Uzbekistan Travel Ideas

The Silk Road, Moghuls, Alexander the Great - you'd never think that all these historic places, milestones, and personalities have influenced and actually lived in the Central Asian region and Uzbekistan in particular. You'd probably recall India, Afghanistan, Persia, but never Uzbekistan. Mind you, the first of Moghuls - Babur - was born in what now is known as Fergana Valley in contemporary Uzbekistan. The legendary Taj Mahal was built by a direct descendant of Babur who, you guessed it right, was born "in Uzbekistan". So there's a ton of history in this diverse land and most Uzbeks are very proud of it.
Well, since we started in Fergana valley, which is definitely the least exciting place to visit if you are looking for visual cues, let's take a look at who lives here now and whether a curious traveler will find something of an interest. For starters, archaeologists will drool over the excavation in Kuva, a tiny village some 20 miles SW of Andijan (birth place of Babur, remember him?). This excavation is rather slow, it actually started some 50 years ago, but its significance is hard not to notice. Archaeologists dug out a 7-8th century Buddhist temple there! It certainly does not look close to spectacular, but the adjacent museum tells lots of interesting stories and displays a good number of ancient artifacts.
Nearby Andijan is a dusty tense city full of merchants, huge markets and the only automobile manufacturing plant in the whole of Central Asia. This was a joint project of Uzbek government and now defunct South Korean Daewoo brand. Daewoo was acquired by Chevrolet so this facility manufactures local versions of older Chevys and rebadged Daewoos. Not exciting facts at all, but we have to mention this, eh? On a positive note, Andijan has a great artisan's corner located in the middle of local market. You are definitely going there with a tour guide, so they'd know where to look.
Fergana valley is named after Fergana city. Locals proudly call it "Pearl of the East" and Wikipedia describes it as "orderly tree-shaded avenues and attractive blue-washed 19th century tsarist colonial-style houses" and that "the city has a distinctly different feel from most Uzbek cities". We totally agree and this place is a highly recommended stopover. If you are lucky, you'll see a great collection of fine art, which they rotate infrequently at the local museum. All artists presented there are local, and they are very cute followers of Russian pre- and post-WWII modern art.