Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ready. It's probably the most interesting
bazaar in the country. The main day for
the bazaar is Sunday, but it also works on
Thursdays.
Take a taxi (5000S) or 'Bozor' mashrutka
to get here.
1
¨Sights
Jahon¨Bazaar¨
BAZAAR
(
h
9am-6pm)
Andijon's Jahon Bazaar is the
biggest bazaar on the Uzbek side of the Fer-
gana Valley. Sunday and Thursday are its
busiest days, and there are also silk stalls
here, in case you miss Kumtepa Bazaar in
Margilon. From Kolkhoz Bazaar, it's 4km
northeast on marshrutka 6, 10 or anything
saying Жахон бозор/Jahon Bozor.
Jome¨Mosque¨&¨Medressa¨
MoSQUe
(admission 4000S;
h
9am-4pm Tue-Sun)
Across
from Eski Bazaar (on Oltinkul) is the hand-
some 19th-century Jome Mosque & Medres-
sa, said to be the only building to survive the
1902 earthquake. It reopened as a working
medressa in the 1990s but was turned into a
museum of local ethnography after a police
crackdown on suspected Islamic militants.
The museum's highlight is its collection of
folk instruments.
Babur¨Literary¨Museum¨
MUSeUM
(Bazernaya 21; admission 2500S;
h
9am-6pm Tue-
Sat)
This museum occupies the site of the
royal apartments where Zahiruddin Babur
lived and studied as a boy within Ark-Ichy,
the town's long-gone citadel. Born in 1483
in Andijon to Fergana's ruler, Umar Sheikh
Mirzo (a descendant of Timur), Babur inher-
ited his father's kingdom before he was even
a teenager. The young king took Samarkand
at the tender age of 14, but subsequently
lost both Samarkand and Fergana and was
driven into Afghanistan by the Uzbek Shay-
banids before ultimately going on to found
the Mughal Empire in India. However, this
museum focuses on Babur's literary exploits,
specifically his Baburnama, a vast memoir of
Babur's fascinating and tumultuous life.
4
¨Sleeping¨&¨Eating
There are several modern hotels in town,
and a large choice of chaikhanas around the
bazaars and just about everywhere else.
Hotel¨Andijon¨
hoTeL $
(
%
226 23 88; Fitrat 241; r without/with bathroom
US$12/18, half-lux US$28)
This no-frills Soviet-
style hotel across from Navoi Sq sports a
typical mix of tatty unrenovated rooms and
somewhat renovated half-
lux
rooms. The
shared bathroom is appalling - opt for a
private one.
8
Getting¨There¨&¨Away
Marshrutkas and taxis drop you of near the
town's main intersection, kitty-corner from the
central bazaar.
Rishton
%
73 / POP 22,000
This town just north of the Kyrgyzstan bor-
der is famous for the ubiquitous cobalt and
green pottery fashioned from its fine clay.
About 90% of the ceramics you see in sou-
venir stores across Uzbekistan originates
here - most of it handmade.
Some one thousand potters make a living
from the legendary local loam, which is so
pure that it requires no additives (besides
water) before being chucked on the wheel.
Of those thousand potters only a hand-
ful are considered true masters who still use
traditional techniques. Among them is Rus-
tam Usmanov, erstwhile art director of the
defunct local collectivised ceramics factory.
He runs the
Rishton¨Ceramic¨Museum
(
%
271 18 65, 452 15 85; Ar-Roshidony 230;
h
9am-
6pm)
out of his home 1km west of the centre
on the main road to Kokand. Usmanov gives
free tours of his workshop as well as lunch
(20,000S) and vodka shots to travellers who
call ahead.
Rishton is best visited as a stop between
Fergana and Kokand. It's about a 45-minute
shared taxi ride from either (4000S), or take
a slower bus (2500S).
Andijon
%
74 / POP 580,000
Andijon - the Fergana Valley's largest city
and its spiritual mecca - will forever be
linked with the bloodshed of 13 May 2005
(see p219). The very word 'Andijon' is a hot
potato in Uzbekistan; just mentioning it
is enough to stop any conversation in its
tracks. That's a shame because both cul-
turally and linguistically Andijon is prob-
ably the country's purest Uzbek city, and
the best place to observe Uzbeks in their
element.
