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As a reporter,
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I've traveled the Middle East for many years.
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It's an area that has always fascinated me.
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But in my work, I've mainly covered its war zones,
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its crises, and its tragedies.
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This journey, which takes me down the Silk Road
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in the footsteps of Marco Polo,
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gives me the opportunity of exploring
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the great historical and cultural significance
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of this part of the world,
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its ancient melting pots of peoples and civilizations
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that have contributed so much to our own.
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(pulsating music)
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My journey through Iran takes me next to Qazvin,
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which was once a major stop on the caravan route.
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A city of 400,000 inhabitants
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nestled in the foothills
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of the spectacular Elburz mountain range.
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Qazvin marks the entrance to the lands
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historically associated with Persia,
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in contrast to the Kurdish and Azeri regions
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to the west and north of present day Iran.
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(upbeat music)
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The more you discover about this country,
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the more you realize that there's
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an ongoing conversation between the Iran of today
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and the Persia of the past.
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So much so that you sometimes get the feeling
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that you're actually treading
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in the footsteps of the merchants
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who traveled the Silk Road.
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Qazvin was easier to defend than Tabriz,
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and it became the capital of the empire
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under the dynasty of the Safavid Shahs
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in the 16th century.
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This was the last century of prosperity
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for trade on the Silk Road
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before the maritime routes took over.
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In unseating Tamerlane's Timurid dynasty,
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the Safavids became the first purely Iranian dynasty
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to reign after 500 years of dominance by Turks and Mongols.
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Their extraordinary architectural skills can be seen
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when we enter this caravanserai.
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Of course you can't feel it,
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but it's maybe five or ten degrees cooler here than it is
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out in the street where we were a couple of minutes ago.
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The ventilation comes from the air vents that we see
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above us.
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The hot air goes out while the cold air circulates
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at ground level.
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In here, the temperature is quite pleasant.
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One of the things that strikes me the most about Iranians,
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is that they have a deeply ingrained love of culture.
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It's obvious that culture plays a very important role
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in their lives.
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Not only among the elite.
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Anyone would be happy to tell you about the great events
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in Persian history.
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The great poets, the great builders.
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And the journalist Atafir Hosseiniyeh is no exception
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to the rule.
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She works for the local newspaper in Qazvin,
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and certainly has a lot to say.
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Was a caravanserai actually more like a hotel
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or a bazar, a group of shops?
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Both of them, together.
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This place was on the Silk Road, as you know.
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And many people stopped here.
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Since they needed somewhere to stay, there were places
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in which they could be housed.
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Something like today's hotel rooms.
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And at the same time,
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it was useful for the people of Qazvin.
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This place was like a bazar.
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Like a market for them.
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In other words, they could come and sell their products
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to the people who were staying here,
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and so it also had an economic function.
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You're very passionate about the Silk Road,
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but is it something that interests young Iranians nowadays,
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at the beginning of the 21st century?
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My interest in the Silk Road comes from my love
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of Iranian history, of the past, of the ancient culture
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of this country.
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We can't say that all Iranians are knowledgeable about
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the history of their country,
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but the number of people for whom it is important,
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who do research and who have a lot of knowledge
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about our history is really quite high.
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The truth is that in most cities in Iran,
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history is alive.
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And you can't say that those cities don't have any identity.
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This caravanserai is like a palace,
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which tells us that Qazvin was once a major capital.
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But now, in comparison to other cities in Iran,
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it's quite small with 500,000 inhabitants.
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So are there a lot of cultural activities for you to cover
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as a journalist here?
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In this city,
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there are a lot of people from different backgrounds.
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So you have a whole variety of cultures here,
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and that gives you a lot to write about.
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That's one of my favorite subjects,
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and I'd like to delve into it more later on to make
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social documentaries.
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The last article I wrote was about women
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and the economic crisis.
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It was called "Living on a Mine."
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It was about women who have to beg in the streets
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and how to find solutions to help them stop.
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Because if it's painful to beg, it's even worse for women.
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Without doubt,
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the history of their country matters a lot to Iranians,
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and in particular the history of
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(speaking in Persian)
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the Silk Road.
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A little further on, as we meander through the bazar,
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I find out that the city of Qazvin has even created
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a special Silk Road office,
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and appointed an international representative
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to handle the subject.
