Holiday in Central Asia (13): Rishton, Kokand & Tashkent in Uzbekistan
It was basically a travelling day (Day 12) as we left the Fergana Valley to journey to Tashkent prior to our venture tomorrow into Tajikistan.
The group of eight plus our guide and luggage were allocated to four modern white cars, the LPG-powered Chevrolet Cobalt. I sat in the front of my car with Charles & Nova in the back. At the beginning of the journey, I was a confirmed atheist but almost immediately I became a devout Muslim because our Uzbek driver – no doubt very competent – drove at breakneck speed and frightening agility. And, all the time that we were in towns, we had endless loud bleeping from his device to warn of speed detectors.
The roads were excellent but that only encouraged the driver to go to infinity and beyond. Meanwhile the temperature rose to 32C and the car’s air-con was so disappointing that we kept the windows open. I slept most of the time that we were on the road so that I did not have to witness too much of this mania.
Our convoy left our hotel in Fergana at 8.30 am and reached our hotel in Tashkent at 6.30 pm so it was a ten-hour day – but we did stop two and a half times. The first stop was at Rishton where we visited the the ceramics workshop of Rustam & Regina Usmanov. The local clay and glaze are unique and I bought eight beautiful tiles.
The second stop was at the town of Kokand which, in the 18th & 19th centuries, was capital of one of Uzbekistan’s three great khanates and second only to Bukhara as a religious centre in Central Asia. An excellent local guide called Anvar took us around the magnificent Palace of the Khan of Kokand which was built in 1873 with seven courtyards and 114 rooms. Shorter visits were to a former medressa, a current mosque, and a graveyard before we had lunch at the “Benazir” restaurant.
The half stop was at the top of the Kamchik Pass at 2267 metres which presents a grand photo opportunity although it was rather hazy that afternoon. In fact, for parts of this whole area – such army camps and tunnels – photographs are not allowed. Indeed the army stopped us photographing a river!
This is because the pass is seen as a strategic location in the event of conflict, should Kyrgyzstan to the north or Tajikistan to the south decided to cut off the Fergana Valley to the east or attack Tashkent to the west. This may seem unlikely, but today there had been a border incident between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan which resulted in the death of a border guard and injury to five others.
On my trip to Uzbekistan in 2006, we stayed at the grim Uzbekistan Hotel, but this time we are in the Lotte City Hotel which is a splendid facility and dinner was at the hotel.
Tomorrow we head for Tajikistan – border disputes permitting.