Marco Polo: Man of Mystery

The Trek had hardly started when they got caught in the middle of a war so they headed towards Ormuz in the Persian Gulf. They were expecting to keep journeying by boat but all the boats were ramshackle and would have been oblitterated in a storm. So they continued to travel by land, which was a problem because they had to cross the Gobi.
The Gobi desert is a vast desert with no inhabitants. It takes 30 days or a month to cross the Gobi desert. It was also the most treacherous part of the journey, not even birds flew over it. The explorers believed that the evil spirits of the Gobi would watch for stragglers and call their name to lure them away and lead them to their doom. But finally they made it out without any casualties.

Finally Marco and the Polos made it to China and the court of Kublai Khan. The older Polos had gone on a mission for Kahn previously and it was to get 100 Christians who were well educated and knew a lot about Christianity so that Kahn could learn about that religion because he was very interested in all religions. At the end of his life he became a Buddhist. So When the Polos returned they brought only 2 friars which was all the pope could spare. Because the Polos completed the mission with some success and got back to the court of Khan, Marco met Khan and became his friend. Soon after Marco became Khan's messenger and he went on missions for Kahn. Kahn had other barons who were also messengers and went on missions for him. The barons became jealous of Marco and so Kahn decided that he would stick with Marco because he would always tell him the truth about what was happening and entertain him with stories that he had heard on his missions.

After a while Kublai Khan gave Marco new horses and a gold tablet, like an ancient VIP pass.

Marco found many other neat things in China. Marco was surprised because he came from a place were baths weren't often taken and in China they took baths 3 times a week. Marco also had great descriptions of the Mongols, like they invented stirrups and using elephants in warfare. Marco also observed people diving for pearls.

One of Marco's favorite spots in China was Green Mount. Green Mount was built upon a man made hill and even in the freezing winter it remained green.

The Polos soon realized that Khan was getting old and would die soon, so they asked to leave knowing if they didn't leave before Khan died their jealous enemies would kill them. So they asked Khan if they could leave but Khan said no because he had gotten used to their company. They asked him several times more, the answer always the same, no. Finally the Polos had a chance to leave. The Khan of Persia's wife died so he chose another, but then war broke out and it was too dangerous to take her back so the Polos asked to take her back and leave. Khan reluctantly agreed. So they took her back and left.

When the Polos got back Marco joined the navy, because he had so much experience on a ship. While in a battle Marcos ship was captured by a Geonese ship. The whole crew was imprisoned. Marco was quite famous and had many visitors. Because he was so famous he had special privileges. He wrote his biography in prison.

Marco died in 1323 (Comptons Encyclopedia, 1985) or 1324 (Hull, 1995) depending on who you believe at the age of 70.