[Sca-cooks] Silk Road timeframe, take 3

Elaine Koogler ekoogler1 at comcast.net
Tue May 2 18:17:38 PDT 2006


morgana.abbey at juno.com wrote:
> NO NO NO
>
> I did not ask about the geopolitical history of Asia Minor.  I don't care if it took so many years that your grandchildren finished the trip.  I'm trying to put together a menu, not write a thesis.
>
> What season was it when you got your ass kicked out of Constantinople?
>
> What season was it when you staggered into Samarkand?
>
> What season was it when you reached Beijing?  
>
> Notice that how many years this covers is not relevant.
>
> Now if I seem cranky it's because I'm feeling very marginalzed by this answer everything except my question.  (Maybe I should have someone with titles ask all my questions.)
>
> Now I just want popcorn and sarcastic TV.
>
> Morgana
>
>   

I tried asking this once before, but it got lost in a sea of other threads.

I need to know what time of year caravans left Constantinople, how long it took for them to reach Samarkand and then how long to reach Beijing.  I want the courses to reflect the meals they would have in each place.  

So far, the consensus is that caravans left in late winter/early spring.

Can anyone tell me for some degree of certainty what the timeframe was?

---------------------------
I can't find the original answer to your original request, which I've copied in here.  You asked _how long_ it took caravans to reach Samarkand and then Beijing...seems to me that he answered what you asked...but certainly he did in his response to your "take 2":

"OK, I thought I was clear in my request.  But the response shows that I need to clarify.

I need to know how long it took PEOPLE to travel from Constantinople to Samarkand, especially noting what time of year this was.  That is:  when did they leave Constantinople?  How long/what time of year was it when they reached Samarkand?  And then what time of year/how long for them to reach Beijing?

Now will someone who has the references be so kind as to give me the answers, or the spiffy URL/ISBN?"
---------------------------------
Here he did again what you asked...he gave you the URL's for several sites from which you should have been able to ascertain how long it took PEOPLE to travel...etc.  I haven't looked at all of the sites he recommended, but suspect that the answers you seek are there if you look!  

Bear has always, in the time I've been on this list (about 5 years, off and on), answered questions patiently and accurately...for anyone, no matter their rank.  And your comments are uncalled-for.  Yes, you might have to search a bit to find the specific information you seek, but your feast would wind up being very well-documented.  And the questions you ask in this last e-mail are not the same ones you asked in the previous two.  Perhaps the problem is with the questioner rather than the person who attempted to answer the question!  

I'm sorry you feel that it has to be a peer who asks in order to get a response...but people who are peers on this list have no more influence than those who are not.  We're always happy to see one of our own get a peerage, but it has more to do with the honor than raising that person's worth on this list.  

Oh, and by the way, I am one of the peers who frequent this list...folks who were around when I got my second peerage (the first was about 20 years ago) know that I have been so recognized...but it doesn't mean that I carry any more weight here than anyone else...except maybe physically  ;-)   

Kiri







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