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I'm very surprised to see that Iran has an office
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dedicated to the Silk Road.
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When did you set it up and why?
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About ten years ago, an NGO called WCO,
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the World Citizens Organization,
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decided to start up a discussion in Korea
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between the mayors of cities located on the Silk Road.
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Their aim was to reconstruct the Silk Road,
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not physically, but as a functional and cultural entity.
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If one considers its origins, the Silk Road is a route,
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one might say a space, that connects different cultures
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and traditions.
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The eleventh summit was held from the second to the fifth
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of September 2016, in the city of Qazvin.
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It brought together the mayors of 200 cities
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in 67 countries around the world,
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from Southeast Asia to Western Europe.
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You say that there are 67 countries
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on the Silk Road Committee, but what I don't understand
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is that from Turkey to China there aren't, in fact,
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67 countries.
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Who are the members of your organization?
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You're right,
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there aren't 67 countries along the Silk Road.
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And even all of the cities in our own country, Iran,
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are not actually on the Silk Road.
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In reality, it's become a pretext for creating a connection
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between different peoples and different cities,
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and it's based on mutual respect between the peoples
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and traditions that exist in all of these countries.
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In short, this project launched by the WCO,
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or World Citizens Organization,
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is a little vague.
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But what is interesting is how proud certain countries,
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especially Iran and China, have become of the historical
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ties to the Silk Road.
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Traveling from Qazvin, one heads into the Elburz Mountains.
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A vast chain of peaks rising to over 5,671 meters,
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at Mount Damavand, north of Tehran.
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For a long time, these mountains were a favorite hideout
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for bandits and caravan looters,
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but they weren't the only ones here.
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For several centuries, these remote valleys also provided
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shelter for a sect known as the Nizaris,
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who in the 10th century broke away from the Ismailis,
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who themselves were an offshoot of Shi'a Islam.
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As Muslims, they were thus a minority within a minority.
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A group that was often persecuted.
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(ominous music)
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This is an amazing sight, it's just spectacular.
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We're over 2,000 meters above sea level,
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it's like an eagle's nest.
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This place is called Alamut,
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it's the fortress of the old man on the mountain.
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(speaking in Persian)
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The founder of the Ismaili sect known as the Hashashin.
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They were called Hashashin because they grew hashish,
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which Hassan Isaba would give to his young recruits
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to smoke.
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He'd have them spend a few days in a beautiful garden,
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meet virgin girls, etc.
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He'd make them believe they were in paradise,
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then he'd take the hashish away.
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The guys were in withdrawal, they were junkies.
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Then he'd say, go kill one of my enemies for me.
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It might be a Muslim emir, or one of the leaders
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of the crusades.
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After you murder him, you'll go straight to heaven.
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You'll be killed right away,
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but you'll go and live in paradise.
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And since the guys wanted to get their drugs back,
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to return to that heavenly garden
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and be with those girls again,
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they would go and do it.
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So that's how they got the name Hashashin,
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smoker of Hashish, which is the word assassin comes from.
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Basically, Hassan Isaba invented suicide bombing.
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A wonderful novel by Amin Maalouf,
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tells the story of the friendship between the old man
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on the mountain and Mani,
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the prophet of Manichaean dualism,
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and the great mystic poet, Omar Khayyam.
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It's called The Gardens of Light.
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I read it as a teenager, and since then,
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I've always dreamed of visiting Alamut, or at least,
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what is left of it.
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(calm music)
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The solitude of the Elburz Mountains will soon give way
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to the noise and crowds of Tehran, the Iranian capital,
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with its skyscrapers and monstrous traffic jams.
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Tehran is built on the southern slopes
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of the Elburz Mountains at 1,300 meters above sea level.
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From the top of the city, you can hop onto a chair lift
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that will take you straight up to the ski slopes.
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This may be the only capital in the world that turns
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into a ski resort during the winter season.
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Tehran is a city that has mushroomed in the last 25 years,
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tripling in size to nearly 15 million people.
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If you look behind me, you'll see how spread out it is.
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It's now 50 kilometers wide and 30 kilometers long.
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Hardly the small, provincial town that travelers
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used to come across on the old Silk Road.
