghanistan, where difficult terrain lies ahead. He first reaches the city of Herat before traveling on to the ancient city of Balkh. This historic place is said to be where Zarathustra first worshipped fire, where Alexander the Great founded his first city in this part of Asia, and where Marco Polo wrote that Alexander married the beautiful Roxanna.
From there, Bradley heads toward the mountains of northeastern Afghanistan, though the route passes through risky areas. Fortunately, the International Security Assistance Force for Afghanistan offers him a seat on one of their planes, helping him reach his destination safely. Marco Polo once described the lapis lazuli mines in great detail, and Bradley sets out to find them—discovering traces of the same mines that fueled trade for centuries.
His travels then take him into Tajikistan, a small Central Asian nation that was part of the Soviet Union for over 50 years. In Ishkashim, Bradley spends time at the local stadium before moving on to the Wakhan Valley, a vital east–west passage cutting through towering mountain ranges.
From there, he follows Marco Polo’s trail onto the Pamir Plateau, a remote high-altitude plain. In the valleys of the Pamirs, Bradley joins local herders who live almost entirely self-sufficiently with their yaks. Finally, he reaches Kashgar, China—one of Asia’s great market towns and an important hub along the Silk Road.
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Chapters
▷ 00:00 - Intro
▷ 01:15 - Herat
▷ 09:31 - Masar-e Sharif
▷ 12:17 - Ruins of Balkh
▷ 18:57 - Sar-e Sang
▷ 23:38 - Ishkashim
▷ 27:30 - Langar Village
▷ 37:42 - Murghab
▷ 38:42 - Kashgar
▷ 42:12 - Khotan
▷ 43:49 - Jade Market
▷ 45:02 - Jade Dragon River
▷ 51:32 - Credits
Marco Polo Reloaded re-travels the Silk Road on the tracks of its most well-known voyager: the medieval traveler and writer Marco Polo. Five road movie style-documentaries imagine the past and show today’s reality, in countries like Turkey, Israel, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, the Central Asian Republics and China. The five films accompany a travel writer on a mission. Bradley Mayhew, 39, married, born in England, living in the US, a senior writer for Lonely Planet Publications. He is researching a book on the Silk Road and its legendary voyager. The films show what is happening if one re-travels Marco Polo’s journey again, 700 years after him, his book in mind (“reloaded”), overland, by means of local transport, covering the ancient trade-route on its entire length from Venice to Beijing.
Original Title: From Afghanistan to China | Marco Polo (3/4)
A documentary by Rolf Lambert & Bernd Girrbach