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Help everyone explore new worlds and ideas.
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Support your PBS station.
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Can you imagine all those places,
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just the magical names...
Samarkand and Bukhara
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and Beijing and Iran
and Afghanistan, and...
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So I called up Denis, 'cause,
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you know, who else would be crazy enough
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to maybe go along with something like this,
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and I said,
"what do you think, dude?"
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We would sit there and retreat
into our imaginations...
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"what was this like for Marco," you know?
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"How would it have
been for him?"
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We were going to try
to make this whole journey
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like we were living in Marco Polo's world.
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"On the road to balkh this morning,
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"we drove right smack into
the middle of a firefight...
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"pulled from our Jeep
and forced to our knees
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"in the street, the muzzle of an ak-47
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"shoved into the back of my head.
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"I was convinced I was
about to be executed.
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"My family would never find out
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"what had happened to me out here.
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My body would never be found,
and all for what?"
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* I used to rule the world
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* seas would rise when I gave the word *
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* now in the morning I sleep alone *
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* sweep the streets I used to own *
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Years ago, I was totally broke.
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I had no money,
but I had a lot of possessions,
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a lot of old things that were worth money,
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and talked to myself,
"I love these objects,
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"they have some sentimental
value, but it's just,
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"really, openly, it's just trash
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that I'm carrying around
with myself."
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So what I did was I sold them,
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and I went to Guatemala,
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and I stood on top of the pyramids,
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and I looked over the rainforest,
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and I thought to myself,
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"I would trade every possession
I own to travel."
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At the end of the 13th century,
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a book was written
that would change the course
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of human history.
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Its prologue proclaimed the author to be
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the world's most traveled man.
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It read, "emperors and kings,
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"Dukes, knights, and townsfolk,
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"and all people who wish to learn of
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"the various races of man
and regions of the world,
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"take this book, for here you will find
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"all the great wonders and curiosities
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"of Persia and the land of the Tartars
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"and of India and many other countries,
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"as related by Marco Polo,
noble citizen of Venice,
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who has seen them
with his own eyes."
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Even today, scholars debate
Polo's claims about
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the grand journey he took
with his father and uncle.
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Did the noble citizen of Venice
really make it
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to China and back,
spending decades exploring
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the lands of the great
mongol emperor Kublai Khan?
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Two noble citizens of queens, New York,
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wanted to find out.
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They were just two ordinary guys
who set out to do
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an extraordinary thing.
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Two years on a mission,
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leaving everything behind
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without any idea what lay ahead.
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We're going right through that.
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Bing, bing, bing, that way.
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Their names?
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Denis belliveau and Francis O'Donnell.
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Ow!
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They weren't scholars or historians.
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They weren't connected to major museums.
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They weren't on the faculty anywhere.
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There was no prospect of glory,
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and they sure weren't going to be paid.
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It was the early '90s.
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They were in their early 30s.
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Denis was a wedding photographer,
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Francis, a veteran of
the U.S. Marines.
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They had a few sponsors,
including photographic companies
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that donated cameras, film,
and some video equipment
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that's way outdated now.
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But, most of all, they were on their own,
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just a couple of buddies who took this trip
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because of what they loved.
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They loved art,
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history, culture,
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and they loved adventure,
and they were about to try
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what no one had ever done...
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Successfully retrace
Marco Polo's entire route
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some 25,000 miles to China and back...
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Across forbidden mountain ranges,
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forlorn deserts, wondrous cities,
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and dangerous war zones.
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Their only guide was Polo's
own account of his travels,
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and they made a few simple rules
for themselves.
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They would document every instance
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where they found what Polo had described.
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They would go only by land or sea.
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Flying was unknown to Polo,
so flying was out.
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And, no matter what,
they would not turn back.
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We had made a pact that
under any conditions,
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no matter what, we were only coming back
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to the United States two ways...
Either dead of successful.
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In march, 1993,
they began where Polo had...
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In Venice.
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Here, they hoped to set eyes
on their first Marco milestone
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in the archive of the city library.
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Marco Polo's
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last will and testament
is the only document
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we know he had his hands on.
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He actually touched this piece of paper.
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So, for us, that was kind of a holy grail.
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We wanted to touch it, we wanted to see it.
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And they turned us down,
and it was kind of devastating.
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And as we were walking
down the steps of the library,
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we said, "two years later,
when we get back,
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"they're going to serve us up
that Marco Polo's will
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on a silver platter."
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Marco Polo!
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Modern Israel, the holy land.
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This was their entrance
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into Polo's account of his travels.
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Jerusalem was just amazing,
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and we just fell in love with the place.
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On his trip here,
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Marco Polo had obtained holy oil
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from the church of the holy sepulchre,
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the traditional site of Christ's burial.
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For their journey,
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Denis and Francis
collected some of the same
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on eastern orthodox easter sunday.
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The vividness of the holy land
had fired their imaginations.
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The inspiration remained
as they made their way
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up toward Anatolia, today's Turkey.
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We tried to make it
the 13th century in our heads.
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If there was a telephone wire there,
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it was cropped out of the scene.
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If the car went by, we didn't notice it.
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Another tourist, foreigner, we deleted him.
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We were going to try
to make this whole journey
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like we were living in Marco Polo's world.
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For instance, you know, we landed in ayas.
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Now it's just, you know,
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it's just a small fishing village,
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but when we stood there, we were like,
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"this was the New York harbor
of its time."
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European ships would have been there
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to get all these goods coming from Asia,
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dropping off their caravans
to make their way.
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It would have been a really bustling port.
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The journey was going along breezily,
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just two guys on a road trip.
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Only this trip happened to be
on the famed silk road.
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They visited caravanserais,
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the kind of medieval roadside hotels
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where Polo must have stopped,
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places where merchants
could spend the night
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safe with their pack animals
inside protective walls.
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And...
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We started a tradition
that we did throughout the trip,
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was to try to get ourselves
in the local newspapers.
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It's written in their language,
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it makes you very official.
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We weren't just tourists.
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People would stop us in the street, like,
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"hey, Marco Polo guys,
Marco Polo..."
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And it just opened up doors.
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*
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You almost can't
spend any money in that country.
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I mean, you can on rugs
and souvenirs, I suppose,
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but the friendship
and the help that you get,
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you always have a friend in Turkey.
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* row, row, row your boat
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* this is the end
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* my only friend, the end
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* desperately in need
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* of a stranger's hand
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* in a desperate land
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* this is the end
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* my only friend, the end
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But would the whole
journey be such a breeze?
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The next country on Marco Polo's path
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was called Persia in his time.
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We know it as Iran.
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With no diplomatic relations
between Iran and the U.S.,
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the country was virtually
closed to Americans.
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But Denis and Francis had planned ahead,
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contacting Tehran's
U.N. Ambassador in New York
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before they left.
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They had explained the historical
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and non-political nature of their trip.
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He was very pleasant,
he was very warm to us,
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he loved the idea of the project,
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and he told us, "your visas will be
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waiting for you
in Ankara, Turkey."
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And we believed him.
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And we got to Ankara, and we went to
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the Iranian embassy, and they were like,
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"we never heard
of you guys."
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So, every single day,
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we would go into the Iranian embassy
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and every day, it was, "oh, yeah, you've...
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"oh, yes, we do know about you,
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it's stuck now in the ministry
of islamic guidance,"
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and they just gave us the run-around.
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And then after six aggravating weeks
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of being stuck there, they finally said no.
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And that was...
I mean, that was devastating.
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That was it, the project's over.
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We might as well pack it up and go home.
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* this is the end
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* my only friend, the end
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In a cheap hotel in Ankara,
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only three months into their journey,
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having seen only three countries,
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Denis and Francis found themselves
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face to face with failure
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and then took a left turn around it,
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inspired by the way Marco Polo
had told his story,
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not as a set itinerary but rather as simply
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a description of the world.
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In his account, Polo told of how
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his father and uncle had visited Bukhara
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in present-day Uzbekistan.
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Denis and Francis would now
pick up that trail.
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Eventually, they'd figure out
how to get into Iran,
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by hook or crook, on the way back.
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We were able to get these transit visas
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and cut through Georgia and Azerbaijan,
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00:14:38,733 --> 00:14:43,567
and we made it into Turkmenistan
and Central Asia after that,
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and it was just amazing
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because there was
no other foreigners there.
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Those republics are some of the most...
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Repressive and difficult countries
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to get into in Central Asia.
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People came up to us, and they were like,
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just so happy to talk to a foreigner.
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You know that for 70 years
they would have been
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arrested by the kgb,
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and they would come up to us,
and, you know,
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tell us,
"where are you from?"
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They were so interested in us.
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And Bukhara in particular,
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we documented the things
that would have been standing
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when Polo was there,
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but the height of Bukhara
happened under Tamerlane,
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so that most of
the architecture that's there
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dates from that time period,
but it's still spectacular,
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that persian blue-tile domes
and just a really magical,
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beautiful silk road city.
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In Uzbekistan, the regime required
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a different visa
for every city they visited.
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They dutifully obtained one
for the border town of termez.
257
00:15:55,167 --> 00:15:57,767
From there, they thought it would be simple
258
00:15:57,867 --> 00:16:00,400
to cross the so-called friendship bridge
259
00:16:00,500 --> 00:16:01,567
into Afghanistan.
260
00:16:01,667 --> 00:16:03,700
And we went to cross the bridge,
261
00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:06,167
and the uzbek border guards were like,
262
00:16:06,267 --> 00:16:08,833
"you don't have a visa
for the bridge."
263
00:16:08,933 --> 00:16:10,467
And we were like, "what?
264
00:16:10,567 --> 00:16:11,607
"We have visas for termez.
265
00:16:11,633 --> 00:16:14,733
"Our visas are going to be expiring soon,
266
00:16:14,833 --> 00:16:16,067
you know, let us go."
267
00:16:16,133 --> 00:16:18,667
And they were really giving us a hard time.
268
00:16:18,767 --> 00:16:20,967
Every single day, a guy from the fsb,
269
00:16:21,067 --> 00:16:23,733
which is the former kbg,
was interrogating us,
270
00:16:23,833 --> 00:16:26,167
"why were you here, what are you doing,
271
00:16:26,267 --> 00:16:28,533
"why do you want to go to Afghanistan,
272
00:16:28,633 --> 00:16:29,700
who are you guys?"
273
00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:32,067
So we didn't know what to...
We thought about
274
00:16:32,167 --> 00:16:34,067
swimming across the amu darya river,
275
00:16:34,133 --> 00:16:36,600
but there's guard towers,
and they're looking for
276
00:16:36,700 --> 00:16:38,700
drug smugglers coming from Afghanistan,
277
00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:41,333
so we figured we'd get shot
if we tried to do that,
278
00:16:41,433 --> 00:16:44,767
and then our visa for termez ran out.
279
00:16:47,433 --> 00:16:49,333
"October 11.
280
00:16:49,433 --> 00:16:52,433
"If you would have told me
a year ago that I'd be in
281
00:16:52,533 --> 00:16:55,833
"a highly restricted area
of the former Soviet union
282
00:16:55,933 --> 00:16:58,300
"with an invalid visa in my passport
283
00:16:58,400 --> 00:16:59,867
"and pissed off because
284
00:17:00,067 --> 00:17:02,733
"what used to be the kgb
wouldn't let me enter
285
00:17:02,833 --> 00:17:05,599
"the chaos and civil war
raging in Afghanistan,
286
00:17:05,700 --> 00:17:08,067
"I would have said you were crazy.
287
00:17:08,099 --> 00:17:11,500
"Now I'm questioning my own sanity.
288
00:17:11,599 --> 00:17:15,067
Marco Polo never needed
to forge a visa."
289
00:17:38,133 --> 00:17:39,933
And every day, we'd go back
290
00:17:40,067 --> 00:17:41,767
and we'd present our passports again
291
00:17:41,867 --> 00:17:43,533
and the same monotonous questions,
292
00:17:43,633 --> 00:17:45,633
and the forgery was about to run out again.
293
00:17:45,733 --> 00:17:47,400
You know, finally, after all this,
294
00:17:47,500 --> 00:17:52,233
Fran was like, "that's it,
I've had enough, we're going."
295
00:18:14,300 --> 00:18:16,567
The next time we got
in front of the kgb guy,
296
00:18:16,667 --> 00:18:17,667
he said, "look.
297
00:18:17,767 --> 00:18:19,600
"Our visas for your country have expired.
298
00:18:19,700 --> 00:18:21,967
"We're crossing that bridge
into Afghanistan.
299
00:18:22,067 --> 00:18:24,167
"We're American citizens,
what are you going to do?
300
00:18:24,267 --> 00:18:25,367
"Are you going to shoot us?
301
00:18:25,467 --> 00:18:27,400
Do you want an international
incident, or what?"
302
00:18:27,500 --> 00:18:29,767
And all of the sudden, the guy was like,
303
00:18:29,867 --> 00:18:32,433
"oh, um, but there's the fine
you have to pay.
304
00:18:32,533 --> 00:18:34,067
"You forgot to pay the fine.
305
00:18:34,133 --> 00:18:36,167
If you had just paid this fine..."
306
00:18:36,267 --> 00:18:39,067
so I think it was like
100 bucks or something.
307
00:18:39,167 --> 00:18:41,267
We gave the guy $100, stamped us,
308
00:18:41,367 --> 00:18:43,067
and we entered Afghanistan.
309
00:18:51,467 --> 00:18:54,067
Going from the former Soviet republic
310
00:18:54,100 --> 00:18:57,067
where it had paved roads,
electricity, cars,
311
00:18:57,100 --> 00:18:59,733
into Afghanistan was really like taking
312
00:18:59,833 --> 00:19:02,367
a step back into the 13th century.
313
00:19:25,067 --> 00:19:27,467
There's kebab houses all over the place,
314
00:19:27,567 --> 00:19:28,600
or roasted lamb.
315
00:19:28,700 --> 00:19:30,300
In fact, we joked about it.
316
00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:33,367
We ate every lamb thing you could imagine.
317
00:19:33,467 --> 00:19:35,133
Lamb eyeballs,
318
00:19:35,233 --> 00:19:36,667
lamb brains,
319
00:19:36,767 --> 00:19:38,967
lamb tail, lamb...
320
00:19:39,067 --> 00:19:40,800
Intestines.
321
00:19:40,900 --> 00:19:42,533
Every thing of a lamb you could eat,
322
00:19:42,633 --> 00:19:43,900
we did, for months.
323
00:19:44,067 --> 00:19:46,800
But as they journeyed deeper into the past,
324
00:19:46,900 --> 00:19:49,667
it became harder and harder
325
00:19:49,767 --> 00:19:52,067
to crop the present out of the scene.
326
00:19:52,100 --> 00:19:56,067
In 1993, Afghanistan's
war with Russia was over,
327
00:19:56,100 --> 00:19:59,433
and the Taliban had yet to take control.
328
00:19:59,533 --> 00:20:02,467
Armed mujahideen factions
329
00:20:02,567 --> 00:20:05,833
ruled the country.
330
00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:51,300
Francis and Denis had concocted a plan
331
00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:53,900
to get safely across the country...
332
00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:57,467
A plan inspired by Marco Polo.
333
00:20:57,567 --> 00:21:00,733
On an equally perilous path
700 years before,
334
00:21:00,833 --> 00:21:04,200
the venetian had had
the best shield available...
