A Uzbek Treat: Dried Melon

Now I am back in Istanbul, this is probably my last post on my adventures in Uzbekistan.

I just wanted to show you this: there we were, driving along in our wonderful Chinese-made bus Golden Dragon from Tashkent to Samarkand, when we saw a flurry of activity along the side of the road.



what could it be, we wondered?



Our driver obligingly stopped and we all trooped out, cameras at the ready. There were about 5 or 6 guys all selling something that we couldn't identify till Galip, our local guide and font of knowledge, came to our aid.



they were packets of dried melon



In our enthusiasm we all tried a small piece from the plate that was waved under our noses. It had a smell and consistency something akin to dried figs and was nicely packaged as you can see in the pictures.

he has my money in his hand!

 We all bought some. At 1000 sum or 50 cents, it didn't exactly break the bank.

We retired to the bus glowing with the satisfaction of surviving our first Uzbek purchase. However, as the days passed and our stomachs proved to be more delicate than we had thought, this delicacy somehow lost its appeal.

Reader, I dumped it.