Touring Afghanistan's Ancient Citadel In Herat | Marco Polo Reloaded

there you go traveling is his profession Bradley Mayu writes tourist guides mostly about Asia this time he is working on a very special project an adventure an experiment he ret travels a route taken by a merchant from Venice more than 750 years ago [Music] he is happy with any transport he can get always East along the great Silk Road through remote mountain ranges inhospitable deserts and ancient cities Bradley Mayu follows the route of Marco Polo from Venice to Beijing through countries such as Iran and Afghanistan 10,000 kilometers Overland a journey as great an adventure today as in Marco Polo's [Music] time Afghanistan there has been almost continuous War here for 30 [Music] years ahead of Bradley lies no easy [Music] terrain the first city behind the Border in the center looms The Citadel over and over again it was destroyed and repeatedly rebuilt the latest Wars have also left their Mark today the Citadel is restored the architect Dow sadik directs the construction work and was this was this bombed also by the Soviets in the 19 yeah absolutely there was abely here was the Soviet Union and the the the western side was the the muah they were attacking directly to the city the people in the city was in between seen a lot of violence for the last 2,000 years [Music] Dow works for the agakhan foundation which helps to bring some sort of peaceful normality back into the Afghan everyday lives to restore Landmark buildings is part of that process people can once again enjoy their Citadel before restoration can begin mines and unexploded ordinance have to be cleared it will take decades to free the Land from this particularly dangerous threat assuming that's even possible Marco Polo found the melons of this region to be the sweetest and juiciest in the world take this one I'm meeting a a lady at her office so I think I should take a gift it's melon season so this one will do Bradley wants to get to the outskirts of herat there a special Afghani Aid organization is located in a plain red brick [Music] building hakima Hakimi is 25 years old she has studied law in Teran and today she represents women in court but mainly she fights for the many Street children in herat this isn't just a normal school is it there are here for for 2 hours uh during the day because they work in the street and they need to earn money to protect their family and to help their parents most of their parents especially their fathers are addicted and they don't they are jobless and they don't work and so they can't support their family so it's a safe place for them they can come during the day if you they aren't safe in the in out of here in the streets in their home but we try to make a safe and a a friendly place for them not long ago there was fighting in the streets of herat slowly normality is [Music] returning the merchants are back as well as The Artisans say ad dullah for example he is one of the last remaining men who still knows how to blow the famous herat glass [Music] the deep blue comes from lapis lazle which is mined in the mountains of Afghanistan and about which Marco Polo reported only in a relatively peaceful City like herat an Afghani woman and a stranger can walk the city streets without harassment [Music] during the time of the Taliban the city's music school was closed now the Tabler and harmonium classes are very much in demand soon women will be admitted too music classes are at least in herat once again a part of normal life [Music] tban didn't believe to music and the movie and Cinema everything because uh they told that we are the original Muslims and Islam don't allow you to listen music uh to studying music to teaching music music was off off so you just turned it off uh for everywhere and for everyone the tan um forced woman to stay at home and um don't studying and don't learning and to their fathers get marriage them without asking them um they don't like their husbands they don't like their life and um they don't like their [Music] children they are victims of archaic traditions of war and drugs akimo will continue to take care of herat's children Bradley has to say goodbye now he wants to get to the north of Afghanistan actually feel quite safe in and herart feels just like a normal City but I've been told over and over again that anything can happen at any time it's a very fluid situation there's violence always on the edge of town so uh I'm getting on in years and I'm a married man now so I'm going to take take the easy option divert from Marco Polo a little bit and take a shortcut by plane over to Maui shareif and avoid the dangerous road in between the road from herat to the north is said to be amongst the most dangerous in the whole country Bandits are more of a risk here than the Taliban kidnapping is a profitable business an Overland Drive would have taken 