Kumtepa Bazaar

Above: The lady is fumigating for a tip.

Breakfast at the Toj Mahal opened a little later than the indicated 0700 start. I chatted with an American Japanese man who was very knowledgeable and well-travelled. He was going to Kumtepa Bazaar after breakfast as well but continuing to Tashkent thereafter, all with a private car and driver. I didn’t get invited for a free ride.

I left around 0800 to the shared taxi station and asked for a ride to Margilan with the intention of transferring to Kumtepa Bazaar. But I overheard someone calling for Kumtepa and was able to get there nonstop. I think the guidebook missed the existence of nonstop shared taxis.

About 20 minutes later, I was dropped off on a busy road by a large collection of furniture stalls which had their wares inside and outside. From there I walked into the fenced/walled area which formed the bazaar. First up were car parts. They were laid out on the floor by type and some larger items like radiators were hung up. Vats of lubricant were sold in different colours too (I don’t know why one needs to colour-coordinate the lube to the car, LOL).

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Next I found the silk section housed in proper buildings. It wasn’t a rustic or romantic sight as it was quite contemporary.

From there, it was the contemporary clothing section which was interspersed with contemporary-but-traditional Uzbek traditional clothing (long coats, ladies velvety dresses etc). It was very colourful and great for people-watching.

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Unfortunately I think the book painted a more traditional picture than what I saw. I don’t know but perhaps I was expecting what I saw in Kashgar’s Sunday Market some 25 years ago.

I found the Dekhon Bazaar (normal meat/vege/fruit market) across the road and took a quick glance before hopping on a nonstop minibus back to Fergana (again the nonstop minibus was not indicated in the guidebook). I had stayed a total of only one hour but felt that I had seen all that I had wanted to absorb; nothing was that new compared to what I had seen elsewhere … just larger scale.

Back at Fergana station, I asked around for transport to Besharyk so I wouldn’t have to wander around asking too much tomorrow while carrying my pack. I returned to the hotel with the intention of relaxing briefly before checking out at the cut-off of 1200 to shift to my new accommodation, the Sakura.

Back in my room, it had already been cleaned and prepared for the next guest even though my bag was still in there (but fully packed up). I rested briefly and checked-out, walking to my new home-for-the-night.  As it was only 1110, my room wasn’t ready so I left my bag and headed out and sat in the park and returned about 45 minutes later.  The housekeeping is an ethnic Korean but their family have been in Uzbekistan for a while and she didn’t speak any Korean; my greetings to her in Korean didn’t work at all!

The Sakura was heaven. It was cheap, new, nice and clean. The man was helpful and he had a nice cat too. Such a pity I hadn’t booked for two nights because it wasn’t in existence when I researched some months ago. But it was hard to find and it would have been frustrating arriving from afar with luggage trying to locate it!

The delightful Sakura Inn.

The man offered to help me get information on getting to the border and came back to me with the information in the afternoon. I skipped lunch by having some bread with the man and another guest Charles (from Belgium) who was waiting to for his room.

Charles and I grabbed dinner together. I counted my money after dinner and think I’d have about UZS20000 (USD2.50) leftover when I leave the country. I’d have to bargain hard to achieve the correct price with all transport.

My trip from here on (in fact after Khiva) will not be full of “wow, wow, wow” as in the first week. It will be to see the region for what it is. To understand how people live and what people are like. All part of exploring the world away from the tourist trail.