Russia conquered Uzbekistan in the late 19th century. Stiff resistance to the Red Army after World War I was eventually suppressed and a socialist republic set up in 1924. During the Soviet era, intensive production of "white gold" (cotton) and grain led to overuse of agrochemicals and the depletion of water supplies, which have left the land poisoned and the Aral Sea and certain rivers half dry. Independent since 1991, the country seeks to gradually lessen its dependence on agriculture while developing its mineral and petroleum reserves. Current concerns include terrorism by Islamic militants, economic stagnation, and the curtailment of human rights and democratization.To be updated
July 14th 2008Asia » Uzbekistan » Khiva I'm glad I prefer the heat to the cold, as it's boiling here!!! It's dry heat though, so I'm not actually feeling it that much, but a couple of people in my group are struggling. I am now travelling w ... 14 photos[full story]
July 9th 2008Asia » Uzbekistan » Samarkand Next was Samarkand, a much bigger city than Bukhara, with as much history, but without the warm fuzzy feeling. This very much felt like a big place - the people weren't as friendly and everyone seemed ... 3 photos[full story]
July 9th 2008Asia » Uzbekistan » Bukhara On to Bukhara - another ancient and historic city - famous for it's huge prison. The weather really begins to heat up in Central Uzbekistan and my farmer's tan comes on quite nicely. (For some reason, ... 3 photos[full story]
July 9th 2008Asia » Uzbekistan » Khiva The next day I finally have an easy border crossing and enter Uzbekistan.
I stay in the historic town of Khiva, inside the ancient city walls. After Turkmenistan it feels really nice here - people ... 3 photos[full story]
July 14th 2008Asia » Uzbekistan » Tashkent De taxirit van Bishkek naar Osh is er één die we zo snel mogelijk willen vergeten al zal ze ons nog lang heugen.. In ’t kort: de rit zou 10 uren duren, iets voor halfweg krijgen we autopech, 6 u ... 33 photos[full story]
July 9th 2008Asia » Uzbekistan » Tashkent I am now in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan and starting to feel like I'm functioning normally again after a week of madness. I have been suffering from a severe lack of sleep - partly my fault as ... 7 photos[full story]
May 29th 2008Asia » Uzbekistan » Tashkent
We flew from Iran to Uzbekistan, (our first flight since leaving home) as getting a visa to travel over land through Turkmenistan takes a lot of time, needs a letter of invitation (expensive) and ... 12 photos[full story]
June 22nd 2008Asia » Uzbekistan » Samarkand Well, another installment while we can! Here are some pictures from our time in Uzbekistan, which is almost drawing to a close. It was a long tedious 3 day train journey to make it into Uzbek but wort ... 96 photos[full story]
June 20th 2008Asia » Uzbekistan » Khiva I will laugh at an English tourist...
You set off for a 6 week trip. You decide on day 1 that you're so homesick that you want to go home. What do you do? You give up and go home almost immediat ... [full story]
June 16th 2008Asia » Uzbekistan » Samarkand So I've just had a delightful Italian meal.
Hmm.
OK, so I've just had a mediocre pizza.
I'd like to point out that, much as I despise the way people go abroad and then just eat the food they ... [full story]
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