Uzbeki Sun 2

krolesh
Sep 2, 2024
4 min read

Kokand (Qoqon)

It really is sizzlingly hot outside again, it's at least 40 degrees, and that's just the air temperature, let alone the extra heat radiating off the black tarmac of the road I've just been cycling on. There's not a cloud in the sky, and the heat's belting down and frying everything out there. I'm so glad I'm indoors now.

But somehow, despite the trying conditions, today's long 90km ride wasn't as much of a struggle as I'd expected it to be, because it was punctuated by the most incredible hospitality, from all directions, all day long.

Today, on the road, I've been fed and watered constantly, by the unceasingly generous local people I've met.

So far today I've been given watermelon, bread, pomegranate juice, grapes, fresh figs, somsas, more bread, green tea, beer, more grapes, soft drinks, and an ice cream.

And even though I've been riding all day I've still arrived here at my little hostel with a full belly, carrying food offerings that I haven't even eaten yet.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that my host from last night's guesthouse also gave me a full breakfast to send me off this morning, even though it wasn't included in the price of my room.

Unbelievable, these Uzbeks.

Heading off from Fergana. A real bike path. Parts of the large town remind me of parts of some towns in China. China's not too far away from here actually, and lots of Chinese do business in this region, including the Chinese government and its infrastructure companies. Maybe they built it.

I got out onto the back roads pretty quickly.

I love these grapevine-shaded footpaths, there should be more of them.

Watermelon sweeties. These friendly guys gave me lots of things.

Local stall on the side of the road, selling a range of drinks, including vodka.

Lots of grapevines around. Hidden further up was a team of women, covered from head to toe, picking grapes in amongst the vines, in the shade. It still would've been bloody hot though.

But nowhere near as hot as it was for these women.

Beautiful new mosque under construction.

These lovely guys sat me down and fed me a lunch of all sorts of things.

As I left they all said a prayer for me, wishing me a safe journey. Can you believe it? It blew my mind right into heaven.

Jeez, she's so hot!

In a temperature kinda way

Fresh juicy figs

Saw my first Uzbeki train today

Gate wallah

Check out the length of the steel rods they're loading onto that dodgy rustbucket. I wouldn't wanna be riding behind it on the road.

Shit! I am riding behind it!

Street art

After finding a tiny box to sleep in, complete with in-house freezing cold aircon, I went wandering.

My hostel's elaborate ducted aircon system

Random street scenes

The sun's been a bitch today.

Chestnuts and Uzbek flags

Rather flash looking brand new uni

Old housing, slowly being superseded

Grand function centre. There's money in this town, and lots of well-dressed people walking around in some districts.

I strolled through one of the main parks in the town. It was big and beautiful, and really well looked after.

And then I made it to the Khan's magnificent palace.

The Khans And Their Khanate

Just in case you don't remember the history lesson I delivered in one of my Kyrgyz blogs, Kokand was the capital of one of Uzbekistan's great 18th and 19th Century khanates, the Kokand Khanate, and this particular Uzbek kingdom gobbled up a large chunk of Kyrgyzstan during its heyday.

There were hundreds of mosques here in Kokand, and at least 35 medressas, which are large educational institutions, both religious and secular.

Remember that Tsarist Russia controlled this area from the mid 1800s, and it had an agreement with the Khanate to have their support on various foreign policy and other matters, whilst allowing the Khan some degree of autonomous rule.

The Khan built his incredible palace in 1873.

But after a falling out with the Tsar, Russian troops destroyed a lot of it only 3 years later.

What a bummer.

There were originally 114 rooms in the palace, but now there's a lot less. There's only six courtyards left, with their adjoining rooms.

It's still incredible though. It must've been unbelievable when it had all its bits.

Intricate ceiling designs

There was a little museum in there

This is the famous Babur that I chatted about earlier, the founder of the Mughal Empire.

Old portraits of locals

And I thought I was stuffed, after such a huge ride in the heat today.

Pomegranates in one of the courtyards.

The Khan was quite the stud, and had half of the original palace set aside for his harem's quarters. He had 43 concubines on hand, (foot and mouth, etc), but as Islam only permits 4 wives, he had a mullah on site so he could temporarily marry a different concubine every night, and then divorce her the next day.

Ha! Henry VIII was just a pretender, with his measly six.

Keeping her fluids up

Kids were zipping around on these electric buggies, trying to emulate their dads, by learning how to screech their tyres loudly and often, cut people off, almost hit cyclists, and accelerate and brake at full tilt no matter what's actually happening in front of them.