What is it about Uzbekistan?

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Avid followers of the blog will know that I was impressed by the talents of Ozodbek and his compere for the show. Just to give you an idea of how big (not in the physical sense) this guy is, the compere that is, we've attached a picture of him as a cover model.

Now why did I drag Nicola to Uzbekistan?

A lure of outpost towns in the desert, inhabited by the mainly static Uzbek people with a penchant for hard bargaining with the nomads of the Silk Road. This gave them plenty of money to build fantastic medressas and minarets inside wonderful walled cities.

And what did we find?

Prices that start at three times higher for tourists than locals (told you they bargained hard)
Gold teeth - they are clearly loaded
But despite all this they have an inability to smile.
Other dislikes include:
a 3ft jump from the pavement to the road when you want to cross it
drivers who fancy your chances of ending your life prematurely if you succeed in avoiding the 3ft open rain gully
whistle blowing policemen - who never actually manage to control said drivers (but are happy to scold a wayward tourist - 3 times!!)
Festivals that close everything you want to visit - just cos the president is in town
Restaurants that give menus without beer prices and then fleece you for the one beer with dinner just to hike up the price
And internet cafe "issues" (fuzzy screen, dodgy chair, dodgier keyboard - how can you work without a space bar? - and the inevitable pace of internet connection...Tony you've got it good with Voyager)

So do I regret trailing down here? Hell no.

The walled cities are amazing.
The climate is incredible - including land far lusher and arable than we ever expected
Shashliq - more dog and horse on a skewer than a bloke can get at two in the morning after a jar or two
Black market exchange rates - genuinely in your favour. Brilliant!
Museums who haggle on price - imagine that at the Science Museum in Kensington
Trains. Punctual & Comfortable with the chance to learn Russian (or more likely for them to practice English)
The Khanate architecture - I don't care it's mainly restored, it's what they designed 600 years ago that counts
And the comforting feeling that when you get near a border, there's a bloke with a gun making sure you don't make a run for it.

Anyway now we are back in Russia and it's raining!

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Photos

Nik Nak
The 3.5ft Bruce Forsyth!

Uzbek
Feeling hot in Bukhara

Tashkent
Another closed park! Mind you we got a photo of Temur's back ...

Us with Lenin
Feeling cold in Novosibirsk