Central Asia X: Silk and Red Velvet

David and I went for a walk in Fergana before breakfast this morning.  
 

We carried our cameras as we walked along the wide, leafy street, in front of the hotel.  We took photos of mansions hidden behind high walls and gates.

Women swept the street.

Sheep trotted past the front yards of houses.

I wanted my next car to be this lime green color.

The yards were filled with roses.

An election was pending during our trip.  It was a given that the president would be elected, but not so certain as to some of the other officials.  This may or may not be a campaign poster.

There wee billboards in English, or a mix of English and Uzbeki, advertising brands like Adidas.  Abdu says many people in Central Asia want to learn English because it is a world language and offers so many opportunities.

Fergana was bustling with new construction.  The signs above and following seem to advertise condos or apartments in a new luxury building.

It was hard to categorize the style of our hotel, Asia Fergana.

The halls, lobbies, and restaurants were very ornate, with parquet marble floors, Greek columns, and shiny mirrors.

The red velvet cake was luscious for dinner, and even better when served on the breakfast buffet!

We stopped at the Kim Tepa Bazaar, one of the largest and most authentic markets in the Fergana Valley.   It was huge on Sunday, the day we visited, and full of rich sights, sounds, and smells.

It was possible to buy virtually everything, from shoes and baby strollers to full-size beds and car parts.

For me, as for my photographer father, the very best part of a bazaar (or a trip to a foreign country) is meeting interesting local people.  And the best photos are of those people.

We met several men who were as interested in taking photos of us on their cell phones as we were of taking photos of them!

We took a tour of one of the many small silk factories in Margilan.

We saw cocoons being boiled and their silk strands being wound onto spindles.

We saw the silk being dyed with both natural and artificial dyes, and it being woven into fabric. 

Our guide showed us how the natural dyes were made.

Michael got to try weaving, and found it much harder than he expected!

And, finally, we stopped at the factory shop, and I bought more than a dozen scarves, some for me, but many for the Christmas table.

We paused to admire grapes growing next to a home, and as part of a garden.  In the market, we bought plump, local raisins.

We stopped for lunch at a great restaurant .  Lunch was wonderful—a big platter of beef plov,  bowls of tomato/chick pea/pasta soup, several rounds of non (round bread loaf), and eggplant/tomato/onion salad.  We sat in a garden on a raised platform.  Of course, there was cherry juice!

Mike took lots of photos, as did Dave and I.  I sifted through thousands of photos to assemble these postings.

We ate outside, in a leafy garden.

Unfortunately, the ladies room was not up to the standards of the rest of the restaurant.  I actually got quite fond of Asian toilets, during our trip, and considered asking Dave if we could install one at home.

We drove back to Tashkent through the high mountains we traveled through yesterday on a train.