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This flourishing mega city also testifies
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to the extraordinary flare for business and trade
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that the Persians and then the Iranians have always had.
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They dominated the Silk Road very early on,
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and controlled the routes from India and China,
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to present day Turkey and Europe.
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What is perhaps the most surprising thing about Tehran
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is the contrast between the two Irans.
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One, which is rather hide bound, the Islamic Republic,
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with its huge portraits of the Ayatollah Khomeini,
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and its slogans against America, the great Satan.
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And the other, a country of young people,
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a capital in full economic boom impatiently waiting
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for the sanctions connected with the nuclear conflict
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to be lifted.
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Iran is constantly navigating between these paradigms,
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like those women, who are playing sports in sweatsuits,
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while also wearing the mandatory hijab.
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Or those couples who are flirting discreetly
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in spite of the ban imposed by the religious police.
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This is Laleh Park, one of the big parks in central Tehran.
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A lush oasis in the midst of this gargantuan metropolis,
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and a favorite hangout for the local chess players.
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(uplifting music)
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From what I can see, they're very good players.
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Which is quite logical since this is, in fact,
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the homeland of chess.
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The first historical reference to the game they call,
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Shatranj, which is an Arabic word, was in Iran,
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or rather in Persia in 600 BC.
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There are several theories about where the game comes from.
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Nowadays, most people agree that it originated in India.
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But was formalized and popularized in Iran.
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Then it was brought to Spain by the Arabs
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around the 10th century.
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That's how Europeans were introduced to this game,
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00:12:22,607 --> 00:12:25,557
and they developed a passion for it during the Middle Ages.
261
00:12:28,780 --> 00:12:30,750
According to the legend, in the sixth century,
262
00:12:30,750 --> 00:12:33,310
an Indian ambassador brought the game of Four Kings,
263
00:12:33,310 --> 00:12:35,590
or Shatranj, to the court of Koshro the First,
264
00:12:35,590 --> 00:12:37,550
the Emperor or Shah of Persia,
265
00:12:37,550 --> 00:12:39,373
in order to test his intelligence.
266
00:12:40,260 --> 00:12:42,270
In reality, the game probably circulated
267
00:12:42,270 --> 00:12:45,150
among the nomadic peoples of Central Asia before it arrived
268
00:12:45,150 --> 00:12:47,570
in Persia via the trade routes.
269
00:12:47,570 --> 00:12:49,600
And the same nomads would later bring it with them
270
00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:50,943
to the Arabian Peninsula.
271
00:12:52,430 --> 00:12:54,380
In fact, Ali who was married to Fatima,
272
00:12:54,380 --> 00:12:57,280
the prophet Muhammad's daughter, was an avid chess player.
273
00:12:59,010 --> 00:13:01,550
From Arabia, the game traveled via the Arab conquests
274
00:13:01,550 --> 00:13:04,180
to Andalucia, and from there it spread to the rest of Europe
275
00:13:04,180 --> 00:13:05,133
in the Middle Ages.
276
00:13:07,978 --> 00:13:10,430
The game they play here called Shatranj,
277
00:13:10,430 --> 00:13:13,200
is basically the same as the chess that is played in Europe,
278
00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:16,850
but the terms they use are either Indian or Iranian.
279
00:13:16,850 --> 00:13:20,210
So the king is, well, the king.
280
00:13:20,210 --> 00:13:21,700
The queen is not a lady in Iran,
281
00:13:21,700 --> 00:13:24,000
but the vizier, the minister.
282
00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:26,832
And it's not the bishop here, but rather, the elephant.
283
00:13:26,832 --> 00:13:29,260
Beyond that, however, the way the pieces are moved
284
00:13:29,260 --> 00:13:31,160
is the same as in the western version.
285
00:13:33,101 --> 00:13:35,310
In the Arab regions, the game of chess was soon banned
286
00:13:35,310 --> 00:13:38,700
by purist Muslim theologians based on the Quranic precept
287
00:13:38,700 --> 00:13:40,950
that the use of figurines representing the human form
288
00:13:40,950 --> 00:13:42,320
is impious.
289
00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:46,310
The pieces thus took on a form that is usually abstract,
290
00:13:46,310 --> 00:13:49,160
and identifiable via its designs.
