All language subtitles for David Baddiel on the Silk Road 2of4 Into the Wild 720p

This time, I'm in
the wild heart of the Silk Road...

Look at this! It's dried lizard!

..Central Asia.

(MAN SHOUTS INDISTINCTLY) Whoa!

I discover the secrets of survival
in this unforgiving land...

(SCREECHING)

Yeah, you can tell
I was born to this.

..dive to find treasure
in a Silk Road Atlantis...

If I find 200 gold coins,
do I get to keep it?

..and unearth the animal that finally
persuaded the Chinese

to part with their precious silk...

Are you telling me
that's what the Chinese wanted?

..and change the course
of human history.

I'm David Baddiel.
I'm on the adventure of a lifetime...

Whoa!

..retracing the steps of merchants,
warriors and pilgrims

along the largest trade route
the world has ever known,

the Silk Road.

As a writer and comedian,

I'm fascinated by people
and their stories...

These are amazing.

..and the Silk Road
is one of the greatest
human stories of them all.

(ALL CHEER)

It's got everything.
Religion, culture...

How do I look?

..music, war.

Now I want to live that story.
It will push me to my limits.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.
(DOG BARKS)

We have got a bit of a situation.

There have been
reports of landslides.

This monumental network stretches

across some of
the toughest terrain on Earth.

It's like a sadistic army exercise.

The Silk Road witnessed
the rise and fall of empires

and shaped the modern world
as we know it.

My journey so far has taken me
over 3,700km,

from the cosmopolitan city
of Xi'an...

The Silk Road began here.

..and across the Taklamakan desert.

I can only hope
they aren't the graves of people

who tried to cross
the desert by camel.

Now I'm heading
into the most dangerous

and remote region of the Silk Road.

So, we've travelled thousands
and thousands of miles

since we started
along the Silk Route,
and we are now in Kashgar,

which is the most westerly city
we're gonna get to in China.

In the days of the Silk Road,

Kashgar was an oasis for traders
crossing the Taklamakan desert
from the east

and the treacherous mountains
to the northwest.

As a result,
it became a vital trade hub

for merchants
from all over the world.

I want to find out what happened

when all these different cultures
converged on Kashgar.

The first clues come from the faces
of the people here.

As you travel west,
along the Silk Road,

what happens is that China
becomes less and less Chinese,

as we in the West understand Chinese,

and it becomes more
and more Middle-Eastern.

It turns out that around 50%
of Kashgar's population

are not Han Chinese.

They're descended
from Central Asian traders,

Turkic tribes, and Hun warriors,
and are called the Uygur people.

And Uygur people, as you can tell,

are more like people
you would get in Baghdad.

I'm intrigued how
this cultural melting pot

has influenced global trade...

..and the best place to look

is the world-famous
Kashgar grand bazaar.

Local guide Karim
is showing me around.

How do I look? (LAUGHING)

Just like in the heyday
of the Silk Road,

there are furs to protect travellers
from the bitter cold...

If I wear this, I look like a rabbi.
I know...

I've not even got to look in
a mirror. I know I look like a Rabbi.

..sustenance for long journeys...

That is a very nice nut.

..and ancient organic medicines

that are still used as cure-alls
by the Uygurs today.

Wow, look at this! It's dried lizard!

They're the dried lizard.

Wow! Is that an animal?
KARIM: Yeah. Animal.

Is that a hedgehog? It's dead.
Yeah, dead. OK, great.

So there's dried hedgehog as well.

Goods like these would have
helped traders survive

as they headed east and west,
selling silk.

But there has been
one product traded here

for longer than any other
in this ancient gateway city -

livestock...

..and it's still every bit as much
in demand today

as it was on the Silk Road.

Traders came from all over the world
looking for a deal,

including Marco Polo,
who wrote of his visit 700 years ago.

(KARIM SPEAKING)

Right. No any change.

It hasn't changed
since Marco Polo died,

apart from some trucks.
The trucks are slightly different.

(HORN HONKS)
(GOATS BLEAT)

Today, a single sheep
will sell for £150,

but a good cow can fetch near £1,000.

Oh, that's a huge amount of money.
He give the money, yeah.

(KARIM SPEAKING)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And this animal stock-exchange
is all overseen by one man.

Oh, yeah.
(KARIM SPEAKING)

Oh, are you? Hello, sir.
Nice to meet you.

Hello, Abdul Resh. I'm David.