335
00:21:04,300 --> 00:21:06,533
A powerful patron.
336
00:21:06,633 --> 00:21:09,900
Polo recounted that Kublai Khan
provided his party
337
00:21:10,067 --> 00:21:12,467
a golden tablet on which was written
338
00:21:12,567 --> 00:21:16,233
that they should be given
all the lodging they might need
339
00:21:16,333 --> 00:21:20,433
and horses to escort them
from one land to another.
340
00:21:20,533 --> 00:21:23,300
The travellers had no emperor
to shield them,
341
00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:25,633
but they did have some connections.
342
00:21:25,733 --> 00:21:28,567
They had obtained a letter of introduction
343
00:21:28,667 --> 00:21:31,433
from a comrade of a local Afghan warlord.
344
00:21:31,533 --> 00:21:34,600
We got dropped off at their stronghold,
345
00:21:34,700 --> 00:21:35,867
which was basically
346
00:21:35,967 --> 00:21:38,667
a walled compound with a Soviet tank
347
00:21:38,767 --> 00:21:40,967
parked in front as the gate,
348
00:21:41,067 --> 00:21:44,067
and we pulled up, we presented the letter,
349
00:21:44,167 --> 00:21:47,200
the guard read, I guess, the opening of it,
350
00:21:47,300 --> 00:21:50,133
the tank moved out of the way
like a gate...
351
00:21:50,233 --> 00:21:52,067
Rrrh... they started up the tank,
352
00:21:52,167 --> 00:21:54,500
moved up, and we entered
into this compound,
353
00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:56,733
and the tank closed behind us, and we...
354
00:21:56,833 --> 00:21:59,533
We knew right there and then
there was no turning back.
355
00:21:59,633 --> 00:22:01,567
We were now in with the mujahideen.
356
00:22:03,900 --> 00:22:05,233
Hey, where are you?
357
00:22:05,333 --> 00:22:08,933
I'm in oz.
358
00:22:20,267 --> 00:22:21,167
So then they...
359
00:22:21,267 --> 00:22:24,067
They brought us up into the villa
360
00:22:24,100 --> 00:22:25,900
that was really a fortress,
361
00:22:26,067 --> 00:22:27,633
and they brought us into a room.
362
00:22:33,067 --> 00:22:35,167
,and then, all of the sudden,
the door opened up,
363
00:22:35,267 --> 00:22:37,133
and commander atta came in.
364
00:22:39,867 --> 00:22:40,767
He was kind of majestic...
365
00:22:40,867 --> 00:22:43,967
Tall for an Afghan, big black beard,
366
00:22:44,067 --> 00:22:46,400
had a phalanx of guards behind him,
367
00:22:46,500 --> 00:22:48,067
and, "this is it.
368
00:22:48,167 --> 00:22:50,267
"If this guy doesn't help us,
we're done for.
369
00:22:50,367 --> 00:22:52,767
There's no way we can
make it across Afghanistan."
370
00:22:56,233 --> 00:22:59,067
So he read the letter,
and then he put it down,
371
00:22:59,133 --> 00:23:02,600
and he said, "the man who wrote
this letter is my brother,
372
00:23:02,700 --> 00:23:05,933
"and anything I can do for you,
it's within your grasp.
373
00:23:06,067 --> 00:23:07,467
What can I do for you?"
374
00:23:07,567 --> 00:23:09,967
So we took out our map, and we said,
375
00:23:10,067 --> 00:23:11,933
"we need to go from here to here
376
00:23:12,067 --> 00:23:14,200
to here to here,
through Afghanistan."
377
00:23:14,300 --> 00:23:15,880
He turned to his generals and they talked
378
00:23:15,900 --> 00:23:17,713
for a little while,
and then he came back to us,
379
00:23:17,733 --> 00:23:18,633
and he said, "look.
380
00:23:18,733 --> 00:23:20,367
"This part of the country
381
00:23:20,467 --> 00:23:21,800
"is really dangerous.
382
00:23:21,900 --> 00:23:23,633
"I'm going to give you a helicopter,
383
00:23:23,733 --> 00:23:25,900
"and we're going to
fly you over the scary bit,
384
00:23:26,067 --> 00:23:28,567
and then you can pick up
Marco Polo's trail after that."
385
00:23:28,667 --> 00:23:31,233
So now here's this guy who made this
386
00:23:31,333 --> 00:23:32,800
generous offer to us,
387
00:23:32,900 --> 00:23:34,100
and we looked at each other,
388
00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:36,233
and then we kind of
came back to him and said,
389
00:23:36,333 --> 00:23:38,133
"thank you very much,
but we can't fly."
390
00:23:38,233 --> 00:23:41,167
The Afghan warlord was taken aback,
391
00:23:41,267 --> 00:23:44,433
but the letter from his comrade
had all the power
392
00:23:44,533 --> 00:23:46,400
of Marco Polo's golden tablet.
393
00:23:46,500 --> 00:23:49,267
And he came back and he said,
"look, it's really dangerous.
394
00:23:49,367 --> 00:23:51,200
"I'm going to give you 25 bodyguards.
395
00:23:51,300 --> 00:23:55,833
"We have eight jeeps filled with
rocket-propelled grenades,
396
00:23:55,933 --> 00:23:58,433
"machine guns, the whole thing.
397
00:23:58,533 --> 00:24:00,667
"You're going to move in here
in the villa with us.
398
00:24:00,767 --> 00:24:03,100
"We need to dress you as Afghans
because it's so dangerous.
399
00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:05,233
You're going to have to
carry weapons yourself."
400
00:24:08,300 --> 00:24:10,067
Jeez.
401
00:24:10,133 --> 00:24:12,800
Okay, that's cool.
402
00:24:12,900 --> 00:24:14,200
No, that's all right.
403
00:24:14,300 --> 00:24:16,933
Yeah, I don't want to.
404
00:24:19,533 --> 00:24:21,067
That's cool.
405
00:24:21,167 --> 00:24:23,500
I don't.
406
00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:25,667
I'm not into guns.
407
00:24:25,767 --> 00:24:27,867
When were with those guys, it was annoying
408
00:24:27,967 --> 00:24:28,867
after a while.
409
00:24:28,967 --> 00:24:31,067
I mean, you'd want to go and take a leak,
410
00:24:31,100 --> 00:24:33,867
and the guy's following you with
a machine gun, and you're like,
411
00:24:33,967 --> 00:24:36,067
"please, I really would like
to be alone right now,"
412
00:24:36,133 --> 00:24:37,600
and he's like,
"no, I protect you."
413
00:24:37,700 --> 00:24:39,067
You know,
it's like, "please."
414
00:24:39,100 --> 00:24:41,133
At that point, we had been in Afghanistan
415
00:24:41,233 --> 00:24:42,133
quite a few weeks,
416
00:24:42,233 --> 00:24:43,400
and we had learnt,
417
00:24:43,500 --> 00:24:46,067
just from the sound of machine gun fire,
418
00:24:46,167 --> 00:24:48,300
which we heard every single day,
419
00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:50,600
to discern the difference between
420
00:24:50,700 --> 00:24:54,533
a celebration, a wedding, a child's birth,
421
00:24:54,633 --> 00:24:56,833
when you hear... tkkt-tkkt-tkkt-tkkt,
422
00:24:56,933 --> 00:24:59,067
and that's just a guy celebrating.
423
00:24:59,100 --> 00:25:00,100
Tkkt-tkkt-tkkt-tkkt.
424
00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:02,833
Or, if you heard... "pop, pop, tkkt,
425
00:25:02,933 --> 00:25:05,167
tat-tat, pop, pop," that's a firefight.
426
00:25:05,267 --> 00:25:07,133
Don't go out when you hear that.
427
00:25:07,233 --> 00:25:08,967
This... tkkt-tkkt-tkkt-tkkt...
428
00:25:09,067 --> 00:25:10,867
It's okay, somebody got married.
429
00:25:10,967 --> 00:25:13,867
Denis and Francis had just a driver
430
00:25:13,967 --> 00:25:16,667
and two bodyguards when they set out from
431
00:25:16,767 --> 00:25:20,233
the town of mazari sharif
for a nearby Marco milestone.
432
00:25:20,333 --> 00:25:23,300
Polo had described it
as "a splendid ruin"...
433
00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:24,767
The city of balkh.
434
00:25:24,867 --> 00:25:28,567
So we're driving to
the ancient site, and we hear,
435
00:25:28,667 --> 00:25:30,800
"pop, pop, tkkt, chicka, pew," you know,
436
00:25:30,900 --> 00:25:33,067
there's a firefight somewhere close by.
437
00:25:33,133 --> 00:25:34,067
We can hear it.
438
00:25:34,133 --> 00:25:35,433
So we turned down this block,
439
00:25:35,533 --> 00:25:37,700
I'm in the front seat,
Fran's in the back seat,
440
00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:39,067
and then, all of the sudden,
441
00:25:39,133 --> 00:25:41,133
from the corner of my eye,
15, 20 feet away,
442
00:25:41,233 --> 00:25:45,067
a kid comes out of the shadows,
bam, he's got his ak
443
00:25:45,100 --> 00:25:46,667
pointing right at me,
444
00:25:46,767 --> 00:25:48,900
and I said, "this is it."
445
00:25:49,067 --> 00:25:52,133
So they put us up against the wall,
446
00:25:52,233 --> 00:25:54,047
those guys that were guarding us
with machine guns,
447
00:25:54,067 --> 00:25:55,580
and they take our guys and they stick them
448
00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:57,180
in the middle of the street, and a gauntlet
449
00:25:57,200 --> 00:25:58,847
forms around them,
and they start beating them
450
00:25:58,867 --> 00:26:00,227
and pushing them and sticking them
451
00:26:00,267 --> 00:26:01,847
with the machine guns
and screaming at them,
452
00:26:01,867 --> 00:26:03,567
so Denis turns to me and he says, "dude,
453
00:26:03,667 --> 00:26:05,967
if we get out of this alive,
we're out of this country."
454
00:26:06,067 --> 00:26:07,580
Actually, we made a pact before we left,
455
00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:08,913
and that was that no matter what,
456
00:26:08,933 --> 00:26:10,300
under any circumstances,
457
00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:12,767
that weren't going to quit or turn back.
458
00:26:12,867 --> 00:26:14,567
And then when we were against the wall,
459
00:26:14,667 --> 00:26:16,800
we were like, "we're quitting,
we're turning back."
460
00:26:16,900 --> 00:26:18,667
There was another guy
461
00:26:18,767 --> 00:26:21,400
with another 60-millimeter gun
who was right there,
462
00:26:21,500 --> 00:26:24,967
and he had that kind of
pointed at me and Fran.
463
00:26:25,067 --> 00:26:27,567
I had a pack of cigarettes
in my pocket right here.
464
00:26:27,667 --> 00:26:29,900
And I saw him look at my cigarettes.
465
00:26:30,067 --> 00:26:30,967
I looked at him,
466
00:26:31,067 --> 00:26:33,967
and our eyes met, and I went...
467
00:26:34,067 --> 00:26:35,233
And he went...
468
00:26:35,333 --> 00:26:37,533
And the machine gun came down,
and I was like...
469
00:26:37,633 --> 00:26:39,600
I couldn't wait to have a smoke myself.
470
00:26:39,700 --> 00:26:41,933
I went, "here," and the two
of us... he wasn't shaking,
471
00:26:42,067 --> 00:26:43,967
but I was like...
He, like, lit his cigarette,
472
00:26:44,067 --> 00:26:45,400
and, like...
473
00:26:45,500 --> 00:26:48,067
It was like, "okay, he's not
going to shoot me right now."
474
00:26:48,167 --> 00:26:50,967
Finally, their captors realize
475
00:26:51,067 --> 00:26:53,600
Denis, Francis, and their bodyguards
476
00:26:53,700 --> 00:26:56,900
pose no threat...
They weren't from the faction
477
00:26:57,067 --> 00:26:58,900
that was attacking them.
478
00:26:59,067 --> 00:27:01,700
The soldiers that detained the travellers
479
00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:04,233
were from a tribe called the hazaras,
480
00:27:04,333 --> 00:27:07,733
believed to be descendants
of medieval mongol warriors.
481
00:27:07,833 --> 00:27:10,633
Such men had ambushed
Marco Polo and company
482
00:27:10,733 --> 00:27:14,533
some 700 years before.
483
00:27:14,633 --> 00:27:18,767
Polo recalled that all but
seven of his group were caught.
484
00:27:18,867 --> 00:27:22,267
The rest, he said,
were taken captive and sold
485
00:27:22,367 --> 00:27:23,967
and some put to death.
486
00:27:24,067 --> 00:27:26,433
As for Denis and Francis,
487
00:27:26,533 --> 00:27:29,867
they made it safely to the city of balkh.
488
00:27:34,867 --> 00:27:37,233
We retreated into our imagination
489
00:27:37,333 --> 00:27:39,267
into the 13th century, and we read
490
00:27:39,367 --> 00:27:41,333
from Marco Polo's book about balkh,
491
00:27:41,433 --> 00:27:44,133
and we sat over... you know,
we watched the sunset,
492
00:27:44,233 --> 00:27:45,967
and, that night, we went back,
493
00:27:46,067 --> 00:27:48,733
and our guards told us
that 38 guys died in mazari
494
00:27:48,833 --> 00:27:50,500
during that firefight.
495
00:27:57,067 --> 00:27:59,600
Before we left, we checked with
the state department.
496
00:27:59,700 --> 00:28:01,833
Pretty much every country we were going to,
497
00:28:01,933 --> 00:28:03,833
the state department said,
"don't go."
498
00:28:03,933 --> 00:28:06,800
That kind of violent death,
499
00:28:06,900 --> 00:28:10,533
it really brought home to me
that, "whoa," you know?
500
00:28:10,633 --> 00:28:12,800
"I could get killed doing this."
501
00:28:12,900 --> 00:28:15,733
Still shaken from his capture,
502
00:28:15,833 --> 00:28:18,567
Denis belliveau wondered whether or not
503
00:28:18,667 --> 00:28:20,067
he should turn back.
504
00:28:20,167 --> 00:28:23,633
/earlieearlier that year,
his family had been ripped apart
505
00:28:23,733 --> 00:28:26,733
by the death of his beloved younger cousin.
506
00:28:26,833 --> 00:28:28,733
He had just come into his own.
He was an actor.
507
00:28:28,833 --> 00:28:31,633
He was going to go places, you know?
508
00:28:31,733 --> 00:28:32,967
He was talented.
509
00:28:33,067 --> 00:28:35,667
And it was around Christmas time,
510
00:28:35,767 --> 00:28:39,367
and he had just come back
from Christmas shopping
511
00:28:39,467 --> 00:28:41,467
with a friend from the play,
512
00:28:41,567 --> 00:28:44,333
and as they were getting out of their car,
513
00:28:44,433 --> 00:28:47,700
all of the sudden,
a group of kids come around him.
514
00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:50,267
They started to rob them,
515
00:28:50,367 --> 00:28:53,200
and then one of them said,
"do him."
516
00:28:55,867 --> 00:28:58,133
And a 14-year-old shot rob
right in the head.
517
00:28:58,233 --> 00:29:00,067
He died before he hit the ground.