291
00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:51,140
In Persia, on the other hand, the pieces often kept
292
00:13:51,140 --> 00:13:54,880
their figurative shape such as, for example, the horse.
293
00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:56,563
Sit down, please.
294
00:14:01,784 --> 00:14:02,617
Alfred.
295
00:14:04,756 --> 00:14:06,383
But, my level is, uh...
296
00:14:08,129 --> 00:14:10,962
(players talking)
297
00:14:12,082 --> 00:14:14,665
(quirky music)
298
00:14:27,930 --> 00:14:30,053
To everyone's astonishment, I won.
299
00:14:33,230 --> 00:14:36,300
Chess belongs to the traditional Indo-Oriental roots
300
00:14:36,300 --> 00:14:37,500
of Persia.
301
00:14:37,500 --> 00:14:40,930
But the Iran of today is not at all a monolithic block.
302
00:14:40,930 --> 00:14:42,613
There's an intermingling of influences from the east
303
00:14:42,613 --> 00:14:44,520
as well as from the west.
304
00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:46,508
The traditions of the past encounter the new trends
305
00:14:46,508 --> 00:14:48,540
embraced by the younger generation.
306
00:14:48,540 --> 00:14:51,430
Which often yearns for a more modern, more open society.
307
00:14:51,430 --> 00:14:55,330
Slim jeans, bandanas, an electro remix by Pink Floyd
308
00:14:55,330 --> 00:14:56,810
blasting in the background.
309
00:14:56,810 --> 00:14:59,710
Iranian youth are thoroughly imbued with American culture.
310
00:15:01,150 --> 00:15:03,740
In the end, the Silk Road was just as much about exchanges
311
00:15:03,740 --> 00:15:06,800
between cultures as it was between trade and commerce.
312
00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:09,540
And here in Tehran, we can see that those cultural exchanges
313
00:15:09,540 --> 00:15:10,740
are still going on today,
314
00:15:10,740 --> 00:15:13,380
although it's no longer on the backs of Bactrian camels,
315
00:15:13,380 --> 00:15:15,110
but on the back of the internet.
316
00:15:15,110 --> 00:15:17,380
For example, around us in a skate park, we can see
317
00:15:17,380 --> 00:15:19,352
the influence of American culture.
318
00:15:19,352 --> 00:15:22,410
It may seem a little paradoxical since America officially
319
00:15:22,410 --> 00:15:24,930
remains the great Satan in the eyes of the Shiite clerics
320
00:15:24,930 --> 00:15:26,060
who rule the country.
321
00:15:26,060 --> 00:15:28,013
But this skate park is perfectly legal.
322
00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:31,500
Hi Mickey, so, how old are you
323
00:15:31,500 --> 00:15:33,353
and how long have you been skateboarding?
324
00:15:34,903 --> 00:15:37,650
I'm 19 years old and I'm skating for like six years.
325
00:15:37,650 --> 00:15:39,071
Six years and a half.
326
00:15:39,071 --> 00:15:42,270
How long have people been skateboarding in Iran?
327
00:15:42,270 --> 00:15:45,729
Around 20 years, 15 years.
328
00:15:45,729 --> 00:15:49,893
We've seen progress, and people are skating more than ever.
329
00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:52,960
But when people began skating 20 years ago,
330
00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:55,600
that was when Iran was still very isolated, and above all,
331
00:15:55,600 --> 00:15:57,280
from the United States.
332
00:15:57,280 --> 00:15:59,430
Skateboarding is totally American, so how do you deal
333
00:15:59,430 --> 00:16:00,630
with that contradiction.
334
00:16:01,860 --> 00:16:05,270
Yeah, skateboarding is a way of life.
335
00:16:05,270 --> 00:16:10,270
We don't combine them together, you know?
336
00:16:10,270 --> 00:16:14,300
When you skate with an American skater you don't
337
00:16:14,300 --> 00:16:17,380
see things in between.
338
00:16:17,380 --> 00:16:20,414
You just call that guy your brother.
339
00:16:20,414 --> 00:16:22,997
(upbeat music)
340
00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:34,280
People always ask us, what's like that?
341
00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:39,280
To be skating the American sport in Iran?
342
00:16:39,620 --> 00:16:41,820
And actually it's, I don't know.
