>> funding for this program is provided by subaru. >> at subaru, we build vehicles like the rugged outback. with symmetrical all-wheel drive standard and plenty of cargo space. for those who pack even more adventure into life. subaru, a proud sponsor of "globe trekker." >> previously on "globe trekker around the world." justine shapiro traveled across america on route 66 and beyond. judith jones and brianna barnes journeyed through latin america, the land of conquistadors, aztecs and incas.

zay harding then crossed the pacific from santiago to new caledonia. megan mccormick began our silk road journey in xi'an in china. now, join holly morris as she continues from the mountains of kyrgyzstan, central asia. [captioning made possible by friends of nci] >> in this episode of "globe trekker around the world," i'm traveling one of the most exotic highways in the world, the ancient silk road, all the way from china behind me,

thousands of miles through central asia to the edge of europe. this is gointo bone unbeliable journey. ntral asia is a vast region of mountains, deserts, and plains, stretching from china all the way to the edge of europe. starting my journey in kyrgyzstan near osh, i travel to tashkent, in uzbekistan, and then by train to samarkand and bukhara. moving on to merv in turkmenistan, i fly to baku, in azerbaijan, before heading on to tbilisi, in georgia. flying to konya in turkey, i travel by camel caravan like the old silk road traders, before finally ending my trip

in istanbul. hi. yeah, you guys ready for the festival? i'm holly, nice to meet you. hi. since time immemorial, kyrgyz nomads have headed up to the high mountain pastures every summer to graze their herds on horseback. traditionally, once each summer they hold a festival to celebrate their remarkable horse-riding skills. many people going up to the festival, huh? >> [foreign language] >> yeah. so, are you going to ride? [imitates horse sound] come on. it's a horse festival, right? oh, no. [local music]

as we finally arrive at the grazing grounds, just a few miles from the chinese border, i'm given a rousing musical welcome. nice to meet you, salam, salam. salam. oh, what? [all laugh] thank you, that is one warm welcome. the cavalry is here. a unique breed, kyrgyz horses are famed as the best in the region, and historically played a crucial role in the opening up of the silk road. salam. [horse neighs] this is amazing, hours of driving up in the mountains and we come to this spectacular scene. horses, music, unbelievable. salam. it's now time for the games to start. the first competition involves trying to pick up a handkerchief off the ground at full gallop.

the skills on a horse, i mean, that's what it's been all about in this culture from the beginning of time, so... showing what you got, still goes on today. whoa, he touched it. i'm going to give it a try. [cheering] they've been very nice and put the handkerchief on top of a small stick to make it easier for me to pick up. ok, hang on. oh! [cheering] success of a sort, though it was hardly at full gallop. it's much harder than the kyrgyz make it look. it wasn't graceful, but... there you go. thank you. that's impossible.

thank you. next up is the contest known as "kyz kuumai," or "kiss the girl." a man gets to chase a woman, who's given a head start, and if he catches her, he gets a kiss. oh, my goodness. if she doesn't get caught, she gets to come back and whip him. go, go, go, oh! the "kyz kuumai" contest symbolizes how, in the old days, bride stealing was actually the way kyrgyz nomads took a wife. these days, the old custom of bride stealing is forbidden and gradually dying out, but lives on as festival fun. yeah! now she wants me to give it a go. >> [foreign language] all right, if you give me a really fast horse, the fastest horse. [foreign language] 'cause i'm all about the whipping. i don't kiss. i'll kiss you. [both laugh]

feeling confident. 'cause if i can outrun him, i get to circle back around, use this baby. [whistle sounds] despite my best efforts to outrun my suitor, i'm caught and grabbed off my horse, just like an old-time nomad bride. [laughs] okay, off to the church. i didn't even get to invite my mother. after the "kiss the girl" races are over, the final contest of the festival is "udarysh," or horse-wrestling. [whistle sounds] this is an ancient tradition. it's about games today, but, historically, it's about practicing for warfare.

