A New Journey Begins — GEORGE CHEN

I just finished watching the four-episodes documentary film of Joanna Lumley’a Silk Road Adventure (available on both Netflix and Apple TV), which starts in Italy (of course, because of the famous Marco Polo) and ends in Kyrgyzstan, which borders China.

Lumley is the presenter and producer of the series. Unfortunately she didn’t get permission from Beijing to shoot the film, so she can only stop her Silk Road journey on the borders of Kyrgyzstan and China.

Some of you may already know that I will begin to officially cover Central Asia (including Mongolia still) starting from 2021, hence I have spent quite some time reading books and materials about Central Asia during my recent holiday time.

The more I read, the more I’m convinced that Central Asia is probably the world’s most “underrated” region. It’s historical. It’s vast. It’s better connected with the rest of the world in terms of geopolitics and investments than most people can expect. The US, Russia, China, and even the EU all want to have a say in Central Asia. It’s about politics, power, and of course it’s about investments (which means money and opportunities) too.

There’s so much for me to learn and I really hope I can put my feet on the historical lands of those fascinating Central Asian “Stan” countries before too long.