01x04 - Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan

[bunniefuu]

There we are, sweetheart.

I'm in the far west of Uzbekistan

in Central Asia and around me for 400 miles

is desert in every direction.

This scene really

has been unchanged for 2,000 years,

great camels, ships of the desert.

They take me through...

strange places like that.

They can carry unimaginably heavy loads

and it was really thanks to these guys

that the Silk Road was able to operate at all.

The ancient network of trade
routes ran between Europe and China.

So far on my travels along the Silk Road,

I've seen the flamboyant splendour of Venice.

Even for a Venetian hat, that's strange.

The modern glittering towers of Azerbaijan.

It's magic.

And the magic palaces and gardens of Iran.

Absolutely peaceful.

On this leg of my journey.

Holy smoke.

I'm going to visit some of
the most stunning and historic

Silk Road cities.

I mean look at it, it's awesome!

There'll be a stimulating sauna.

And I shall witness the amazing
and ancient art of eagle hunting.

Follow me on my Silk Road adventure.

Come on, lovely ones.

Uzbekistan is a double land locked country

and boasts some of the Silk
Road's most important cities.

I'm in the west of the country in the Kyzylkum desert.

We're approaching Ayaz-Kala

and a fortress that's been standing there since...



It was part of a chain of
fortresses, there were 50 of them,

built along here.

They were called the golden ring of Khwarazm.

These ancient fortresses
were built to protect a valley

on the Silk Road

that was vulnerable to marauding nomads

who'd break out of the desert

and find rich pickings on the trade route.

Look at that!

Well!

That must be a little small fortress,

maybe that's the ruins of a
palace beside it down there.

Look, you can just see forever!

What a brilliant place to position your fort.

Phew!

You'd be able to see a caravan trail

coming miles away and you'd go, these are friends.

Don't fight these people.

They're bringing in gorgeous things,

they're bringing in spices and
silk and flavours and coconut.

Gee whiz.

So the Silk Road traders came here

but their real goal, their real destiny

was over the horizon to the south,

the great desert city of Khiva.

These are the legendary fortress walls of Khiva.

Gosh, you see things in photographs
and then when you see them

in real life, it looks like a sand castle.

Khiva offered water, a market

and a sanctuary from the desert.

And it has over 15 centuries of Silk Road history.

Oh, look at this baby!

Look at you, sweetheart.

Hello, darling.

The town became famous

for some extraordinary headgear, a must

for any Silk Road trader
taking on the Kyzyl-Kum desert.

This is gorgeous.

They're sort of hat dancing.

Those hats are called chugirma.

They seem to be involved in this dance

which is all to do with power

and status. Having these
hats was terribly important.

Standing here looking rather marvellous with a...

balding head

is Shokir, he's the...

the owner of this, he's the
kind of keeper of this chugirma.

Going back 500 years,

your family will have made these hats

for caravanserai,

for the travellers coming through Khiva.

It looks very hot.

Is it hot in the summer?

Spasiba, Shokir.

Thank you so much. That was an honour to talk to you.

Hey!

Whoo! Bravo!

Trade on the Silk Road was
not just in fabric and spices -

human sl*ves were a major commodity.

Hundreds of thousands were bought and sold

and as late as the 19th century,

Khiva had an active sl*ve market.

Gosh, how ghastly it must have been.

Russian boys were the prime target for the slavers

because they sold for a lot of money.

They were all kept and sold and traded here

in the middle of Khiva. Heart-breaking.

A man called Captain James
Abbott, who was a British officer,

he wrote "Alas, he who once enters Khiva

"abandons all hope as he who enters hell."

"His prison house is girdled with...

"trackless deserts whose sole inhabitants

"are the sellers of human flesh."

Looks gorgeous now, though.

Leaving Khiva and the desert behind,

we're travelling 500 miles to
the Uzbek capital in the east

and Central Asia's biggest city.

Tashkent's history goes back to the second century BC

when it was a tiny oasis town.

