Uzbekistan. Kokand
Khudoyar-Khan Palace
After visiting other cities on our list (Samarkand, Khiva, Bukhara), the impression of Kokand remained different from the rest. Kokand is not at all touristic, and there are fewer things to see. Mainly because the Kingdom hadn’t surrendered to the Russians as easily as the other ones, so a lot of the old palaces had been destroyed. The good thing is that the local culture is really interesting. Local people are of Tajik ethnicity with a lot of Kyrgyz and Uzbek influence; and also that, not being a touristic place, it was very easy and nice to interact with local people.
I would say Kokand, and the whole Ferghana valley where it lays, is worth a visit, but for different reasons than the more famous Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva: you won’t find astonishingly beautiful architecture (even though there are a couple of beautiful mosaics and lots of interesting archaeological remains); but you’ll find a vibrant, virtually untouched culture, probably one of the most traditional places in Central Asia.
Ferghana valley is far from the desert, there are a lot of trees, juicy fruits, grapes everywhere; the architecture is different too, it reminded us some glimpses of XinJiang in China (the old Turkestan, that is not so far away from Kokand). The temperature was not unbearably hot either, it was a bit like in Rome (34-35 degrees during the day in July).
While many local women dressed modern regular clothes in other visited cities, in Kokand the outfit was the most outstanding and conservative, with long dresses usually ornamented in gold or other shiny elements, accompanied by matching scarfs (more Tajik style).
After having a walk in the city and a lovely chat with a group of local people and Russian tourists, we hired a taxi and moved around Ferghana region, passed by to the Silk market and a major bazaar (outside market).
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Photo album from Kokand and Ferghana region
