Silk factory in Fergana, Uzbekistan

On Tuesday, we took a taxi from our apartment in Fergana to the nearby town of Margilan. 

Still can't believe how ridiculously cheap taxis are around here. And using the Yandex app (similar to Uber), it's so easy! The taxi ride was about 13 kms (8 miles) and took about 25 minutes. The cost was under $2 USD!

Arrived at about 11am and set off doing some walking to see what there is to see.

And there's really not a lot to see. The Fergana valley is very flat, mostly agriculture land. A lot of people living here though. The main reason we came here was to do yesterday's airplane ride. Also, it's fairly easy to get into Kyrgyzstan from here, which is what we will be doing today.

First, we headed to central park. 

Central Park in Margalin, Uzbekistan.

Not many people around!

Yes, another ferris wheel! This one doesn't look like it's been used for a while.

A GAZ M21 Volga, a Soviet Union car made between 1956 and 1970.

From there, we walked to the Yodgorlik Silk Factory. This is the main attraction in Margalin. It costs 30,000 SOM ($3.30 CAD, $2.40 USD) each for the tour.

Silk and silk products for sale.

Ruth, with some of the types of silk.

This master was teaching a couple of younger girls the craft.

A rug in process.

They use both natural and chemical dyes.

The most interesting part for me was how they actually turn the silk thread into useable material. They do some by hand, and a lot by machine. I took a couple of videos for you. Turn up your volume...

By hand.

And by machine.

The machines were made in Russia in 1975.

It was around lunch time so I think some of the staff were on breaks.

Of course you end up back at the shop at the end of the tour.

Everything priced in $USD. Quite expensive.

But, it was an interesting tour. Worth the price of admission, just for something to do.

Then we went off to find our own lunch. We ended up at a cafeteria style place and we had a bowl of stuffed peppers and cabbage rolls with potatoes and a small salad.

Total cost was 44,000 SOM ($4.90 CAD, $3.50 USD) for the two of us.

From there, we stopped in at the Said Akhmad Khuja Madresse... an old Islamic school. Not really much to see there either, but the ceiling painting was very intricate like we saw in Khiva and Bukhara.

More silk products for sale.

No, we didn't buy anything.

And then we took a taxi back to the apartment. Not a bad day out.

As I mentioned earlier, today we will take another taxi to the border of Kyrgyzstan and cross the border into country #64. We'll be staying in the small border city of Osh for at least three nights.

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