Where the past meets the present: The people, places and stories of Central Asia

In the initial segment of my blog, my trip into Central Asia took me to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, where I had the fortune of seeing awesome mountain ranges, beautiful valleys and sublimely built engineering.

I had last left off at the Krgyzstan fringe where my kindred pilgrims and I were hoping to traverse into Uzbekistan and here my story proceeds.

When we traversed from Osh, Kyrgyzstan into Uzbekistan, after the long and laborious fringe crossing, our point was to drive to Tashkent.

The 450-kilometer drive took us through the Ferghana valley, the origination of the Mughal sovereign Babur and numerous other extraordinary authentic identities, and the springboard of numerous intrusions every which way, especially the south, into Afghanistan and India (through what is presently Pakistan).

It is an extremely rich valley fixed in by mountains, giving both great sustenance to its tenants and an obstruction to outside trespassers. It is additionally the entry for the well known Silk Road. Also, actually in this way, for there are mulberry trees on either side of the street and past.

Intersection from one into another of Uzbekistan's eight territories by street, one goes through police checkpoints where personality reports are at risk to be checked.

At one such post in the Ferghana valley, we needed to escape our vehicle and deliver our international IDs for checking, as did our driver and guide.

Registan region see, Samarkand. - All photographs by creator