A journey I will Never Forget!

Paolo Bellotto

1295

I have seen so many thing that I never in my wildest dreams thought I would see. I saw many people loading up bolts of silk on camels backs. I found out later that the silk was for the government to distribute among the chinese upper classes. I also went to the cave temples in Dun Huang where many merchants were praying for a safe travel. When I passed through the Taklamakan Desert there was a horrible sand storm which was almost the worst

part of my trip. The picture above is a picture of the desert and even though it was hard to cross it was still beautiful. My favorite memory on the trip was the fresh fruits and water from the city of Kashgar. Most of the Chinese men I was traveling with stopped in Kashken to trade what they had for military horses to bring back for the government. The worst part of my trip was by far Samarkand which had no government and the nomads tried to steal all of my belongings. They did manage to steal my map but luckily one of the men I was traveling with brought an extra.

It was so great getting to hear all of these new languages and I even picked up a bit of Chinese from the travel partners. While I was on the trip I learned how to say the word silk in a few different languages:

Chinese: Si

Persian: Abrasham

Greek: Serikon

Most of the land that I covered was a part of the Mongols empire. The Mongols were very nice and lowered tolls and taxes. The money I had to use was strange and it was made from paper. It was the first time that paper money was used on the silk road I think. I learned much about Buddhism that I did not already know from living in China. The arts that I saw were amazing they varied from paintings all the way to porcelain. I heard about this new privilege which was receiving the "Golden Tablet" which was given to people of higher status. What this tablet did was allow them the freedom of getting whatever food they wanted, horses, and they were given guides to the Mongol land. The majority of people that I saw and met where merchants. There was one man who I became close friends with his. His name was Marco Polo but I will talk to you about him later. All the people that I met were merchants that were selling food, art, and animals.

Back to Marco Polo. He was a tall young man who always seemed to be smart. He had no mother because she died at birth. Both his father and uncle were merchants. He was born in Venice, Italy. I told him that if he is ever in my home town that he should stop at my house and we should reminisce about our travels.

The picture to the left is a picture of Marco Polo that I got so that I would never forget the great friend I made. Well, I have to be on my way. I will try to write again if I have the time but I need to continue on my journey if I want to get to my next stop before dark. Until next time good bye! Ciao!

Rachel Erdman period 2