36 Hours of Fergana Valley

Terrain view of the Fergana Valley - you can see a
surprisingly well defined area of green space.

Back in the day, Fergana Valley must have been an oasis for fatigued travelers on the Silk Road. After trudging through vast stretches of parched, brown desert and scaling over precarious, snow capped mountain peaks that stood 22,000 feet tall, in Fergana, travelers could enjoy 8,500 square miles of fertile green hills, abundant fruits and vegetables, healthy fat livestock, and a hotspot of ethnically diverse locals, languages, and customs. The exchange of information and knowledge must have been abundant as people rested, replenished, and reset before moving onto the next destination.

Nowadays, the region continues to be densely populated with 30% of Uzbekistan's people. The big economic drivers in this region are cotton, agriculture, and small scale manufacturing so it is no surprise that it is also famous for its artisanal experts, particularly with silk, ceramics, and knives. On a recent 36-hour trip to the Fergana Valley we did all the touristy activities that involved just that.

Driving through an uncharacteristic 24 hour downpour, we headed into the mountains where the roadsides were lined with tea houses, rhubarb and flower vendors, and unfinished runaway truck lanes. Down the mountain pass, the roadsides were lined with rocking horse and toy vendors, and bread stands where old women scrupulously picked through rows and rows of fresh baked patir.

The mountain descent led us to Kokand, home to the Khudoyan-Khan Palace, probably the fanciest building in the country. It was built in 1873 was meant to house the Khan, his mother, his large collection of women, staff, and yes-men, but he was forced into exile two years after its completion. Today, it's a Kokand history museum.

Less than an hour from Kokand is the town of Rishtan, located only 500 meters from the Kyrgyz border. It is famous for ceramic pottery- so much so, that studios like Rustam Usmanov and Alisher Nazirov have received the UNESCO Seal of Excellence for their handcrafted products. People buy from all over the world, but I learned that for about five dollars, they will courier any desired piece to Tashkent via taxi. If I like the product, I simply hand over cash to the driver, who would then deliver it back to the studio. Communication is done almost exclusively via Telegram and is considered a very normal transaction in Uzbekistan.

The process of taking a lump of clay and finishing with a painted vase is nothing short of impressive, but it's silk making that really takes the cake in regards to patience and skill. Most internet searches oversimplify the process into 5 "easy steps" going from caterpillars eating mulberry leaves, to cocoons, to thread, to spinning, to dyeing. They fail to mention the intense number of woman and man-hours put into each step. Hours spent in hot water carefully extracting the silk, the hours drying the silk and gathering into skeins, the hours of making patterns using scotch tape, the backbreaking and repetitive nature of using a loom. Then there's the dying, washing, and shaving of the weaved product before it goes to market. The Yodgorlik Silk Factory tour in Margilan gives visitors an appreciation for the process, but also (hopefully) respect for the people who are doing all the work so you can at last, have a silk rug with grandma's face on it.

At the last minute, we made a detour to visit Chust, a 3,500 year old city famous for its knives and apprenticeship programs. Suzangars (blacksmiths) study for 1-2 years learning how to perfect the characteristic, curved tip of Central Asian knives, and attaching them to handles made from wood, horn, bone, or plastic. Good quality knives will have the blade bound through the entire handle, will balance easily in the hand, and of course, cut with minimal effort.

According to the pin drop, we thought we were headed to a storefront for easy shopping. Instead, we ended up in a huge, packed bazaar searching for the famous Chust knife stalls. After a few wrong turns in the sweltering heat and throngs of people, we found them. Dazzled with daggers and bewildered with blades, choosing a knife proved to be very difficult and overwhelming. A suzangar led us into his basement storage closet/office that was located under the bazaar. With a single bulb lighting the way, it felt a bit dungeon-ey, but in the quiet and damp room, we could think and bargain (kind of - neither Mark nor I are good at it). We ended up buying three and celebrating with lamb shashleek (kabobs) and cold draft beer before making the long drive home to Tashkent.

Dehoon Bazaar for all your kniving needs.

The Suzangar's (craftman's) personal knife warehouse, 
located underneath the bazaar.

The knife storage unit was no bigger
than 8' x 3' x 6'.

On the way to Chust, we passed a 9th century mud fort in Aksikhet.
We paid 20 cents for entry, and like other other historic forts,
you can wander all over the preserved land. Millions of pieces of clay pots
litter the grounds and most of them are a thousand years old.
 The photo shows clay pipes that enabled citizens to have indoor water.

Palace decor

Taxidermy with painted ceilings

Drawing only a few stares

Trademark blue and turquoise ceramics

Extracting silk from the cocoons to is an early step 
out of many in the process 

Typical rockstar mom multitasking.

Osh sits at the border in Kyrgyzstan, about 6.5 hours from Tashkent.
Kashgar is the western most city in China, about 9-10 hours from Tashkent.
Photo: Mark

Patir shopping