Silk Road Adventure

The fabled Silk Road—from Istanbul, Turkey to Xian, China—is both the subject and the setting for this mesmerizing motorcycle travelogue. Shot in HD, this ambitious program successfully combines historical and modern perspectives on an epic 8,000-mile, 53-day, eight-country road trip following 18 riders from the United States on sturdy GS-style BMW motorcycles capable of handling the varied conditions (which range from perfect ribbons of asphalt in beautiful modern cities, to former Soviet states with crumbling infrastructure, to rural dirt paths). Each stop offers rich history lessons, mostly told by English-speaking Turkish, Russian, Middle Eastern, and Chinese local residents, backed with stunning photography of museums, mosques, bazaars, markets, art works, artifacts, and more. Of course, the present often intrudes in the form of both rewards and hardships, which run the gamut from warm welcomes and downright cheap gasoline, to mechanical failures, injuries, and reports of civil unrest ahead. An unusual but fascinating historical travelogue, this is highly recommended. [Note: also newly available is GlobeRiders: Iceland, priced at $19.95.] Aud: P. (C. Block)