518
00:29:00,133 --> 00:29:05,367
So... it just was...
It was just horrible.
519
00:29:05,467 --> 00:29:07,067
It was just the worst time.
520
00:29:07,167 --> 00:29:13,267
It made me sit back and really reevaluate
521
00:29:13,367 --> 00:29:16,667
whether or not I was willing
to take the risk,
522
00:29:16,767 --> 00:29:20,867
and I came to the realization
that if I didn't do this,
523
00:29:20,967 --> 00:29:23,833
that, you know, I didn't want
to be a middle-aged guy
524
00:29:23,933 --> 00:29:27,667
who looked back and said,
"I wish I had."
525
00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:40,567
Continuing east,
526
00:29:40,667 --> 00:29:45,067
the explorers entered
the perilous narrow canyon
527
00:29:45,133 --> 00:29:47,700
at the eastern extreme of Afghanistan,
528
00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:51,233
a forgotten passage to China
seldom, if ever,
529
00:29:51,333 --> 00:29:56,200
traveled by westerners...
The wakhan corridor.
530
00:29:56,300 --> 00:29:58,167
The wakhan corridor
531
00:29:58,267 --> 00:30:00,733
was one of those truly wild places
532
00:30:00,833 --> 00:30:02,867
where we knew we were really
533
00:30:02,967 --> 00:30:05,633
walking in Marco Polo's footsteps.
534
00:30:05,733 --> 00:30:07,533
We were traveling the way he did,
535
00:30:07,633 --> 00:30:10,233
'cause the only way
to get through those mountains
536
00:30:10,333 --> 00:30:10,900
is by horse and pack mule.
537
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:12,733
You know, one slip,
538
00:30:12,833 --> 00:30:14,667
and there's some snowy paths,
539
00:30:14,767 --> 00:30:18,000
and there's a 1,000-foot drop
down this icy abyss,
540
00:30:18,100 --> 00:30:20,733
and even if one of the pack mules went,
541
00:30:20,833 --> 00:30:24,033
carrying our food,
we would have been in trouble.
542
00:30:24,133 --> 00:30:25,467
There were few breaks
543
00:30:25,567 --> 00:30:27,533
from the slow and arduous slog.
544
00:30:27,633 --> 00:30:30,267
When they came, Francis and Denis worked on
545
00:30:30,367 --> 00:30:32,533
their on-camera skills for the film
546
00:30:32,633 --> 00:30:35,567
they someday hoped to make
of their adventures.
547
00:30:37,633 --> 00:30:39,333
My aching bones.
548
00:30:39,433 --> 00:30:40,633
Them bones, them bones.
549
00:30:40,733 --> 00:30:44,433
You syou see the light flashing?
550
00:30:44,533 --> 00:30:45,833
Yeah.
551
00:30:45,933 --> 00:30:49,600
We're in the wakhan corridor...
552
00:30:49,700 --> 00:30:51,433
We've traveled through the country.
553
00:30:51,533 --> 00:30:53,100
This is the wakhan corridor.
554
00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:54,900
Marco Polo went through this way
555
00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:56,600
on his way through the pamir,
556
00:30:56,700 --> 00:30:58,900
Tajikistan, to China.
557
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:00,700
I mean, right now, it's November.
558
00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:03,200
We're here a little bit later
than we'd like to be,
559
00:31:03,300 --> 00:31:05,100
but it is freezing.
560
00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:07,133
Right now, it's not so bad, but...
561
00:31:07,233 --> 00:31:08,767
Last night was brutal.
562
00:31:21,467 --> 00:31:23,433
You can't even imagine
563
00:31:23,533 --> 00:31:24,933
that you can be that cold
564
00:31:25,067 --> 00:31:26,800
for every second, 24 hours a day,
565
00:31:26,900 --> 00:31:28,067
seven days a week.
566
00:31:28,167 --> 00:31:30,167
It didn't matter
how many blankets we had on,
567
00:31:30,267 --> 00:31:32,600
you were just frozen.
568
00:31:32,700 --> 00:31:35,100
But, for me, it was just so transcendent
569
00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:36,433
and so pristine.
570
00:31:36,533 --> 00:31:39,267
We were in a place that was
so remote and so rugged
571
00:31:39,367 --> 00:31:41,933
and so raw that every... all of your senses
572
00:31:42,067 --> 00:31:45,067
were just, like, tingling and alive.
573
00:31:49,333 --> 00:31:51,067
"In this land that time forgot,
574
00:31:51,133 --> 00:31:55,633
"I'm truly immersed in
the 13th century of Marco Polo.
575
00:31:55,733 --> 00:31:57,933
I can feel his presence here."
576
00:32:00,700 --> 00:32:03,600
Polo said, "this plain,
577
00:32:03,700 --> 00:32:08,067
"whose name is pamir,
extends fully 12-days' journey,
578
00:32:08,100 --> 00:32:09,933
"and in all of these 12 days,
579
00:32:10,067 --> 00:32:12,467
"there is no habitation or shelter.
580
00:32:12,567 --> 00:32:15,067
The traveler must take
provisions with him."
581
00:32:15,167 --> 00:32:21,267
The wakhan starts at about
9,000 feet above sea level
582
00:32:21,367 --> 00:32:22,267
then rises to about 25,000
583
00:32:22,367 --> 00:32:26,933
to what is called the bomi dunyo...
584
00:32:27,067 --> 00:32:28,900
The roof of the world.
585
00:32:29,067 --> 00:32:30,633
And so, as it ascends,
586
00:32:30,733 --> 00:32:32,333
it becomes increasingly hostile,
587
00:32:32,433 --> 00:32:35,467
and we were in this fortress
in ishkashim, at the base...
588
00:32:35,567 --> 00:32:36,967
And we were freezing,
589
00:32:37,067 --> 00:32:39,333
sleeping on this dirt floor,
and he's, you know,
590
00:32:39,433 --> 00:32:42,067
he's got this nice warm blanket
or something around him,
591
00:32:42,133 --> 00:32:44,067
and i'm, you know, I'm a little thinner,
592
00:32:44,100 --> 00:32:45,633
so maybe it's affecting me more,
593
00:32:45,733 --> 00:32:47,667
so I kind of like rolled over next to him.
594
00:32:47,767 --> 00:32:49,633
I'm, like, trying to get some body heat.
595
00:32:49,733 --> 00:32:51,967
He's like, "get off."
I go, "are you kidding me?"
596
00:32:52,067 --> 00:32:54,067
I was like,
"all right, come here."
597
00:32:55,233 --> 00:32:57,600
Grinding through the wakhan,
598
00:32:57,700 --> 00:32:59,733
they frequently saw road markers
599
00:32:59,833 --> 00:33:02,100
just as Marco Polo had described...
600
00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:04,300
"the horns of a tremendous beast,
601
00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:06,067
a master of these mountains."
602
00:33:06,167 --> 00:33:08,733
It's become known as the Marco Polo sheep.
603
00:33:08,833 --> 00:33:12,100
Not only does he describe
these mountain sheep,
604
00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:16,067
but he says that the locals
use the horns to build cairns
605
00:33:16,133 --> 00:33:19,200
on the side of the roads
to point travellers
606
00:33:19,300 --> 00:33:20,800
through the snow.
607
00:33:20,900 --> 00:33:24,133
These signposts
would eventually show the way
608
00:33:24,233 --> 00:33:26,933
out of the wakhan
and toward another country
609
00:33:27,067 --> 00:33:28,167
mired in civil war,
610
00:33:28,267 --> 00:33:30,533
until recently, a Soviet republic...
611
00:33:30,633 --> 00:33:31,867
Tajikistan.
612
00:33:49,767 --> 00:33:53,733
The last thing the border guards expected
613
00:33:53,833 --> 00:33:56,167
was a pair of grizzled Americans.
614
00:33:56,267 --> 00:33:58,400
And we came up and, you know,
gingerly pulled out
615
00:33:58,500 --> 00:34:01,433
our passports...
"amerikanski, amerikanski."
616
00:34:01,533 --> 00:34:03,267
And the guy was like, "what?"
617
00:34:03,367 --> 00:34:05,500
He came over to us, and he was like,
618
00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:08,167
"no foreigners have ever
crossed this border before.
619
00:34:08,266 --> 00:34:09,833
"Where are you guys coming from?
620
00:34:09,933 --> 00:34:12,333
Who are you, what do...
How did you get these visas?"
621
00:34:12,433 --> 00:34:15,199
These visas weren't forged.
622
00:34:15,300 --> 00:34:16,340
Denis and Francis were in.
623
00:34:59,267 --> 00:35:01,100
Almost as soon as
624
00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:03,867
they had arrived in Tajikistan,
the travellers
625
00:35:03,967 --> 00:35:05,367
were ready to leave.
626
00:35:05,467 --> 00:35:08,400
The question was, how?
627
00:35:40,133 --> 00:35:42,567
* lately I've been running on faith *
628
00:35:42,667 --> 00:35:45,500
Hold on to my bag, will you?
629
00:35:48,500 --> 00:35:51,367
* all of our dreams will come true *
630
00:35:53,767 --> 00:35:57,933
* and our world would be right *
631
00:35:58,067 --> 00:35:58,600
* when love comes over
632
00:35:58,700 --> 00:36:03,133
* me and you
633
00:36:36,500 --> 00:36:38,533
A modern geopolitical map
634
00:36:38,633 --> 00:36:41,467
would tell you that we
crossed the border into China,
635
00:36:41,567 --> 00:36:43,567
but we didn't feel we were in China.
636
00:36:43,667 --> 00:36:45,233
We were still in Central Asia.
637
00:36:45,333 --> 00:36:46,967
Our first stop was in Kashgar.
638
00:36:56,667 --> 00:36:59,467
Kashgar is a silk road oasis
639
00:36:59,567 --> 00:37:01,233
in western China
640
00:37:01,333 --> 00:37:05,133
in a region Marco Polo
called "uyghurstan"...
641
00:37:05,233 --> 00:37:06,567
Land of the Uyghurs.
642
00:37:06,667 --> 00:37:10,200
Today, the Uyghurs are
a Muslim minority within China.
643
00:37:10,300 --> 00:37:12,200
Some are seeking independence.
644
00:37:12,300 --> 00:37:15,067
They're more closely related
645
00:37:15,133 --> 00:37:18,867
to the Kazakhs and the Uzbeks
than they are the Chinese,
646
00:37:18,967 --> 00:37:21,433
who control them, basically.
647
00:37:21,533 --> 00:37:25,400
As Marco Polo described Kashgar,
648
00:37:25,500 --> 00:37:28,067
"the inhabitants live by
trade and industry.
649
00:37:28,133 --> 00:37:30,433
"This is the starting point from which
650
00:37:30,533 --> 00:37:32,967
"many merchants set out
to market their wares
651
00:37:33,067 --> 00:37:34,133
all over the world."
652
00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:43,933
And, just as travellers did in Polo's time,
653
00:37:44,067 --> 00:37:47,100
Denis and Francis would prepare in Kashgar
654
00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:51,333
for the next leg of their journey.
655
00:38:26,633 --> 00:38:28,533
Rahmet.
656
00:38:28,633 --> 00:38:31,967
Fran's new look included
657
00:38:32,067 --> 00:38:33,833
the warmest coat he could find,
658
00:38:33,933 --> 00:38:36,267
because the travellers were getting ready
659
00:38:36,367 --> 00:38:39,067
to enter an enormous,
forbiddingly cold desert...
660
00:38:39,167 --> 00:38:40,433
The Taklamakan.
661
00:38:40,533 --> 00:38:43,200
Next to the Sahara, it's the second-largest
662
00:38:43,300 --> 00:38:45,367
sand-shifting desert on the planet.
663
00:38:45,467 --> 00:38:47,667
The name "Taklamakan" basically means
664
00:38:47,767 --> 00:38:50,067
"you go in,
but you don't come out."
665
00:38:52,733 --> 00:38:55,833
Not only did they need
to cross the Taklamakan,
666
00:38:55,933 --> 00:38:58,467
they wanted to do
at least part of the journey
667
00:38:58,567 --> 00:39:00,233
as Polo and company must have.
668
00:39:00,333 --> 00:39:02,800
So we went for three weeks
trying to buy camels,
669
00:39:02,900 --> 00:39:04,900
and there were no camels at market.
670
00:39:13,067 --> 00:39:14,833
Okay, so...
671
00:39:22,300 --> 00:39:24,633
There was a reason there was no camels
672
00:39:24,733 --> 00:39:26,500
because nobody was really using them
673
00:39:26,600 --> 00:39:28,600
at that point to try to go into the desert
674
00:39:28,700 --> 00:39:30,167
except for a very few people.
675
00:39:30,267 --> 00:39:31,267
And us.
676
00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:42,680
They thought we were crazy.
677
00:39:42,700 --> 00:39:44,067
It's like, mad dogs and englishmen
678
00:39:44,167 --> 00:39:45,400
only go out in the midday sun?
679
00:39:45,500 --> 00:39:47,067
Well, it's like, mad dogs and Americans
680
00:39:47,133 --> 00:39:49,173
only go into the Taklamakan
in the middle of winter.
681
00:40:07,033 --> 00:40:10,933
We had ridden horses through Afghanistan.
682
00:40:11,033 --> 00:40:12,233
It was actually
683
00:40:12,333 --> 00:40:14,433
very nice to be on the back of a camel
684
00:40:14,533 --> 00:40:17,267
after being on those ponies,
'cause the ponies were,
685
00:40:17,367 --> 00:40:19,367
you know, it was this all day.
686
00:40:19,467 --> 00:40:22,100
And the camels had a more...
687
00:40:28,367 --> 00:40:29,467
They are funny creatures.
688
00:40:29,567 --> 00:40:32,467
I mean, they would
regurgitate their innards,
689
00:40:32,567 --> 00:40:33,800
and they stink, and...
690
00:40:33,900 --> 00:40:35,600
They just do this weird thing.
691
00:40:35,700 --> 00:40:38,000
They just go "braah,"
and all of the sudden,
692
00:40:38,100 --> 00:40:41,033
like this big veiny red thing
bubbles out of their mouth,
693
00:40:41,133 --> 00:40:43,400
and then they go...
And they suck it back in,
694
00:40:43,500 --> 00:40:44,567
but when you're riding
695
00:40:44,667 --> 00:40:46,333
on the back of it, you get this
696
00:40:46,433 --> 00:40:47,900
smell comes right... it hits you.
697
00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:49,467
Remember that?
Did yours do that?
698
00:40:49,567 --> 00:40:50,567
Mine was doing it a lot.
699
00:40:50,633 --> 00:40:51,633
I thought that was you.
700
00:40:52,800 --> 00:40:54,367
When you're riding
701
00:40:54,467 --> 00:40:57,100
for hours and hours
and it's just this monotony
702
00:40:57,200 --> 00:40:59,767
and it's day in and day out,
the same thing...
703
00:40:59,867 --> 00:41:01,833
You go to sleep, you break camp,
704
00:41:01,933 --> 00:41:04,233
and it's monochromatic sand and nothing,
705
00:41:04,333 --> 00:41:05,900
not even birds flying around,
706
00:41:06,067 --> 00:41:09,467
you can imagine yourself
almost losing it a little bit.