And you own the whole market?
It's yours? Wow. OK.

(SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE)

(KARIM SPEAKING)
Oh, for me to buy a camel?

Yeah. If you want to,
you can see the camel...

I'm hoping to go back to England
by aeroplane, but I'll have a look.

These beasts of burden
have been essential for transport

from the time of the Silk Road
right up until today.

But they also played a key role
in keeping travellers alive.

Abdul takes me next door
to show me how on his camel farm.

At least,
I hope that's where we're going.

I'm pretty sure that they think
this is another camel. (CHUCKLES)

Yup! (CHUCKLES)

Abdul's camels aren't for riding.
They're kept specially for milking.

Can you see an udder?
I can't see an udder. Oh, wow.

Camel's milk was
the "white gold" of the Silk Road.

Look at that foot, it's enormous!

It contains ten times more iron

and three times more vitamin C
than cow's milk.

This is really weird.
I mean, I've got...

I've got my finger on the...
on the udder.

Thank you. Thank you.
Can I give you that? Oy vey!

Abdul's herd produces £56,000 worth
of camel milk every week...

(LAUGHS)

..and he wants me to try
this Silk Road super-food.

(SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE) Cheers.

Cheers. (LAUGHS)
Hos, you say? Hos. Hmm.

I just really hope this is milk.

It's good.

Wow. (EXHALES)

Mmm. You had it all? Hmm.

I guess I'm gonna have to do that.
(CHUCKLES)

Don't wanna be rude. Mmm.

Cheers. Good.

Next up, more milk.
This time, it's been fermented.

Wow, that's actually really nice!
(LAUGHS)

(SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE)

Amazing. Yeah, yeah.

That camel milk,
it's doing you great.

Fantastic! Look at your lung.
It's really expanded. (SLURPS)

With my appetite whetted,
I'm keen to try

some of the street food
available at the market.

It seems the menu hasn't changed much

since Marco Polo's visit
700 years ago.

Most of what's on offer
walked here this morning.

It doesn't get any fresher than this.

(KARIM SPEAKING)

Karim tells me that it was
the Uygurs

who invented something
archetypally Chinese,

which reached the rest of the world
along the Silk Road...

..noodles.

(KARIM SPEAKING)

Yeah.

OK.

The theory goes that noodles
travelled west

from China to Italy,

so it seems we can thank
the Silk Road for pasta, too.

(KARIM SPEAKING)

The Noodle Road.
I like the idea that the Silk Road

could have been
called the Noodle Road.

Now I must bid farewell
to my new friend

and continue my journey
along the Noodle Road.

So, what the cultural blend
in Kashgar has done

is it's prepared me for the next step
of my journey along the Silk Road,

for the "stans".

For Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan,
and Azerbaijan.

And so I'm gonna
go in that direction,

and the most Chinese of men,
Chairman Mao,

is showing me the way out.

Once out there,

I hope to discover
just what Mao's ancestors were after

when they set off along
the Silk Road's wild west.

That's what the Chinese
were drawn by? Yes.

How do I look?

I'm David Baddiel...

Wa-hey!

..and in Kashgar, China,
I've discovered camel's milk...

Look at that foot, it's enormous!

..was a Silk Road super-food...

Wow, that's actually really nice!

..and pasta came from noodles.

The Silk Road could have been
called the Noodle Road.

Now I'm in Kazakhstan
to find out what it was

that first enticed China
onto the famous trade route.

I've grasped why the Romans
went east in search of silk...

..and many other things
that the Chinese could provide.

But a road, obviously,
is a two-way thing,

so there's gotta be something

that the Chinese wanted
from this part of the world.

And it's here somewhere,
and I'm gonna find out what it is.

So far, my journey has taken me
through the heart of China.

From Kashgar, I travelled
across the Tien Shan mountains

to Kazakhstan to join
a northern branch of the Silk Road.

Now I'm heading
for the Tamgaly gorge.

The gorge is deep within the steppe,

a grassland which stretches
almost one-fifth of the way

around the planet.

So I'm gonna need the help
of local guide Alexandra

to find its hidden clues.

So, it's very empty.

At the moment this looks
like endless plains,

but who would have been coming across
this area over the years?

OK, so this is very much an area

that nomadic tribes
would have crossed. Exactly.

3,000 years ago,

the nomads in this region carved
intricate images into the rocks.

Actually, I think there's something
round here, as well.

And there was one symbol,
more than any other,

that the people here
in Central Asia revered.

