Uzbekistan

Out of all the Central Asian countries Uzbekistan was the one that I connected to the least. I’m honestly not even sure why this was, its a fascinating country with nice food and offers visitors the chance to explore cities with a very rare style that have been successfully preserved for hundreds of years. I think it was just that I only really did city tours here and I was unfairly treating it as a filler country between my epic trips in Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, purely for visa reasons. I actually went back a year later but again only because it was the best way to get between Kyrgyzstan and the area of Kazakhstan I was going to. Another visit one day to properly explore and get to know the country will definitely be required.

Uzbekistan is one of the driest, hottest places I’ve ever been to, especially in mid-summer. A large amount of the country is covered by desert and I never even made it into the northernmost regions where a combination of over-irrigation and incredible heat is rapidly causing the Aral Sea to disappear. There is now a festival each year held in the region to try to bring attention to this almost entirely ignored cenvironmental catastrophe.

The country is also well known for its markets, with an incredible range of amazing goods for sale in every city, and some extremely intense haggling for all of them. If there is any country in the world to visit to improve your skill at haggling, its definitely Uzbekistan!

My Trip

I entered Uzbekistan with the Mongol Rally from Dashoguz in Turkmenistan. I had joined some of the teams to get through the country and our first stop was the stunning city of Khiva. I think this may also have been why I didn’t enjoy the country so much, I simply did it in the wrong order. Khiva was such an incredible city to explore with such amazing architecture that the later city tours did not compare.

I stayed for two days before leaving the rally and switching to the many cheap shared taxis that run between all of the cities in Uzbekistan (and when I say cheap I mean insanely cheap if you haggle properly). I explored Samarkand, Bukhara and finished up in Tashkent. Samarkand and Bukhara are both incredible cities that you should absolutely visit but just didn’t inspire me after Khiva. Tashkent is a lot more optional in my opinion, its a much more modern city but offers a lot more opportunities to relax, explore and shop than many cities in the region.

I left the country via Andijan in the Fergana valley which I definitely need to return to and explore now that Uzbekistan has opened up its visa regime and the many borders, enclaves and exclaves in the valley are less difficult to navigate.