707
00:41:09,567 --> 00:41:15,433
* oh, let the sun beat down upon my face *
708
00:41:15,533 --> 00:41:19,800
* stars to fill my dream
709
00:41:19,900 --> 00:41:24,367
Marco Polo said of the Taklamakan,
710
00:41:24,467 --> 00:41:27,867
"when a man is riding by night
through this desert,
711
00:41:27,967 --> 00:41:29,067
"he hears spirits talking.
712
00:41:29,133 --> 00:41:32,667
"These voices make him stray from the path
713
00:41:32,767 --> 00:41:34,967
so he never finds it again."
714
00:41:41,167 --> 00:41:44,400
Deep in the desert,
entering a small uyghur village,
715
00:41:44,500 --> 00:41:47,200
the travellers recalled something curious
716
00:41:47,300 --> 00:41:49,833
they had read in Marco Polo's account.
717
00:41:49,933 --> 00:41:52,233
Each one has written on his door
718
00:41:52,333 --> 00:41:54,833
his own name and that of his wife's
719
00:41:54,933 --> 00:41:57,433
and all the occupants of the house.
720
00:41:57,533 --> 00:42:00,833
If one of them dies,
he has the name struck out.
721
00:42:00,933 --> 00:42:04,433
If one is born there,
his name is added to the list.
722
00:42:04,533 --> 00:42:05,900
And we were incredulous.
723
00:42:06,067 --> 00:42:08,567
Like, "oh, my god,
this is still going on."
724
00:42:08,667 --> 00:42:11,800
Back then, 700 years ago,
it was a way for the Khan
725
00:42:11,900 --> 00:42:14,800
to know his domains,
who to collect taxes from,
726
00:42:14,900 --> 00:42:17,633
how many people lived...
You know, a census.
727
00:42:17,733 --> 00:42:21,700
In these regions,
there's a separatist movement.
728
00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:24,500
The Uyghurs are chafing under Chinese rule,
729
00:42:24,600 --> 00:42:27,300
just like the neighbors
to the south, the Tibetans.
730
00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:28,533
There's no love lost
731
00:42:28,633 --> 00:42:30,767
between the Uyghurs and the Chinese.
732
00:42:30,867 --> 00:42:33,667
And, for the Chinese
to control the Uyghurs,
733
00:42:33,767 --> 00:42:36,100
they make them write this on their doors.
734
00:42:39,833 --> 00:42:44,100
Over 300 days, over 4,000 miles,
735
00:42:44,200 --> 00:42:47,967
now onward through the desert by bus
736
00:42:48,067 --> 00:42:53,433
/and an onboard encounter with
two Chinese security officers.
737
00:42:53,533 --> 00:42:56,533
All of the sudden,
they asked for our passports,
738
00:42:56,633 --> 00:42:57,767
and we said, "no."
739
00:42:57,867 --> 00:43:00,167
And the guy... and they were like,
740
00:43:00,267 --> 00:43:01,467
"get off the bus."
741
00:43:01,567 --> 00:43:03,067
And we were like, "no."
742
00:43:03,167 --> 00:43:05,700
And, you know, we knew we were
being shaken down.
743
00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:07,400
They wanted money.
744
00:43:07,500 --> 00:43:09,700
They were like, "you have
to pay, you're foreigners.
745
00:43:09,800 --> 00:43:11,300
You have to pay,
you have to pay."
746
00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:12,800
We didn't want to pay.
747
00:43:12,900 --> 00:43:14,780
So we were like, "Mei you,"
'cause that's one of
748
00:43:14,867 --> 00:43:16,400
the first things you learn in China
749
00:43:16,500 --> 00:43:18,267
is the word Mei you if you're a foreigner.
750
00:43:18,367 --> 00:43:20,700
You know, technically,
Mei you doesn't mean "no."
751
00:43:20,800 --> 00:43:22,967
It means "it's impossible,"
'cause the Chinese
752
00:43:23,067 --> 00:43:24,900
are very ambivalent in their language.
753
00:43:25,067 --> 00:43:27,900
It's like yao bu yao?
Do you want or you don't want?
754
00:43:28,067 --> 00:43:28,900
Hao bu hao?
755
00:43:29,067 --> 00:43:30,767
Are you good or you're not good?
756
00:43:30,867 --> 00:43:33,733
So there's always an option,
and so our option was,
757
00:43:33,833 --> 00:43:34,733
Mei you.
758
00:43:34,833 --> 00:43:35,967
"Passports."
759
00:43:36,067 --> 00:43:37,133
"Mei you."
760
00:43:37,233 --> 00:43:38,500
"Off the bus!"
761
00:43:38,600 --> 00:43:39,667
"Mei you."
762
00:43:39,767 --> 00:43:40,967
And that was,
763
00:43:41,067 --> 00:43:42,467
you know, they couldn't believe
764
00:43:42,567 --> 00:43:44,200
that somebody was standing up to them,
765
00:43:44,300 --> 00:43:45,933
because the Uyghurs would never do it
766
00:43:46,067 --> 00:43:48,200
because they'd end up
in some Chinese prison
767
00:43:48,300 --> 00:43:49,800
for the rest of their lives.
768
00:43:49,900 --> 00:43:51,100
And they started, you know,
769
00:43:51,200 --> 00:43:53,067
one of them grabbed me, so Fran got up,
770
00:43:53,167 --> 00:43:55,533
and one of our sponsors,
the former president
771
00:43:55,633 --> 00:43:58,133
of sikorsky aircraft,
had given us these letters
772
00:43:58,233 --> 00:44:00,333
with proper letterheads written in Chinese
773
00:44:00,433 --> 00:44:03,067
to all the governors of
the provinces we were going to.
774
00:44:03,100 --> 00:44:04,700
Along with the letters
775
00:44:04,800 --> 00:44:08,900
was a photo of their sponsor
with some Chinese officials
776
00:44:09,067 --> 00:44:11,100
unknown to Denis and Francis.
777
00:44:11,200 --> 00:44:14,167
Fran showed it to the police officers.
778
00:44:14,267 --> 00:44:15,833
Then, a daring bluff.
779
00:44:15,933 --> 00:44:18,433
He pointed to our sponsor,
780
00:44:18,533 --> 00:44:20,333
and he said, "this is my father.
781
00:44:20,433 --> 00:44:22,267
"This is deng xiaoping's son.
782
00:44:22,367 --> 00:44:23,467
What's your name?"
783
00:44:23,567 --> 00:44:25,467
And I took out a pen, and I started writing
784
00:44:25,567 --> 00:44:27,200
the Chinese guy's badge number.
785
00:44:27,300 --> 00:44:28,700
They got off that bus so fast.
786
00:44:28,800 --> 00:44:30,067
And the Uyghurs went crazy.
787
00:44:30,167 --> 00:44:32,500
They were patting us on
the shoulders and they were...
788
00:44:32,600 --> 00:44:34,533
All of the sudden, melons were broken out.
789
00:44:34,633 --> 00:44:36,333
They were friendly to us before that,
790
00:44:36,433 --> 00:44:37,500
but now we were, like...
791
00:44:37,600 --> 00:44:39,500
We were like superstars
for defying the Chinese.
792
00:44:39,600 --> 00:44:40,600
They loved that.
793
00:44:40,667 --> 00:44:42,900
If China's security bureau
794
00:44:43,067 --> 00:44:44,600
harassed them on a bus ride,
795
00:44:44,700 --> 00:44:47,200
what would it do if it found them sneaking
796
00:44:47,300 --> 00:44:49,467
through a restricted military area?
797
00:44:49,567 --> 00:44:52,467
We're just about to leave Muslim areas
798
00:44:52,567 --> 00:44:54,233
and enter middle China.
799
00:44:54,333 --> 00:44:57,167
We're on a paved section
of the southern silk road
800
00:44:57,267 --> 00:44:58,767
skirting the desert of lop.
801
00:44:58,867 --> 00:45:00,667
Not far from here is where the Chinese
802
00:45:00,767 --> 00:45:01,867
do their nuclear testing.
803
00:45:01,967 --> 00:45:03,967
That road doesn't exist on the Chinese map.
804
00:45:04,067 --> 00:45:05,713
They don't want anybody going there because
805
00:45:05,733 --> 00:45:07,413
that's where they do their nuclear testing.
806
00:45:07,433 --> 00:45:08,847
We needed to go through that desert.
807
00:45:08,867 --> 00:45:12,133
With the help of uyghur guides and a Jeep,
808
00:45:12,233 --> 00:45:14,533
Denis and Francis went undercover.
809
00:45:14,633 --> 00:45:16,367
If we would have gotten caught,
810
00:45:16,467 --> 00:45:18,300
you know, with American pressure,
811
00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:20,400
maybe we would have seen the light of day
812
00:45:20,500 --> 00:45:21,900
after a couple of years.
813
00:45:22,067 --> 00:45:25,067
Hopefully, they would have just
kicked us out of the country.
814
00:45:25,167 --> 00:45:27,467
The Uyghurs that took us
through that place,
815
00:45:27,567 --> 00:45:29,933
who knows what would have happened to them?
816
00:45:32,933 --> 00:45:37,467
They drove us though at night,
lights turned off.
817
00:45:37,567 --> 00:45:39,833
We would drive hours and hours and hours,
818
00:45:39,933 --> 00:45:41,900
and when the sun started coming up,
819
00:45:42,067 --> 00:45:44,800
we'd go hide into the desert
and hide behind a dune,
820
00:45:44,900 --> 00:45:47,733
because if the military came by
and saw us out there,
821
00:45:47,833 --> 00:45:49,867
that would be the end of Marco Polo.
822
00:45:49,967 --> 00:45:52,067
So we did that for a couple of days,
823
00:45:52,100 --> 00:45:54,133
and we eventually got to dunhuang.
824
00:45:57,233 --> 00:45:58,733
You know, we'd been in China
825
00:45:58,833 --> 00:46:00,633
for hundreds and hundreds of miles
826
00:46:00,733 --> 00:46:02,833
and for months already, but we didn't feel
827
00:46:02,933 --> 00:46:04,067
like we were in China.
828
00:46:04,100 --> 00:46:06,800
This was China.
829
00:46:06,900 --> 00:46:08,067
China...
830
00:46:08,167 --> 00:46:11,167
The biggest Marco milestone so far,
831
00:46:11,267 --> 00:46:13,900
embodying the reason for their journey,
832
00:46:14,067 --> 00:46:16,767
for the risks they had taken,
833
00:46:16,867 --> 00:46:20,600
surviving fierce cold and fierce warriors,
834
00:46:20,700 --> 00:46:23,067
defying authorities at every turn.
835
00:46:23,100 --> 00:46:26,700
In the city of dunhuang were luxuries fit
836
00:46:26,800 --> 00:46:29,067
for the great Khan himself,
837
00:46:29,167 --> 00:46:33,067
food that seemed exquisite
after weeks in the desert.
838
00:46:41,700 --> 00:46:43,633
So, at dunhuang is where we had
839
00:46:43,733 --> 00:46:45,500
our first real Chinese meal.
840
00:46:45,600 --> 00:46:46,867
No more sheep guts.
841
00:46:46,967 --> 00:46:49,367
And even more exquisite...
842
00:46:49,467 --> 00:46:51,833
A hotel room with a proper shower.
843
00:46:56,667 --> 00:46:58,367
And we flipped a coin
844
00:46:58,467 --> 00:47:01,067
after weeks and weeks
without washing ourselves
845
00:47:01,167 --> 00:47:03,300
who was going to get the shower first.
846
00:47:03,400 --> 00:47:04,300
Fran won.
847
00:47:04,400 --> 00:47:06,467
So after singing about 20 or 30 songs
848
00:47:06,567 --> 00:47:08,833
in the shower, Denis finally convinced me
849
00:47:08,933 --> 00:47:10,500
to get out, and, you know,
850
00:47:10,600 --> 00:47:12,767
when he stepped in, he was like, "dude,
851
00:47:12,867 --> 00:47:15,233
what are you doing to me over here," right?
852
00:47:15,333 --> 00:47:17,167
'Cause the water was, like, all filled up.
853
00:47:17,267 --> 00:47:19,767
When it finally drained,
there was a layer of sand,
854
00:47:19,867 --> 00:47:21,600
just from my body, that had to be,
855
00:47:21,700 --> 00:47:23,733
I don't know, an eighth of an inch thick
856
00:47:23,833 --> 00:47:25,367
across the whole bottom of the...
857
00:47:25,467 --> 00:47:26,533
Bottom of the tub.
858
00:47:26,633 --> 00:47:30,400
Marco Polo had changed world history
859
00:47:30,500 --> 00:47:31,333
with his account of a land
860
00:47:31,433 --> 00:47:34,800
virtually unknown to Europeans,
861
00:47:34,900 --> 00:47:36,233
helping to inaugurate
862
00:47:36,333 --> 00:47:38,867
an unprecedented era on interaction
863
00:47:38,967 --> 00:47:40,667
between distant cultures.
864
00:47:40,767 --> 00:47:44,567
Now Denis and Francis
would step up their search
865
00:47:44,667 --> 00:47:47,767
for evidence that his words were true.
866
00:47:47,867 --> 00:47:50,433
Polo noted that "among the Chinese
867
00:47:50,533 --> 00:47:53,300
"are wise philosophers and physicians
868
00:47:53,400 --> 00:47:56,267
"with a great knowledge of nature.
869
00:47:56,367 --> 00:48:00,433
"Here at every hour
are crowds going to and fro
870
00:48:00,533 --> 00:48:02,733
"that anyone seeing such a multitude
871
00:48:02,833 --> 00:48:05,133
"would believe it stark impossibility
872
00:48:05,233 --> 00:48:09,967
"that food could be found
to feed so many mouths.
873
00:48:10,067 --> 00:48:12,967
"Men as well as women are fair-skinned
874
00:48:13,067 --> 00:48:14,400
"and good-looking.
875
00:48:14,500 --> 00:48:17,067
"Most of them wear silk all of the time
876
00:48:17,100 --> 00:48:19,800
since it is produced
in great abundance."
877
00:48:36,867 --> 00:48:41,067
There were many pleasures
for the travellers in China,
878
00:48:41,100 --> 00:48:43,800
but there were difficulties, too,
879
00:48:43,900 --> 00:48:47,600
especially in the city
known as Cambaluc to Marco Polo.
880
00:48:47,700 --> 00:48:50,800
Today, it's called Beijing.
881
00:48:50,900 --> 00:48:52,267
Here, Polo tells us
882
00:48:52,367 --> 00:48:54,833
he made his home base for 17 years
883
00:48:54,933 --> 00:48:58,267
in the service of
the mongol emperor Kublai Khan.
884
00:48:58,367 --> 00:49:01,733
But the modern travelers
in Polo's footsteps
885
00:49:01,833 --> 00:49:03,767
didn't feel at home at all.
886
00:49:03,867 --> 00:49:05,067
It was early 1994.
887
00:49:05,167 --> 00:49:07,700
China was much less open to the world
888
00:49:07,800 --> 00:49:09,933
at that time than it is today,
889
00:49:10,067 --> 00:49:12,667
with many fewer visitors from the west.
890
00:49:12,767 --> 00:49:16,333
It was a very
difficult part of the journey.
