Pottery and Silk Shopping in Fergana Valley

We took a short weekend road trip to Fergana Valley last month. Fergana is located about 6 hours drive east from Tashkent, and it's famous for the traditional Uzbek pottery. Also we stopped at a silk factory, and checked out process to make Ikat silk fabrics.

First stop on the way to Fergana was the city Kokand. Kokand is one of the most ancient cities in Uzbekistan. It's in Fergana region.We stopped at The Palace of Khudayar Khan. This palace complex was built in 1871, and now it was turned into a museum inside and you can learn the history of this city.

Then we moved on to Fergana, and we had lunch at a pottery shop. Uzbek pottery is famous for its blue tone color, and beautiful pattern hand drawn. We bought big platter ( which is good for serving Uzbek national food Plov!), and other small plates.

The next day, on the way back home, we stopped at a Silk Factory. I thought this was the most interesting part of this trip. The guide was showing all the process from silkworm to make a silk fabric.

Kids could actually spin the machine, tried dyeing a silk.

These are silkworm making silk thread. It's all start here.

Next they dye the fabric to make tie-dye type of fabric. It was cool that they offered us trying it.

These are woven type of fabric. Make thread, a Master draw pattern on a fabric, and bring in to weaving process.

And Ta-Da! Silk products for sale!

We left the silk factory and headed to back home. The road was pretty good, and the view in the mountains was beautiful. We've traveled to western part of Uzbekistan, and we think the eastern part of this country is greener.