The Silk Road by Bus
Having enjoyed a talk last month on murderers given by David Nicol, who recently retired from the police after 30 years service, we were today entertained by Sue Clack who told us about her 45 day holiday during which she explored parts of the Great Silk Road by bus.
Her accommodation during this trip included sharing a two person bivouac for several days when in the middle of virtually nowhere, to more settled shacks and rooms along the 1000 mile route from Western China towards Eastern Turkey. Wherever people were about they were mostly employed on the roadside selling vegetables and local fruits such as watermelons. Sue was struck by the extremes of poverty in evidence throughout her entire route but also noted the general cheerfulness of local people despite their hard conditions. From time to time she encountered small workshops where silk was manufactured or other places where the silk was used to make clothing or household goods such as cushion covers, bedding or rugs. In all such cases the task was undertaken by women working many hours each day, often in very uncomfortable conditions.
Sue’s talk was accompanied by a host of stirring photographs which illustrated the wonderful mountains along her route through Kyrgyzstan to Tashkent, via the Golden Journey to Samarkand – well almost!