2 Days by playe it takes just about 2 hours to the biggest city in Northern Afghanistan the city grew up around this Shrine it is the only sanctuary in which both rival religious factions the Shiites and the sunnis pray together this Shrine has always been a place of peace until the Taliban came during the Taliban days the Taliban actually ate the pigeons and killed the rest of them and since the Taliban left the pigeons have come back slowly locals see that as a sign I think for the continuing and increasing peace in Afghanistan so it's a kind of a symbol for for Hope him are it's nice to see them back [Music] in the hazrat Ali Shrine is the most important pilgrimage destination in Afghanistan here the prophet's son-in-law is said to be buried the last leader of the Muslims before Islam was divided into Shiite and Sunni factions that is why people pray here together conflicts in Afghanistan are countless between tribes between Warlords between the government and the Taliban at The hazrat allei Shrine all that seems far away this is this is what I uh what I dreamed of I've been reading of Afghanistan for for 20 years and uh what I've been dreaming of is is right here it's it's very special for me the peace here is deceptive a traveler should always keep this in mind yeah outside the mosque when the Sun goes down I wouldn't want to be there but with the Sun up inside the mosque during prayer time it's a it's a brief moment of relaxation before the the guards come back up again when we when we head outside I think that's an interesting thing this one piece will make 52 layers watch on mobile devices or the big screen all for free no subscription required only with an armed guard can Bradley dare to enter an area which is considered to be dangerous in which the Taliban have once again gained in strength the drive takes Bradley back in time from the beginnings of the Caravan trade up until the 13th century this was the vibrant heart of the Silk Road [Music] the larger Doby walls indicate its former size although to a considerable extent already destroyed the city impressed Marco Polo the legendary city of bulk bul is a noble City and great there were formerly many fine palaces and buildings of marble and the ruins of them still remain this is the ancient city of balk this is where Zer zarathustra first worshiped fire first came up with Zoroastrianism this was also where Alexander the Great uh founded his first city here in this part of Asia actually Marco Polo says this was where he married the beautiful roxan bulk wealth attracted conquerors Alexander was followed by cians parthians and by the nomadic kosan in the first C Century after Christ bulk was the center of the huge territory they controlled the kusan emperor spread all the way from Mediterranean to India in Northwest China and this was the Glory Days of the Silk Road when the Caravans crossed the whole of Asia throughout the cushan [Music] Empire after the Buddhist kushan Arabic Islamic dynasties took over and then came jenas Khan in 1220 the Mongols pulled up outside of balk marched the 100,000 plus inhabitants out into the plane divided them up into neat little sections slaughtered them to a man balk itself never really recovered from that it was uh it fell into decline malaria and chera took hold outside the city and Mar capella actually got sick around back probably from malaria and had to go up to the mountains of badak Shan to to recover from that the mountains in the northeast of Afghanistan are also Bradley's destination unfortunately the route leads through a risky area luckily for Bradley the International Security assistance Force for Afghanistan helps him out with a seat in one of their planes the north of Afghanistan is under the command of the German Armed Forces [Music] the Germans Patrol the most remote and wild part of Afghanistan's North the province of badak Shan lais Polish Polish M of Barak Shan have been supplying almost the entire world's production of of lapis for the last 6 7,000 years everyone from Cleopatra to the Romans Mesopotamians they all wanted this stuff it's uh it's very prized worth its weighing gold in uh classical times and Marco Pell was the first person to locate the European world where the laes came from was a big mystery up until there are mines up here in Bown somewhere I'm going to try and try and locate them try and see where this stuff comes from I've heard it's a long difficult trk but um give it a go the route will lead Bradley into an area where Western foreigners should avoid attracting too much attention we're getting some local fashion tips from uh the fisa Buddies they say this one's the way to go so I trust them [Music] not sure if I should be offended but they say this is my [Music] size wearing a Shir kames the traditional Afghan dress Bradley starts his search for the blue stone [Music] Bradley 40 years old British married