Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Tue 24 May 11: Tashkent, Uzbekistan

We have not seen much of Tachkent yet. We hired a travel agent for the Tajikistan. That was cool. Kyrgyzstan visa was tough. We waited 3,5 hours for a 5 minute interview and we need to go back tomorrow for a possible visa on Friday at 16H00.

There is quite a difference between Caucasians and Central Asians, especially the Uzbeks. They have known a golden age under Tamerlane somehow lost under the Russians rule. Strong pressure to wipe out the past, and the older generation is still in-between this communist experience and the establishment of a new national identity. The young are already open to the e-world but foreign contacts remain scarce. We are approached by genuine and sincere young people who only wish to talk and exchange a little. Communication remains difficult, their English very bookish and our Russian and Uzbek almost inexistent. We were very impressed by this 51 year old man with traditional hat speaking about all the French literature classics and not about Zidane , G Flaubert, JP Sartre, M Proust , E Zola , G de Maupassant , etc