891
00:49:16,433 --> 00:49:18,233
The problem for us was we had been
892
00:49:18,333 --> 00:49:19,900
traveling for a year already.
893
00:49:20,067 --> 00:49:21,433
We were tired, we were cold,
894
00:49:21,533 --> 00:49:22,600
we were homesick...
895
00:49:22,700 --> 00:49:25,167
And used to being treated
exceptionally well.
896
00:49:25,267 --> 00:49:27,800
And used to being invited
into peoples' homes,
897
00:49:27,900 --> 00:49:30,500
called "brother," you know,
the hospitality that
898
00:49:30,600 --> 00:49:32,600
we had received up until that point
899
00:49:32,700 --> 00:49:34,300
was amazing, so when we got
900
00:49:34,400 --> 00:49:36,333
to the heart of China, Beijing,
901
00:49:36,433 --> 00:49:37,967
we definitely felt a change.
902
00:49:38,067 --> 00:49:39,100
I mean, if Mei you
903
00:49:39,200 --> 00:49:42,067
was the first word we learnt in Chinese,
904
00:49:42,133 --> 00:49:43,633
then gweilo and laowai
905
00:49:43,733 --> 00:49:46,733
were the second and third words we learned.
906
00:49:46,833 --> 00:49:50,800
And gweilo is "foreign devil,"
and laowai means "big nose."
907
00:49:50,900 --> 00:49:53,567
Whether they were afraid of us,
908
00:49:53,667 --> 00:49:57,800
maybe our appearance was...
We had let ourselves go
909
00:49:57,900 --> 00:49:59,433
being out in the wilderness,
910
00:49:59,533 --> 00:50:01,667
and we had this fierce look about us
911
00:50:01,767 --> 00:50:03,833
and we kept it going, I don't know.
912
00:50:03,933 --> 00:50:05,767
When I was there, there was a lot of times
913
00:50:05,867 --> 00:50:07,300
I wished I wasn't there.
914
00:50:07,400 --> 00:50:08,633
"I'm just exhausted.
915
00:50:08,733 --> 00:50:11,000
"I never thought I'd feel this way,
916
00:50:11,100 --> 00:50:12,633
"but the endless movement
917
00:50:12,733 --> 00:50:15,033
"from one fleabag hotel to the next,
918
00:50:15,133 --> 00:50:18,100
"sleeping with one eye open
and waiting for days
919
00:50:18,200 --> 00:50:20,367
"for a seat for a bus or a train,
920
00:50:20,467 --> 00:50:22,333
"the never-ending stares and attention
921
00:50:22,433 --> 00:50:25,600
"of being a curiosity.
922
00:50:25,700 --> 00:50:29,367
It's really getting to me."
923
00:50:29,467 --> 00:50:30,967
China.
924
00:50:31,067 --> 00:50:33,700
Wonderful place to be.
925
00:50:33,800 --> 00:50:35,433
I hate it here.
926
00:50:35,533 --> 00:50:37,200
I hate Marco Polo.
927
00:50:37,300 --> 00:50:40,100
I hate Denis.
928
00:50:40,200 --> 00:50:42,200
Watch out what you wish for,
you might get it.
929
00:50:42,300 --> 00:50:43,200
We had a tough time,
930
00:50:43,300 --> 00:50:45,033
but China isn't an easy place.
931
00:50:45,133 --> 00:50:47,933
I think that's what makes it
that much more beautiful
932
00:50:48,033 --> 00:50:50,533
and that much more endearing,
that much more rich,
933
00:50:50,633 --> 00:50:51,800
because sometimes,
934
00:50:51,900 --> 00:50:54,433
you know, something's easy,
you take it for granted.
935
00:50:54,533 --> 00:50:56,633
Something's difficult, that's what made...
936
00:50:56,733 --> 00:50:59,900
The experience that much sweeter
937
00:51:00,067 --> 00:51:02,067
and that richer.
938
00:51:02,133 --> 00:51:04,167
A visit to gansu province
939
00:51:04,267 --> 00:51:06,067
provided perhaps the sweetest,
940
00:51:06,167 --> 00:51:08,167
richest Marco Polo moment in China
941
00:51:08,267 --> 00:51:10,500
and a crucial piece of evidence
942
00:51:10,600 --> 00:51:14,367
that the venetian had been
where he said he'd been.
943
00:51:14,467 --> 00:51:17,500
Marco Polo talks about this
reclining Buddha in Zhangye,
944
00:51:17,600 --> 00:51:20,567
and it's one of the few pieces of artwork
945
00:51:20,667 --> 00:51:22,900
that he describes in his book
946
00:51:23,067 --> 00:51:24,700
that still exists today.
947
00:51:24,800 --> 00:51:27,400
When he stood there, it was already
948
00:51:27,500 --> 00:51:29,500
300 or 400 years old.
949
00:51:34,500 --> 00:51:37,533
And we spent so many hours in front of it
950
00:51:37,633 --> 00:51:39,767
that it became like a meditation on
951
00:51:39,867 --> 00:51:41,667
not the past, but the present,
952
00:51:41,767 --> 00:51:43,933
and that's... I mean, that's buddhism.
953
00:51:44,067 --> 00:51:46,067
Buddha said, you know, "it's right here,
954
00:51:46,133 --> 00:51:47,400
right now, in this moment."
955
00:51:47,500 --> 00:51:49,433
"Don't worry about yesterday, it's gone.
956
00:51:49,533 --> 00:51:51,833
"Don't worry about
tomorrow, it hasn't come yet.
957
00:51:51,933 --> 00:51:52,967
Life is right here."
958
00:52:49,867 --> 00:52:51,800
The mongols were in China
959
00:52:51,900 --> 00:52:52,933
when he was there.
960
00:52:53,067 --> 00:52:55,133
In fact, he writes more about mongol life
961
00:52:55,233 --> 00:52:56,500
than he does the Chinese.
962
00:52:56,600 --> 00:52:59,100
We felt it was necessary
that we hit the steppes
963
00:52:59,200 --> 00:53:01,933
and go off to Mongolia.
964
00:53:04,933 --> 00:53:07,933
We were, boom, right back into
the 13th century again.
965
00:53:08,067 --> 00:53:11,900
Polo said of the mongols,
966
00:53:12,067 --> 00:53:14,233
"they have circular houses
covered with felt,
967
00:53:14,333 --> 00:53:16,067
"which they carry about with them
968
00:53:16,167 --> 00:53:19,233
on wagons
wherever they go."
969
00:53:19,333 --> 00:53:20,833
We walk up to the tent and we just
970
00:53:20,933 --> 00:53:22,500
ingratiate ourselves to the people.
971
00:53:22,600 --> 00:53:24,167
Just walk up out of nowhere and say,
972
00:53:24,267 --> 00:53:26,100
"hold the dog," and it's kind of like,
973
00:53:26,200 --> 00:53:27,200
"hello, we're here."
974
00:53:27,233 --> 00:53:29,167
The mongol families here
975
00:53:29,267 --> 00:53:32,067
invited the travellers
into their daily way of life.
976
00:53:32,133 --> 00:53:34,300
The sights and sounds would have
977
00:53:34,400 --> 00:53:36,400
been familiar to Marco Polo.
978
00:53:41,333 --> 00:53:43,200
They slaughtered their sheep
979
00:53:43,300 --> 00:53:45,067
exactly like Marco said they would.
980
00:53:45,133 --> 00:53:48,833
They would grab a sheep,
turn it over on its back,
981
00:53:48,933 --> 00:53:51,600
make an incision in the chest,
982
00:53:51,700 --> 00:53:54,400
the sheep would jerk around
for a little bit,
983
00:53:54,500 --> 00:53:55,567
and then it would die,
984
00:53:55,667 --> 00:53:57,733
but the blood would pool
into the chest cavity.
985
00:53:57,833 --> 00:53:59,133
Then they would open it up,
986
00:53:59,233 --> 00:54:02,367
/take out the organs and stuff,
and collect all that blood
987
00:54:02,467 --> 00:54:05,067
and make blood sausage
out of the intestines.
988
00:54:05,167 --> 00:54:09,733
Every single edible piece
of the animal wasn't wasted,
989
00:54:09,833 --> 00:54:12,167
and Marco noticed this, too.
990
00:54:12,267 --> 00:54:13,300
It was endless.
991
00:54:13,400 --> 00:54:16,067
I mean, we kept seeing quote after quote
992
00:54:16,133 --> 00:54:18,367
coming to life out of his book.
993
00:54:22,767 --> 00:54:24,933
Polo said of mongol warriors,
994
00:54:25,067 --> 00:54:26,900
"they rely mainly on their bows,
995
00:54:27,067 --> 00:54:29,633
for they are excellent archers."
996
00:54:29,733 --> 00:54:32,533
And, of course, he spoke of the mongols'
997
00:54:32,633 --> 00:54:34,200
famed way with horses.
998
00:54:34,300 --> 00:54:36,333
"They spend the winter in the steppes
999
00:54:36,433 --> 00:54:37,800
"and warmer regions
1000
00:54:37,900 --> 00:54:41,733
"where there is good grazing
and pasturage for their beasts.
1001
00:54:41,833 --> 00:54:42,400
"You should know that they
1002
00:54:42,500 --> 00:54:46,867
drink mare's milk."
1003
00:54:46,967 --> 00:54:49,400
They drink every kind of milk product
1004
00:54:49,500 --> 00:54:50,633
that you could imagine.
1005
00:54:50,733 --> 00:54:52,400
I think they have like 22 different
1006
00:54:52,500 --> 00:54:54,200
milk products or cheeses or yogurts.
1007
00:54:54,300 --> 00:54:56,233
They are the milk-eating people.
1008
00:55:29,167 --> 00:55:31,800
As a photographer, too,
1009
00:55:31,900 --> 00:55:34,067
just the light, the light in Mongolia
1010
00:55:34,100 --> 00:55:35,100
is spectacular.
1011
00:55:47,533 --> 00:55:50,100
It was definitely one of
the highlights of the journey
1012
00:55:50,200 --> 00:55:52,733
and one of the places, you know,
people often ask me,
1013
00:55:52,833 --> 00:55:55,067
you know, "of all the countries
you went to,
1014
00:55:55,100 --> 00:55:57,400
what are the ones that you
want to go back to?"
1015
00:55:57,500 --> 00:55:59,400
Mongolia's very high up on the list.
1016
00:56:06,300 --> 00:56:09,067
Polo's charge from Kublai Khan
1017
00:56:09,133 --> 00:56:11,567
was to travel the width and breadth
1018
00:56:11,667 --> 00:56:13,400
of the great mongol empire,
1019
00:56:13,500 --> 00:56:16,867
visiting not just great cities
and forbidding deserts
1020
00:56:16,967 --> 00:56:19,233
but also what, for the travelers,
1021
00:56:19,333 --> 00:56:21,433
was another Marco milestone...
1022
00:56:21,533 --> 00:56:25,200
Mountainous, glorious Tibet.
1023
00:56:28,433 --> 00:56:31,200
You know, you're in the desert for months.
1024
00:56:31,300 --> 00:56:36,133
So you got beige and beige
and maybe a little bit of beige.
1025
00:56:36,233 --> 00:56:38,667
And then, all of a sudden,
you're in this town where
1026
00:56:38,767 --> 00:56:40,900
they're, like, in technicolor.
1027
00:56:41,067 --> 00:56:42,733
They're wearing reds and yellow yellows
1028
00:56:42,833 --> 00:56:45,900
and coral necklaces and amber decorations
1029
00:56:46,067 --> 00:56:49,367
and silver and leopard pelts,
and they're warm
1030
00:56:49,467 --> 00:56:52,433
and they're ingratiating, and, you know,
1031
00:56:52,533 --> 00:56:54,900
it's kind of like being, like,
1032
00:56:55,067 --> 00:56:57,100
in "the wizard of oz" where Dorothy,
1033
00:56:57,200 --> 00:56:59,533
you know, she goes to oz and it goes from
1034
00:56:59,633 --> 00:57:02,300
black and white to color,
it's just like that.
1035
00:57:09,067 --> 00:57:10,967
Marco Polo recounted,
1036
00:57:11,067 --> 00:57:13,233
"they speak a language of their own
1037
00:57:13,333 --> 00:57:16,500
and call themselves 'Tibet.'"
1038
00:57:20,967 --> 00:57:24,067
"coral fetches a high price,
for it is hung around
1039
00:57:24,100 --> 00:57:27,433
the necks of women
and idols with great joy."
1040
00:57:30,300 --> 00:57:33,567
"They make the most magnificent feasts
1041
00:57:33,667 --> 00:57:36,067
"for their idols, with the most magnificent
1042
00:57:36,167 --> 00:57:39,167
hymns and illuminations
that were ever seen."
1043
00:57:44,400 --> 00:57:45,800
"They have huge monasteries
1044
00:57:45,900 --> 00:57:51,100
"and abbeys, inhabited by 2,000 monks
1045
00:57:51,200 --> 00:57:53,100
"who are better-dressed than other men.
1046
00:57:53,200 --> 00:57:55,833
They wear their heads and chins
clean-shaven."
1047
00:58:11,967 --> 00:58:13,933
When we finally reached Hong Kong,
1048
00:58:14,067 --> 00:58:15,500
it was just a culture shock.
1049
00:58:15,600 --> 00:58:18,100
I mean, initially, I hated it,
because I was
1050
00:58:18,200 --> 00:58:20,600
so used to being out in remote places with,
1051
00:58:20,700 --> 00:58:23,533
you know, the local peoples
and kind of roughing it.
1052
00:58:23,633 --> 00:58:28,067
After a couple days, it felt good.
1053
00:58:28,167 --> 00:58:30,133
So we actually, you know, went to places
1054
00:58:30,233 --> 00:58:32,900
that we try to avoid here,
like pizza hut and McDonald's
1055
00:58:33,067 --> 00:58:36,467
and stuff like that.
1056
00:58:36,567 --> 00:58:38,967
August, 1994.
1057
00:58:39,067 --> 00:58:40,567
In Hong Kong,
1058
00:58:40,667 --> 00:58:43,267
the travelers couldn't begin to imagine
1059
00:58:43,367 --> 00:58:45,200
they were in the 13th century.
1060
00:58:45,300 --> 00:58:48,400
Their next destination...
The island of sumatra.
1061
00:58:48,500 --> 00:58:51,633
Polo and company were given royal passage
1062
00:58:51,733 --> 00:58:54,700
by Kublai Khan in the largest and most
1063
00:58:54,800 --> 00:58:57,567
seaworthy cargo ships of their day.
1064
00:58:57,667 --> 00:59:00,267
According to Polo, they set sail
1065
00:59:00,367 --> 00:59:03,200
fitted out with a fleet of 14 ships,
1066
00:59:03,300 --> 00:59:07,633
each of which had four masts
and as many as 12 sails.
1067
00:59:10,100 --> 00:59:11,233
So we figured,
1068
00:59:11,333 --> 00:59:13,967
"let's get on a big container ship
1069
00:59:14,067 --> 00:59:17,167
and sail like he did
on a merchant ship."
1070
00:59:17,267 --> 00:59:19,767
And they said, "no, you guys are crazy.
1071
00:59:19,867 --> 00:59:21,533
"The days of sailing around the world
1072
00:59:21,633 --> 00:59:23,133
"on a steamer ship are long gone.