OK, so here they are.
So, these are amazing.

What...what are these?
(ALEXANDRA SPEAKING)

When the Silk Road first began,

horses were central
to life in this region,

and were the secret behind
the supremacy of an empire

that was kicking China's arse,
the Xiongnu.

Their big, strong horses
made light work

of the short, weaker ones
that China rode into battle.

If the Chinese were to stand
any chance of winning,

they needed an upgrade.

They heard rumours of other huge,
powerful horses in Central Asia.

(ALEXANDRA SPEAKING)

OK. And that legend of the horse,
that's what the Chinese
were drawn by?

Yes. Chinese people were
very interested in horses.

And the way to get
those strong horses, China realised,

was to buy them with silk.

They sent caravans
of silk-laden camels west,

for the first time in history,
and negotiated a trade deal -

horses for precious fabric.

With supply and demand opened up
at both ends,

the Silk Road was born.

So, you talked earlier about
nomads being in this area.

I guess the horse would have
been central to nomadic life.

(ALEXANDRA SPEAKING)

I'm intrigued to know if this way
of life still continues today.

Do the nomads still exist?

I'm on a mission to find the nomads,

so I'm leaving
the Kazakhstan grasslands

and heading south
along the Silk Road,

into the mountains of Kyrgyzstan.

But to get there,
I have to cross over the border.

In the past, many of the kingdoms
here were at war with each other,

so border crossings would have
been fraught with danger.

So, we're at the border
between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan,

erm, and...

I don't know how long it's gonna take
to get through,

because there seems
to be a certain amount

of bureaucratic stuff
going on up ahead.

Also, I'm not sure
we're allowed to film.

Today, all of the "stans"
in Central Asia

are involved in border disputes,
so crossing them is still daunting.

If I do go missing, and, say,
in a couple of years' time,

you see me in the back of a shop,

er, in, kind of, a basement,

can you alert someone? Interpol?

We've been asked to leave the van.
Hang on. Yeah.

No, don't film? OK.

I've made it across
the Kazakh border.

Now I just need
to make it in to Kyrgyzstan.

Passport control might seem
like a modern invention,

but 700 years ago,

Marco Polo had his own
rudimentary version.

In his day, travellers carried
metal plaques called Paizi,

and border guards could be killed
for denying a Paizi-holder entry.

It's OK. Thank you.

I tell you, one of the most
reassuring sounds in the world

is the... (CLICKS TONGUE)
..clunk of the passport stamp,

particularly in places like this.

Just 25km into Kyrgyzstan
is the ancient city of Bishkek.

On my journey so far,

I've been following
in the footsteps of Marco Polo,

but here I'm starting to see signs

of some more recent
Silk Road travellers,

the Soviets.

I don't think I've ever actually
seen goose-stepping

in the wild, as it were.

I felt I could hear the theme music
to The Producers,

and then the fountains came on!
(CHUCKLES)

The Soviets governed Kyrgyzstan
for over 70 years,

and cast a huge shadow
on the modern Silk Road.

But if you look beyond the Russian
architecture and statues of Lenin,

there are clues to Kyrgyzstan's
more ancient heritage.

The legacy of the Silk Road

and the horse becoming important here
is clear in the statues,

virtually all of which
are horse-based,

are people on horses,
except for one I've seen down there,

which is a horse on top of a man.

I need to continue my journey south,

so I want to see what the descendants
of the ancient nomads

can offer me in the way of transport.

(IMITATES REVVING)
Wow! (SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE)

I can't ride a horse,

so I've been told
this is the best they can do

if I want to feel
the wind in my hair.

(LAUGHS) I think this is it!

Hello. Hello.

(GREETS IN LOCAL LANGUAGE)
Hello. Mansur?

Yes. I'm David. Hello.
Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you too.
Is this my bike?

This? Yes. This is my bike.
Does it work?

Just like the ancient nomads,
Mansur loves to hit the open road,

but he's swapped his ancestral horse
for a Ural M63.

I love it, it's great. How old is it?

MANSUR: This is 1978.
It looks like that. Perfect.

(LAUGHS) Does it work?

(ENGINE CRANKING)

(ENGINE STARTING)

OK, yeah.

Oi! Oh, no. (LAUGHS)

(ENGINE STARTING)

Whoa! (LAUGHS)

That's hurting me quite a lot
every time that happens.