in fact, kyrgyz horses, bigger, stronger and more agile than any other breed in the region, made great warhorses. the ancient chinese had nothing like them, and 2,000 years ago, it was the emperors' urgent desire to get their hands on these horses that opened up the silk road. [whistle sounds] [local music] have i won your respect? in order to capture the so-called "celestial" horses of the kyrgyz mountains, the ancient chinese first had to conquer the cities in the plains below, which controlled the market in them. from the festival above gulcha, near the chinese border, i head down from the high mountains to the market town of osh in the

valley below. today, 2,000 years after the chinese first came to this region, the animal market in osh is still the best place around to find a good kyrgyz horse. just before the birth of christ, the then chinese emperor said "i want some "celestial" horses for breeding," so, he sent an army of 60,000 men here to claim them. they showed up at the ancient city of ershi, said "give us 3,000 horses and we'll spare your lives." the people gave up the horses. it took them two years to get those horses back to the chinese capital. two thirds of them died, but of the thousand that remained, they provided stud for generations to come. selling a horse? at bazar? how much? you got to check the teeth, right? woo! it's young, good.

can i see him ride? >> [foreign language] >> yeah, very nice, beautiful, strong, responsive. until the chinese first came to this region to capture these "celestial" horses in around 100 bc, they'd known almost nothing of the outside world. all the fabulous goods they made in china, like silk, porcelain, lacquer, paper and tea, were only bought in china. suddenly, they'd discovered a huge new market to sell to--the rest of the world. [car honks] from 100 bc on, vast quantities of chinese goods began to be traded westwards through central asia along the newly-opened silk road, which led eventually all the way to europe. over 2,000 years later, the trade is still going strong, but these days, long distance trucks have replaced camel caravans.

and the chinese tend to be selling tvs and electronic goods rather than silk and porcelain. this is kara-suu market, it's a major trading post of the region. people come from turkmenistan, uzbekistan. they buy their goods here cheap and sell them for a profit further along the silk road. i'm now wanting to head further west along the silk road myself. from osh, the border with uzbekistan is less than 10 miles away, so, i'm catching a local bus to get there. i'm looking for a 116, 137 or 138. we'll see when it comes. hello, to the border? uzbekistan, yeah?

hello, hello, hello. hello, thank you. [speaking in a foreign language] this is the bus to the border, right? uzbekistan? >> [foreign language] >> yeah, perfect. >> is the bus always this crowded? >> [foreign language] >> yeah, yeah, da. is this the border? oh, okay, all right. pretty relaxed all things considered. sometimes you can get stuck for hours. how many days? three. yeah. [foreign language]

from the border outside osh it's just a few miles to the city of andijan, where i catch a short domestic flight to the capital of uzbekistan, tashkent. tashkent is a large modern city of over 2 million people. uzbekistan, like many of the countries i'm traveling through in central asia, was once part of the soviet union before it gained independence a few decades ago, and the legacy of the soviet era is still prominent here. tashkent was almost completely rebuilt after a massive earthquake in 1966, and today there's not a huge amount for visitors to see here. but it is a big transport hub for onward travel along the old silk road. the old soviet train station is one of the city's grandest buildings, and surprisingly it's where i've been staying

overnight, in some luxury. just had a great night's sleep in the train station itself. the soviets first introduced this idea of providing rooms to travelers before they catch a train out in the morning, and it stuck even after independence. incredibly convenient. today, traveling by train is by far the most comfortable and fastest way to travel along the silk road. super fancy train. from tashkent you can even catch a brand new bullet train. excuse me. can i get an espresso? you have espresso? make it a double. >> want the menu? >> oh fancy menu. oh, fantastic, they're--oh! two drinks, i'll just mix it for a double espresso.

uzbeki version of a double espresso, two of them. this man has some moves. nice. now, can you do it with the double espresso? this is definitely not what i was expecting. a super posh train going to one of the most ancient cities on the silk road. it's over 200 miles, and only 30 bucks. can't beat that. from tashkent, it takes just a couple of hours or so for the train to speed to my next destination: the legendary ancient silk road city of samarkand. made it to samarkand. even the name is evocative. no other city conjures up such romantic, exotic images of the old silk road.

samarkand's history goes back over 2,000 years, but its heyday was in the 14th and 15th centuries, when it was the supremely powerful and highly cultured capital of a vast empire carved out in central asia by timur the great, known in europe as the "fearsome tamerlane." the best preserved and most spectacular buildings that have survived from those days surround the ancient square, known as the "registan." in its heyday, the main square here was teeming with traders from all over the region, as well as scholars, because all three of these buildings were madrassas, or religious schools. it must have been a thrilling mix of cultures and intelligentsia.

