Checking Out A Carpet Factory In Samarkand

There's nothing more iconic about being on the Silk Road than a fancy silk carpet. The place to go to see carpets being made and a good place for shopping is the Samarkand Bukhara Silk Carpet Factory. Big name, big business.

The loom room. A good job for women, a skill learned and heirloom carpets created.

How do they do it, hours, days, years crouched in front of the rig? By watching shows on their mobile phones. Clever.

A showroom.

Weaving details. A pattern guide and loose thread. Cutting, weaving tools, looking a little Silk Road medieval.

Another showroom. If they don't have it, you didn't want it. Pick color.

Shopping At The Siyob Bazaar, Part Two

More shopping at the big Siyob Bazaar.

You want eggs? You gotta face the egg lady.

Naswar, green chewing tobacco. Looks good. Tastes? Well...

A huge amount of cleaning supplies. And two blue buckets.

A variety of chekiches for sale. They're stamps used in baking non, to provide a flat, embossed center to the round bread. Metal versions are made from old gears. A vendor lunch. Grand.

Presentation is everything. Clever use of construction fence covering as lush stall background.