Kokand Roadside Grapes and Melons

 The fruits in Uzbekistan - here in the Fergana Valley - were uniformly plentiful and luscious.

Khudayar Khan’s Palace in Kokand

In Kokand we toured the Khudayar Khan’s Palace, built between 1863-1873. At the time of its construction, it was one of the most luxurious palaces in Central Asia.  

Fergana Kokand Scenes

From Tashkent we took an early morning train east to the Fergana Valley, one of the most fertile and prosperous parts of Uzbekistan. To quote from the MIR schedule for the tour:

"Surrounded by the Tien Shan mountain range and watered by tributaries of the Syr Darya River, the Fergana Valley is the most fertile part of Central Asia. Alexander the Great founded a city here in the southwestern mouth of the valley in 329 BC. Traders from China came this way as they created the trade route we call the Silk Road in the first century BC. The whole valley became a rich oasis, with irrigated fields producing grains, fruits, silk, cotton, nuts and vegetables, and supporting horses, cattle, sheep and camels. There is evidence that Buddhism made its way here from China before the advent of Islam during the eighth century AD.

Ruled by the Kokand Khanate in the 18th and 19th centuries, the valley was taken by Imperial Russia at the end of the 19th. During the 20th century, the Soviet Union dedicated the valley to the cotton mono- culture, sapping its fertility and its water, and derailing its agricultural diversity."

Our first stop was the village of Kokand. The photos show, or imply, the rich agricultural and craft resources of the valley.

Tashkent Metro

We spent a short time sampling a station of the Tashkent Metro, one of seven systems to be built in the former USSR, and one of only two in Central Asia. The station has a Cosmonaut theme, and is strikingly clean and attractive.

Tashkent Market Bread Baking

Attractive and tasty bread is an important part of Uzbek life. Our tour leader, Abdu, took us to a part of the Tashkent Market where bread was being baked by a family. They seemed to know Abdu, so the photos capture some good-natured banter.

Tashkent Market

Food and spice markets in "non-Western" parts of the world are some of my favorite places for photography. The colors, the semi-orderly arrangement, the generally friendly merchants, and the personal way of doing business, all contribute to lively and attractive scenes.

Monument to the Tashkent Earthquake of 1966

Although Tashkent is centuries old, it seems modern. This is because it was destroyed by a magnitude 8.5 earthquake in 1966, and has been almost completely rebuilt. The heroic rebuilding is celebrated by the huge "Courage" monument, which was the first location to which our tour leader, Abdu, took us to begin our tour of Uzbekistan.

The black cube in the foreground shows a clock face with the time of the quake. The adjacent side symbolizes the rupture. Abdu stands at the foot of the statues, dramatizing the scale of the monument.