lives in the United States he couldn't be further away from [Music] home see this tie is even worse than the last one [Music] in a village Bradley is expected by Ibrahim Mazo good to see you to see you welcome to B you can over Ibrahim works for the aak Khan foundation one of the few organizations to bring assistance to the mountain farmers in this remote region [Music] Farmland is rare only in the narrow river valleys and only on irrigated Fields can Farmers grow food without the help of the arakan foundation the farmers would probably still grow opium now they have an [Music] alternative the villagers do all the work by themselves a new Canal 2 km long will bring water to new fields to cut it out of the rock mere PS and Spades are not enough in this part of Afghanistan Dynamite is a [Music] blessing Ibrahim has organized a good car with a good driver even so it takes the Jeep more than 6 hours to cover the last 30 [Music] km then heavily guarded the mining Village since ancient times this has been the base of the lapis Laz miners there are 30 to 40 mines in the mountains above the village according to AAS he has been living here for 50 years as ultramarine the blue from Beyond the Sea lapis lazle was frequently used by medieval painters Marco Polo describes the mineral and its mining in detail even today up to 2,000 men work in the mines during the summer there are mines dotted all up and down this Valley there's one right up there that I would love to go in and have a look but the uh security situation is is not good the precious stones are almost as uh dodgy a topic as opium production around here so this is as far as a police allow me to go [Applause] for the corn flow blue pigment is now produced artificially oh good but for best quality Stones the men still get good money this was actually a very important center for the mujahadin they would take big donkey loads full of of the lapis and then carry it over the Hindu Kush over the passes into Pakistan sell it for US Dollars and then buy missiles and that was one way that they funded um the resistance against the Soviets so this this place has a really uh fascinating history whether it's 20 years ago or 2,000 years ago it's as it's as economically vibrant as it was back [Music] thenk the last stretch of road in Afghanistan the beard trimmed a fresh shirt a last wrecked tank on the roadside for 3 weeks has been on the road in this war torn country and he is glad that everything went well keep me safe and sound in Afghanistan thanks in no small part to Ibrahim mazun and Muhammad the driver they will meet again in Shala God [Music] willing on the border of Afghan anistan and Tajikistan a unique Market is held every [Music] Saturday so I'm in the middle of No Man's Land This Side Afghanistan this side Tajikistan on an island in the middle of the pange river the upper oxis I'm madaria on this side are all the Afghan Traders on this side all the tajic Traders superb Market can goods from Russia Coca-Cola made in Afghanistan rice from peshawa in Pakistan soap powder from Iran this way washing up Liquid from Turkey even further classic Silk Road market Marco po would have loved head scarf from uh from Tajikistan just like this one tajiki istan a small country in Central Asia for more than 50 years it was part of the Soviet Union people are celebrating in ish kashim Stadium 13 years ago to the day the Civil War in Tajikistan ended it started right after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and plunged the country into chaos welcome to the Republic of Tajikistan celebrating the uh over 10 years ago was the end of the Civil War so it was a big parade here to celebrate that feels like a giant leap in time from the Afghan Border in some ways it feels like coming straight into the future but not quite now more like 20 years ago when the Soviet Union was still around [Music] he has already crossed six countries on his way to China Tajikistan is like coming home for Bradley he has been here many times and here he is not only asking about Marco Polo but also room rates without with and without breakfast so how much is the price just for sleeping it's $8 okay okay and when do you think those rooms will be ready they're now working fast maybe after week two weeks maximum yeah here in Tajikistan I'm doing two jobs at the same time and not only following trying to track down Marco Polo's route but doing my day job at the same time updating Lon planet guide to to Central Asia so it's a lot of trying to track down accommodation uh detective work really transport stuff it's really my bread and butter work this is what I do uh day in and day out this is a this is a day at the office for me um on my on my normal job to search for traces of Marco Polo who passed by here 750 years ago Bradley has teamed up with ethnologist umid bu shv a friend he knows from an earlier Journey the two plan to