Overview of Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan was a country I new little about and had no plans on visiting while on this trip.  All that changed when I was denied a visa to Pakistan and had to scramble to figure out a path through this part of the world.  The Country has just started opening their borders to foreign tourists and there are few blogs discussing the country from a travelers point of view.  So here is a quick rundown of what I learned on my trip through Uzbekistan.

Entering and Exiting

The country requires a visa for most foreigners, and the fee appears to be reciprocity for what Uzbeks are charged to apply for a visa to the applicants country.  In the case of Americans, it it is $162 for a 30-day single-entry visa.  I applied at the embassy in Azerbaijan and the turn-around time was 4 days.  The e embassy was easy to deal with.

Border control was relatively quick (approx 30 minutes for entry and 20 minutes for exit), organized, and very cordial.  As a tourist, I was provided preferential treatment.  The search was the most exhaustive I have been through, and I have crossed over 200 borders in my travels.  Customs officers looked though everything, by hand and with dogs.  They looked at each one of my prescription medications with an attentive eye.  They wanted to see copies of the prescriptions and wanted to know what was the purpose of each drug.  Things were getting dicey until I pulled out pictures and descriptions of each drug, and a letter from my doctor detailing my illness.  They kept a copy of the letter.

Fun Fact:  Uzbekistan is a double land-locked country.  So not only are they landlocked, but all of the countries that border Uzbekistan are also land-locked.

Money and Credit Cards

The money in Uzbekistan has been devalued so much that the largest bill is worth about $6 and the lowest is bill is worth about a penny. Since all transactions are conducted in cash, this can be a real issue.  I changed money at the border and ended up with about a pound of money in exchange for a single  $100 bill.  To make the situation even more screwy, credit cards are not accepted in the Country.

Equivalent of 100 USD

Due to the devaluation of the S'om, ATMs can not use the currency and instead dispense US Dollars.  However, merchants don't typically accept US currency, so the money has to be converted into local currency.  So, to buy something, you have to convert your purchase price from Uzbek S'om to US dollars, go withdrawal that amount from an ATM, find an exchange location and exchange it into the local currency, get a document that proves to customs that you exchanged the money at an approved location instead of a black market exchange, go to the cashier at the store where you wanted to buy the product, hand them the load of money, wait while they count it all out, and then you can have your product.  In other words, commerce is not easily conducted in Uzbekistan.

Fun Fact: A decent hotel can go for as little as $12, diner for about $2, a steak with fixings at a nice restaurant is about $3.75, a medium pizza is about $2, and an ice cream cone is about $0.12.

Roads and Gasoline

The roads, basically all the way from the western border to Nukus are just crap and really can not be classified as roads.  From Nukus east they start to get better and become quite good as Tashkent is approached.

Typical road for hundreds of miles

Gasoline is a MAJOR issue.  There are no gasoline stations from Benyeu, Kazakhstan (45 miles west of the Uzbek border) to Nukus.  The total run is over 320 miles, and even the guys with the adventure models will have pack gasoline.  I had to again pack gasoline on my trip from Khiva to Bukhara.  There are four types of fuel in Uzbekistan, and in order of prevalence they are: propane (LPG), methane, gasoline (benzine), and diesel.  With regards to gasoline, there are primarily two octanes, 91 and 80, with the former only available near cities.  

Fun Fact: Over 60 percent of all cars in Uzbekistan are made by Chevrolet (a US company), and 90 percent of those are white. 

Route Through Uzbekistan

Police

I had heard nightmares about the Police.  To be honest, I had absolutely no issues, and I found them to be quite polite and accommodating.  There are dozens of police check points and I was pulled aside for document review just once.  The officer spent two minutes on my docs, and 10 minutes asking about the bike and my trip.  I am pretty sure that was why I was stopped in the first place, as the document check portion of the stop seemed more like an afterthought.

People

The people were some of the nicest that I have encountered in all my travels.  The Uzbekis are polite, helpful and very friendly.  People offered their space in the front of queues in stores and gas stations (I never accepted), kids waved and chatted, hundreds of people asked questions about the bike, or gave me the thumbs up when they drove by.  I know the country has made a big push for tourism and it is quickly becoming a big industry for them, and I am not sure how this affected their friendliness, but regardless, it was welcome and seemed quite genuine.

Bizarre Fact:  Wife kidnapping still takes place in Uzbekistan.  In one province, 20 percent of women become wives through means of kidnapping.

Sightseeing

The Country is flush with UNESCO world heritage sights, but they all seem to be very similar.  All Madrases (religious schools) and minarets were built 500-600 years ago.  Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand are the primary tourist cities, with my favorite being Bukhara. Tashkent experienced a major earth quake back in 1966 and lost most of their attractions.  As such, the city has mostly modern buildings

Summary

I enjoyed Uzbekistan.  Not sure I would make it a destination vacation, but I am definitely glad things worked out that I had the opportunity to visit this little known about part of the world.