OK, Mansur, is it OK,

cos I don't think I'm an expert
on the bike yet,

if you take me out for a test drive,
and I'll sit in the side-car?

All right. OK, thank you.

These motorcycles were built
for the Soviet army

to cope with the harsh terrain...

Look at that pothole. Whoa! Oi!

...which is fortunate.

This isn't a road, it's just...
It's an obstacle course!

After the fall of the Soviet Union,
these weapons of the Russian army

became the workhorses
of the Kyrgyzstan residents,

as Mansur's friends can testify.

Finally, the Kyrgyzstan chapter
of Hell's Angels has turned up!

But before I can join the gang,

I'm going to have to figure out
how this bike works.

Oh, the old girl's got some poke!

Home, Mansur,
and don't spare the environment.

(SIGHS) Thank you, Mansur,
that was great.

A fabulous ride. Yeah.
You're welcome.

There's life in the old girl yet.
Thank you, my brothers and sisters.

(CHUCKLES) (INDISTINCT)

Oh... (LAUGHS)

Wow. It's amazing.

Look at that, I'm a member
of the chapter now, aren't I?

Hey, and I don't have to cut my hand,
or be hog-tied, or anything.

OK. One, two, go.

(CAMERA CLICKS)

Now let's go and find those
(BLEEP) nomads.

Like the Silk Road traders before me,
I'm leaving the safety of the city

and heading for the snowy peaks
of the Tien Shan.

The name translates
as "Heavenly Mountains",

but given the thousands of traders
killed trying to cross them,

"Jaws of Death" feels more apt.

I'm David Baddiel,

and so far, I've discovered
the trade of nomad horses

was what lured China west
along the Silk Road...

That's what the Chinese
were drawn by? Yes.

..and the descendants
of the horse traders

are still around today.

Now I'm on a mission to find them.

To feed their livestock,
nomads move to high ground

during the summer,

so I'm following
the ancient trade route

into the mountains of Kyrgyzstan.

In the past, this 140km journey

would have taken
horse caravans nearly four days.

At this rate, it's going to take
my Soviet steed even longer.

And to make matters worse...

(EAGLE SCREECHING)

I've no option but to radio
the crew for help.

It's not happy.

I mean, I can try it again, but...

My only hope is that local mechanics
can carry out a roadside repair...

..but a broken fuel line means
this bike is going nowhere.

It's time to admit defeat
and go back to my 4x4.

Something that needs to be said

is that Kyrgyzstan
is incredibly beautiful.

Not something, I think,
we're aware of in the West.

It's sort of a fairy-tale land.

I expect Hogwarts to appear
at almost any minute.

I'm still following the route
of the ancient nomad traders,

but there's no sign of
their modern counterparts.

We're going up very high.
We're at 3,800m now.

I'm three times
higher up than Ben Nevis.

At this height,

merchants passing through
the Central Asian Silk Road

would have suffered
from altitude sickness.

They complained
of "Headache Mountains"

where men's bodies became feverish,
lost colour,

and were attacked with headaches
and vomiting.

I'm not faring much better.

What I'm noticing
is shortness of breath...

..and headaches, and...

a slight sense that the driver
might have gone mad,

cos we just keep on going
up, and up, and up.

At last, the road levels out
and we reach the top.

We're nearly 4,000m above sea level,

and there's a frozen lake there.

The reason we're so high up
can be explained by Marco Polo,

who talks of the wandering life
of what he calls the Tartars,

but he means the nomads
as we understand them.

"During two or three months,

they progressively ascend
higher ground and seek fresh pasture,

the grass not being adequate
in any one place

to feed the multitudes of which
their hordes and flocks consist."

We may have slightly overshot it
with how high we've come.

Perhaps the nomads I'm seeking

have wandered off elsewhere
to find fresh pasture.

I'm heading to the nearest town

to see if anyone can help
with my search.

So, we're still on the lookout
for nomads,

but the thing about nomads,
turns out they move about a lot,

so they're proving quite elusive,

but there's a woman, who I think
could be waiting for us

just on this street here,
who will lead us to nomads.

I've got a hot tip from her.
She knows where they are.

Hello. DINARA: Hello.
Hi. I'm David. Dinara.

Hi, Dinara. Can you show us
where the nomads are?

Yes, of course. If you like.
Can you hop in? Yes.

Dinara is herself descended
from nomads,

and knows of a hidden valley nearby

where they come
to graze their horses.

(SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE)

There we go.