the exquisite ulugbek madrassa dates back to 1420, and was once home to scores of scholars studying islamic theology and philosophy. these days, the ground floor rooms have mostly been turned into tourist shops, but even so, the place has somehow managed to retain its scholarly atmosphere. it's indicative of how cultured samarkand was back in the 15th century that the curriculum taught here was a lot broader than you might expect for a religious institution, and included scientific subjects such as mathematics and astronomy. each of the religious scholars got their own apartment in this beautiful setting. it definitely lends itself to a life of spiritual contemplation. the most senior students got rooms on the upper floors. and what a view they had.

the crowded ancient bazaar that once occupied the registan square is long gone today. but in the nearby modern food market, much of what's sold is the same silk road produce that would have been on sale in the bazaar centuries ago. ah, very heavy. this is the famous samarkand bread, which is known for its great taste, but also for the fact that it lasts three weeks. very useful for a silk road traveler. so, anyone heading out on the desert could just take a few hunks of this and get by for a while. thank you. apart from its famous bread, samarkand's delicious fruit and vegetables, grown in the lush oasis surrounding the city, have been renowned along the silk road for well over a thousand years. ah, these are the famous "golden peaches of samarkand," yeah?

chinese emperors were obsessed with these and they'd send men all the way here to grab a load and go back to china. can i try one? they knew what they were talking about, these are excellent. >> [foreign language] >> of course, foreign merchants traveled the silk road to samarkand to buy many other local specialties apart from its food, often trading foreign luxuries such as spices in return. among the most popular luxury items for foreign traders to buy in samarkand were locally-produced metalwork and glass. but curiously the city's most famous specialty wasn't originally from here at all. the secret of how to make it was stolen from abroad. during the muslim conquest of central asia, there was a huge battle, not far from here. in 751 a.d., a number of chinese soldiers were taken captive and imprisoned in samarkand, and they were forced under pain of death to reveal one of their culture's biggest secrets: how

to make paper. hi zarif, i'm holly. >> [foreign language] >> salam alaikam. your place is lovely. in the centuries after the mysterious technique for making paper was forced out of the chinese, hundreds of paper factories were set up in samarkand. today, this is the only old-style paper factory that remains in samarkand, recently recreated along traditional lines by local craftsman zarif mukhtarov. yes, mm-hmm. you can see the threads. mm-hmm, to make it strong? [foreign language] in the first part of the paper-making process, the key ingredient, mulberry bark, is boiled for 4 hours or so until it gets really soft. whoa, look at that. next, the boiled mulberry bark is pulped into a mush for as much as 8 to 10 hours using

water power. it's quite a simple but powerful thing, yeah. then, the mush is added to water that's often colored with a natural dye, and then strained in a sieve to create each sheet of paper. this is definitely not mass production. he's just scooping up a layer of the pulp. and sheet by sheet draining it and then posting it over there for drying. it's a beautiful color. the ingredients that create each color are unchanged from centuries ago, such as nut bark to make brown, onion skins for gold, and pink from boiled pomegranate. for centuries, samarkand's paper-makers managed to keep their highly profitable stolen chinese recipe secret, but gradually, the know-how spread west along the silk road, and by 1200 europe too had learned the secret.

so, three dollars? okay, fair enough. cheap paper revolutionized europe, and was just one of many ideas that traveled along the silk road over the centuries which helped change the world. >> goodbye. >> goodbye, nice to meet you. >> here you go. it's time for me to move on from samarkand, so i head back to the train station. the bullet train goes no further than here, so i'm catching a more old-fashioned, but still luxurious train. fantastic, deluxe indeed. check this out, a gold-embroidered couch, original artwork, white table cloth, i think this is in fact how the czars must have traveled. from samarkand, heading west along the route of the old silk road, it's 200 miles or so across the desert to my next

destination, the historic city of bukhara. bukhara in its heyday rivaled samarkand as the most civilized city in central asia. and today, it's one of the best preserved ancient cities anywhere along the silk road. >> i came to uzbekistan to see these amazing buildings, and that's far exceeded my expectations, they're stunning, overwhelming, just really inspiring. >> bukhara, for example, has a heart that is just ever present. everywhere that you turn you can feel the history, see the history, interact with the people. >> in the old days, when traders first arrived in bukhara by camel caravan, the first thing they would have done is find themselves a decent hotel, or "caravanserai."

there were caravanserai like this all along the silk road, respite for weary travelers coming in off the desert. each got their own individual bedrooms there. it's kind of like a modern day motel. we may park our cars out front, they put their camels out back. just like samarkand, bukhara's wealth depended almost entirely on the profits of silk road trade. back in the day, there were lively bazaars all over this area. this was jewelry; over there was spices, metalworking bazaar, moneylending, you name it, they had it. these days, most of it's been turned over to tourist shops. but, can you imagine what it was like in the silk road days? must have been amazing. today, many of the craftsmen and traders in bukhara's bazaars are still carrying on the ancient silk road traditions.

