In Marco Polo's ancient footsteps

Nature, culture and people

In the documentary, Stanley and Max take the audience to see some of the most breathtaking landscapes in Northwest China. Driving a 4x4 SUV, the two slowly descended 1,000 meters by going around more than 600 turns on a mountain highway called pan long road, or twisting dragon road, near Kashgar.

They also board an overnight sleeper train from Hotan to Ruoqiang, the latest leg of the world's first railway loop line circling a desert that opened in 2022, which crosses China's largest desert, Taklamakan, with ease. "This is the modern version of the Silk Road," Stanley exclaimed in the film.

Standing on a hot-air balloon, they catch the morning rays shining over the Zhangye National Geopark, creating the sight of a "rainbow mountain" out of the unique petrographic landform in China.

In addition to seeing magnificent scenery, the Johnsons meet various people along the way.

They watch a performance of Xinjiang Uygur Muqam, which includes songs, dances, and folk and classical music and that UNESCO put on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008.

During their journey, they also learned with a master chef how to make Lanzhou lamian, or the hand-pulled noodle that originated in Lanzhou, Gansu province, which was arguably China's most widespread noodle dish across the vast country and abroad.

And they got to grapple with Mongolian bokh wrestlers, try archery, and listen to khoomei, an ancient throat singing performed by ethnic Mongolians.

They also had the chance to talk to historians at sites in Xanadu, the northern capital of the Mongol Empire, and in the Forbidden City, which was built during the Yuan Dynasty, tracing Marco Polo to the places he must have been, and the things he could have seen.

"We've met people, and we've been entertained by people, and we've had experiences which I will never forget," Stanley said at the end of the documentary.