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part of the old Silk Route . We head west through the fertile Fergana Valley and find ourselves in Kokand , a region once considered an oasis , later determined by political borders dictated by Soviet leadership , today it remains a transportation centre of the farming regions of the valley .
From our luxurious hotel we are within walking distance of the Khudayar Khan Palace , a spectacle that needs to be seen up close . The palace seems a little lost amongst a thousand-year-old city that was destroyed by the Mongols and then by the Bolsheviks in more recent times . Khudayar Khan Palace stands defiant , an important introduction to Uzbekistan .
Like the other Uzbek cities visited during the ride through this nation , Kokand offers a glimpse into the stories of the past , the present situation and what could possibly be install for the near future . Magnificent palaces , mosques and madrasah stand tall in Toshkent , the Uzbek capital , as well as the ancient city of Samarkand .
With a human history that dates back to the ‘ old stone age ’, at least fifty thousand years , Samarkand is regarded by many as the cradle of civilisation in central Asia . Its history as a city goes back to around three thousand years ago with much
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