Today we head off on our first real day of the trip along the Central Silk Road. But we do not start it in the Dragoman truck, as we would have expected. It appears that they will not allow a foreign registered vehicle cross the mountain pass that we need to go over. So we will need to take local transport instead. We get an old Mercedes bus. Fortunately it is air-conditioned and very roomy, so it is not a problem. We head off just after 8 AM and drive through the city in our way out of town.
As we leave the city, the buildings give way for cotton fields, which after a while give way to nothing, but brown, arid desert. We pass many old, abandoned factories along the way. Another legacy of the old Soviet Union are all the check points that we need to pass through. But we are often just waved right through. But just after 10 AM we arrive at the check point which marks the start of the sensitive bit - here they are checking every car and person much more carefully. Some of us need to get off the bus and transfer to a mini-bus for the ride through the Kamchik pass - they allow a maximum of ten people per vehicle (we assume so that if anyone plans an attack, it would be harder to get a large group up there).
They are in the process of building a new highway that will extend all the way to China. It is still under construction and it is an interesting blend of labor intensive work and modern, high-tech construction. At one point the road is a series of pre-fab concrete slabs that are laid on the ground, with individuals filling in the cracks with tar heated over a fire. A bit later, there are huge, modern machines laying the road with minimal man-power. We head up the long winding road to the top of the pass, where there are two tunnels that pierce through the mountain. They are guarded by very serious looking soldiers who man concrete bunkers. Then is is down the other side of the pass. The road seems like it will be quite good once it is completed. But is it filled with Ladas - they are everywhere. Most seem either to be overloaded with all kinds of stuff on the roof, sticking out of the truck and inside, or they are broken down by the side of the road with steam pouring out of their engines while the driver pours water on the over-heated engine.
At the bottom of the pass as we pass through the check point, we are met by Josh, the truck that will take us along the Central Silk Route. We leave the Mercedes bus behind and load up our Mercedes truck and head off. We only drive a short way, as we make a stop in a local cafe for lunch. After lunch it is another short drive to Kokand, a city which has the palace of the last Khan, Khudoyar. It is called Khudayarkhans and was built in the 19th century. It is in OK shape, but the back half, where the 40 concubines were kept, was destroyed by the Soviets as they considered it oppressive symbol to women. The Palace, which is not too ornate, contains largely a museum of local studies. It has interesting stuff, but all the labels are in Russian, so we do not get much out of it.
Once we have finished here, we head over to the Juma Mosque for a look around. It is no longer used, so we can get inside for a look. It is quite impressive with the huge praying area with the long, ornate columns. We even get a chance to walk up to the top of the Medina (but we do resist shouting out to see how we would do calling everyone to prayers).
It is a busy day and from here we head to Bishtan, where we visit the local pottery master. We are told that this was one of the top places for pottery in the old days. We get a short demonstration of how the pottery is made and decorated and then we are shown good Fergana Valley (and Uzbek) hospitality. We are served tea, bread and snacks at a long table. They break the bread for us and keep on filling our tea cups. It is almost like a meal. And then we come to the serious shopping bit. The stuff they make is actually quite good. It seems better (and cheaper) than what we saw in Morocco on our Trans-Africa. We have some tough choices (and it is only the start of our trip), so we pick up just three pieces. They pack it in a nice bag and give us a small gift.
That is it for the day and we head off for Fergana (the city), where we will be staying for the night. We stay at the Ziyorat Hotel - what you would expect from an old Intourist hotel. But is actually quite good, given what they have to work with. It is clean and we have hot water (and there is not a lady on each floor checking on what we do - some things do change!!!). After a bit of a shower and clean-up, we head out for dinner. We take a short walk to one of the local out-door places where we get the usual shashlyk - meat on a skewer, with some bread. They play some music and cute waitresses in yellow aprons serve us (Paolo flirts with them).
We return to the hotel with the objective getting good nights sleep - the first in three nights. But we are thwarted by the loud music coming from the nearby, outdoor disco. It is so hot that we have to leave our windows open, so we cannot shut out the sound. But they mercifully quiet down at around midnight and we head off to sleep.