Samarkand to Bukhara was next on the program. So I took the night train Bukhara - Tashkent to Samarkand. when I arrived it was in the middle of the night and nothing was more place before. then the next morning, I went to the socks, the Registan to marvel at the national monument of the Uzbeks. as the first but I was surprised at the crowd in a festive late Sunday clothes and blocked roads. It was actually a typical weekday, and all had their day's work regulated must pursue. well, I accepted it. later to explain what was going on.
with my map in hand I tingelte So the whole drawn-sights off and pushed on the way to Timur's tomb dragon rise to a central place to a huge number let Santander child and adult. half the sky was filled with homemade fliers. I knew this kind of a film about Afghanistan I have seen at some point in Moritzhof. this was really fascinating spectacle. what I found quickly was that samarkand except his sights no maintenance, and beautiful old city is. flair of Bukhara and Khiva, especially the small here was not materialized. for the city was largely state-Uzbek relations.
good, so now I walk from the mausoleum of Timur, find me a group of German tourists but actually on the run away. they were the only place outside of me there before. into the conversation I am not come with them. else was here too that we encountered almost no Western travelers. the Registan was even more striking. On the way, I spoke to a young man in English and we talked quite a time. this explained to me then, in what the laid upon himself. to Navroze namely a storm had ruled in Samarkand and pop the whole festivities leave. For this reason 
the government has simply decided, the Spring New Year and days take place later during the week leave. we went to see the second-Registan, which madrasas one through three, the most beautiful and lavishly decorated minarets whole of Central Asia, and a mosque and a space formed from the Middle Ages. as I mentioned, it is the national monument and sanctuary of the Uzbeks in general. there were many local, but as far as I surveyed no exotic tourist. a piece Registan was against double jeopardy on that day also the central place of the large national firm, which was already beginning to fade now on. What was funny was the fact that currently more people Uzbeks, arrived and wanted to be with me take pictures in front of the Registan. determined twenty times and every now and then I had to be photographed with anyone. after some time of cute until then talk to the young man wanted, with whom I talked the whole time, leave for a few dollars to hire a scout, which I refused. I went on, and I saw Samarkand and its worth seeing again and the bazaar, etc. on your own.
to Samarkand I wanted the whole Fergana Valley in eastern Uzbekistan. I had to first return to Tashkent, as it then was simply the best way. I let myself from an old taxi driver, a Tajik bring to Samarkand "bus station" and in conversation with him revealed that he used for the red army was stationed in Halle. He also said that in the low-suppression of the Prague Spring was here. the bus to Tashkent, the next were people, too, cucumber, above all, a huge quantity transported, I met an old German teacher, a devout Muslim, long retired and only bumpy powerful language, with his family. He had much to say interesting. between you had prior to the time bus drivers, as natural as you almost always and everywhere as a tourist attraction which was foreign. this is really funny in this country. just off the three or four highlights the people who never get a man to see beyond their sphere of influence. they are at all curious but always very friendly and nice.
in Tashkent itself, I thought it was still not significantly more exciting than the first visit, I stayed only one night. was the only highlight worth mentioning a visit to the "guest house", a restaurant in the completely exaggerated German style (or what you are in Uzbekistan including probably imagine). but it was really time to see funny. Uzbekistan was for this local but very expensive. the next morning then it was translated into the Fergana Valley. I went to the meeting point of taxis, where one was shouted at once from all sides, but even a ride. a bus or a train there since the end of the Soviet Union to Ferghana. is the only road away a pass through the high mountains, the Tien Shan. This is the northwestern Tien Shan foothills of the Himalayan massif and runs from Tajikistan to Kazakhstan. for ten dollars to take me so I read about this.
the driver it was not good on the road. it was kotzübel and he was obviously ill, but he pulled his thing through. precisely because of the ten dollars he did not want to cancel the trip. even had to move another inmate to replace the driver. quick Tashkent then characterized on the horizon the snow-capped peaks of the Tien Shan from the mountains and we came closer and closer. when we went on a very busy, as I said this is the only one in the Ferghana Valley, two-lane main road into the mountains more and more invaded, we were always of gates of the Uzbek army and police put under the microscope. identity documents had to be presented, which was checked suitcase space. here was rigorous fotographierverbot. on the right even to about 3000 meters where the snow was still tight, then stood in front of the tunnel, the soldiers with Kalashnikovs at the ready in dense trellis.
the mountains themselves were beautiful, and time to this I was clear (if I'm honest, I had my had roughly been thinking in Samarkand - now the decision was taken) that I have in this still want to make a bold excursion would. "I want to go." in the Fergana Valley, which extends over several hundred miles, it was not very interesting. eventually I was content in the eponymous Ferghana, a czar in the military based in the city. I checked, as in the city Congress largely because of any everything was fully booked, too expensive in a hotel. to see there was not much in Ferghana. in short, the city is boring. I read but by the hotel manager, the third man in the country, who spoke German, cards tienschanregion and give a description of how to get the best there. He advised me but from as far as possible, this way to follow and to try as to Tashkent, I wanted to follow a drawn very little road to get from where I wanted to leave then yes. and so began the most beautiful, exciting and adventurous part of the whole trip ... 