But now it's a modern city with nearly

two and a half million inhabitants.

The very words Tashkent sort of

make you think, oh, Tashkent I wonder what it's like.

Will it be very strange and
Central Asian and difficult?

No, look at it, it's just...
It's like Paris, actually.

There's a legend

that this is exactly halfway

between China where all the silk was coming from

and beginning its journey towards the west

and Europe, its destination.

This was exactly the halfway mark.

It's hard to believe it now

but around 50 years ago this beautiful city

was laid waste by a natural disaster.

On April the 26th in 1966,

Tashkent was flattened by a massive earthquake,

hundreds of thousands of
people lost their homes but luckily,

only a handful were k*lled.

At the time the Soviet Union ruled Uzbekistan

and it was a catalyst

for them to spend billions on redesigning Tashkent

as a model Soviet city

and not just above ground.

The Tashkent metro carries
just short of 60 million passengers

a year.

And for around 12 pence, you can go anywhere

on the 36 kilometre network.

Why this system is really
special is that the 29 stations

each have their own unique architectural theme.

Now I'm changing trains

and I've got to find a station called Alisher Navoi.

Excuse me, gdye Alisher Navoi?

Uh-huh.

Spasiba.

There's a whole station dedicated to cotton,

one of the country's biggest exports.

Alisher Navoi.

There are stations that celebrate

the country's great poets. Bread, chillies

also big news here.

Isn't this beautiful?

But I'm looking for one
that's altogether more cosmic.

These great cosmonauts.

Is that Valentina Tereshkova?

She was an extraordinary woman.

She was the first woman in
space, an ordinary factory worker

and she circuited the globe 48 times.

What a fabulous station!

It's very cool and dark, like outer space.

Gagarin.

Here he is.

First man in space.

Wow!

And here in Russian writing,

cos mon auta,

cosmonauts, it's not...

goes on a bit at the end, cosmonautsa.

Look at these glass gorgeous pillars.

Isn't it nice to think

that after a ghastly
catastrophe, the great earthquake

of 1966,

that something so fine should be built.

Hello, baby.

Sweet! I think Uzbekistan

has some of the sweetest children in the world.

I could become a child kidnapper here.

Sorry I didn't, I didn't mean to say that

and I'm obviously not going to do it.

I'm going to an Uzbek wedding

but I haven't been invited by the bride and groom.

I'm travelling with a pop
band, fantastic. This is the band.

This is Rayhon, fabulous.

Can you get in first? The boys get in first.

Weddings are absolutely huge here in Uzbekistan.

They go on for four days and
they're massive, massively expensive

and some of them are so grand
that they manage to get pop stars

like Rayhon to sing there. It's unbelievable.

I'm getting in first, I feel rude. Look at this dress!

We're going off to do a wedding gig tonight,

at least we... I'm just going along with her.

Rayhon is one of Uzbekistan's biggest pop stars,

with nearly eight million YouTube
streams of her latest single.

Here in Uzbekistan, it's perfectly normal

to hire a big star to perform

at your wedding reception.

Have you sometimes sung

for two weddings in the same night?

Yes, of course. Yes?

Two, maybe three... No... or four.

My gosh.

And do you ever get nervous before you go on stage?

Every time. Do you?

Uzbeks spend ten times the
amount we do in the UK on weddings.

Culturally, it's supposed to
guarantee a wealthy future.

Look at this!

Isn't it fabulous?

The country's president

has spoken out against what
he calls shameless spending

that couples can't afford.

And he's even tried to implement a cap.

Look, look.

They've been filmed on a jib

and everybody dressed up to the nines.

Great flower arrangements

on the table, I mean weddings do this all the time

but it's so lovely to see it in a different country.

Do you know, it doesn't matter what you put on,

you look dowdy compared with everybody here!

Just dowdy.

I think the dancers will be coming out.

And when they come out, Rayhon is on.

The happy couple, to be
honest, look slightly terrified.

It's a tradition here

that they ignore each other until after the ceremony.