>> sixth generation. >> sixth generation metalworker right here, making a gorgeous knife. check these out, wrong time of year i think, but he's pushing these fur hats. >> it turkmen hat. >> turkmen hat, you must not sell many of these in july. oh, it is nice, i can see, very flattering. >> cat. >> cat? >> cat, cat, meow. >> all right. it's a little julie christie in dr. zhivago, i think. >> ten dollars. >> too much. >> too much? ok, 100 dollars, good? 100 dollars cheap, 10 dollars too much, madame. it's normal. >> how does it look? good? >> very good. >> five bucks.

a lot of things have been traded here throughout the centuries, but it's the bukhara carpets that are world-renowned. and i've heard about a great place to check some out. the owner of bukhara's best carpet shop is sabina burkhanosa. >> welcome. >> hi, so what sets apart bukhara's carpets, why are they so coveted? >> because bukhara has been known by the carpets since more than 5,000 years. you know, those caravans from, you know, from all over the world, they would come for the great silk road, yeah? and they stop to bukhara to buy bukhara carpets, yes? when they say bukhara carpets, it would be geometrical and red. bukhara was a trading place, not weaving place. the best quality of sheep wool carpets always made in turkmenistan, sold in bukhara saying it's bukhara carpet, yeah? the best quality of camel wool carpets always made in afghanistan, again, sold them in

bukhara saying its bukhara carpets. now, i can show you some silk carpets, which are made here by our girls. silk on silk. [sound of machinery] >> the carpet weavers in sabine's shop are all young, since they've still got agile fingers and good eyesight. by the age of 25 they retire from weaving, and take up easier embroidery. with hundreds of tiny knots to be made on each line, it can take a year or even two to make just one carpet. >> it changes color as you see. it's 100% silk on silk. one of the old designs of bukhara from the 8th century design, yeah? >> i'm scared to ask, but... >> the price you mean? oh, two girls-- >> because i always fall in love with the most expensive ones. >> two girls worked on it about 17 months, it's one of the complicated designs. so, the price would be around 6,500 only u.s. dollars.

>> you know, i think that's a little rich for my blood. i don't think i can do it, i've got about 100 bucks in my pocket. >> only?! what about cards? i think you need to find a rich husband. >> the cards melted in this heat. a rich husband now that's an idea. i don't have one of those either. >> yeah i think you need to get a rich husband, so that he can buy, whenever he says you diamond ring, no, you go "no i've seen a bukhara carpet, so i need to buy." >> that's right, forget the diamonds, get me a carpet. bukhara was always a bustling center of trade, but it was also a very holy city. there were over 250 madrassas, religious schools, like the one behind me, and minarets everywhere singing out the call to prayer, and there were so many mosques that you could go to a different one every day of the year. the most sacred of all bukhara's holy places is the 14th century

shrine of naqshbandi, founder of central asia's most influential muslim sufi sect, and bukhara's unofficial patron saint. he was absolutely revered, and over time, all of the leaders, the khans, the emirs, they wanted to be buried here, near him. and today, his teachings are still very influential, and they're embodied in his philosophy, "heart to god, hands to work." apart from at daily prayers, the only other time you're likely to see crowds in bukhara in summertime is in the cool of the evening, when people come out to socialize. towards sunset, i run into sabina the carpet shop owner and have a chat. do you come to this spot often, it's beautiful. >> every night. everyone comes out and walks as you see. even though it's not really a rich country, not really rich city, but still people are happy, we're happy of our life.

i just love my bukhara. [laughs] it is good, isn't it? didn't you like it? >> yes, it's been great. i've seen the sights, i've tried to buy a carpet. >> you see but you didn't. >> i watched the sunset behind the minaret. it's been amazing. the next morning is my last in uzbekistan. hello, salam alaikum. >> salam alaikam. >> can you take me to the turkmenistan border? yeah, okay, great. i'm heading to the highly dictatorial country of turkmenistan, to see the ancient archaeological ruins of merv. to get to the border is just over half an hour's drive. filming in uzbekistan has been no picnic, lots of restrictions on what we can do, but turkmenistan should be even worse. it's been difficult to get permission to go in, and i've been told in no uncertain terms that we cannot film until we get