Is that them? Over there?
Yes. Just over there. Yeah.

We've found them. There they are.
That bunch of yurts over there,

looking like a beautiful little
glamping section of Glastonbury.

That way, I think.

Finally, the living descendants
of the pioneers of the Silk Road -

and their horses, too.

Hello. Sinbad.
This is Sinbad. Sinbad.

Hello, Sinbad. I'm David.
David. Hi, nice to meet you.

Nomads like Sinbad
use ancient knowledge

passed down through the generations
to survive here.

How many years
has she been doing this?

(DINARA SPEAKING)

Since she was a little girl? Yeah.

Without the nomads,
the first travellers

along the Silk Road
would never have made it west.

The ancestors of these people had
an intimate knowledge of the area,

and carved the first paths
through the mountains.

So, using the horses or donkeys
they were finding the passes,

the best ways to go, and of course
when the merchants came,

they were using the ancient routes
of the nomads, originally.

Right. So the Silk Road is following
the path of the nomad. Yes.

Nomads are the first people
to take, essentially, land,

and say, "OK, we can traverse this,
we can make a road across it." Yeah.

But the nomads didn't just open up
this stretch of the Silk Road.

They also showed traders
how to survive here.

And now this 2,000-year-old knowledge

has finally made its way
to a comedian from north London.

It's just days since
I milked a camel,

but now I'm discovering
another animal used for this purpose

that is not a cow.

I'm gonna milk a mare,
cos one thing I've discovered

about the countries
along the Silk Road

is that if it's got four legs
and some teats,

someone's gonna
get some milk out of it.

That foot could take him out
for life,

could take out any chances
of him having children.

Like camel's milk,
mare's milk is incredibly rich,

and a vital part of the nomad diet.

Is it good for the lungs?

If you stay here
and drink it for ten days...

Yeah. You turn into a horse?
No, you get ten years younger.

Ten years younger?

Or at least you look
ten years younger.

(LAUGHS) Yeah. So, yeah.

Well, I hope to look
ten years younger.

Cheers. Cheers. Mmm.

(GULPS) Oh, that's interesting.

You can taste the mare
in this mare's milk, I tell you.

(LAUGHS)

As their ancestors did,
the nomads trade horse milk,

and use their takings to buy things
they can't get from the land,

like flour for making boortsog,
an ancient form of doughnut.

I might say goodbye to my life of...

flat whites and broadband
and showbiz parties,

just to do this and be...

(CHUCKLES) and be ordered about by

ancient nomadic women,
how to make bread.

Can I cut it on that? Yeah. OK.

Oh, God. I'll have the little,
dainty, small ones. I'll eat them.

I just want it to be a touch browner.
I'm a perfectionist.

Ah. OK? Yeah.

Try some. It's not too hot?
Not too hot, yeah. It's OK.

Mmm. It's lovely.

It's not what the Atkins Diet
would approve of, but nonetheless...

Three! Two! One! Smile!

(CAMERA CLICKS)

My brief time with the nomads
has been eye-opening.

But while nomads were the pioneers
of the early Silk Road,

I want to find what this wild land
was like when trade really took off.

So I'm heading for Lake Issyk Kul.

At the height of the Silk Road,
this was a major trade region,

with more than a dozen settlements
around its shore.

But since those times,
excessive snow-melt

has caused the water level of
the lake to rise by eight metres,

submerging its Silk Road settlements.

Now recent archaeological dives

have begun to unearth the remains
of those sunken settlements...

..and today, I'm going underwater
with archaeologist Vasily Ploskikh

to search the most
exciting one of all.

Is that mine? Is this good?

I don't know. I'll put it on first.
Snazzy. What do you think?

Vasily believes he's found
the site of a palace

belonging to
the Mongol emperor Tamerlane.

This wealthy ruler was famous
for commissioning ornate,

tiled buildings along the Silk Road,

like those in the city of Bukhara,
that still exist today.

Here in Issyk Kul,
divers have retrieved

jewellery, pottery,
and even bars of gold.

If I find a chest
in which there's 200 gold coins,

do I get to keep it? No. No.
It's bad, isn't it, the answer?

I can't see anything
particularly exciting,

but then I finally spot something.

(SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE)

The archaeologist,
it's a very valuable find.

Oh. Yeah.
Hey. (DAVID SPEAKING)

Vasily believes this tile
could be a crucial piece of evidence

in discovering if the palace here

was as spectacular
as those in Bukhara.