That or they're wondering

how on earth they'll ever pay for this.

I've often dreamt of taking
the Golden Road to Samarkand

but I never imagined it would be on this sleek,

new train that's whizzing through Uzbekistan

at speeds of up to 160 miles an hour.

Bit wobbly but come along.

Hello, ladies. Hello.

How lovely to see you. Hello.

I know. We're on our way through to the buffet

but if we'd known you were here,

we'd have made the entire film about you.

That was a very merry group of little ladies.

Look how beautiful this is.

How lovely, hello.

This is, this is a beautiful bar.

My gosh, it's stacked up
with drinks as well. Look at it.

Could I have a cappuccino? Yes, cappuccino.

Thank you.

Here's a travelling tip.

Put things in bags.

I know this sounds like things old ladies do

and quite obviously I'm an old lady

but if you can when you're packing,

put things in a bag and you know what it's going to be.

So in here, I know it's going to be in here.

I'll have my passport in there and I know that, my phone

and in here...

I've got my money.

It looks like millions, sort of 5,000...

is 50 pence.

Everything is very cheap here.

Oh, my lord.

You see when you...

When you travel, when you take
the Golden Road to Samarkand

you literally don't know what you're going to get.

No name evokes images of the Silk Road

like the city of Samarkand.

It was once the beating heart

of a powerful empire that stretched

from the Mediterranean in the west

to the borders of China in the east.

I think I love these colours so much.

The combination of the dark blue,

turquoise on a sort of buff background

with white.

It looks sensational

and the amount of different patterns

they manage to incorporate

into every building.

Practically no panel is the same as the one above it.

Even in medieval Europe, Samarkand was renowned.

Prompting poets, playwrights and travellers

to extol the city few had ever seen.

Today, Uzbekistan cherishes
this architectural masterpiece

and a programme of restoration is
constantly repairing and restoring.

Many people do take the Golden Road to Samarkand

from near and afar

to gaze at its scale and majesty.

You look so beautiful, so beautiful.

English. English, English. English.

How old are you?

How old am I? Very, very old, darling.

Are you from Samarkand? No.

Where? Fergana. Fergana? Valley.

Beautiful Fergana.

Oh. Bless you, honeys.

So lovely to meet you.

I love this Frida Kahlo mono-brow

which is Fergana valley, I think,

which is this decoration across there.

Very sweet.

This jewel of Islamic architecture

is the ambition of one very powerful man.

Amir Timur is known in the west

as Tamerlane,

whose 14th century imperial conquests

k*lled 17 million people

but he'd spare the lives of
talented artists and architects

from lands he conquered and put them to work

building his magnificent capital.

Oh, look at that!

It's a delicacy.

Timur died at the age of 69

on his way to wage w*r against the Chinese

whilst attempting to expand an empire

within which trade and the Silk Road flourished.

His final resting place is
the magnificent Gur-e-Amir

where thousands now flock

to pay their respects to Timur,

the conqueror of worlds.

This must be the tomb of Amir Timur.

There's a legend that it, there's a curse on it.

You mustn't tamper with it and 1941,

the Russians who, of course,
were running Uzbekistan at the time

decided for scientific purposes

to open the tomb and exhume his body, which they did.

Three days later,

Hitler invaded Russia

so it was seen as a terrible curse,

opening the tomb. The next year, he was buried

with full Islamic honours and now he's lying to rest

in this phenomenal,

extraordinary, calm, quiet,

beautiful place.

Rhubarb, gunpowder and the mechanical clock

all travel down the Silk Road

but Samarkand is renowned
for one of life's daily basics.

Bread, bread, bread, bread, OK.

Hello, ladies.

Oh, look! Gosh, she's got...

Look how shiny!

I want to see them.

Gosh, they look so delicious.

Here in Samarkand, the bread
has almost magical properties.

It's said to be able

to stay fresh for absolutely ages.

Thank you. Thank you so much, thank you.

