Back home

Sorry for the silence. Got back a couple of weeks back from a big Himalayan research trip to Bhutan (4 weeks) and Tibet (six weeks) via Kathmandu, Hangzhou and Khotan. A crazy threee-month itinerary of 24 flights! I'm now home working like a madman on Tibet and Bhutan guides for Lonely Planet but as soon as I get a minute I'll throw up some postings on the Druk Path trek in Bhutan, the overland trip to Western Tibet and trek around Mt Kailash, the trip out to the ruins of the Shang Shung kingdom in the Garuda Valley and even some Marco Polo filming in Hangzhou and Kashgar. Phew, it's been a busy summer. Oh, and I moved house.

Sorry, my wife actually moved our house.
Can't really claim credit for that one.

But I did all the rest, I promise.

Just back from a trip to Denver for a New Year's Slim Cessna concert but still managed to find some connections to the Central Asian world. The Denver Museum of Nature and Science was hosting a high profile exhibition on Genghis Khan, with Genghis' portrait plastered all over town. I've been told the exhibition is light on actual artefacts (which is understandable for a nomadic empire) but I can't say for sure because the exhibition was sold out. Who thought the Mongols were so popular... Moral of the story: book your tickets online. If you're headed to Denver the exhibition is on until February 7th 2010. If you can't make it, I recommend the companion book, which is discounted at Amazon.

On the way back home we pulled into Boulder to track down the Tajik teahouse there. Apparently the chaikhana was built 20 years ago by Tajik craftsmen as a gift to Dushanbe's sister city Boulder. It's a perfect replica with lovely carved pillars, alabaster plaques and swirling painted arabesques. They even serve plov and shashlyk if you're feeling mutton withdrawal symptoms, though the prices will shock you if you've ever chowed down a dollar plov in Dushanbe.

Afghanistan

Here are a few photos from this summer's Afghanistan trip. Click on them for bigger images. Brad.

Journey to Xanadu

The latest excursion on the Marco Polo trip was to Xanadu, the long lost summer capital of Khublai Khan, which Marco wrote about in his Travels. There's not a lot left to see, certainly not the khan's marble palace or yurt made from laquered bamboo but you can see the concentric 13th-century city walls, the depressions of the former palace lakes and the central foundations of the khan's palace. It was great to ride through the site on horseback with a local Mongolian singer who looked like Khublai's grandson. This is the place that inspired the opium-addled poet Coleridge to write 'In Xanadu did Khubla Khan a stately pleasure dome decree', allegedly after reading about Marco Polo's travels. The site is about 19km from Zhen Lan Banner (Zhenlan Qi, or Shangdu city), in Inner Mongolia and the town boasts a great statue of Khublai on horseback.

Another highlight of the trip was flying about the sand dunes of Dunhuang in a powered hanglider (after checking the small print of my travel insurance). Felt like the opening scenes of The English Patient, where the plane is flying above the Sahara. Nice. One thing Marco Polo didn't do...

Lonely Planet Central Asia - the 9 to 5

This winter I'm working on a new edition of Lonely Planet's Central Asia guide. This is the more normal part of the job, stuck in my studio in front of the computer screen and typing up the new guide. Research was earlier this autumn in Tajikistan, one of my favourite places. I entered Tajikistan from the Afghanistan side, spent a couple of weeks in the high Pamirs checking out the latest homestays from META, the excellent community tourism organisation there, and then finally managed to catch the white-knuckle flight from Khorog to Dushanbe. I've been to most of Tajikistan before but this time managed to hitch and hike up to the Zerafshan and Yagnob valleys, where there are new homestays. Did some hiking in the hills, visited all the homestays and enjoyed being away from the lowland heat of Dushanbe which was punishingly hot in August.

I always come away from a trip with one great place to visit next time; this time it's Zarosh-Kul, an incredible looking Pamiri lake on a 6 day loop trek out of Barchadiev, near the Pamir Highway. That's my tip for an adventure to do right now in Tajikistan.

In the meantime I'm stuck at my desk over the winter, tweaking Central Asian history and food sections. Gives me a chance to be normal. Well.....

The Marco Polo Trip Part III

Autumn is firmly here in Montana with snow expected tomorrow, so it's lucky that I'm headed off in a few days on the latest leg of my Marco Polo trip. This section concentrates on Gansu and Beijing, from the Buddhist caves and desert sands of Dunhuang down the old Silk Road through the Hexi Corridor to Lanzhou and then on to Beijing to track down the old Mongol capital of Xanadu, to the north in what is today inner Mongolia. I'll post some pictures when I get back.