travel together for at least 2 weeks Jes have biscuits you buy Provisions straight out of the back of a truck here but the most important thing is to find a reliable car and driver some a couple of guys with some Jerry cans just bought it down the street this is a petrol station in Tajikistan hopefully it's good P if it's not down about 30 km [Music] go with his 35-year-old Soviet Jeep shab kadirov 47 years old normally brings passengers to the tajik capital dambi but he also knows his way around the so-called wacan corridor the wacan valley Cuts right through the mighty mountain ranges as its most important East West passage armies missionaries and Traders like Marco Polo have trekked through this Valley since time immemorial a southern branch of the Silk Road ran straight through the valley and some of its ancient rest stops are still in use Bradley and umid are looking for a place to [Music] stay the people here are ismis a small subsect of sh [Music] Islam their songs tell about the arduous life in one of the poorest regions of Central Asia when the Soviet Union collapsed the people here were hit especially hard little grows at this altitude and local people still struggle to make a living but whenever guests arrive they offer whatever they have 15 20 years ago the country was in Civil War and the pales here although they look so beautiful and idyllic they're almost on the verge of starvation here and there's very few economic opportunities in this Valley and and in most of the Palmers and bakan so tourism is really one of the very few ways to get a little extra income a little in influx of of cash into the local economy Bradley and umid are shown around by the Khalifa The secular and religious head of the community the shrine was one of the places where their unique brand of Islam survived during the Soviet times ismaelis have no mosques no call to prayer so during Soviet Union time this kindy shrines didn't stop it they were used by people used them as a religious site but from the government side they were announced as historical site and therefore they were protected when a house is built in the village the whole Community turns out to help the Khalifa blesses the building the ismaelis follow a relaxed and undogmatic form of Islam that is rooted in daily life after praying together they will eat together and then work together Marco Polo is said to have spent several months in the wacan corridor recuperating from an illness probably [Music] malaria old partly ancient fortifications Tower above a strategically important stretch of the trade [Music] route often the exact route of the Silk Road is mere guesswork here it is right before your eyes there would have been Caravans Fri here probably ban camels winding their way down this Valley this was good travel easy travel down this Valley it was a one of the favorite routs over the high mountains of the pal they brought with this way many technology melting iron technology Garden P there ideas music art it all kind of meshed as as as different cultures met on these trade routes they would take away ideas and take them away back to their land so that that's really the legacy of the silk Ray but yeah it's it's amazing to be actually right in the spot where Marco Polo would have stood rested for the night and should I go left should I go right one of those pivotal decisions for him and on that way so it's yeah another place where you can really connect connect to Marco Po's trip and the scene hasn't changed I mean since since he was there definitely it's right [Music] here from here Marco Polo continued onto a high altitude plane the premere plateau driver shop known knows he can rely on his Soviet Jeep model Waz 469 provided he doesn't push it too hard as long as he doesn't go faster than 30 kmph his aging vehicle handles the rough roads and the extreme altitude with ease the military Jeep manufactured in the Stalin plant at ulanov is more or less indestructible [Music] saying it's his it's like his child this is his child I suggested it was like his friend he says it's like his [Music] child yeah the great thing about these um Soviet Jeeps is that they're very easy to repair you can anything it just you have a a hammer and a bit of string and you can pretty much repair everything in here they're very slow they're very uncomfortable you can't see anything out the windows and they smell of petrol all the time but apart from that they're [Music] perfect then the road leads through a mountain desert 3,500 M High described by Marco Polo as cold windy without vegetation the premere plateau [Music] it's getting dark when the Jeep turns into a remote [Music] Valley Bradley knows from a previous visit that kis Nomads set up camp here during the summer they pitch their yurs where melt water allows a little bit of grass to sprout hospitality is a matter of course up here without hesitation shami