Not only that, it's apparently impossible

to recreate it anywhere else.

I want to see how it's made.

You made this? Yes, yes, yes. Near here?

People debate whether it's the air,

the altitude or the water.

Hello?

But I managed to track down some
bakers who have been making it here

in Samarkand for generations.

Sesame seed?

Why?

Sesame. Sesame.

This is hot, put it down here.

Look at these little hands but they're cool

but she's holding it and this is, I tell you

so hot. It's like a burning, burning

hot water pipe, it's so burning hot.

How long does this last?

That's so lovely.

Smells like paradise. It's
cooling off enough for me to hold it

and show it to you very quickly and then put it down

cos it's unbelievably hot.

It's so hot.

I just want to see this fire

being burnt up like this. The smell here

when they're setting up for the new baking.

I know I'm...

OK, I can sense that I'm just in the way here.

But look at that.

I can't tell you how good it is, it's very dense.

Please come through.

It's very thick, dense so it's
not light and furry and airy.

Erm...

Samarkand is known

as the glittering capital of Timur's medieval empire

but I've become intrigued by a mysterious people

who were fundamental to the Silk Road,

centuries before Timur set foot here.

The Sogdians and the great city that they built

have all but vanished from the earth.

But in the 1970s,

new road works uncovered a
glimpse into their glorious past.

Come with me.

The Sogdians...

These are my new heroes and I'm going to tell you why.

Look at this. 7th century.

It's a mural depicting what the Sogdians did.

They were traders.

They were the most extraordinary people.

They came from Persia and they settled in this area,

made Samarkand their capital

and they were really the enablers of the Silk Road.

They were the brokers of it,

they traded not only in goods

but they enabled religions to flow through

from the east to the west. Everything came through

the Sogdians who were utterly, utterly brilliant.

This fascinating fresco shows people from Korea,

India, China and Tibet

all coming to pay their respects

to the Sogdian king.

Here...

in the middle are the Chinese,

they've come from China bringing cocoons of silk.

The Sogdian empire were so, so clever.

The Chinese were quite suspicious of them, they said

when a Sogdian boy is born

they put honey in his mouth and
glue on the palm of his baby hand

so that when he speaks, he speaks sweetly

and when he sees money, it sticks to his hand.

So these are all the glories
of Sogdiana in the old days,

the most important

and now almost overlooked empire.

Some extraordinary physical
remains have also been discovered.

Some Sogdians practised cranial deformation

and it produced a distinctive elongated skull.

In what method? Did they bind them?

Can we touch it?

Oh, yes, I will.

So how old is this?

Wow.

If you look at that,

it must have been extraordinary

to see a Sogdian coming to you

because they not only were

amazingly clever and brilliant
and different and important.

Looked different, they looked like aliens.

It's beautiful, I wonder what her
name was, little person. Sweet.

Sweet little one.

Samarkand has indeed been golden

but it's time to leave Uzbekistan

and venture east to surprising
and beautiful Kyrgyzstan.

We've left Uzbekistan

and are travelling to its mountainous

and rugged neighbour, Kyrgyzstan.

Nestled among the Tian Shan Mountains

is its capital city, Bishkek.

I mean look at it, it's awesome. And the flag

with the symbol of the yurt on it.

It is so beautiful with air like champagne.

People first settled here

in the 6th century to establish
a Sogdian trading post.

Like all the central Asian countries,

Kyrgyzstan was part of the
Soviet Union until its independence

in 1991,

which may explain this goose stepping.

It was first started by the Prussian Army

in the mid 18th century before
spreading to imperial Russia.

Changing the guard happens the
world over but it's always fascinating

to see how it's done in another country.

I should just say that the colour of the uniforms here

is stunning, a sort of very dark

teal, I would say.

Uniforms, that always works actually.

This is a mainly Muslim
country, but its communist legacy

gives it a much less strict Islamic feel

than other countries I've visited.

The Kyrgyz people have their origins

in the western parts of modern-day Mongolia.

