Uzbekistan: the Fergana Valley and onwards into Kyrgyzstan - 9th July - mile 9617

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Uzbekistan: the Fergana Valley and onwards into Kyrgyzstan -9th July - mile 9617

We ride out of Tashkent and head east up and over the mountains into the Fergana Valley. Its a beautiful days riding with great views of snow capped peaks, babbling brooks & alpine lakes and then dropping down into the green & fertile valley.

This is supposed to be the most densely populated region of Uzbekistan but it doesn't like feel it. Apart from a few factory chimneys belching out smoke we are riding though small agricultural villages where every house is fronted by pergolas draped with vines. It has a very rural feel about it. The crops are all in very neat lines in the fields, the road is edged with neat lines of trees with their bases painted white, there are mountains to either side – it just feels so fresh. Or maybe its just a reaction to the lack of green over the last couple of weeks crossing the steppe land & deserts.

As we get closer to the border with Kyrgyzstan there are some larger towns. Margilon is an ancient Silk Road town that actually produces silk!!! It was allegedly founded by Alexander the Great and now hosts several factory shops with vast arrays of colourful silk.

Our hotel, Club 777, is in Ferghana. Its a real shock and totally out of keeping with everything else we have seen in the valley. From the outside it looks normal but seems to be in the middle of a building site on the outskirts of the town. Then you go through the gate in the wall and its like you've been transported to a ClubMed location. There's loud, thumping techno music, a pool surrounded by trendy locals, including a few females, who are making the most of both the pool & the bar - this is supposed to be the most strictly Islamic part of Uzbekistan!! I brought my “cover everything up” top with me but wandering round the markets there's no sense of the strict fundamentalism & ethnic tensions that erupted in the area in recent time. Everyone is very laid back & friendly, they even send for a local who can speak English so they can make sure we find what we want.

From Ferghana we head through more vine festooned villages to the border. We had a lot of trouble getting out of Uzbekistan last time so we approached the border with some trepidation. There's a big crowd of locals milling round outside the border compound but as soon as we turn up an English speaking customs officer comes out to dispense the forms we need and explains the process to us. One by one we are called up to his little hut and processed, while waiting we're all sat round on the vehicle inspection ramps – its 40C and this is the only shade and there are no chairs. Its all very polite and friendly but it takes 3 hours for him to get through the whole group.

Having cleared customs we now have to tackle immigration. Our English speaking customs man leads us into the immigration hall – we just all stop and stare. Its a very large room with no windows or air conditioning and its jam packed full of people. Way off in the distance are 2 desks and there seems to be 2 “queues”: the men are all standing round quietly, the women are making one hell of a noise they seem to be arguing with the armed guards and complaining very loudly about something. Our man deserts us but luckily comes back fairly soon and leads us to the front of the men's queue. The men just let us in, the women make lots of extra noise. We do feel rather guilty, the locals must have been here for hours as well, but not guilty enough to go to the back of the queue. It still takes almost an hour to process us all.

So after 4 hours we finally get to leave Uzbekistan and travel the 50 yards of no-man’s land to the Kyrgyzstan border. They have a very nice air-conditioned office here but they will only let us in one at a time. Our passport is scanned and passed to a second man who stamps it and then we are sent back outside. Within 20 minutes we have all been processed and they are opening the gates for us to leave. But what about all the other paperwork we keep asking - they keep assuring us there is nothing else and waving us out of the compound - “go, enjoy Kyrgyzstan” they keep saying.

So only 30 minutes after arriving at the border we ride out into Kyrgyzstan still bemused and convinced there must be something we haven't done and that there will be big problems when we try to leave the country..

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Photos

Fergana Valley
supposedly the most densly populated part of Uzbekistan but it feels very rural

Fergana Valley
there is the ocassional very smokey factory

Fergana valley
but there's more fields of colourful sunflowers

Fergana Valley
and all the village houses are drapped with vines

Margilon Silk
a first for me - an ancinet Silk Road city that actually manufactures silk

cotton is everywhere
on the road signs, waiting to be collected by the roadside, on the factory walls

ClubMed Uzbek style
our hotel in Fergana - full of trendy locals whiling away their Sunday afternoon

Fergana market
where they went to find somebody who spoke English so they could talk to us

a group of bemused motorcyclists
there must be more paper work to fill out?? it must take longer than 20mins for the whole group to enter Kyrgyzstan???