We passed hundreds of acres of cotton fields and orchards, and of course loads of those amazing red poppies. Factories and smokestacks spewing crap into the air dotting the horizon all around.
We watched as the mountains grew closer and the valley floor higher. Soon we were in the mountains, the road still wide and divided. We began to wonder when the scarry part would begin. We passed several coal mines and security checkpoints. At one stop we noticed that our Daewoo sedan had 493,000 km on the odometer...:-).
At the summit we began to smell a scam as the road was still great, loads of big trucks and traffic, and NO TOUR BUSSES! We've seen this before where the government restricts major carriers in order to provide a market for local vendors...in this case, our pleasant drivers in their private cars!
Over the summit and quickly down to the Fergana Valley floor we found ourselves on the dry side of the mountain range and into sagebrush and rock. Not what we were expecting! And for the first, at the next checkpoint we were asked for our passports.
Continuing to descend we eventually crossed the Sidaryo River and on to the huge fertile plains-the food basket of Uzbekistan.
Just before lunch we visited the 1750 palace of Khudayarkhan. The painted plaster walls and ceiling were really cool. We had lunch at a local cafe and then drove on to Fergana City and our hotel for the night. Tomorrow we head into the wilderness and no wifi for almost a week. I hope we survive!