And the word Kyrgyz means a collection

of 40 tribes and the 40 rays of sun

on the national flag refer to these ancient clans.

Although beautiful Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan,

is now a city of over a million and a quarter people,

in the old days, when it was part of the Sogdian empire,

it was just a simple trading
post on the important Silk Road

travelling from China all the
way across to the east and...

And... And whilst it was very, very green,

very, very green city. Holy smoke.

And under the Soviet Union,

I think a lot of the trees have disappeared.

The cool kids of Bishkek

are all into K-Pop, Korean pop music.

You gave me quite a shock. I
was trying to do a serious piece

about Bishkek and suddenly...

You look so cool, look at this, look at this.

Is this cool in Kyrgyzstan? Yeah?

Absolutely.

How do you do that? Make up and clothes?

Yeah.

This is K-Pop.

You look really good.

Seeing people enjoying their freedom,

it's easy to forget the dramatic events

that took place here in Bishkek in the spring of 2010.

Political tension erupted

when the people took to the streets in protest

against President Bakiyev's corruption

and the crippling hikes in fuel costs.

A state of emergency was declared

and around 4,000 protestors
moved towards Ala-Too Square

and surrounded the White
House, the office of the President.

And the Government fired on the crowd,



You can see there's still some pock marks up there,

they had Chechen mercenaries up on the roof,

sharp shooters.

Absolutely horrifying, people
lying here in pools of blood.

Cities have a way of rebuilding
themselves sometimes,

this one has.

Marina Kim is a young woman who's
keen to see Kyrgyzstan move forward.

Marina, you teach

in the university here,

can you tell me how long you spent in England

to get your perfect English?

Do you want me to be honest? Yes, I do.

Erm, when I was a school girl,

I was in love with erm... boys
band, the Backstreet Boys

and I was so in love with them
so I started learning English

to understand what are they talking about.

And I start learning English

and then I entered the American
University of Central Asia.

I think that my English is good enough but not perfect.

It's extremely good. And you have
such a... I don't know anybody else

who's a professor at university and also a DJ

I mean this is an extraordinary combination.

And you haven't slept all last night, have you? No.

What were you doing? Tell me.

I was DJing playing at...

at the bar where I, I'm working as a DJ,

I had no chance to sleep. You've had no chance to sleep.

Marina, tell me what life is like for women

after you've seceded from Soviet Union.

I sometimes feel

like a pioneer in living the life

as I want it to be

you know, because for example

our mothers and our grandmothers,

they were always pressed by the society

like you should get married,

you should have kids, you should... Stay at home.

Yeah, stay at home. Just erm, shut up and stuff

and I feel like I'm the first generation

of women who are very free

and we live our lives

as we wanted to live

and we are very positive.

So this is new Kyrgyzstan?

I just adore it.

Driving eastwards,

we come across the world's
second largest saline lake.

Fed by hot subterranean springs,

the beautiful lake of Issyk Kul offered

a balmy respite for Silk Road traders

coming across the mountains from China.

But its beauty hides a grim history.

Experts believe that the Black
Death that plagued Europe and Asia

during the 14th century originated here.

The northern shores are
popular with Russian tourists

escaping the summer heat

but on the far more rustic southern side

is a beguiling little yurt
camp right on the lake shore.

Come see inside.

You have to duck.

Look at this gorgeous space I've got.

I've got a beautiful skylight at the top.

And look here, chest of drawers,

I've got a great big mirror here,

I've put all my books and stuff out there.

I thought I'd put some things in the drawers but...

I think somebody's living here, actually.

Cos there, there's three hats, I mean, I like a hat

but I wouldn't have asked for three hats, anyway.

I've got a lovely bed here.

Come, come, I've got a bathroom.

This is rare, this is built on to the side of yurt,

you don't usually have this.

Lavatory.

And you put the paper in the little bin

cos I don't think it's got the capabilities of...

Come see my shower.

I think somebody's in here already.

