Comments on: The Silk Road: marketing spin or classic adventure? http://www.501places.com/2011/05/the-silk-road-marketing-spin-or-classic-adventure/ Sharing the world with you Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:52:06 +0000 hourly 1 By: Andy Jarosz http://www.501places.com/2011/05/the-silk-road-marketing-spin-or-classic-adventure/#comment-51470 Andy Jarosz Thu, 18 Aug 2011 17:01:01 +0000 http://www.501places.com/?p=5499#comment-51470 Brilliant story James Brilliant story James

]]> By: james willcox http://www.501places.com/2011/05/the-silk-road-marketing-spin-or-classic-adventure/#comment-51385 james willcox Thu, 18 Aug 2011 13:19:08 +0000 http://www.501places.com/?p=5499#comment-51385 I used to think the days of traders travelling the silk route were long gone and it was only travellers who made these type of journeys but i was wrong. Two days ago i crossed overland between India and Pakistan. The border was quiet except for me and a lady from Turkmenistan. She couldn't speak English, Hindi or Urdu and my Russian and Turkic are pretty awful so we settled on Farsi as a lingua franca. She asked me to fill out her customs and immigration forms and with her porters in tow we crossed the one kilometer of no-mans land between the border posts. It turns out that twice a year she flies from Ashgabat to Kathmandu and returns overland via India, Pakistan and Iran buying and selling goods on the way. She and i it turned out were well known to the chai and taxi wallahs on the Pakistan side of the border and we shared a ride to Lahore where we said our goodbyes. I might add at this point that she is 62 years old. She just enlisted the help of porters of people like me to help her with no fuss and no bothere even though she couldn't speak a word of Urdu, Punjabi or English. Hats off to her... a true reminder of the spirit of the silk road. I used to think the days of traders travelling the silk route were long gone and it was only travellers who made these type of journeys but i was wrong.
Two days ago i crossed overland between India and Pakistan. The border was quiet except for me and a lady from Turkmenistan. She couldn’t speak English, Hindi or Urdu and my Russian and Turkic are pretty awful so we settled on Farsi as a lingua franca. She asked me to fill out her customs and immigration forms and with her porters in tow we crossed the one kilometer of no-mans land between the border posts. It turns out that twice a year she flies from Ashgabat to Kathmandu and returns overland via India, Pakistan and Iran buying and selling goods on the way. She and i it turned out were well known to the chai and taxi wallahs on the Pakistan side of the border and we shared a ride to Lahore where we said our goodbyes.
I might add at this point that she is 62 years old. She just enlisted the help of porters of people like me to help her with no fuss and no bothere even though she couldn’t speak a word of Urdu, Punjabi or English.

Hats off to her… a true reminder of the spirit of the silk road.

]]> By: Kerrin http://www.501places.com/2011/05/the-silk-road-marketing-spin-or-classic-adventure/#comment-33614 Kerrin Wed, 25 May 2011 15:00:20 +0000 http://www.501places.com/?p=5499#comment-33614 I have to say that the Silk Road is still an awesome adventure. I just read Colin Thubron's "Shadow of the Silk Road" and was very impressed. I think one of the main draws of the Silk Road is that, even today, it remains relatively wild and inhospitable. Throw in that a lot of it crosses areas that are still deemed dangerous, and you do have a true modern adventure. While I agree that it's not THE Silk Road, the idea and draw of it remains strong. And it's still no small feat to travel the entire traces of the storied route. I have to say that the Silk Road is still an awesome adventure. I just read Colin Thubron’s “Shadow of the Silk Road” and was very impressed. I think one of the main draws of the Silk Road is that, even today, it remains relatively wild and inhospitable. Throw in that a lot of it crosses areas that are still deemed dangerous, and you do have a true modern adventure.

While I agree that it’s not THE Silk Road, the idea and draw of it remains strong. And it’s still no small feat to travel the entire traces of the storied route.

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