Over the course of 47 days, our journey is to take us through six countries that, over the centuries have been major locations along the Silk Road. We will cross mountains, deserts, grasslands. We shall enter bustling cities and bazaars, animal markets, still trading and as lively as ever. Temperatures will range from below zero to the mid-thirties, foods will be regional and diverse.
Morning from #Beijing! Our @WildFrontiers #silkroad group exploring Tiananmen Square #NGTSilkRoad pic.twitter.com/TZ0OFOcFh8
— Emma Thomson (@emmasthomson) September 13, 2016
I hope to keep you posted of our progress over the coming weeks, so let me introduce you to the merry bunch of travellers in our ‘caravan’ – the term used for a group of people who traversed the Silk Road. Pseudonyms have been given; all men and women who, over the past two thousand years have gone before us, seeking different outcomes from their undertaking; merchants, missionaries, emissaries, adventurers, archaeologists.
We have the Chinese official and diplomat Zhang Qian who, in the 2nd century BCE brought back reliable information about Central Asia to the Imperial Court. Through his missions and explorations, he played a key role in opening China to parts of the world previously unknown to them, and to the world of commercial trade.
Two Nestorian monks (552 CE) are with us; jolly fellows who never let their bamboo walking sticks out of their sight. There’s something dodgy about them; I think they might be smuggling something. We’ll have to keep an eye on them and see what develops.
There’s another monk with us - Xuanzang (602-664 CE). He’s a Buddhist, this one – a scholar, traveller and translator - whose travels along the Silk Road became the inspiration for a fantastic book, Journey to the West and, much later, the hugely popular 1980s television series Monkey.
A jump in time now, to the 13th century and another religious man with us; Odoric of Pordenone (1286-1331). He’s an Italian Franciscan friar and missionary explorer who travelled in Constantinople, Persia and China to name but three countries and it is said that his writings were far more accurate and memorable than Marco Polo’s.
Always on the go, the Muslim Ibn Battuta from Morocco is with us; he travelled from 1325 – 1355 across much of the Old World. He’s now an inspirational name for travellers whose works were not known outside the Muslim world till 19c when a German traveller/explorer acquired a collection of his documents.
The Madrid nobleman Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo travelled the Silk Road in the early 15th century, as the second ambassador to Henry II of Castile to the Timurid Empire. He’ll have more to tell us when we reach Samarkand, where he met the great Timur himself, and wrote very detailed accounts of the city.
Of course we are delighted to have the company of Ferdinand von Richthofen (1835 – 1905) because it was he who coined the term ‘Silk Road’ in 1877. A traveller, scientist and geographer, he travelled in China in 1868 – 72 and has a mountain named after him. Oh, and he just happens to be Uncle to the Red Baron WW1 flying ace (and nemesis of Snoopy) Manfred von Richthofen!
Swedish Sven Hedin (1865 – 1952) was a man of many talents! Geographer, topographer, explorer, photographer, travel writer, and illustrator of his own works, he mapped parts of the Great Wall of China and was the first to unearth the ruins of ancient Buddhist cities in Chinese Central Asia. He was also a student of Ferdinand von Richthofen.
Just to add a frisson of excitement to the medley of travellers, we have Heden’s rival, Aurel Stein (1862 – 1943), the Hungarian-British archaeologist, explorer, brilliant orientalist, geographer and surveyor. It was the texts of Xuanzang (above) which helped Stein discover ancient cities buried under the Taklamakan desert. Stein's greatest discovery was made at the Mogao Caves also known as "Caves of the Thousand Buddhas", near Dunhuang in 1907. It was there that he discovered a printed copy of the Diamond Sutra, the world's oldest printed text, dating to AD 868, along with 40,000 other scrolls. We shall be visiting the caves on our journey.
Plucky lasses, these three; Mildred Cable and Francesca & Eva French, aka ‘The Trio’ or ‘Missionaries with Attitude’. They joined the British Protestant Christian missionary in China between 1901-1908, serving with the China Inland Mission.
They worked together for the rest of their lives. We’re lucky to be favoured with their presence; they usually traversed the Silk Road as a trio – crossing the dreaded Taklamakan Desert three times - no armed guards or caravan as did Stein & Heden.
Another loner, Ella Maillart 1903 – 1997 has graced us with her presence. A French-speaking Swiss adventurer, travel writer and photographer, as well as a sportswoman, Ella described her 1932 journey in Soviet Turkestan in a book, Turkestan Solo and her later trek in a book, Forbidden City, a journey that took her to Chinese Turkestan; both regions we will be travelling though.
And, of course, there is the Master of the Caravan; the one who chivvies the rag-tag bunch to be ready to leave the caravanserai at first light, to get a move on. To make sure they arrive safely at another staging post and to have food ready for them, to offer advice, information about the route, the length of the next march, the potential dangers, the possible weather conditions….
Now who, in this group, can that be?
Jude is tour leading our first ever departure of The Great Silk Road Adventure, our epic journey along the length of the Silk Road.
Read her next instalment.
Travel writer Emma Thomson is also travelling along the tour, and keeping a blog on National Geographic Traveller here.