Do you see what I mean there's a sense,

a sense that I'm encroaching,

obviously thrown them out, I've thrown them out,

I don't mind doing that sometimes
I'm rich and important, I do this.

Hello, honey. It's so beautiful.

The sound of birds singing,

chickens wandering around,

apple trees in blossom.

That's a turkey gobbling
over there, actually, I think.

And this gorgeous yurt is the kitchen

and in here they're making manti which are

sort of pastry dumplings, really,

and these are found everywhere from

Turkey and Albania all across the Caspian Sea

and across Nepal, Tibet right through to China

and of course here in Kyrgyzstan.

I think each region twists them

slightly differently. Look how pretty.

Look how beautiful.

These are some cooking already and it's steamed.

How many minutes?

Kirpesch. Just tippey tippey top.

That gives me

just enough time to make use of the camp facilities.

Well, isn't that divine.

Look at that, it's the mobile sauna.

Unusual little vehicle.

It was left behind by the Russians.

Up we go.

Here it says. This.

On the door so this means go in.

Little bit of a...

kick in to the sauna chamber.

Phew.

How lovely is this.

Oh, that's blissful.

Mm.

I can feel...

years of filth pouring out of me.

Whoa.

Where are we going?

Oh!

Erm...

This is a bit odd.

Oh, we've stopped.

Can this be right?

Oh.

I'm in the lake.

I might just put my feet in,

I think...

that's lovely, that's all I
really wanted to cool off on,

just my feet.

Goodness, it's cold.

Just along the lake shore from my yurt camp

is the town of Bokonbayevo.

I'm popping in to meet a family that for generations

has practised one of central
Asia's most ancient skills.

Thank you, thank you.

Hunting with eagles is still a
big part of the Kyrgyz culture.

Wonderful picture.

Over the centuries, man has trained these birds

to catch wild animals for
meat and for their valuable fur.

Katerden has hunted with eagles all his life

and is now passing on these skills to his young family.

You're going well, my old pony.

Katerden and his eldest daughter,

Aruuke, are taking me up into the mountains

with Sirgak, a 7-year-old female eagle

to show me just what she's capable of.

Wow. What a view.

The whole of the lake spreading
round in these rough mountains

and this beautiful eagle waiting to fly.

Would it be possible for me to hold the eagle?

Yeah?

Like that?

How beautiful, quite a heavy bird. There we are.

What sort of personality does this bird have?

She a good girl?

It's such a great privilege to hold this bird.

Extraordinary claws holding on to the leather glove.

And she's hooded, completely calm.

I've got such a sense of holding on to power.

Will you be very kind

and take your beautiful bird back as my arm is aching.

Thank you, lovely bird, for letting me hold you.

Eagles are hard wired into detecting movement

over great distances

and they can spot a rabbit or fox

over two miles away. So Katerden has gone

right down there with something

that looks like a fox, it isn't,

on the end of a string and he's going to pull it

and then she's going to take the hood off

and she's going to release the jesses

and the bird will fly.

Look at that.

Straight as an arrow, straight down.

During the times of the Silk Road,

animal skins were a highly sought-after commodity.

As long ago as the 10th century,

half a million pelts of sable, urmin, mink and fox

were traded across continents to foreign markets

thousands of miles away.

Over the centuries, meat from
animals caught by the eagles

also helped keep many people alive.

This is where my journey takes a dive south, 200 miles

towards the Chinese border.

The landscape is immense,

high mountain passes and vast wide valleys.

As the traces of modern man diminish

I can imagine huge caravans of horses and camels

passing through this terrain

that's remained unchanged for millennia.

Nestled in this huge river valley,

At-Bashy is the last town on the road to China.

I've managed to get here to
catch the local school's assembly.

It's quite a do.

The name At-Bashy means "horse's head"

after the legend of a herder
who chased his favourite horse



all the way from Uzbekistan.

Tell me what it's like living here?

Do you visit, do you go to Bishkek sometimes?

