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Published: August 18th 2019
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The journey from Dushanbe to Termiz is approximately 250 kilometres via the Regar border crossing. I took Bus #22 which dropped me off at the car stand where I paid 25 Tajik somoni for my ride to the border. Crossing the border was a breeze, with friendly and helpful officials on both sides. On the Uzbek side I was the only foreigner and was ushered through the crowd where an official stamped my passport and I was on my way. Outside the border, a guy was shouting “Termiz” and after some haggling, I agreed on $20 for the whole car to take me to Termiz although the driver did pick up the odd passenger on the route. I just let it go. Termiz is the hottest part of Uzbekistan.
Termiz, close to Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, was another important metropolis on the Silk Road. Like many places in central Asia, it is booming with development taking place all over the city. The taxi dropped me off outside the Rich Hotel where I booked two nights at 170,000 Som for the night ($20), including breakfast. In the afternoon I visited the Archaeological Museum which has some wonderful exhibits from Old Termiz:
pottery, coins, iron-age tools and artifacts from the Buddhist temples.
The hotel manager introduced me to a friendly young guide with basic English. He arranged a car and driver to take me to the historical sites around the hot arid desert landscape of Termiz. The places I visited were:
1, Kyrk kyz Fortress: the ruins are of a small fortified manor house. Legend has it that Gulaim and her 40 women warriors held off an attack by nomads after their menfolk were slain. Kyrk kyz means 40 women.
2, Sultan Saodat Complex: buried in the Grand edifices are members of the Sayyid dynasty which ruled Termiiz in the Middle Ages.
3, Al-Hakiim al-Termizi, the holiest site in Termiz: it is dedicated to the philosopher/poet Al-Hakim. He is also the city's patron Saint. The complex has several small caves that look as though they could have been cells for monks. Situated next to the site is the old Termiz fortress. Unfortunately, it is on the banks of the Amu Darya River which is the border with Afghanistan. It is surrounded by a barbed wire fence and is off limits to visitors.
4, Buddhist site: in what
is still old Termiz near the banks of the Amu Darya River (formerly Oxus) are the Buddhist temple complexes dating back to the 1st century AD during the height of the Kushan Period. The first was the Fayaz Tepe temple with a stupa, courtyard, columns, and halls. The site was only discovered in 1968.
5, The Kara Tepe cave monastery: first built in the 1st century and enlarged during the next two centuries. The complexes were destroyed by the Iranians at the end of the 3rd century. Some fragments of richly painted wall frescos are on display in the nearby museum.
The marshrutka #8 (a shared taxi) stopped at the new bus terminal on the outskirts of the city. I had over an hour to wait for the last seat to be occupied for the 5-hour ride to Samarkand. This guy was obese and had to sit in the front seat. He drank 2 litres of coke during the journey and constantly smoked whenever we stopped. The driver told me his weight affected the balance of the car. In the Wakhan I was watching fields being sown for this season's wheat. In the fields around Termiz, the combines
were out harvesting the wheat.
In Samarkand, I booked a berth on the next available train to Kokhand for the 1st of June. This gave me a couple of days in Samarkand. This was my first train journey in Uzbekistan, a nine-hour ride to Kokhand in the fertile Fergana Valley. The valley is huge, some 22,000 square kilometres with the Tain Shan Mountains to the north and the Pamir-Alai mountain system to the south. It has the finest climate in Central Asia as well as being the fruit basket of Uzbekistan.
Kokhand is a pleasant non-touristy town in the Fergana Valley. In the morning I visited the Khans Palace which was undergoing renovation. Once again folk were dressed in the national dress in preparation for the festival in September. In the afternoon I paid the 15,000 som to go in the hammam (Turkish bath), I lasted half an hour as it was too hot for me. At the bazaar, I walked into a bread and cake shop. While looking at the produce a young woman behind the counter handed me a cake and in her broken English said, “It's a present.”
The shared taxi drove through the
heart of the Fergana, passing orchard after orchard of fruit trees and vines. My destination was Fergana, a modern city, which has a pleasant vibe. The driver put himself out to help me find the newly-opened Hostel Bravo which was around the corner from the Asia Hotel.
Forty-five minutes away is Rishton. Ceramics have been produced here for eons and 90% of Uzbekistan's cobalt and green pottery comes from Rishton. The clay is of such good quality that it contains no impurities. It only needs twenty percent water added to the loam to be put on the potter's wheel. I visited Rustam Usmanov's family business. He is considered one of the few true masters and set up his family business with the collapse of the Soviet Union. While walking through the bazaar, several very friendly babooshkas gave me apricots to eat. I bought one of the sweetest and juiciest melons I have had in a long time.
Twenty minutes from Fergana is Margilon. The town has been producing silk at least as far back as the 1stcentury BC. I visited the Yodgorlik Silk Factory with its 150-year-old mulberry tree in the grounds. The leaves are used to feed
the silkworms. The factory produces silk fabrics and carpets. Uzbekistan is the 3rd largest producer of silk in the world.
Andijon is the capital of the region that has undergone major development. The Plaza Hotel was conveniently located next to the old town. The market was in full swing and overflowing with locally grown fruits and vegetables. The cherries, apricots, melons and now peaches are some of the best I have had. In what was an old madrasa is the regional museum with an interesting section on puppets as well as a gallery.
I returned to Tashkent for my last couple of days and my flight to London.
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