1073
00:59:23,233 --> 00:59:26,167
"With insurance liabilities and unions,
1074
00:59:26,267 --> 00:59:29,533
we don't just let anybody
get on the ships."
1075
00:59:29,633 --> 00:59:30,833
We didn't accept that.
1076
00:59:30,933 --> 00:59:33,533
We were going to get on a ship
come hell or high water.
1077
00:59:33,633 --> 00:59:36,667
It was neither hell nor high water,
1078
00:59:36,767 --> 00:59:40,067
but a little local publicity
that did the trick.
1079
00:59:40,100 --> 00:59:41,300
Who's paying for this?
1080
00:59:41,400 --> 00:59:43,700
Well, we got sponsorships
from different companies
1081
00:59:43,800 --> 00:59:45,467
before we left, but at this point,
1082
00:59:45,567 --> 00:59:46,633
we're running out, so...
1083
00:59:46,733 --> 00:59:48,667
Anybody in Hong Kong who's interested in
1084
00:59:48,767 --> 00:59:50,900
a historical project
can get in touch with us.
1085
00:59:51,067 --> 00:59:53,167
And after our radio interview,
1086
00:59:53,267 --> 00:59:56,667
we went to see
the last big shipping company,
1087
00:59:56,767 --> 00:59:59,067
p&o, and we went in and we pitched them,
1088
00:59:59,167 --> 01:00:01,333
and, fortunately,
the person we were pitching
1089
01:00:01,433 --> 01:00:04,167
heard our radio interview
and he was like, "we're going to
1090
01:00:04,267 --> 01:00:05,833
ship you guys
all the way to India."
1091
01:00:05,933 --> 01:00:08,000
We had to sign on as crew members,
1092
01:00:08,100 --> 01:00:10,700
but we were on a cargo ship,
we were sailing
1093
01:00:10,800 --> 01:00:13,467
for free from China,
1094
01:00:13,567 --> 01:00:15,767
so we were pretty high at that point.
1095
01:00:19,267 --> 01:00:22,067
Perhaps they deserved a little good luck.
1096
01:00:22,167 --> 01:00:24,833
They figured they had made their own luck.
1097
01:00:24,933 --> 01:00:29,500
Either way, they were on a ship
sailing south to sumatra,
1098
01:00:29,600 --> 01:00:34,833
just as Marco Polo had.
1099
01:00:44,800 --> 01:00:46,100
Marco tells us
1100
01:00:46,200 --> 01:00:48,867
that he's stranded there for five months
1101
01:00:48,967 --> 01:00:54,800
because the monsoon winds have changed
1102
01:00:54,900 --> 01:00:57,367
he goes on to describe that...
1103
01:00:57,467 --> 01:01:01,067
The people there as savages, cannibals.
1104
01:01:01,167 --> 01:01:04,200
And there's even a famous
illumination that's in his...
1105
01:01:04,300 --> 01:01:07,133
One of his original books where,
it's kind of funny,
1106
01:01:07,233 --> 01:01:09,867
because in the middle ages,
they made all these
1107
01:01:09,967 --> 01:01:12,067
asiatic people look like Europeans,
1108
01:01:12,133 --> 01:01:14,633
so there's these guys
with white beards and,
1109
01:01:14,733 --> 01:01:16,533
you know, European clothes on,
1110
01:01:16,633 --> 01:01:18,933
and they're, like, eating arms and legs.
1111
01:01:19,067 --> 01:01:21,967
Cannibalism is long gone from sumatra,
1112
01:01:22,067 --> 01:01:24,167
but Denis and Francis did detect
1113
01:01:24,267 --> 01:01:25,167
traces of the 13th century
1114
01:01:25,267 --> 01:01:28,833
on the Indonesian island of Siberut,
1115
01:01:28,933 --> 01:01:32,900
where they would soon encounter
another Marco milestone.
1116
01:01:34,633 --> 01:01:36,567
I mean, it was like, you know,
1117
01:01:36,667 --> 01:01:37,900
the lost world, you know?
1118
01:02:07,167 --> 01:02:11,067
Polo told in detail
of the local people's skill
1119
01:02:11,100 --> 01:02:12,800
in the art of the tattoo.
1120
01:02:12,900 --> 01:02:16,333
"Male and female have
their flesh covered all over
1121
01:02:16,433 --> 01:02:18,767
"with pictures made with needles
1122
01:02:18,867 --> 01:02:21,633
"in such a way that they are indelible.
1123
01:02:21,733 --> 01:02:24,067
"They make these on their faces,
1124
01:02:24,167 --> 01:02:26,100
"necks, bellies, hands, legs.
1125
01:02:26,200 --> 01:02:29,067
"The more elaborate anyone is decorated,
1126
01:02:29,133 --> 01:02:32,200
the greater and handsomer
he is considered."
1127
01:02:32,300 --> 01:02:35,067
When he asked them,
"why do they do that?"
1128
01:02:35,133 --> 01:02:37,667
They said, "that's because,
without the tattoos,
1129
01:02:37,767 --> 01:02:39,100
they would feel naked."
1130
01:02:39,200 --> 01:02:41,567
So this is kind of like their clothing.
1131
01:02:41,667 --> 01:02:43,107
We had been there for several weeks,
1132
01:02:43,200 --> 01:02:45,280
and I was trying to coax them
into giving me a tattoo,
1133
01:02:45,300 --> 01:02:46,667
and they kept yessing me to death,
1134
01:02:46,767 --> 01:02:48,767
and I didn't think I was
going to actually get one.
1135
01:02:51,633 --> 01:02:53,933
I'm watching the guy give him the tattoo,
1136
01:02:54,067 --> 01:02:55,733
and I'm sitting there, and I'm going,
1137
01:02:55,833 --> 01:02:57,933
"man, he's going to get
hepatitis or something.
1138
01:02:58,067 --> 01:02:59,567
He's going down with this thing,"
1139
01:02:59,667 --> 01:03:03,433
because they basically took
some sort of black soot, ash,
1140
01:03:03,533 --> 01:03:06,067
from the fire, charcoal or something,
1141
01:03:06,100 --> 01:03:08,067
and he mixed that with water
1142
01:03:08,167 --> 01:03:10,600
and he might have put
some sort of oil from a plant.
1143
01:03:10,700 --> 01:03:12,900
And, you know, turned it into an ink,
1144
01:03:13,067 --> 01:03:14,067
and he had this...
1145
01:03:14,133 --> 01:03:15,133
Stingray spine.
1146
01:03:15,200 --> 01:03:17,533
Yeah, it was some sort of natural needle
1147
01:03:17,633 --> 01:03:19,667
that he had on the end of a stick,
1148
01:03:19,767 --> 01:03:23,900
and he would dip the needle in the ink,
1149
01:03:24,067 --> 01:03:28,300
and then he had another stick
that he would whack.
1150
01:03:28,400 --> 01:03:31,067
The needle was kind of
cantilevered on the stick,
1151
01:03:31,167 --> 01:03:32,967
and he was, "whack, whack, whack, whack,"
1152
01:03:33,067 --> 01:03:34,167
and I'm...
1153
01:03:34,267 --> 01:03:36,467
And he was wiping the blood
with this dirty rag,
1154
01:03:36,567 --> 01:03:38,200
and I'm going, I'm looking at him,
1155
01:03:38,300 --> 01:03:39,767
I'm like, "what are you doing?
1156
01:03:39,867 --> 01:03:40,867
This is going to be bad."
1157
01:03:55,067 --> 01:03:56,667
After I got it, I was like, "oh, my god,
1158
01:03:56,700 --> 01:03:58,813
what did I do to myself?"
It looked terrible, I thought,
1159
01:03:58,833 --> 01:04:00,333
but this is actually my favorite one,
1160
01:04:00,433 --> 01:04:02,233
because, you know... it's real.
1161
01:04:02,333 --> 01:04:04,533
Because it's real, it's the real McCoy.
1162
01:04:10,433 --> 01:04:12,967
Soon would come a modern milestone
1163
01:04:13,067 --> 01:04:14,200
for the travelers...
1164
01:04:14,300 --> 01:04:16,967
A matter of geography
and the compass needle.
1165
01:04:37,433 --> 01:04:41,800
Heading west towards home at last
1166
01:04:41,900 --> 01:04:43,600
was bittersweet,
1167
01:04:43,700 --> 01:04:46,900
a reminder that the road
did not go on forever.
1168
01:04:47,067 --> 01:04:49,800
Not only that, they couldn't forget
1169
01:04:49,900 --> 01:04:53,200
that their road ran through Persia... Iran,
1170
01:04:53,300 --> 01:04:54,400
where, soon enough,
1171
01:04:54,500 --> 01:04:56,533
Denis and Francis would determine
1172
01:04:56,633 --> 01:04:58,767
if their trip was to end in success
1173
01:04:58,867 --> 01:05:01,500
or failure.
1174
01:05:01,600 --> 01:05:03,233
For a year and half, we traveled with
1175
01:05:03,333 --> 01:05:05,233
the sword of damocles
hanging over our heads,
1176
01:05:05,333 --> 01:05:08,067
never knowing whether all the effort
1177
01:05:08,167 --> 01:05:09,567
and time and energy
1178
01:05:09,667 --> 01:05:12,800
and hopes and dreams
that we put into the project
1179
01:05:12,900 --> 01:05:15,533
was going to be just for naught
1180
01:05:15,633 --> 01:05:17,900
or whether we were going to
be able to, you know,
1181
01:05:18,067 --> 01:05:20,333
maybe somehow pull this thing off,
1182
01:05:20,433 --> 01:05:22,133
and it all kind of hinged on whether
1183
01:05:22,233 --> 01:05:24,067
we would be able to get visas for Iran.
1184
01:05:24,133 --> 01:05:26,933
But before Iran lay India,
1185
01:05:27,067 --> 01:05:30,400
and as they sailed toward
the port of Madras,
1186
01:05:30,500 --> 01:05:32,467
they stopped worrying about
1187
01:05:32,567 --> 01:05:35,400
access to Marco's Persia
and started worrying
1188
01:05:35,500 --> 01:05:37,867
about how they were going to
get off the ship.
1189
01:05:37,967 --> 01:05:39,067
"October 20.
1190
01:05:39,100 --> 01:05:40,733
"India's visible in the distance.
1191
01:05:40,833 --> 01:05:42,167
"We've dropped anchor out here
1192
01:05:42,267 --> 01:05:44,967
"as the captain says
it will be three or four days
1193
01:05:45,067 --> 01:05:47,500
until we get a berth
in the port of Madras."
1194
01:05:47,600 --> 01:05:48,633
"October 22.
1195
01:05:48,733 --> 01:05:50,433
"We've been hanging with the crew
1196
01:05:50,533 --> 01:05:53,100
"an" and drinking cheap brandy,
fishing for squid off the stern.
1197
01:05:53,200 --> 01:05:54,600
"The sea is awash with these globs
1198
01:05:54,700 --> 01:05:56,900
of mushroom-like jellyfish,
hundreds, thousands of them.
1199
01:05:56,967 --> 01:05:58,267
"October 25.
1200
01:05:58,367 --> 01:06:01,067
"We will be anchored
at least another three days.
1201
01:06:01,100 --> 01:06:03,900
"The last two have been consumed
by sleep and reading.
1202
01:06:04,067 --> 01:06:05,733
"I finished my book and have now read
1203
01:06:05,833 --> 01:06:07,233
"every magazine onboard the ship
1204
01:06:07,333 --> 01:06:09,067
and now even
considering the Bible."
1205
01:06:09,133 --> 01:06:10,167
"October 30.
1206
01:06:10,267 --> 01:06:12,533
"I can't believe
we're still on this vessel.
1207
01:06:12,633 --> 01:06:15,067
"Apparently they've never had
foreign nationals
1208
01:06:15,100 --> 01:06:16,433
"disembarking as passengers
1209
01:06:16,533 --> 01:06:17,800
off of a cargo ship before."
1210
01:06:17,900 --> 01:06:20,067
"October 31...
What a bureaucratic nightmare
1211
01:06:20,167 --> 01:06:21,247
"this has turned out to be.
1212
01:06:21,333 --> 01:06:22,733
"They're now grilling us
1213
01:06:22,833 --> 01:06:25,100
"over our itinerary and want to know
1214
01:06:25,200 --> 01:06:27,600
"exactly what kind of film we're making.
1215
01:06:27,700 --> 01:06:29,300
"What difference does it make?
1216
01:06:29,400 --> 01:06:32,667
We have valid visas,
just let us off the boat."
1217
01:06:32,767 --> 01:06:33,967
"November 1.
1218
01:06:34,067 --> 01:06:37,833
"Finally, they've allowed us
to sign off as crewmen
1219
01:06:37,933 --> 01:06:41,800
"on the condition we leave
the country in 72 hours.
1220
01:06:41,900 --> 01:06:43,800
"That gives us three-day head start
1221
01:06:43,900 --> 01:06:45,767
"to get lost in the subcontinent.
1222
01:06:45,867 --> 01:06:46,907
They'll have to catch us."
1223
01:06:50,067 --> 01:06:51,067
India is alive.
1224
01:06:51,167 --> 01:06:53,333
You know, they have 1,000-year-old temples
1225
01:06:53,433 --> 01:06:55,567
and people are still praying in them.
1226
01:06:55,667 --> 01:06:56,967
It's not like, you know,
1227
01:06:57,067 --> 01:06:59,667
you go to Egypt and you see
this ancient culture
1228
01:06:59,767 --> 01:07:01,333
but it doesn't exist anymore.
1229
01:07:01,433 --> 01:07:03,300
You know, you're looking at these ruins.
1230
01:07:03,400 --> 01:07:05,400
You go to India and you're looking at ruins
1231
01:07:05,500 --> 01:07:07,400
and the people are still praying in them,
1232
01:07:07,500 --> 01:07:08,533
so it's like, "whoa."
1233
01:07:14,833 --> 01:07:17,067
And everywhere were echoes
1234
01:07:17,167 --> 01:07:18,567
of Polo's distant words.
1235
01:07:18,667 --> 01:07:21,967
He said the local people
"could trust no sailor,
1236
01:07:22,067 --> 01:07:23,700
"for they say that a man
1237
01:07:23,800 --> 01:07:27,233
who goes to sea must be
a man in despair."
1238
01:07:36,600 --> 01:07:40,067
He described the brahmans who
"are known by an emblem
1239
01:07:40,133 --> 01:07:43,333
"which they wear,
for they carry a cord of cotton
1240
01:07:43,433 --> 01:07:48,133
on their shoulder
and fastened across the chest."
1241
01:07:48,233 --> 01:07:52,067
We've come across
more Marco Polo descriptions
1242
01:07:52,167 --> 01:07:55,700
faster here in India than any other place.
1243
01:07:55,800 --> 01:07:59,267
Polo told as well of India's gods.
1244
01:07:59,367 --> 01:08:02,933
"They have idols with
the heads of four faces
1245
01:08:03,067 --> 01:08:06,900
"and some with three heads,
one in the right place
1246
01:08:07,067 --> 01:08:09,100
"and one on either shoulder.
1247
01:08:09,200 --> 01:08:11,733
"Some have four hands, some ten,
1248
01:08:11,833 --> 01:08:14,867
and some 1,000."
