1 comments about Marco Polo: To China and Back (Great Explorations).

1. Marco Polo
   
   By: Nick Hilton
   
   
   Are you into daring and mischievous books? If so, the thrilling book Marco Polo is for you. You can learn all sorts of interesting facts about him for your education plus have fun at the same time.
   
   This all started out in 1254 in the small city-state of Venice Italy. At the very young age of six his mother died of an unknown bug while his father and uncle where on a trip to retrieve the great spices, silk and jewels from China and sell them back in Italy for a great profit. When they came back from China, his father and uncle found Marco living with his grandparents and after a while decided to take him back to China with them on another expedition. He had many great and wonderful adventures. He even met the great Kubli Khan. On the way, thieves, pirates and an unknown amount of geographic barriers tried to stop them.
   
   When they got to India they learned it would be safer to go around the Himalayas and the Kunlun Mountains than if they got a boat and sailed across the Indian Ocean. Unfortunately, the boats available were old and didn't really look like they could float. Instead of iron nails holding the boats together, they were using thread made from coconut husks. They decided to backtrack and go around the mountains to cross the vast Gobi desert. This would add months to their traveling time but they thought it would be much safer on land instead of using those flimsy boats. When they got to the end of the desert, they were about to climb the plateau of Tibet when Marco got extremely ill. But they kept going to the top of the plateau where he remained ill for only a short amount of days. While up on the plateaus he said that "the air is so pure that if you are stricken with any type of illness that you should travel up there and be healthy faster than any medicine can heal you."
   
   When the Polos got to China, the Khan was extremely happy to see them and was delighted to hear about their travels. But later on the Khan didn't want them to leave because he liked their "company" and sent them on very important and sometimes deadly missions for him. So, he kept the Polos in China for a good 17 years until his daughter (the princess) was to be married in the country Persia. Then the Khan wanted the Polo family to escort his princess to Persia and later return when the ceremony was over. For this the Khan gave them two solid gold tablets to ensure a safe journey. While Khan was busy with his nation, the Polos converted all of their money into jewels to sew on the inside of their clothes so that bandits, thieves or pirates couldn't get the jewels if they should be attacked. The Polos did escort the princess but never returned to China and from Persia they traveled back to Venice, Italy to live the rest of their lives.
   
   When they got back to Venice the other relatives didn't think that they were the long gone Polos because of their ragged clothing and tanned skin. When they ripped open their clothes and spilled out all of their precious jewels the relatives took them for who they said they were. At 45 years of age, Marco got married and had two daughters in which later in his life he gave the golden tablets. Strangely he lived most of his life as a happy merchant even though he was filthy rich. When he was about 60 years of age, he met a publisher that was willing to publish his book for free that he wrote on his journeys even including a few sketches. Now his book has been translated into nearly every language in Europe including German, Spanish, English, Portuguese, and even Gaelic. They called Marco Polo and his book Marco Millions for all of the adventures that he recorded. Marco Polo died at the age of 70 on January 8, 1324 in his bed.
   
   I would recommend this book if you like an adventure with many surprising details. It also has a good tale of Christopher Columbus's inspiration from Marco Polo's journeys. Plus myths and legends that he heard along the way including the Roc (a mystical bird) and the creatures that he discovered on his caravan through China. Did you know that Marco Polo was the first person to record details and behavior of a rhinoceros? Strangely he thought the rhino was a distant and more abrupt relative of the unicorn. But in case you're just interested in him, this book is packed full of truly helpful information about him. It also has useful and interesting facts like that Marco Polo is only one man but some people thought that he was two men, and also thought that it's the way that the pool game Marco Polo was invented but that is not the truth. A man was mistaken and thought that when they got lost in the desert they would call out each other's name and eventually find each other. Though this book is easy to read it's still very interesting and informative.

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