343
00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:46,760
But we call each other brothers.
344
00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:48,303
And that's good.
345
00:16:49,700 --> 00:16:53,700
We don't think, where you from, how you look,
346
00:16:53,700 --> 00:16:55,060
we just skate.
347
00:16:55,060 --> 00:16:56,730
You say it's not the look that counts,
348
00:16:56,730 --> 00:16:59,120
but from what I can see, the look seems to be a big thing.
349
00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:01,810
Everyone's wearing slim jeans, bandanas on their heads,
350
00:17:01,810 --> 00:17:03,660
hip tshirts, so what's going on?
351
00:17:03,660 --> 00:17:07,243
You know, it's because of what they listen to in music.
352
00:17:08,150 --> 00:17:11,390
They listen to hip hop, some of them listen to metal,
353
00:17:11,390 --> 00:17:12,840
or something like that.
354
00:17:12,840 --> 00:17:17,300
So it's, I know what you mean.
355
00:17:17,300 --> 00:17:22,260
But everybody has a different style.
356
00:17:22,260 --> 00:17:26,733
But when we speak, we have the same thing to talk about.
357
00:17:27,767 --> 00:17:30,103
People are more common.
358
00:17:30,970 --> 00:17:34,990
Kids, like eight years old, nine years old,
359
00:17:34,990 --> 00:17:36,730
they are skating.
360
00:17:36,730 --> 00:17:38,152
It's in progress.
361
00:17:38,152 --> 00:17:40,140
How much time do you spend skateboarding?
362
00:17:40,140 --> 00:17:41,550
And what do you like about this sport?
363
00:17:41,550 --> 00:17:43,499
Why are you so hooked on it?
364
00:17:43,499 --> 00:17:47,420
I skate four hours a day.
365
00:17:47,420 --> 00:17:50,423
After work, after university.
366
00:17:52,380 --> 00:17:56,862
Skateboarding is way different than what people think.
367
00:17:56,862 --> 00:18:00,774
They think it's just a hobby, but no, it's like,
368
00:18:00,774 --> 00:18:03,623
it's changed a lot of things in my life.
369
00:18:04,714 --> 00:18:05,650
Like what?
370
00:18:05,650 --> 00:18:10,650
My behavior, my attitude, and the way I dress, clothes.
371
00:18:14,340 --> 00:18:18,850
It's hard to explain, it's like you are free when you skate.
372
00:18:18,850 --> 00:18:20,705
You don't have to think about tomorrow, you don't have
373
00:18:20,705 --> 00:18:22,890
to think about the past.
374
00:18:22,890 --> 00:18:26,180
You just escape and you're happy,
375
00:18:26,180 --> 00:18:27,938
you actually are happy.
376
00:18:27,938 --> 00:18:30,080
And that's it.
377
00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:32,634
It's the best thing that ever happened to me.
378
00:18:32,634 --> 00:18:34,863
(speaking in Persian)
379
00:18:34,863 --> 00:18:37,113
(laughing)
380
00:18:39,570 --> 00:18:40,780
Right next to the skate park,
381
00:18:40,780 --> 00:18:44,070
is the Tabi'at Bridge, the Nature Bridge in Persian.
382
00:18:44,070 --> 00:18:45,690
The concept is more or less the same,
383
00:18:45,690 --> 00:18:48,081
a bold display of modernity with a stamp of approval
384
00:18:48,081 --> 00:18:50,380
from the Iranian authorities.
385
00:18:50,380 --> 00:18:52,560
This suspension bridge right in the heart of Tehran
386
00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:55,080
is quite astonishing, especially since it was designed
387
00:18:55,080 --> 00:18:57,000
by a young, female architect.
388
00:18:57,000 --> 00:18:59,290
As you walk along this new bridge of size,
389
00:18:59,290 --> 00:19:01,550
you'll notice that here in the Iranian capital,
390
00:19:01,550 --> 00:19:04,540
the young women are extremely made up, often to the point
391
00:19:04,540 --> 00:19:06,190
of using plastic surgery.
392
00:19:06,190 --> 00:19:08,560
Moreover, they have a very minimalist approach to wearing
393
00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:10,600
the headscarf imposed by the regime.
