Uzbekistan

been to Tashkent and Samarkand..Tashkent is my home town…. i LOVE, LOVE LOVE it there and want tooo go back soo bad

Earlier this year I had read about a city called Samarkand, and how it used to be a rather large metropolitan staple in central europe. This intrigued me, and I figured that one day I would very much like to go there. Later, I actually met a handsome young man from Uzbekistan, developed a crush on him, and now have even more of an interest in going. From what I hear, it’s a diamond in the rough, and if you want real experiences apart from the touristy places in the world, that Uzbekistan is a nice place for that. Perhaps within the next few years I’ll end up going?

Samarkand, Bukarah, and Tashkent. I rode the camel outside of Bukarah. I’d like to go back and visit Khiva and a few other small towns in the east.

Just saying that you’ve been to Uzbekistan is worth it – and it really is. There are amazing buildings there, incredible old mosques, really interesting politics, beautiful people, a crazy metro system in Tashkent that has to be seen to be believed… I’ll never forget it. Go there. It’s cheap and safe, more or less.

but you gotta ask me :0)

Also, take a look at zackweb.net

Tashkent is not an ancient city, but rather more of a crossroads on the Silk Road. It started as an oasis on the Chirchik River, near the foothills of the Golestan Mountains. In ancient times, this area was the principality of Chach, whose main town had a square citadel built around the 5th to 3rd centuries BC, some 8 km south of the Syr Darya River. By the 7th century AD, Chach had over 30 towns and a network of over 50 canals, forming a trade center between the Sogdians and Turkic nomads. The region subsequently came under the sway of Islam in the early parts of the 8th century.

Alexander the Great conquered Sogdiana and Bactria in 327 BC, marrying Roxana, daughter of a local Sogdian chieftain. However, the conquest was supposedly of little help to Alexander as popular resistance was fierce, causing Alexander’s army to be bogged down in the region.       

Uzbekistan is a dry, landlocked country of which 11% consists of intensely cultivated, irrigated river valleys. More than 60% of its population lives in densely populated rural communities. Uzbekistan is now the world’s second-largest cotton exporter and fifth largest producer; it relies heavily on cotton production as the major source of export earnings.       

I had a bad feeling with this country… So…

Great place, strongly recommend. Be sure to visit wonderful and mindblowing Kazakhstan as well

Don’t let the bureaucracy get to you (or the fact that most cities have only one place to get cash – the National Bank).