1249
01:08:14,967 --> 01:08:19,233
And he described the habits
of the people he encountered.
1250
01:08:19,332 --> 01:08:22,233
"As soon as a child is born,
the father and mother
1251
01:08:22,332 --> 01:08:25,100
"have a record made in writing
of his nativity.
1252
01:08:25,200 --> 01:08:27,767
"This they do because they guide
1253
01:08:27,867 --> 01:08:31,500
"all their actions by
the council of astrologers
1254
01:08:31,600 --> 01:08:34,332
"and diviners who are skilled
1255
01:08:34,433 --> 01:08:38,067
in enchantment
and magic and geomancy."
1256
01:08:40,567 --> 01:08:45,466
Denis belliveau had a diviner
read his fortune.
1257
01:08:45,567 --> 01:08:47,332
"He read mine and said
1258
01:08:47,433 --> 01:08:49,233
"I will die when I'm 75 years old.
1259
01:08:49,332 --> 01:08:51,899
"My wife will be a strong person
1260
01:08:52,067 --> 01:08:53,667
"and very supportive of me.
1261
01:08:53,767 --> 01:08:55,899
"She will make me a better man.
1262
01:08:56,067 --> 01:08:58,433
"We'll have two kids who will grow up
1263
01:08:58,533 --> 01:08:59,547
"strong and well-educated.
1264
01:08:59,567 --> 01:09:02,933
Sounds good,
can't wait to meet them."
1265
01:09:07,167 --> 01:09:09,500
But rather than the future,
1266
01:09:09,600 --> 01:09:11,399
it was the present that caught up
1267
01:09:11,500 --> 01:09:13,233
with Francis O'Donnell in India.
1268
01:09:13,332 --> 01:09:16,600
"November 30.
1269
01:09:16,700 --> 01:09:20,067
"I just called home
for the first time in months.
1270
01:09:20,167 --> 01:09:22,399
"My poor mother.
1271
01:09:22,500 --> 01:09:25,367
"She had to tell me that my father is dead.
1272
01:09:25,466 --> 01:09:26,733
"I can't believe it.
1273
01:09:26,832 --> 01:09:29,300
"I'm full of remorse and guilt
for not being there
1274
01:09:29,399 --> 01:09:31,167
to comfort
my mom and sisters."
1275
01:09:41,100 --> 01:09:43,067
My father used to pack up the whole family
1276
01:09:43,133 --> 01:09:45,533
and stick us in a station wagon
and travel up and down
1277
01:09:45,633 --> 01:09:47,966
the eastern seaboard to all,
like, the revolutionary
1278
01:09:48,067 --> 01:09:49,667
and colonial fortresses and stuff.
1279
01:09:49,767 --> 01:09:52,966
We went to fort William Henry
and Ticonderoga and,
1280
01:09:53,067 --> 01:09:55,733
you know, williamsburg and valley forge,
1281
01:09:55,833 --> 01:09:58,867
and I believe my dad
was a frustrated historian,
1282
01:09:58,967 --> 01:10:03,300
and he kind of put that love
of history into my soul.
1283
01:10:07,200 --> 01:10:10,333
I was kind of guilty about
having not been there
1284
01:10:10,433 --> 01:10:13,333
to be able to comfort
my mother and sisters,
1285
01:10:13,433 --> 01:10:16,500
so, you know, Denny said to me,
"well, what do you want to do?"
1286
01:10:16,600 --> 01:10:19,067
He kind of thought that
maybe I'd want to go home,
1287
01:10:19,167 --> 01:10:22,267
but what I did was rededicate
the whole journey to his memory
1288
01:10:22,367 --> 01:10:25,467
because he had taught me
to really love history,
1289
01:10:25,567 --> 01:10:27,413
and if it hadn't been for him,
in a lot of respects,
1290
01:10:27,433 --> 01:10:29,113
I probably would never have
been on this path,
1291
01:10:29,133 --> 01:10:31,300
so I swore that we would
get into Iran no matter what
1292
01:10:31,400 --> 01:10:33,667
just so this... you know,
it wouldn't all be in vain.
1293
01:10:43,567 --> 01:10:45,033
"December 19.
1294
01:10:45,133 --> 01:10:48,500
"All I want for Christmas
are two visas to Iran.
1295
01:10:48,600 --> 01:10:51,133
"Like deja vu, we've been stuck for weeks
1296
01:10:51,233 --> 01:10:52,967
as the Iranians mess with us."
1297
01:10:53,067 --> 01:10:54,867
If we didn't get into Iran,
1298
01:10:54,967 --> 01:10:56,333
why are we busting ourselves?
1299
01:10:56,433 --> 01:10:58,200
Why are we going through all this?
1300
01:10:58,300 --> 01:11:00,533
Let's just go on the beach
in goa and, like,
1301
01:11:00,633 --> 01:11:02,500
hang out and, like, catch a tan and,
1302
01:11:02,600 --> 01:11:03,800
you know, meet girls.
1303
01:11:03,900 --> 01:11:05,433
That would have been devastating.
1304
01:11:05,533 --> 01:11:07,700
Everything would have been
no joy in any of it.
1305
01:11:23,733 --> 01:11:26,367
"We've remained faithful to our dream
1306
01:11:26,467 --> 01:11:28,833
"and day-in and day-out have done our jobs
1307
01:11:28,933 --> 01:11:30,200
"believing it wouldn't,
1308
01:11:30,300 --> 01:11:32,533
"couldn't be in vain,
1309
01:11:32,633 --> 01:11:36,767
"that if we put ourselves
literally on the right path,
1310
01:11:36,867 --> 01:11:39,333
"doors that seemed closed
would magically open.
1311
01:11:39,433 --> 01:11:42,433
"Well, you know, sometimes you
just have to kick them down.
1312
01:11:42,533 --> 01:11:44,233
"We've come up with a dangerous plan.
1313
01:11:44,333 --> 01:11:46,367
"We'll give them
one more week for our visas,
1314
01:11:46,467 --> 01:11:48,367
"then we'll cut through Afghanistan again,
1315
01:11:48,467 --> 01:11:51,833
"use our contacts there to sneak into Iran,
1316
01:11:51,933 --> 01:11:55,633
"and then into the hands
of the kurdish underground,
1317
01:11:55,733 --> 01:11:57,933
"who will then smuggle us
across the mountains
1318
01:11:58,067 --> 01:11:59,067
"and back into Turkey.
1319
01:11:59,167 --> 01:12:02,467
"It's utter insanity, so I'm trying
1320
01:12:02,567 --> 01:12:05,900
not to think of the consequences
if we get caught."
1321
01:12:08,533 --> 01:12:10,767
But before trying to sneak into Iran,
1322
01:12:10,867 --> 01:12:15,067
the American travelers decided
to make one last-ditch effort.
1323
01:12:15,167 --> 01:12:18,967
They would divert from
Polo's route to Pakistan,
1324
01:12:19,067 --> 01:12:22,700
where they made a desperate plea
to the Iranian ambassador.
1325
01:12:22,800 --> 01:12:24,867
Every single day for the next two weeks
1326
01:12:24,967 --> 01:12:27,233
we'd go to the Iranian embassy, and the guy
1327
01:12:27,333 --> 01:12:29,833
working behind the desk
was like laughing at us.
1328
01:12:29,933 --> 01:12:31,533
He was like, "there's no way.
1329
01:12:31,633 --> 01:12:33,900
"There's no way you're going to get a visa.
1330
01:12:34,067 --> 01:12:35,133
It's just impossible."
1331
01:12:35,233 --> 01:12:37,767
And then one morning, the phone rang.
1332
01:12:40,133 --> 01:12:42,567
Hello?
1333
01:12:42,667 --> 01:12:44,633
And he said, "get to the embassy now,
1334
01:12:44,733 --> 01:12:46,567
your visa's going to be
waiting for you."
1335
01:12:56,567 --> 01:12:58,733
Hey, we're in Iran.
1336
01:12:58,833 --> 01:13:00,633
Southern Iran.
1337
01:13:00,733 --> 01:13:03,600
They told us when we got our visas,
1338
01:13:03,700 --> 01:13:06,467
"you're basically the first Americans
1339
01:13:06,567 --> 01:13:08,533
"allowed in here since 1979.
1340
01:13:08,633 --> 01:13:10,500
"And we're not giving you a three-day
1341
01:13:10,600 --> 01:13:12,067
"tourist transit visa.
1342
01:13:12,133 --> 01:13:13,767
"We're giving you a full month
1343
01:13:13,867 --> 01:13:15,567
to do what you need to do."
1344
01:13:17,500 --> 01:13:19,800
Seven centuries earlier,
1345
01:13:19,900 --> 01:13:24,433
Marco Polo knew Iran as
"a very large country
1346
01:13:24,533 --> 01:13:25,900
with eight kingdoms."
1347
01:13:27,400 --> 01:13:30,067
He described a wondrous technology...
1348
01:13:30,100 --> 01:13:33,167
"the climate is so hot
that houses are fitted
1349
01:13:33,267 --> 01:13:35,800
"with ventilators to catch the wind.
1350
01:13:35,900 --> 01:13:38,967
"The ventilators are set
to face the quarter
1351
01:13:39,067 --> 01:13:39,833
"from which the wind blows
1352
01:13:39,933 --> 01:13:42,633
and let it blow
into the house."
1353
01:13:45,933 --> 01:13:50,500
Polo also told
of a murderous medieval sect.
1354
01:13:57,500 --> 01:14:00,433
This is the valley of the assassins
1355
01:14:00,533 --> 01:14:01,867
in northern Iran
1356
01:14:01,967 --> 01:14:05,300
and Marco Polo writes about
this old man in the mountain,
1357
01:14:05,400 --> 01:14:08,400
this myth about this sect,
and the word "assassin"
1358
01:14:08,500 --> 01:14:10,267
basically comes from this sect.
1359
01:14:10,367 --> 01:14:13,100
They were the hashshashins,
or hashshashiyyins,
1360
01:14:13,200 --> 01:14:14,240
which means "hash eaters."
1361
01:14:14,267 --> 01:14:17,067
Young men were brought to this place
1362
01:14:17,100 --> 01:14:18,867
and they got high on hashish.
1363
01:14:18,967 --> 01:14:21,067
They were given hashish and opium.
1364
01:14:21,133 --> 01:14:23,133
They would go and they would kill
1365
01:14:23,233 --> 01:14:26,433
whoever that their lord told them to kill.
1366
01:14:26,533 --> 01:14:28,600
Jihad!
1367
01:14:28,700 --> 01:14:30,067
Islam!
1368
01:14:30,167 --> 01:14:32,367
Polo said that the old man
1369
01:14:32,467 --> 01:14:35,067
would tell his assassins
that "he was minded
1370
01:14:35,167 --> 01:14:37,067
"to dispatch them to paradise.
1371
01:14:37,133 --> 01:14:40,067
"They were to kill such-and-such a man.
1372
01:14:40,100 --> 01:14:41,867
"If they died on their mission,
1373
01:14:41,967 --> 01:14:44,167
they would go there
all the sooner."
1374
01:14:44,267 --> 01:14:47,067
Who would ever think that,
you know, a group of terrorists
1375
01:14:47,100 --> 01:14:49,067
would actually originate here in Persia?
1376
01:14:49,133 --> 01:14:50,333
I didn't...
1377
01:14:50,433 --> 01:14:52,333
Yeah, that's basically what they were.
1378
01:14:52,433 --> 01:14:54,067
They were medieval terrorists.
1379
01:14:58,267 --> 01:15:01,533
I think, from my perspective,
1380
01:15:01,633 --> 01:15:04,333
as having been in the marines
1381
01:15:04,433 --> 01:15:07,767
and just gotten out right before
the Iranian revolution
1382
01:15:07,867 --> 01:15:10,433
and the takeover of the American embassy,
1383
01:15:10,533 --> 01:15:14,433
they were kind of like a demon to me.
1384
01:15:14,533 --> 01:15:16,900
Iran was like, you know,
kind of an evil place
1385
01:15:17,067 --> 01:15:21,333
in my subconscious, in the back of my mind.
1386
01:15:25,433 --> 01:15:26,633
Part of the deal
1387
01:15:26,733 --> 01:15:29,600
was that we would have to
have a car and driver
1388
01:15:29,700 --> 01:15:31,800
meet us at the border and stay with us
1389
01:15:31,900 --> 01:15:33,933
the whole time.
1390
01:15:34,067 --> 01:15:36,067
We were, like we always do,
engaging people,
1391
01:15:36,100 --> 01:15:37,633
talking to people in the streets,
1392
01:15:37,733 --> 01:15:39,267
and this... our handler was like,
1393
01:15:39,367 --> 01:15:40,867
"you must never
talk to people!"
1394
01:15:40,967 --> 01:15:42,600
"Don't tell them
you're Americans."
1395
01:15:42,700 --> 01:15:43,600
"They will kill you!"
1396
01:15:43,700 --> 01:15:45,367
"February 11.
1397
01:15:45,467 --> 01:15:49,067
"Today is the anniversary
of the islamic revolution
1398
01:15:49,133 --> 01:15:51,067
"that brought down the shah,
1399
01:15:51,167 --> 01:15:52,867
"installed khomeini as leader,
1400
01:15:52,967 --> 01:15:55,067
and stormed
the American embassy."
1401
01:15:55,167 --> 01:15:57,700
When we woke up that morning,
we heard people
1402
01:15:57,800 --> 01:16:00,667
marching past our hotel
on their way to the square.
1403
01:16:03,567 --> 01:16:05,247
Denis and I, we tried to approach the crowd
1404
01:16:05,267 --> 01:16:06,667
and we had our camera bags with us.
1405
01:16:06,700 --> 01:16:08,767
Every cell in our bodies was telling us
1406
01:16:08,867 --> 01:16:11,167
to go the opposite direction,
but we were...
1407
01:16:11,267 --> 01:16:13,067
We just... we went with it.
1408
01:16:13,100 --> 01:16:15,133
We knew we had to go into that square.
1409
01:16:15,233 --> 01:16:17,367
"As we wandered into a square
1410
01:16:17,467 --> 01:16:21,467
"with thousands of people
chanting 'death to america, '
1411
01:16:21,567 --> 01:16:24,200
"burning the flag
and an effigy of the president,
1412
01:16:24,300 --> 01:16:25,733
"we were definitely noticed.
1413
01:16:25,833 --> 01:16:27,900
"Some people asked where we were from
1414
01:16:28,067 --> 01:16:32,133
and looked bewildered
when we told them."
1415
01:16:32,233 --> 01:16:34,667
Denis was talking to a guy
and he was saying to him,
1416
01:16:34,767 --> 01:16:35,967
"we're from the most famous
1417
01:16:36,067 --> 01:16:37,967
English-speaking country
in the world."
1418
01:16:38,067 --> 01:16:40,100
And the guy was like,
"Australia?"
1419
01:16:40,200 --> 01:16:42,367
"No, it's big and rich and powerful,"
1420
01:16:42,467 --> 01:16:44,400
and he's like, "england?"
1421
01:16:44,500 --> 01:16:47,067
He's like, "we're the most famous country,
1422
01:16:47,100 --> 01:16:48,933
the most famous country
in the world."
1423
01:16:49,067 --> 01:16:51,100
"Uh, English-speaking country
in the world."