Do you stay here? Do you travel abroad?

When we have our holidays,

we go to Bishkek but erm, many times here and...

Yes, of course. Have any of
you been outside the country?

No, no, not yet. You will, you will.

Look at your lovely tie, look at this.

Isn't that nice?

Got to have this. Sorry, your name is?

Joanna. Joanna, Joanna.

United by a selfie

in this remote corner of Kyrgyzstan.

The Kyrgyz people were once a race of nomadic herders

and today most families in At-Bashy

have a scratch of land to keep a few animals on.

Mooskal and her husband, Narynbek, keep horses,

cows, goats and a few sheep.

Over there? Right over there.

But they also have a herd which stays at high altitude

and with the money they get from breeding them

they've managed to put
four children through college.

Oh, look.

Oh.

A herd of yaks - it's, it's literally unbelievable

I feel this is as though I'm
right at the beginning of time.

What beautiful heads, beautiful faces. Look at that.

Even through the long harsh winter,

the yaks look after themselves in the mountains.

Is your herd healthy? Is it happy? Is it expanding?

It's easy to forget that these
hardy animals were crucial

to establishing the Silk Road across

mountainous parts of the world.
It was like a kind of relay race,

the trading on the Silk Road.

They took goods to the next post,

exchanged them and then that person

took them on to the next one
literally passing the trade on

and on and on. And the coldest
and the most hostile regions

were covered by the yak carrying immense burdens.

I have actually once ridden a yak.

Very hairy.

Very comfortable, they're quite cross all the time.

They're always going, uh, phew, all right.

It feels like I'm at the end of the Earth

but my route to the Chinese border

is pulling me ever southwards.

Before the border, I'm going in search of somewhere

that's been an important sanctuary

on a dangerous and remote part of the Silk Road.

And it's fascinated me for years.

The journey to get there is an experience in itself,

diverted off the main road towards sheer cliffs

which seem to part and reveal a secret pass

to a hidden inner valley.

Myths, legends, even ghosts
abound within this fabled building.

Oh, my gosh.

Tash Rabat.

I've been longing to come here all my life.

And now... I'm here.

Phew.

The temperature has plummeted.

I've read so much about this.

Tash Rabat was used as a 15th century caravanserai

but some scholars believe it to
have much more ancient origins.

No-one really knows why or when it was built.

Look at this.

I wonder what goes on in here,

these dark little antechambers.

Ooh, this room spooks me a bit.

You can see how it's a labyrinth.

From the outside, it looks quite contained

but I wouldn't like to be here at
night, I'm here on a bright day.

Look at this.

That skylight much, much better built

and then here...

this extraordinary buttressing.

What kind of mortar did they use

to keep it here for century after century?

I wonder if this is where rich men slept.

Gosh, there's nothing, I know, nothing, but I love it.

It's quite extraordinary to come to this place.

It is so remote,

it is so...

unreachable but I'm here.

It's absolutely redolent of history,

all the people

who have ever passed through it,
century after century after century,

all their thoughts and memories
and griefs and ambitions

stored in these walls.

It's not haunted...

it's inhabited.

Tash Rabat.

Beyond those mountains

lies the People's Republic of China.

We've travelled

nearly 4,000 miles through
eight very different countries.

We started in Venice

and found the ancient records of Marco Polo.

In Turkey, we visited caravanserais

and underground Christian churches.

We've seen modern and booming Azerbaijan.

The vast scale and beauty of Iran

and the stunning cities and
landscapes of central Asia.

All the way to China where the Silk Road began.

Wow!

We've driven here through the most majestic scenery

and this is the border to China

and that's where I was hoping to go

but most annoyingly this time

I wasn't given permission to film
in the People's Republic of China.

Dash - and it's just so annoying

because that country has got
not only the great historic base

of the whole Silk Road,

silk being developed there

and all its importance in our story

but the modern wonders of the China

and its own new silk road.

All the things we could have shown you there. Dash.

But maybe next time, who knows.