Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan is the only country I have ever hired a tour guide for, and I am glad I did. I only visited for three days and my guide did all of the planning on our whirlwind trip.

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I landed in Tashkent and we immediately drove four to five hours to Samarkand.

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Uzbekistan is the land of Chevrolet. He explained that there is a Chevy car making facility in Uzbekistan and that is the reason there are so many. Different models than in America…and they look like they are better built…and all manual.

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There were old Soviet-era checkpoints along the roadways with police officers checking vehicles.

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We had many long, interesting discussion on our long car ride, and that night he took me out to eat horse meat.

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On the second day he drove me around the ancient city and we visited all of the main attractions.

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We quickly became friends and shared many moments together. We shared a plate of rice, lamb meat, carrots, onions, tomatoes, and quail eggs. When I told him how much money my prescription medications cost back in America, he helped me find a cheaper alternative sold in Uzbekistan.

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My favorite memory is from the evening of the second day.

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The night was dark and a full orange moon rose over the arid land. The ancient city was filled with a vibrant night life, neon lights, shopping centers, eating places, nightclubs…so on…we drove around in our black Chevrolet Lacetti and blasted Russian rap music. The music group rapped in Russian and used the English word “fuck” every fifteen seconds.

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At 2 a.m., he dropped me off at the airport. We shook hands.

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“Goodbye…thank you for visiting my country…I hope one day you can visit again...”