1424
01:16:51,200 --> 01:16:52,333
He's like, "New Zealand?"
1425
01:16:52,433 --> 01:16:53,900
"Canada?"
Canada, yeah, so...
1426
01:16:54,067 --> 01:16:55,213
There's no way they believed.
1427
01:16:55,233 --> 01:16:56,867
"Americans can't come
to this country."
1428
01:16:56,967 --> 01:17:00,267
"But what really got our attention today
1429
01:17:00,367 --> 01:17:04,133
"was seeing the indoctrination
of children by the regime...
1430
01:17:04,233 --> 01:17:07,100
Young minds being schooled
in hatred."
1431
01:17:09,400 --> 01:17:12,867
"But, in truth,
I never felt personally menaced.
1432
01:17:12,967 --> 01:17:15,533
"Once we got away from the main square
1433
01:17:15,633 --> 01:17:18,333
"with its TV cameras and ranting crowds,
1434
01:17:18,433 --> 01:17:20,333
"it seemed that most people were just happy
1435
01:17:20,433 --> 01:17:22,567
"to have the day off from work.
1436
01:17:22,667 --> 01:17:23,567
"In fact,
1437
01:17:23,667 --> 01:17:25,100
"the Iranian people are amongst
1438
01:17:25,200 --> 01:17:26,567
"the nicest and most hospitable
1439
01:17:26,667 --> 01:17:27,567
we have ever come across."
1440
01:17:27,667 --> 01:17:32,067
As much as the Turks were hospitable,
1441
01:17:32,133 --> 01:17:35,133
the Iranians were that much more.
1442
01:17:42,433 --> 01:17:44,633
It was early 1995.
1443
01:17:44,733 --> 01:17:48,400
They had been traveling
for nearly two years.
1444
01:17:48,500 --> 01:17:51,467
And, leaving Iran, Denis and Francis
1445
01:17:51,567 --> 01:17:55,067
knew, finally, that they had done it.
1446
01:17:55,133 --> 01:17:58,100
Against all odds, they had been where
1447
01:17:58,200 --> 01:18:01,767
the venetian had been,
seen what he had seen.
1448
01:18:01,867 --> 01:18:04,733
Not only had they followed their hearts,
1449
01:18:04,833 --> 01:18:05,847
they had met their goal...
1450
01:18:05,867 --> 01:18:11,267
Walking in the footsteps of Marco Polo.
1451
01:18:21,833 --> 01:18:24,333
So when we crossed from Iran into Turkey,
1452
01:18:24,433 --> 01:18:25,667
it was almost too official.
1453
01:18:25,767 --> 01:18:28,200
People lined up on a road,
and we're shaking hands
1454
01:18:28,300 --> 01:18:29,633
with every single one of them
1455
01:18:29,733 --> 01:18:31,633
with mount ararat in the background.
1456
01:18:31,733 --> 01:18:34,333
Not only did they
roll out the red carpet for us,
1457
01:18:34,433 --> 01:18:36,200
but it was kind of like a magic carpet.
1458
01:18:36,300 --> 01:18:37,833
They kind of took us by the hand,
1459
01:18:37,933 --> 01:18:40,200
led us across the country,
and shipped us to Venice,
1460
01:18:40,300 --> 01:18:41,867
which was nice, because, you know,
1461
01:18:41,967 --> 01:18:44,500
for the first time in two years,
we really didn't have to think.
1462
01:18:44,600 --> 01:18:46,400
We were just like stars, and they put us up
1463
01:18:46,500 --> 01:18:48,300
at a nice hotel,
and we got to eat good food
1464
01:18:48,400 --> 01:18:49,400
and sleep in a nice bed.
1465
01:18:49,467 --> 01:18:51,700
And they put us on a ship,
1466
01:18:51,800 --> 01:18:52,840
and we sailed into Venice.
1467
01:18:52,867 --> 01:18:55,700
So Denis and I kind of stood
1468
01:18:55,800 --> 01:18:58,367
on the bow of the ship
as Venice floated by,
1469
01:18:58,467 --> 01:19:01,633
and kind of had this little moment of,
1470
01:19:01,733 --> 01:19:05,767
you know, unspoken,
you know, realization between us
1471
01:19:05,867 --> 01:19:07,933
that this was it, you know?
1472
01:19:08,067 --> 01:19:08,933
Yeah.
1473
01:19:09,067 --> 01:19:10,633
And it was kind of melancholy
1474
01:19:10,733 --> 01:19:12,900
because, you know, while you're out there
1475
01:19:13,067 --> 01:19:14,567
and you're yearning for home
1476
01:19:14,667 --> 01:19:17,200
and maybe you're saying,
"I wish I wasn't here"...
1477
01:19:17,300 --> 01:19:18,300
It is freezing.
1478
01:19:18,367 --> 01:19:20,200
Right now, it's not so bad,
1479
01:19:20,300 --> 01:19:22,100
but last night was brutal.
1480
01:19:22,200 --> 01:19:24,467
I hate it here.
1481
01:19:24,567 --> 01:19:26,600
I have a splitting headache.
So somebody send him
1482
01:19:26,700 --> 01:19:27,980
his sunglasses and some aspirin.
1483
01:19:28,067 --> 01:19:30,333
You never... almost like
you never thought this point
1484
01:19:30,433 --> 01:19:32,367
was ever going to come,
and now, here it is,
1485
01:19:32,467 --> 01:19:34,433
and you want to do
anything you can to, like,
1486
01:19:34,533 --> 01:19:36,600
turn around and go back
and not have to go home.
1487
01:19:36,700 --> 01:19:39,067
I wanted to go back out there
because I didn't think
1488
01:19:39,100 --> 01:19:40,967
I was going to be able to kind of go back
1489
01:19:41,067 --> 01:19:42,667
to the quote-unquote
"real world."
1490
01:19:47,367 --> 01:19:50,533
It's me, Marco Polo, returned home.
1491
01:19:50,633 --> 01:19:52,733
So we had an amazing reception.
1492
01:19:52,833 --> 01:19:55,700
They gave us a royal regatta of gondolas
1493
01:19:55,800 --> 01:19:57,500
down the grand canal, took us right to
1494
01:19:57,600 --> 01:19:59,067
St. Mark's square
and the bells
1495
01:19:59,167 --> 01:20:01,067
of St. Mark's itself
were rung in our honor
1496
01:20:01,167 --> 01:20:02,413
as we disembarked into the square.
1497
01:20:02,433 --> 01:20:03,947
Tourists are taking our pictures.
1498
01:20:03,967 --> 01:20:05,680
They don't know who we are,
but all of the sudden,
1499
01:20:05,700 --> 01:20:07,800
all these tourists,
and we had a group around us.
1500
01:20:07,900 --> 01:20:09,733
Our families are surrounding us.
1501
01:20:09,833 --> 01:20:11,400
Yeah, my mom nearly knocked me over
1502
01:20:11,500 --> 01:20:12,500
and, like, clung onto me
1503
01:20:12,600 --> 01:20:15,833
for the next few hours, and it was...
1504
01:20:15,933 --> 01:20:16,967
It was great.
1505
01:20:17,067 --> 01:20:18,900
I mean, it was great, it was wonderful,
1506
01:20:19,000 --> 01:20:20,333
but sad that it was ending.
1507
01:20:20,433 --> 01:20:21,667
Didn't want it to end.
1508
01:20:21,767 --> 01:20:24,333
Wish there was a couple of
more countries to go see.
1509
01:20:24,433 --> 01:20:26,433
We had collected all that stuff.
1510
01:20:26,533 --> 01:20:27,667
Marco Polo...
1511
01:20:27,767 --> 01:20:29,867
During Marco Polo's trip,
during his journey,
1512
01:20:29,967 --> 01:20:31,967
he talks about things that he collected...
1513
01:20:32,067 --> 01:20:33,467
And brought back.
1514
01:20:33,567 --> 01:20:34,467
Sago seeds
1515
01:20:34,567 --> 01:20:36,433
from the sago palm in sumatra.
1516
01:20:36,533 --> 01:20:39,300
He talks about fly swatters
made from yak tails.
1517
01:20:39,400 --> 01:20:41,400
And we collected the same things.
1518
01:20:41,500 --> 01:20:42,567
Paper money as well.
1519
01:20:42,667 --> 01:20:43,800
Yeah, paper money.
1520
01:20:43,900 --> 01:20:46,533
All the things that he says
that he brought back,
1521
01:20:46,633 --> 01:20:48,300
we tried to bring back today,
1522
01:20:48,400 --> 01:20:51,267
and we presented these
to the mayor of Venice,
1523
01:20:51,367 --> 01:20:54,467
and I had my Afghan hat on
and the mayor was like,
1524
01:20:54,567 --> 01:20:56,667
"I would like
to have your hat."
1525
01:20:56,767 --> 01:20:58,900
And I was like,
"no, Mei you."
1526
01:21:00,200 --> 01:21:02,100
So that night, they threw a...
1527
01:21:02,200 --> 01:21:04,267
There was a gala reception for us
1528
01:21:04,367 --> 01:21:07,467
with the mayor and tourism
and our parents and family,
1529
01:21:07,567 --> 01:21:10,133
and the mayor got up and made a speech and,
1530
01:21:10,233 --> 01:21:11,533
you know, he was like,
1531
01:21:11,633 --> 01:21:14,733
"what can we do for you, two Americans
1532
01:21:14,833 --> 01:21:18,067
who have vested so much
in our history?"
1533
01:21:18,167 --> 01:21:20,600
And we just said,
"we only have one request.
1534
01:21:20,700 --> 01:21:22,767
We want to see
Marco Polo's will."
1535
01:21:58,933 --> 01:22:01,167
Today,
1536
01:22:01,267 --> 01:22:04,600
Francis O'Donnell is an artist
living in queens.
1537
01:22:10,100 --> 01:22:14,067
Like Denis belliveau,
he's convinced that Marco Polo
1538
01:22:14,133 --> 01:22:17,200
saw all he claimed to see of the world.
1539
01:22:17,300 --> 01:22:18,433
His own work
1540
01:22:18,533 --> 01:22:22,467
reflects all he has seen of it.
1541
01:22:22,567 --> 01:22:24,700
Jake, give me a big slide, go ahead!
1542
01:22:24,800 --> 01:22:25,900
As for Denis,
1543
01:22:26,067 --> 01:22:29,133
that Indian diviner turned out to be right.
1544
01:22:29,233 --> 01:22:32,067
Today, he has a wife and two children
1545
01:22:32,100 --> 01:22:34,067
who he lives with in queens.
1546
01:22:34,167 --> 01:22:36,933
He continues his work as a photographer.
1547
01:22:39,200 --> 01:22:40,667
I would say that...
1548
01:22:40,767 --> 01:22:44,067
Most of the world is full of good people.
1549
01:22:44,100 --> 01:22:47,433
There's a lot more good people
on the planet than bad.
1550
01:22:53,167 --> 01:22:55,900
It's easy to hate someone you've never met.
1551
01:22:56,067 --> 01:22:58,300
Travel is the enemy of bigotry.
1552
01:23:05,067 --> 01:23:07,933
Get out there, meet them.
1553
01:23:08,067 --> 01:23:09,100
They're good.
1554
01:23:09,200 --> 01:23:10,933
Don't believe the hype.
1555
01:23:11,067 --> 01:23:13,100
Don't believe the state department.
1556
01:23:13,200 --> 01:23:17,133
Don't believe the media.
1557
01:23:17,233 --> 01:23:20,533
The future may never come,
so it's just right here and now
1558
01:23:20,633 --> 01:23:23,067
and just to enjoy the moment is, I think,
1559
01:23:23,133 --> 01:23:26,233
the most precious lesson
that I've learned, I think.
1560
01:23:31,167 --> 01:23:33,900
There's a few objects
that have special meaning
1561
01:23:34,067 --> 01:23:36,700
that I just had to have
and had to bring home.
1562
01:23:36,800 --> 01:23:39,900
I brought back my saddle
from xinjiang province
1563
01:23:40,067 --> 01:23:42,133
when Denis and I rode the 400 miles
1564
01:23:42,233 --> 01:23:43,533
from Kashgar to hotian,
1565
01:23:43,633 --> 01:23:45,067
and it's a beautiful art object.
1566
01:23:45,133 --> 01:23:46,867
It's not very practical as a saddle,
1567
01:23:46,967 --> 01:23:48,267
but I don't really think about
1568
01:23:48,367 --> 01:23:50,100
the hardship that was endured on it.
1569
01:23:50,200 --> 01:23:52,867
I think about the majesty of our journey.
1570
01:23:54,500 --> 01:23:57,100
I really don't need pictures or artwork
1571
01:23:57,200 --> 01:23:58,733
to remember these things
1572
01:23:58,833 --> 01:24:01,200
because it's locked in my heart,
1573
01:24:01,300 --> 01:24:05,333
but I do like to surround myself
with beautiful things.
1574
01:24:05,433 --> 01:24:07,933
But I'll still sell them to travel.
1575
01:24:11,267 --> 01:24:14,433
* I hear a wind
1576
01:24:14,533 --> 01:24:18,067
* whistling air
1577
01:24:18,100 --> 01:24:21,600
* whispering
1578
01:24:21,700 --> 01:24:25,467
* in my ear
1579
01:24:32,267 --> 01:24:35,067
* boy Mercury
1580
01:24:35,167 --> 01:24:39,233
* shootin' through every degree *
1581
01:24:39,333 --> 01:24:42,600
* oh, girl, dancin' down those dirty *
1582
01:24:42,700 --> 01:24:43,400
* and dusty trails
1583
01:24:43,500 --> 01:24:47,867
* take it hip to hip
1584
01:24:47,967 --> 01:24:53,100
* rocket through the wilderness *
1585
01:24:53,200 --> 01:24:54,067
* around the world
1586
01:24:54,167 --> 01:25:00,567
* the trip begins with a kiss
1587
01:25:00,667 --> 01:25:04,500
* roam if you want to
1588
01:25:04,600 --> 01:25:07,967
* roam around the world
1589
01:25:08,067 --> 01:25:11,467
* roam if you want to
1590
01:25:11,567 --> 01:25:14,867
* without wings, without wheels *
1591
01:25:14,967 --> 01:25:18,400
* roam if you want to
1592
01:25:18,500 --> 01:25:22,067
* roam around the world
1593
01:25:22,100 --> 01:25:25,433
* roam if you want to
1594
01:25:25,533 --> 01:25:29,367
* without anything but the love we feel *
1595
01:25:29,700 --> 01:25:32,333
We're going to have
to come up with something else.
1596
01:25:32,433 --> 01:25:33,767
What are we going to do next?
1597
01:25:33,867 --> 01:25:36,167
We've been thinking about a lot of things.
1598
01:25:36,267 --> 01:25:37,867
We have a lot of plans on the table.
1599
01:25:37,967 --> 01:25:39,833
What about getting elephants and retracing
1600
01:25:39,933 --> 01:25:41,633
the route of Hannibal across the Alps?
1601
01:25:41,733 --> 01:25:42,933
That would be great.
1602
01:25:43,067 --> 01:25:45,267
I just don't know if I can
handle the cold anymore,
1603
01:25:45,367 --> 01:25:46,700
you know?
122392
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