The booty that we've got
from that treasure hunt

is this, which is a ceramic tile

which you can still
see the glazing on.
I think that is amazing.

(SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE)

My small find here today

adds to an incredible
body of evidence,

helping to bring the Silk Road
back to life.

(SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE) Whoa!

Coming up, I discover what nomads
get up to these days with horses...

and the other animal that played
a crucial role for traders

in surviving the wilds
of the Silk Road.

I'm David Baddiel,
and I'm in Kyrgyzstan.

It's sort of a fairy-tale land.

So far, I've uncovered a sunken
Silk Road Atlantis...

I think that is amazing.

..and discovered that the Silk Road

was opened up
by the knowledge of the nomads.

So the Silk Road is following
the path of the nomad. Yes.

But the thing about the nomadic life
is it's not just about movement.

It's also about surviving
on whichever patch of land you decide

that this is gonna be yours for now.

And we're on our way now
to find out one of the secrets

that have helped
the nomads to survive

in the wild for as long as they have.

While horses played a central role
in the lives of the nomads,

there was another animal partnership
that allowed them,

and the traders who followed them,
to thrive in the wilds.

I'm heading for the remote village
of Bokonbayevo,

three kilometres south
of Lake Issyk Kul,

to meet fifth generation
eagle-hunter Talgar Shaibyrov.

Talgar. Hello, Talgar.
Are your eagles here? Yeah. Here.

They are? Oh, wow.
(SQUAWKS)

Golden eagles were an essential
nomad hunting weapon

encountered by Silk Road traders.

A single eagle could feed
and clothe an entire village.

Even now, Talgar depends
on his eagle Tamara

to help feed his family.

Today, he's agreed
to take me hunting,

to teach me the ways
of the past and present.

(TAMARA SCREECHES)
Ooh, it doesn't like me much.

All right. Whoa. Wait, wait. Yeah,
you can tell I was born to this!

Where do they go? In the boot?
Yup. (CHUCKLES)

They go in the boot.

Do I just sit here?
With the bird? Yeah.

Wa-hey!
(SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE)

This is a strange experience.

Ooh.

We're heading for the hills
to find our prey.

Cos of the masks,

it feels like we've taken
two birds of prey hostage.

They might seem like pets,
but these are fierce predators,

and the masks help
keep them calm in the car.

(CHUCKLES) The eagle has
somehow slipped its mask,

and I just looked round and saw
an enormous beady eye looking at me.

I can't say it puts me at ease,

having Tamara behind me,

staring at the back of my head.

Thinking,
"Yeah, I like rabbit, I like fox,

but I'd really like
a Jew for dinner!"

Finally, we arrive unscathed

at Talgar and Tamara's
favourite hunting-ground.

Hello, wa-hey!
(CHIRPS) Cor! Blimey!

Just a slight hint of Jurassic Park.

Right, let's do some hunting.

Talgar has had Tamara
since she was a chick,

and spent years earning her trust.

Now we're going to see Tamara
doing what she does best,

which is killing.
You might be squeamish about this,

and if you are a bit squeamish,
I would advise a cup of tea,

possibly, for the next bit.

For Talgar,
it's just another day in the office,

but this practice dates back
all the way to the Silk Road.

Marco Polo writes about eagles
on his experiences.

He says, "They are trained
to stoop at wolves,

and such is their size and strength
that none, however large,

can escape from their talons."

Its prey today is not that large,

and I don't think it's gonna
escape from her talons.

Tamara's seven-foot wingspan

enables her to dive at speeds
of over 240km/h.

And with eyes four times
sharper than mine,

she effortlessly picks out
her victim, a rabbit.

Tamara, quite clearly,
as soon as her mask was off,

had focused on where it was,
like a sniper's rifle sights.

Tamara's prey provides
food for the family,

but it also provides
a source of trade

that originated on the Silk Road.

(SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE)

So the birds had to hunt fur,

really, wolves and foxes,
which would then be skinned,

and then they would be
traded along the Silk Road.

The fur hunted by eagles

would have helped merchants survive
the bitter cold of the mountains.

The Silk Road isn't just about trade.

It's also about surviving.

And out in the wild,

if you're trying to trade,
and you're trying to survive,

and you're trying to live your life,
then you need

a way of keeping yourself
and your things safe.

And if you have the option
of a bow and arrow or an eagle,

I would have gone, with what
I've just seen, with an eagle.

