Uzbekistan - The Fergana Valley

After leaving Parkent, we’d hoped to reach Kokand in the Fergana Valley before dark, but realising this was going to be a push we tried parking up by a river in a town before it. However some military looking guys turned us away and we couldn’t see anywhere else suitable and as darkness fell we ended up retracing our steps to see if we could find a truck stop on the busy main road. Eventually desperation led us to ask if we could park up in the yard of a LPG station - the risk of explosion high but needs must. It was a hot noisy night next to the busy road which has the most incredible amount of food stops on it.

The Fergana Valley probably isn’t on most tourists itinerary, but it is described as the heartland of Uzbekistan. Its 8 million residents make it the most densely populated region in Central Asia. There are several key towns, each known for different traditional crafts, such as silk weaving and pottery and there are a few historic sites.

The first city we visited, Kokand, was a power centre for many centuries and had a palace, mosques and madrassas to visit. We parked up in a car park near the palace. There were lots of bouncy castles and fairground type things there but we couldn’t work out if they were being erected or taken down. Fingers crossed for the latter.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Kokand was probably only second to Bukhara as a religious and political centre. The khanate covered territory reaching the Pamirs of Tajikistan and the Kazakh steppe. The palace had been the power centre for the khanate. Built in 1873, it had 7 courtyards and 114 rooms, half of which were harem quarters. But just three years after it was completed, the tsars troops blew it up and abolished the khans job. The khan was forced into exile in Russia before this , but feeling homesick he eventually headed back into Central Asia and died penniless in Afghanistan.

The palace is now a museum with some nice decor. We met a couple of backpackers here - one from France and a French lady who lives in the UK.

It was a hot day for walking around, so we stayed in the central area. We visited the Narbutabey Madrassa and mosque.

Near here was the Dakhma-I- Shokhon mausoleum which houses the tombs of various khans. It had an interesting graveyard. At the front of the mausoleum there were ladies offering prayers, massages, and faith therapies which seemed to involve being hit with a stick while the lady belched alarmingly. We thought it was too much plov for lunch, but the French backpacker who we’d bumped into again put us straight and said it was all part of the ritual.

As the sun cooled a little we got the Bromptons out to cycle around the park. Very pleasant until I got my front wheel trapped in a grate and went to fly over the handle bars which instead bounced back into my rib cage. I was horribly winded and was still feeling it two weeks on. Colin as you would expect just told me I was exaggerating it. We had dinner in a local restaurant. We’d have loved a cold beer but being a very conservative part of Uzbekistan we failed to find anywhere serving alcohol.

Since visiting the lake in the National Park, Lolly had an array of engine warning codes. Colin had contacted an Iveco service centre in Tashkent, but they said we’d be better seeing an auto- electrician they recommended in the town of Fergana. After a lot of vague messages from the guy we finally agreed a time and location. The drive there took us past a very busy bazaar in full flow.

When we finally tracked down the location we entered a yard full of trucks and different workshops. We eventually tracked down our guy. As Colin pulled up all the warning lights went out of course! The guy still plugged Lolly into his computer and ran his diagnostics check. He mentioned the word cylinders and Colin looked worried - a potentially expensive job to fix. He asked Colin to take him for a drive so he could monitor the engines performance. Normally I’d go and sit in the air-conditioned office of the service centre, but I couldn’t see a single place to sit that wasn't covered in oil and there was no shade, so I said I’d sit in the back. Colin had to drive quite a distance and was asked to drive fast so I was hanging on for dear life in the back.

Back at the garage the guy concluded the engine was running perfectly well and maybe we had picked up some dirty fuel. Colin was also keen to get our rear brakes cleaned as we had a bad squeaking noise. They said there was a guy who could do it but not until the following morning so we arranged to return the next day.

Although Fergana is a pleasant modern city, there wasn’t any sites of interest to see. We parked up in a car park next to a park which while quiet during the day looked set to be busy in the evening. We sat out the hot afternoon and discovered there was a beer house a short walk away. Result - cold beer and beer snacks. We walked back through the park that was full of families enjoying the cooler evening.

When we arrived back at the service yard the following morning they said the guy they had lined up was too busy, but they'd found someone else prepared to to do the job but in two hours time. We took ourselves off to find a coffee shop which we found was no longer in business and ended up having green tea and a bowl of soup and somsa - more than we wanted.

Back at the yard a group of guys set to work on the brakes. They didn’t look like they knew what they were doing so Colin had to talk them through it and watch them closely. It only took them about half an hour once they figured it out.

It was lunchtime by the time we hit the road towards Namangan where the International Flower Festival was taking place. We called in at a roadside store to get some water and cold drinks. The ladies were very interested in where we were from and where we were going and before long Colin had them signed up on our Insta account (zig_zaggingtheworld in case you’re not signed up).

This was the 65th Namangan International Flower Festival, the largest flower festival in Central Asia. It had opened the previous week and was running until 12th July - 50 days in total.

I read that In 2026 the festival achieved a Guinness World Record for the largest number of flowers planted collectively within one month, further cementing Namangan’s reputation as the “City of Flowers”. The programme had more than 150 events scheduled, including concerts, exhibitions, cultural performances, fashion shows, food events, and drone displays (which we though rather ironic when drones are banned in Uzbekistan). We had completely underestimated how popular the event is and arrived to a city rammed with Uzbek tourists. We somehow managed to squeeze into a car park right next to the entrance where the attendant tried to fleece us - we argued we could stop in a hotel for less money. He halved his price and we were still robbed but we didn’t have the will to drive off and find somewhere else. It was free to go in to the Central Park where the main displays were. It was pretty impressive. It was lovely seeing whole families enjoying the event. There seems to be a trend for ladies (and men to a lesser extent) to wear the same outfits. We think we only saw maybe two other westerners in there, so we had lots of interest from people wanting to know what we thought of the event and eager to practice their English.

There wasn't a great selection of food outlets in the event, but we managed to get a chicken shazlik and green tea. We were keen to see the drone light show, and found ourselves hanging around waiting for darkness to fall. There were bands playing and it was nice watching some of the locals letting their hair down. The band finished, then another one started and by this time we gave up on the drone show, which we assume wasn't happening that night. It was another noisy hot night.

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We still hadn't had confirmation about when our e-visas would come through. After a bit of research we decided we would cross the border into Tajikistan from a lesser used border control near Kokand, where reviews said the officials were very friendly for tourists.

We drove back to Kokand enjoying the sites of the various forms of traffic along the way, and we stopped to give Lolly a wash in some scary coloured foam.

We had another night in the central car park, where we were disturbed quite a bit by kids wanting to say hello, some genuine, some looking for sweets. The next day we decided to book into a cheap hotel to get a better nights sleep with air-con.

In the afternoon our e-visas finally popped up on our phones which was a big relief. We got ourselves organised with food provisions for the next few days, so we would be ready to head to the border the following morning. Our next challenge will be can we get our right hand drive Lolly into Tajikistan ?