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I genuinely felt like a travel companion experiencing the same ups and downs, exhiliarating and depressing times as they felt. I was truly sorry to put it down at the end and look forward to sharing it with family and friends. They brought Marco Polo's travels alive and the text and gorgeous pictures beautifully complimented each other. I expected it to be a coffee table book, when my daughter gave it to me, that no one ever looks at. But once I started reading, it was as compelling as any thriller I've read.
They got into a knock-down fistfight with one another, another one with a group of Russian gangster wannabes in Tajikistan, basically told a Chinese security officer to go f**k himself, shattered the glass in a hotel door when the desk clerk wouldn't let them in (it was accidental, sort of, and they felt a little badly about it) and then flooded their hotel room when they forgot to turn off a tap. They did finally manage to get in, after months of bureaucratic delay, on condition that they stay with the government-imposed driver and translator. This was in the mid 90s when much of their route was either in the middle of a war or was off-limits to Americans.
They also knew a great deal of the cultural history of central Asia. They ditched the driver and translator after a week, and made the rest of their trip on their own.The book is well illustrated with color photographs, and has frequent quotes from Marco Polo's journals, showing how much and how little has changed in the culture and landscape. They weren't just barroom brawlers.They had tremendous difficulty getting into Iran, because they were American.
Francis O'Donnell and Denis Belliveau are two American adventurers who followed the trail of Marco Polo by horseback, camelback, on foot, and by jeep. Oh, they also hitched a ride across the secret Chinese nuclear test-site, driving at night, because that was the route taken by Marco Polo.They knew enough Turkish and Russian to make themselves understood, and seemed to manage OK with Mandarin as well.
They made their journey on a small budget, with no official support, and were damned lucky to escape with their lives.These are not laid-back travelers taking a nice trip through Asia. They also were kidnapped by a warlord in Afghanistan and came within seconds of being executed.
The warmth portrayed will encourage even the most faint hearted pessimist among us. While following their dream and the footsteps of Marco Polo, our intrepid Queens residents travel well beyond the borders of their borough, and their own psychological and spiritual limits, to discover the universality of the human condition. john coltelli A must see film, a must read book. While encountering distant peoples and cultures these two friends confront dangers and adventures that re-establish their own places in themselves and in the world at large. Through their travels and personal growth we are presented with a revelation that is crucial in todays evermore complicated international relations, namely, that despite ethnicity, race, religion and nationality- common folks are open, decent, loving, and reflective of the God that created them.
It is truly a "must read". It is so well written that one feels they themselves have travelled the path of Marco Polo. Once you open the book you can't stop reading it until the journey is finished and Denis & Francis are safely home with their families. From the moment I started reading In the Footsteps of Marco Polo I felt as though I was going on the journey with Denis and Francis. The book showed feelings, emotions and at times, danger.
I'm set to go and am headed out March 2009.The story intertwined with Marco Polo's own story and the beautiful pictures are divine. I just spent my weekend reading this great book. Enjoy. An easy read, but also a very thought provoking read. I have dreamed for the past few years of packing up and traveling the world solo for 2 years. This book was the final nail in the coffin of my own job.
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