Pick an image and see the photographer's technical notes. The storied Venetian trader escapes bandits, rampaging rivers, and sandstorms to reach the border of far-off China in this first of three articles. Get a taste of what awaits you in print from this compelling excerpt. Marco speaks of delays on account of rain, snow, and swollen rivers, explaining in part why it took three and a half years to reach China. They may also have lost time because Marco was ill.
Malaria is a good guess.
That would be the Warduj, boiling through rapids below the track we followed. We were in another battered pickup truck, driven by a fellow named Agha. What I most remember about Agha is the smile perpetually creasing his beard, even as he forced his precious truck over rocks as if it were invincible. Every half hour or so he stopped to refill the radiator. Over the centuries thousands of caravans have camped in that idyllic place, and I have no doubt that the Polos stayed a couple of days to rest their animals.