Tying a knot in the Silk Road - Fergana

The two days in the Fergana Valley were the perfect end to my Silk Road Journey. I am going to do several posts. One - if there is anyone out there in cyberspace nice enough to be following along I am sure you do not want long expanses of turgid prose. Also my battery is running low. I have two adapters, one does not work for the apple and the other - Mara kindly gave me last summer is not working at all - it may need a fuse I do not have. I can go down to the business center but it is not half as comfy as sitting in bed with a cup of tea.

I did not really know what to expect in the Fergana Valley. There was the romantic aspect. It is said to be the home of the legendary horses that Pliny said "sweated blood". I think I have it correctly - the Mongols did not have great horses. This was the places for the fleet of foot. The sculpture of Tang horse that everyone associates with the terracotta warriors was an example. More research needed.

It is also the home of Babaur - founder of the Mughal dynasty of India. It was here on a hill he looked East and decided to go to India. I went to that hill yesterday and it was a very moving moment for me.

Fergana is said to be the place of the most conservative Moslems in Uzbekistan - wear conservative clothes. I have read pieces about Taliban infiltrating - or worries that they might,

I was also a little nervous about taking off by myself.

Tese and Dennis from our intrepid SR caravan gave me a great send off and I left with guide Tahir and driver Araf a little after eight. Driving through the shady tree lined boulevards of Tashkent - a lovely warm day I felt an intrepid Christiane Armanpour. This was fun. I was off on my own exploring. Let the adventure begin.