394
00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:13,530
Circumventing social mores is a subtle art practiced
395
00:19:13,530 --> 00:19:14,772
by today's young couples,
396
00:19:14,772 --> 00:19:17,583
who indulge in the delights of flirting on this bridge.
397
00:19:19,846 --> 00:19:22,263
(calm music)
398
00:19:23,150 --> 00:19:25,560
On the outskirts of the capital, there's a military zone
399
00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:27,240
where I find the oldest sport in the country
400
00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:28,540
being practiced.
401
00:19:28,540 --> 00:19:29,373
Polo.
402
00:19:33,110 --> 00:19:34,290
For thousands of years,
403
00:19:34,290 --> 00:19:36,800
there was just one item that was essential to the Chinese.
404
00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:39,250
An imported item, and that was the horse.
405
00:19:39,250 --> 00:19:42,510
They started buying horses from the Persians in 200 BC,
406
00:19:42,510 --> 00:19:45,120
and continued to do so for 2,000 years.
407
00:19:45,120 --> 00:19:47,390
The only horses they sought were Persian horses called
408
00:19:47,390 --> 00:19:48,223
blood sweaters.
409
00:19:50,340 --> 00:19:52,640
Some historians believe that these heavenly horses
410
00:19:52,640 --> 00:19:55,510
that seem to sweat blood, were in fact victims of a parasite
411
00:19:55,510 --> 00:19:56,860
that made their skin bleed.
412
00:19:58,050 --> 00:20:01,050
It's true that they were the fastest horses in the world,
413
00:20:01,050 --> 00:20:03,372
and those were the horses they played polo with.
414
00:20:03,372 --> 00:20:05,740
If there's one sport that is emblematic of the Silk Road,
415
00:20:05,740 --> 00:20:06,573
it's polo.
416
00:20:06,573 --> 00:20:08,450
Which the Persians call the king of sports,
417
00:20:08,450 --> 00:20:10,430
and the sport of kings.
418
00:20:10,430 --> 00:20:12,990
Polo spread up and down the Silk Road to China in the east,
419
00:20:12,990 --> 00:20:14,693
and towards Byzantium in the west.
420
00:20:14,693 --> 00:20:17,180
It's sport that's been played from 500 BC
421
00:20:17,180 --> 00:20:18,293
until the present day.
422
00:20:20,687 --> 00:20:23,520
(horses trotting)
423
00:20:27,874 --> 00:20:31,780
(Alfred clicking his tongue)
424
00:20:31,780 --> 00:20:33,173
Hi there, little foal.
425
00:20:40,250 --> 00:20:42,800
Marco Polo says that the Persian Charger was the most
426
00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:44,450
highly prized horse in the world,
427
00:20:44,450 --> 00:20:47,100
and that it sold for 200 Tehran pounds,
428
00:20:47,100 --> 00:20:49,443
which, apparently, was an enormous sum.
429
00:20:51,230 --> 00:20:53,120
Hey, don't eat me.
430
00:20:53,120 --> 00:20:55,733
So, imagine that little guy, 200 Tehran pounds.
431
00:20:57,369 --> 00:20:59,786
(soft music)
432
00:21:08,910 --> 00:21:11,503
So, here we have the ball, and the polo stick.
433
00:21:12,566 --> 00:21:16,253
The Iranian name for polo is chogan, which means mallet.
434
00:21:17,570 --> 00:21:18,930
According to the legend,
435
00:21:18,930 --> 00:21:21,050
Alexander the Great received a ball and a mallet
436
00:21:21,050 --> 00:21:23,694
from Darius, the king of Persia, which basically meant,
437
00:21:23,694 --> 00:21:26,773
you're just a kid, keep playing.
438
00:21:28,300 --> 00:21:31,430
Alexander is said to have told him, you see this ball?
439
00:21:31,430 --> 00:21:32,740
Well, it's the earth.
440
00:21:32,740 --> 00:21:34,625
And this mallet is me.
441
00:21:34,625 --> 00:21:37,083
Which shows what he thought of himself.
442
00:21:38,010 --> 00:21:40,040
But in fact, as history would prove, he knew what he wanted,
443
00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:41,090
and he went after it.