kouf invites the three travelers to stay overnight J it gets freezing cold at night terres and bushes are the only available fuel up here to heat the yur or cook their salted milk tea the problem is there are almost no teresin bushes left during Soviet times says umid he was supplied with coal and it was forbidden to heat with terkin right for mhm uh he says I think it doesn't matter how much it will be but we have no another choice I think we will buy we will sell our Ys or something else and to find uh food and car to go as far as it is possible to Brink it in the high valleys of the premere the herders live with their Yaks in near self-sufficiency when the terrascan is gone this will not be possible anymore the nomads need cash in order to buy alternative sources of fuel maybe in the future it can be earned from tourists that find their way into these beautiful remote valleys Marco po was spot on about the cold I needed my sleeping bag last night and the water in my water bottle froze so he got that one right I have a feeling he was up here [Music] come on guys what's going on what's going [Music] on the severe cold even creates problems for the Jeep despite this in the next edition of his guide book Bradley will definitely recommend this home stay with shami kayv on the premier plateau [Applause] [Music] in the very east of Tajikistan China is just behind these mountains Bradley and umid reach the only noteworthy town on the premier Plateau here their ways will part ID will return with the Jeep All That Remains for Bradley is to say thanks [Music] and to negotiate a ride to [Music] China the Chinese truckers they are heading in the right direction beyond the premier Plateau Begins the tacla Maan the world's second largest sand desert on its Western fringes lies an ancient Oasis town that has changed dramatically since Marco Polo's [Music] time finally made it to China the good news is no more border crossings the bad news is still only 2/3 of the way through the trip a long way to go still through China but uh it's good to be here this is one of Asia's great great Market towns kashgar today is a big modern city like so many in China and Chinese dominate the sea in the center of town and the yugar with their typical skull caps appear quite marginalized even though they were once the rulers of this region the 8 million yugar are only one out of many minorities in China they are a Muslim minority that has recently become embroiled in a bloody conflict with the government in [Applause] Beijing the weers are a turkic people they're very much Central Asia in their lifestyle kind of marooned up here in the corners northwest corner of China don't really have much in common with the Chinese the food's different the language is different they're Muslim so there's there's not much in common with the local Chinese without consultation the government has almost completely demolished the traditional clay built Old Town of the [Music] yugar and resettled the yugas in high rises only a small portion of the old Yuga Town [Music] remains here the locals can stay as long as they don't mind being stared at by Chinese tourists who pay a fee to enter the last remaining Yuga quarter has become a museum Shin Jang like Tibet is one of those places where there's been Mass hand Chinese migration there's just not enough space in China um for all the people that want some land so I my feeling is that the wegers have been really marginalized they've kind of been pushed to the edge of society their lands have been squeezed old towns have been squeezed and surrounded by this island of uh you know modern modern Chinese City so I think there's a lot of deep deep held resentment frustration amongst the the Wagers and sometimes it it boils over a little bit [Music] in kashka the silk road splits into a Southern and a northern route both skirt the edge of the Taca Maan [Music] desert Marco Polo traveled the southern [Music] route along here lies an oasis town that is famous for the fabric that gave its name to the trade route in hotan families weave Atlas silk colorful strong and very sturdy clothes made from Atlas silk are worn across Central Asia but they originate from here only a few families still weave Silk For example the family of me Ali it's just not profitable anymore Bradley learns handwoven Fabrics are far too expensive almost impossible to sell says meali how silkor worms are bred how their cocoons are spun this was China's great secret it was here in hotan that the secret was spilled you're had no idea what what silk was about they thought it grew on trees they thought it was some kind of white fluffy vegetable or something they didn't they didn't have a clue The Story Goes that the uh there was a a princess being married out to a weager prince around about the the six century and she was headed out towards these Barbarian lands outside the great wall