Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Asia's commerce and silk trade, were said
to be a law unto themselves; even in the
closing decades of Soviet rule, this was the
heart of Uzbekistan's black-market economy.
Margilon is also one of the country's most
devoutly Islamic cities.
1
¨Sights
A good tour guide should be able to get keen
silk connoisseurs into the private homes of
weavers whose silk is for sale at Kumtepa
Bazaar. They should also be able to organise
tours to one of Margilon's larger commercial
silk factories.
There's no need to spend the night here,
but if you decide to, your choices are the
modern
Hotel¨Atlas
(
%
279 00 75; hoteladras@
gmail.com; B Margiloni 32; s/d US$30/50;
a
)
,
which has an impressive lobby but rather
ordinary rooms with hard mattresses, or you
can get the Yodgorlik Silk Factory to arrange
a homestay.
Yodgorlik¨Silk¨Factory¨
FACToRY
(
%
233 88 24; silk@mail.ru; imam Zakhriddin; ad-
mission 10,000S;
h
8am-5pm Mon-Sat Apr-oct,
Mon-Fri Nov-Mar)
Margilon's main attraction
is this fascinating factory, which can be ex-
plored on a tour where you'll witness tra-
ditional methods of silk production from
steaming and unravelling the cocoons to the
weaving of the dazzling
khanatlas
(hand-
woven silk, patterned on one side) fabrics
for which Margilon is famous. After the tour
(available in English, French, Russian or
German), you can buy silk by the metre and
offset your purchases against your entry fee.
There is also premade clothing, carpets and
embroidered items for sale.
Kumtepa¨Bazaar¨
BAZAAR
(
h
Thu & Sun)
A much less sanitised expe-
rience than the Silk Factory is Margilon's
fantastic Kumtepa Bazaar, 5km west of the
centre. It's a time capsule full of weathered
Uzbek men in traditional clothing exchang-
ing solemn greetings and gossiping over
endless pots of tea, with hardly a Russian
or a tourist in sight. Margilon's conserva-
tive streak, extreme even by Fergana Valley
standards, is in full view here, with Uzbek
matrons dressed almost exclusively in the
locally produced
khanatlas
dresses and
head scarves and men in skull caps and
chapan
. Rows of handmade
khanatlas
and
adras
silk, available for just 4000S to 5000S
per metre, are both the shopping highlight
and the visual highlight - have your camera
Fergana
æ
Sights
1
Bazaar .................................................... C1
2
Museum of Regional Studies .............. B1
ÿ
Sleeping
3
Asia Hotel.............................................. C4
4
Hotel Ziyorat..........................................D2
5
Taj Mahal Hotel .....................................C2
6
Valentina's Guesthouse.......................C3
ú
Eating
7
Bravo ..................................................... C4
8
Chimyan................................................. C1
9
Traktir Ostrov Sokrovish .....................C2
ï
Information
10
Asaka Bank........................................... D4
11
Lion Net..................................................C2
12
National Bank of Uzbekistan...............B3
13
OVIR........................................................A2
ï
Transport
14
New Local Bus Station.........................C2
15
New Long-Distance Bus Station......... C1
16
Old Long-Distance Bus Station........... D1
17
Taxis to Kokand ....................................C2
near yet another bus station, the
new long-
distance bus station
.
Shared taxis to Tashkent (30,000S, ive
hours), as well as more to Kokand, leave from
a stop on the road to Margilon near Yermazar
Bazaar, 2km northwest of the centre.
8
Getting¨Around
The airport is a 25-minute trip on marshrutka 6
to/from the new local bus station. going to the
airport you can lag it down in front of Asia hotel,
but check with the driver to make sure he's going
all the way to the
aeroport.
Around Fergana
Margilon (Marg'ilan)
%
73 / POP 197,000
If you've been travelling along the Silk Road
seeking answers to where, in fact, this highly
touted fabric comes from, Margilon and its
Yodgorlik Silk Factory will be your answer.
Uzbekistan is the world's third-largest silk
producer, and Margilon is the traditional
centre of the industry.
Although there is little to show for it, Mar-
gilon has been around for a long time, prob-
ably since the 1st century BC. For centuries
its merchant clans, key players in Central