444
00:21:44,120 --> 00:21:45,820
Considered an aristocratic sport,
445
00:21:45,820 --> 00:21:47,840
polo was banned by the Ayatollah Khomeini
446
00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:50,820
after the 1979 revolution that brought about the fall
447
00:21:50,820 --> 00:21:52,810
of the Shah Reza Pahlavi.
448
00:21:52,810 --> 00:21:55,424
Ten years later, however, polo was rehabilitated
449
00:21:55,424 --> 00:21:57,480
because of its significance for the country's
450
00:21:57,480 --> 00:21:58,413
cultural history.
451
00:22:01,570 --> 00:22:04,980
Amirahli Zalfigari is a big fan of polo.
452
00:22:04,980 --> 00:22:07,610
How many horses are needed to play in a polo match?
453
00:22:07,610 --> 00:22:09,970
You need at least four.
454
00:22:09,970 --> 00:22:11,880
Four ponies, four horses.
455
00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:12,713
Polo ponies.
456
00:22:13,890 --> 00:22:17,850
Because you're not supposed to repeat in a match
457
00:22:17,850 --> 00:22:19,320
more than twice.
458
00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:23,990
Depending on the number of trackers or periods in a match.
459
00:22:23,990 --> 00:22:28,980
Normally, in the lower levels of polo, with four is enough.
460
00:22:28,980 --> 00:22:31,770
As you go to higher level of matches,
461
00:22:31,770 --> 00:22:34,450
you might ned up to ten each player.
462
00:22:34,450 --> 00:22:36,270
Yeah, you need plenty.
463
00:22:37,319 --> 00:22:40,152
(speaking French)
464
00:22:42,015 --> 00:22:43,385
I'm not really good at playing.
465
00:22:43,385 --> 00:22:44,957
It's okay.
466
00:22:44,957 --> 00:22:47,750
So, in fact, polo was invented by the Scythians,
467
00:22:47,750 --> 00:22:50,400
a nomadic people who roam the northern parts of Iran.
468
00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:54,600
The emperor of Persia made them his cavalry.
469
00:22:55,491 --> 00:22:57,850
And, in fact, we can see why, because polo is actually
470
00:22:57,850 --> 00:22:59,300
an excellent way of training.
471
00:23:01,220 --> 00:23:03,400
It was adopted by the cavalry.
472
00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:05,876
It's like a way of training for the battle before
473
00:23:05,876 --> 00:23:07,163
the real match.
474
00:23:18,932 --> 00:23:21,849
(horses galloping)
475
00:23:24,780 --> 00:23:26,620
The Chinese believe that these horses
476
00:23:26,620 --> 00:23:30,520
came from the Fergana Valley, which is now in Uzbekistan.
477
00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:33,250
In fact, the Persian dealers traded for them on farms,
478
00:23:33,250 --> 00:23:35,850
throughout all of Central Asia and present day Iran.
479
00:23:39,450 --> 00:23:44,450
Polo ponies, nowadays, is a mixed race, special race.
480
00:23:44,460 --> 00:23:46,760
In the higher level of polo, the Thoroughbred,
481
00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:50,150
English Thoroughbred race is used, same as a race horse,
482
00:23:50,150 --> 00:23:54,178
and we use the Turkoman horse mixed with the Thoroughbred.
483
00:23:54,178 --> 00:23:55,633
The Turkoman horse we mix with the Arab or with the Kurdish
484
00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:01,283
horse as well, is used a lot, and they do very well.
485
00:24:03,310 --> 00:24:05,030
The mare that I rode, Little Bird,
486
00:24:05,030 --> 00:24:07,080
is a good example of this.
487
00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:09,590
At the slightest pull on the reins, she twirls around,
488
00:24:09,590 --> 00:24:11,440
and she can even stop in full gallop.
489
00:24:13,857 --> 00:24:16,524
(soaring music)
490
00:24:32,950 --> 00:24:35,649
Now it's time to leave Tehran, this time by train,
491
00:24:35,649 --> 00:24:37,740
to get to the city of Kashan
492
00:24:37,740 --> 00:24:40,320
we'll be crossing a part of Dasht-e Kavir,
493
00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:41,637
the Big Salt Desert.
494
00:24:53,140 --> 00:24:56,723
(upbeat traditional music)
39174
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