and she couldn't bear life without her little luxury of uh of silk so she hid these little uh silkworm eggs in her big elaborate hairdo so that the Customs officials couldn't couldn't see her and then the secret was out they couldn't couldn't hold in any [Music] longer the tradition dates back 1,400 years says M Ali however me Ali long since branched out into a different Market one that takes place every Friday at the early age of 13 mem Ali entered into a trade where you can make or break a fortune even for professionals it can be tricky to tell real Jade from [Music] fake Traders from all over China come to haggle over green white or yellow Jade the Chinese Imperial seal was always made of Jade Jade Rings luck heals illness holds magical powers well the Chinese have loved the stone for thousands of years every from from medicine to to ground it up for immortality as as a potion they they attribute different kind of qualities to the stone like the the hardness is supposed to symbolize Justice the the warm kind of shine of the stone is supposed to you know show humanity and man's mentality it's a very Chinese thing and from this River comes the Jade in former times people searched for them at Full Moon nights feeling them in the riverbed with their bare feet mem Ali doesn't waste his time on such small scale methods he has leased a piece of land further Upstream just looking for Jade 21st Century Chinese St mem Ali has borrowed a lot of money to buy an excavator with a practiced eye the men pick the Jade directly from the excavator shovel a 3 kilo piece of Jade recently earned mamit alley €40,000 enough to repay his loan on the spot 50,000 people work in the Jade business says meali 30,000 look for Jade the rest work as Traders and everybody hopes for the big [Music] find Marco Polo describes one landscape in great detail the tlam Maan desert taclan means go in and you will never come out again beyond the tacam Maan lies the Lop desert then the [Music] GOI Days Later Bradley has scored a luxurious ride I just managed to get this very very sweet ride with Mr Yen he's going back to Dun hang and tells me he works in the tourism industry there whoever drives East on this route will inevitably pass a construction that extends over 6,500 km and ranks among the Seven Wonders of the [Applause] World okay this is a major Point uh for me on the trip it means that I've reached the beginning of the Chinese world and it also means that I've reached the dividing line between China and the nomads to the north so this is really a a strategic Point Marco Polo must have passed the great wall somewhere here but he doesn't mention it at all in his book for some historians this is an indication that Marco Polo never made it to China the thing about the Great Wall is that its significance lies in its whole length that's really the power of the great wall and if you just see a section up close it's not really worth remarking about so I think that was partly was Marco Polo's issue when he when he came past this section of the wall anyway he probably didn't realize the significance of it not far away is a fort a gate that in ancient times provided Caravans their only Passage through the Great Wall these days tourist groups flock to this Silk Road Landmark this group came all the way from Shanghai to take pictures of each other in front of the famous Jade gate yeah this is the great this is one of the great meeting points of Asia it doesn't look like much but this is where all the Transcontinental trade routes from Asia will kind of funnel into the Hershey Corridor this is a a very romantic place symbolizes the furthest point in the Chinese [Music] Empire from the Jade gate it is just about 70 km to the Oasis town of dun hang which is where friendly driver Mr Yen lives Bradley asks whether Yen knows the old name of the town that Marco Polo used Yen knows it Sho which means region of s [Music] 2,000 years ago the Oasis was founded as a caravan stop today it is a spotlessly clean town of 200,000 inhabitants most of them are H Chinese who have moved here from other parts of China to seek work especially in the tourism industry Yen Works in this field as well Bradley learns that Yen actually has quite an unusual job yen is working at the edge of the Oasis people's Liberation Army great okay okay I'm ready he oh [Music] [Music] Mobi is one of the world's largest deserts it stretches almost all the way to Beijing but that's still 2,500 km away always along the Silk Road right into the heartland of China where Marco Polo spent almost 20 years of his life [Music] [Music]

Channel: TRACKS - Travel Documentaries

Views: 33,594

Keywords: travel documentaries, tracks travel, tracks, beautiful travel, full travel documentary, tv shows - topic, culture, travel, tourism, Documentary movies - topic

Id: bOLFRFSjKk4

Length: 52min 21sec (3141 seconds)

Published: Sat May 18 2024