http://www.wliw.org/marcopolo/video/watch-the-full-episode/324/

I caught this documentary a couple of weeks ago and it totally tickled my fancy (i didn’t really just say that).

In 1993, two dudes from NYC decided they would trace Marco Polo’s journey along the Silk Road, beginning and ending the trip in Venice, and traveling clear across Europe and Asia to the Pacific coast.  However, unlike other modern attempts at recapitulating the famous explorer’s travels, these dudes committed themselves to land-and-sea travel only, and resolved to follow as faithful and accurate a path as possible, even if it necessitated traveling through early-90’s civil war-period Afghanistan, or purchasing pack animals to make it through threatening deserts and perilous mountain passes.