Marco Polo Reloaded

In Venice during carnival Bradley visits a famous costume maker a true Marco Polo enthusiast In the ancient crusaders town of Akko in Israel he encounters an Arab who parallels Marco Polos time to the situation in Israel today Passing Syria Bradley stops at the famous bazaar of Aleppo that breathes the feel of the old Silk Road Together with a photographer friend he roams the snowy winter

First stop the carpet town of Tabris Marco Polo had described the ldquoAssassinsrdquo of Mount Alamut so Bradley looks for traces of the first suicide killers in history In Teheran he finds access to the young urban music scene all underground In the old mudbuilt town of Yazd he looks for the last remaining fireworshippers At the shore of the Persian Gulf he wonders why Marco Polo did not take

He reaches Afghanistan in Herat roaming the city with a young woman who is afraid that the Taliban might come back In Masare Sharif he visits the ruins of ancient Balkh which Marco had written about as the Mother of Cities Today Bradley needs police protection to roam the famous ruins He gets an army airlift to Faizabad in Badakhshan starting point for an adventurous expedition in search of the

When Bradley reaches China he will witness Chinas jump from a developing country to a global superpower what it was when Marco Polo met the Chinese Emperor 700 years back The fact that Marco Polo traveled east is undoubted but did he reach China Was he close to Kublai Khan as his book suggests Some historians are doubtful