The 4WD slid down a steep, dusty track and crawled slowly around a precarious, towering boulder the size of a block of flats. We stopped on a gravel precipice, hopped out, and my jaw dropped as I stared into a vast, deep canyon that stretched miles in each direction and was coloured warm rust and golden by the setting sun.
For me, it was a moment of transformation. I was standing on the edge of the extraordinary, little-known Sharyn Canyon in eastern Kazakhstan, which rivals the Grand Canyon for grandeur and natural beauty, while travelling through Central Asia for my first TV series, called Meet the Stans. The journey also took me to Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
I had already travelled the planet for fun, love and work. But I had rarely strayed from the beaten track. My trips had been holidays. There were laughs, and they gifted me memories. But they didn’t change me.
Yet on that first television adventure, to forgotten corners of Central Asia, there were sights and experiences that made my head swim and sing. I played kokpar, an unusual variant of polo, and I danced at the oh-so-classy Petroleum nightclub in Almaty, Kazakhstan, full of more beautiful women and men than a supermodel’s birthday party.
One night, when we arrived in the ancient Silk Road city of Bukhara in Uzbekistan, I was awoken in the back of our tour van by the sound of a huge wooden guesthouse door creaking open. I stumbled out of the van and emerged next to the 16th-century Mir-i-Arab Madrasa, an Islamic college. It was a numbingly beautiful sight. Light was streaming from tiny windows sparkling along its colossal walls like the portholes of a ship.
In the darkness to the side I could see the legendary Kalon minaret, an elegant tower built in 1127 and used for centuries partly as a land-locked lighthouse to guide camel trains through the night. An Islamic prayer rehearsal drifted through the night. It was one of the most intense and emotional sounds I have ever heard. The whole experience was overwhelming. Tears rolled down my cheeks.
Until that trip I was happy with the lonely life of an author. I had written more than half a dozen books. But then TV came knocking at my door. From the start, the idea for the TV series was to blend travel with issues – to go on an adventure, a real adventure, but also to learn about the places visited. From the first day of the first trip, I realised travelling with your eyes open, and looking for the dark as well as the light, is a guaranteed way of having an experience that lingers in your soul.
Before I started Meet the Stans, I told the BBC it would be a one-off. I had a series of books I wanted to write. My author slippers were calling. After I finished the adventure, I was on a high for weeks. My mind was full of the experiences, the images, the smells, food and the incredible characters I’d met. I wrote to the BBC, said I’d loved it, and asked if I could change my mind. Every trip since then has been extraordinary, every moment a privilege. Travel has gifted me some of the greatest memories of my life.
Simon Reeve has travelled extensively in more than 120 countries, making countless series for the BBC, including Caribbean, Equator, Tropic of Cancer, and Explore. His next series is Turkey. He is currently filming in Colombia. simonreeve.co.uk
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