Kokand is one of the ancient towns of Uzbekistan. It has existed since at least the 10th century, but the Han Chinese have written record of conquering this town in 1st century BC! But don’t tell them that! They might pull a Trump, grab a Sharpie, and draw in a nine dash line on a map. It was a major thoroughfare for trading on Silk Road.

When we woke up we decided to ask the hotel staff about hiring a taxi for the day instead of worrying about driving around town. It’s always a pain to get around town and we learned long ago it’s best to just park the car hire someone else to drive us from place to place inside a city. The hotel staff suggested one of them should join us for the day. We were shocked but accepted. We were off! We had our own personal assistant and interpreter for the day! What a luxury! We ended up teaching him lots about his own town. We showed him places he had never even heard of before.

First on our need to do list was the local bazaar. Qo’qon Bozori. It was your typical outdoor marketplace all but it wasn’t typical at all because there wasn’t a lot of yelling, shouting, and even arm pulling to get your attention like there often is in may parts of the world. It was really convenient to have our hotel guy with us now because he did all the bargaining. We weren’t getting any souvenirs or even anything Uzbek, we just needed some basics. I’m only mentioning it because I do think it’s worth mentioning everyone was incredibly calm. It was the least hectic outdoor market I’ve ever been too and I’ve been to many a outdoor market on multiple continents.

After the basics were out of the way we were ready to be tourists. First on our must see list was an old madrassa turned mosque, Norbutabiy Mosque. It’s protected by the governmental historical society so they’re not allowed to change anything. Everything looks just the same as it has for a very long time. It’s old and beautiful.

Next we went to the Modari Khan Mausoleum to see the burial place of Nodira. She’s the kinda lady I want to pay my respect to! She was the wife of the khan, ruler, of the Kokand region from 1810 to his death in 1822. When he died she became the de facto ruler because her son was still a teenager. She was a poet and her poetry was mostly about the oppression of women under Islam. The khan of another region didn’t like how brazen she was, he thought she was in the public eye too much for a woman, he also got mad at her for refusing to marry him, and had her hanged along with her sons. A beautiful mausoleum was built for her.

Later, the Soviets propped her up as the model Uzbek woman. The exhumed her body, moved it a bit away, and reburied it with a new monument over her.

Next, we went to a theater originally built in the 1800’s. There wasn’t much to see and we couldn’t get a tour. Apparently someone on staff had died and the funeral was today. Everyone was away at the ceremony. The grounds were beautiful.

After that we headed to the old part of town. Our friendly hotel staffer told us we were walking on the very first street of the town. We never would have known it because the roads were freshly paved and the houses looked freshly painted. Nothing looked ancient. The first stop was a mosque. This was also an old madrassa. Sahib Mian Hazrat Mosque. There was an imam there an he showed us around. There were NO PICTURES signs posted so, sorry, so pics.

Then we walked on and found our next place. You guessed it! Another old madrassa! This one from the early 1800’s. It was beautiful. We were told it was originally built as a guy’s personal residence. He added a classroom a help teach students, then another room, then another, then soon he had a full blown madrassa at his house.

Last stop was lunch! Plov!