I'm sorry you were ill. Doesn't sound too ordinary to me. Sounds nasty. Hard to be sick when you are traveling.

The pictures. Oh wow. Places on a map for me, but now real. The baths contrasted with the modern buildings. Startling. What a walk through history. I am far more fascinated with that than with the modern prosperity. I believe you know that writing books that don't sell was a recent hobby of mine. One focused on the Four Masters of Yuan (traditional Chinese artists who tried to survive after the Mongols took over). In that book I dealt briefly with Genghis Khan's conquests, the Silk Road, Marco Polo and the spread of plague. All of these took me through the area you discuss in your blog. But of course, the area was abstract before I saw your pictures :)

I couldn't stop to read last night, but did so at my leisure today.

Great cat pictures :)))