(CHUCKLES)

Back at Talgar's house,
today's catch is prepared for dinner.

It's one of those times when
I'm glad I work in television,

and not in ancient hunting.

(SIZZLING)

Amazing.

My time in Central Asia
has taught me that animals,

from camels and rabbits to eagles,

were the key
to surviving this wild landscape.

But there's no doubt that one animal
really held the key to the Silk Road:

horses.

For nomads, traders and the Chinese,
they were almost objects of worship.

Today I'm going to the Horse Games,
where horses, in everything they are

and everything they do,
will be celebrated

by the local people
here in Kyrgyzstan.

And obviously,
because it's the Horse Games,

I'm gonna be travelling there
on this.

This is the other traditional form
of transport in this area,

a knackered old ex-Soviet car,
the Moskvitch.

It doesn't actually have
a starting mechanism any more,

so I've paid a nomad to push me
to get going.

The Horse Games have been celebrated
since the days of the Silk Road,

and it's still a highlight
in the nomad calendar.

Hey, Dinara. Hi. Hello.

How you doing? I'm good, how are you?
Yeah, nice to see you too.

Horsemanship is still prized
above all skills in Kyrgyz culture.

And there is one extraordinary sport

that allows men to show off
this skill like no other...

..Kok Boru,

a hybrid of rugby and a Texas rodeo

using a headless goat as a ball.

David! Yes, hello.
(SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE)

An assistant ref?
Yeah, an assistant referee.

They're asking me to be
the assistant ref. Yeah.

OK. Kok Sai. Kok Sai.
Yeah. And this is...

(SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE)
Tong. Tong.

So it's Kok Sai in the red hats
versus Tong in the blue.

Good. Yeah, no. That's fantastic.
OK, yeah.

Thank you very much.
It's a great honour.

Thank you. I have to keep score. Yes.

I don't know how...
When is a goal scored?

The goal is scored...
How do I tell?

There don't appear to be any nets.

When they throw the goat into
the tyre? Yeah, it means a score.

When they throw the goat
into the tyre, that's a goal.

Yeah. It's a score. Yeah.

We're off!

And they're going for it.

It's turning into an immediate
big horse scrap.

It might seem barbaric,
but the sport has practical origins,

from when the Silk Road nomads

would have to chase down and retrieve
a goat snatched by wolves.

Yes. Who scored? Who scored?
Yeah, the Kok Sai.

The Kok Sai scored?
The Kok Sai scored. OK, thanks.

It's not normally the case
that the fourth official
has to ask the crowd

if there's been a goal,
but make do and mend. Yeah.

It's great to watch,

but I've got no idea
what's actually going on.

Referee! Look!

He's pretending to hit the horse.
He's just hitting the other player!

There are children there.
Children there! Children!

(DINARA LAUGHS)

(MAN SHOUTS IN LOCAL LANGUAGE) Whoa!

Historically, the winning team
would receive the goat,

but today,
they're making an exception.

Oh, I appear to be given the goat.
Yeah, yeah.

Thank you very much.
(DINARA LAUGHS)

(SPEAKING LOCAL LANGUAGE)

Yeah. Honestly, it was a great game.

It went a bit tasty,
and a bit weird at one point,

but I think overall,
there's only gotta be one winner,

and that has to be Kok Sai!
Kok Sai! Yeah.

Sorry to Tong. (LAUGHS) Yeah.

As the nomads head back to camp...

Go, go, go, go, go. Bye-bye! Bye-bye.

..I set off west
to continue my journey.

So, this bit of the Silk Road's
been fairly wild, actually.

It's been very animal-based,
and I've drunk a lot of milk.

Horse's milk, camel's milk,
even cow's milk occasionally.

But it's been about the land,
and about the way that people

use the resources of the land
to survive whilst trying to create

trade for themselves.
At the end of the day, though,

the Silk Road is about
the birth of capitalism,

and so, really, I wanna go
in search of trade again.

I wanna go in search of luxury,
and silk, and merchandise.

What I'm saying is,
"Show me the money."

(MAN GRUNTS)

subtitles by Deluxe

Next time...

I go hunting for treasure
in the hills of Central Asia...

Gold here?
WOMAN: Yes, that's gold.

..immerse myself in the oilfields
of Azerbaijan...

There's actually
oil coming out of the ground.

..and try my hand
at an ancient Silk Road sport.

(GRUNTS) (GROANS) Yes! (LAUGHTER)