For a while we relax in the cozy hotels of Bukhara and Samarkand that we discovered two years ago. Good to recharge the batteries after crossing Turkmenistan, but things look a little too familiar and soon it starts itching to discover new things again. We ride to the Fergana Valley, which we skipped on our previous trip, to learn how silk is made. I’m a little shocked to see that this involes drying and boiling hundreds of little butterfly worms, but I buy a nice silk scarf anyway.