We (70, M & F) have always planned our international travel to several countries (Egypt, Morocco, New Zealand, Ireland, India, Norway ...) independently, using Airbnb, booking.com, Google, etc. We've had great vacations this way. Our style of travel is to plan the basics but adjust as we see things that interest us.

I realize that Uzbekistan (and Tajikistan) might be more challenging because of the language and the lack of accommodations other than large Western-style hotels.

We are planning to go in March-April 2025 and would like to visit the following cities in UZ (Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva and Nukus) and in Tajikistan (Khujand, Dushanbe, and Panjaket.)

One local (UZ) travel consultant has proposed an itinerary that appears too scripted for us. It is packed with travel to different tourist attractions with little free time to explore the local scene and culture. I realize we will need guides in each city, but I don't think we need one to accompany us for the entire trip.

Is it unrealistic to try and plan our trip on our own? Can guides and transportation be easily arranged while we are there?

Thanks for any advice you can give.

Every piece of tech in here are fake/clone.

Most of them are from china so chinese fake devices flooded the tech-market.

Other than Smartphones u cant find original shit, there is basicly zero official stores. not even russian brands.

ive tried finding some original Powerbank and cable from reputable brand but no luck. All of them are obviously fake and the seller annoyingly brags about how original it is. Ironic

is gov posing some harsh rules to brands in order to enter the market? like most of the world wide known brands dont have any connections with this country.

whats ur experience? any advices?

i can't order them from abroad like powerbank or any other restricted or not safe products.

Uzbekistan is next to Afghanistan and my question is due to this geographic proximity has Uzbekistan ever been influenced by Pashtun or Pathan culture or no was it more the other way around with Turkic conquerors like Timur of the Timurids or Babur of the Mughals conquering Afghanistan and influencing the Afghan Farsiwan Pashtun Pathan culture because it seems like there is more Turkic cultural influence on Afghanistan as Afghans have Turkic influences on their cuisine such as pulao, aushak and manti and Afghans use Turkic loanwords and letters in their language like the afghan army is even referred to as urdu or ordo and the Pashto letters like څ ې are/were used in Uzbekistan. The letter څ seems to have originated in the Khwarzm language spoken in the Fergana valley and ې appears to be used by both Uzbek and Pashto. Did Uzbek culture ever get influenced by Pashtun culture in the same way or no was there more Uzbek cultural influence on their neighbors.

I had some of the most memorable days of my life during my 10 day solo trip to Uzbekistan.

From the super hospitable hostel owner in khiva to the warmth of the owners of every eatery, I had such fond encounters with almost every individual.

I was reminiscing about my trip a lot and actually having post-vacation depression. Was going through my phone, and realised this app has no use now.

As soon as I hit uninstall, it just hit me like a wall.

Uzbekistan, rahmat for everything. You have a special place in my heart for all my remaining days.

I'm just curious - why is every month's name Russian in Uzbek language? Cuz it's basically every word from Yanvar to Dekabr.

I am coming back from Australia soon. I’m Uzbek myself and feeling a bit anxious about what kind of cultural shock I might experience again. Could anyone share if you’ve been in a similar situation—returning to Uzbekistan from abroad as a citizen? What did you feel? Could you share your experience? Did you want to go back abroad?

I’m hoping to do a trip starting in Tashkent and travelling to Bishkek and on to Almaty. I’d welcome advice on an itinerary and best way to travel.

From Almaty I’d like to go on to Uruqui in China and I read there is a train that runs twice a week but have been unable to find out more about it.

I’ll be travelling in May or June and am not time limited. All advice gratefully received.

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Hi guys,

I am looking for an Uzbek tutor online.

Is there anybody here with teaching experience who does online tutoring as a side job?

Preferably, the tutor should know the Namangan dialect, but that's not a must.

I have zero experience and would start at an A2 level.

I know there are tons of online platforms where you can find a tutor, but I know these platforms will charge the tutors a big chunk of the lesson price, so I would be better for both sides to do the lessons without any kind of platform involved.

Would like to do a lesson each Saturday and Sunday.

Just PM me and we can talk.

Hello, I am conducting some research into peoples experiences travelling to Uzbekistan to help with a University Project.

I would greatly appreciate if anyone who has been a tourist in Uzbekistan would take a few mins (under 5) to fill out this anonymous survey.

Thank you

https://forms.gle/UV1JrzcHxRFUtaZc7

First time visitor from the UK, I know about visas, vaccinations and the like. But interested to know about phone usage - am I better to buy an eSIM when I get there? Also cash, what’s the best currency to bring? Always wanted to visit so super excited, but a bit apprehensive as not been out of the Uk for a couple of decades.

https://reddit.com/link/1gfqiqx/video/myjisubz4xxd1/player

Audio was converted to video poorly, so its only first 13 seconds (the original audio)
Recently my uncle bought Toyota Prius. Unfortunately, I don't know the exact year and model. And this car says it to him every time he seats in it. Initially I assumed this is some Slavic or Turkish, but it turned out it is not. With some magic with google translator I managed to translate the first and the last words. Seems like its Uzbek.
Please, could you tell me what does it mean?

I was born and raised until a certain age in Uzbekistan. I now live in a different country and I’m old enough to visit Uzbekistan now when I can, I love this country with my whole heart and I’ve just started to learn Uzbek. I want to be able to visit and speak in their language. I speak Russian but not very well either so i bought Russian - Uzbek children books to exercise both languages, so far it’s going okay

Are there any free apps or any other things I could use? So far I haven’t found many that are useful. I also don’t have anyone to exercise with so if you guys have any tips please feel free to share.

Hi there, I know there have been similar questions before, but I want to be more specific:

Can anyone living there give me a breakdown of how business acutally takes place in uzbekistan? from registering businesses, getting the right licenses, etc. Are there actually bribes to pay? how do you know when you're being asked for this?

Do you run into trouble with locals operating their own businesses in the space? Are these sort of business interests controlled by certain families or clans or whatever? If so, who are the major clans I should be aware of? Do you need "protection"?

Thanks

I heard that in Uzbek culture men don't shake hands with women, so when they live abroad do they shake hands with foreign women? Is it normal for new generation Uzbek men to intentionally wait for a woman to shake hands and hold her hand for a little long time?

Hi there

We had an opportunity to visit Uzbekistan last June and absolutely fell in love with the country but it was way too hot to explore so we've only seen a few places and went on to our next destination (Kazakhstan) We now want to go back, possibly in February, just see it in the winter.

We wondered if you got any suggestions what we should definitely not miss this time? We have seen Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent only (we want to revisit all of these places of course).

We haven't seen Khiva so we will definitely want to go there and so far this is all we know. Thank youuu :)

Hello everyone, we are a precious metal trading company based in Dubai. We usually deal with mines from Africa, but we would like to explore options in Central Asia. Any leads on new mines or old mines would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Hi, the company I’m currently working with is interested to expand business in Uzbekistan and we are planning to hire locals. I wanted to know, aside from headhunter (hh.uz), what are the commonly used job portals to get talents from Uzbekistan.

Thank you so much for your help.

Salom! I was wondering (I live in America) where I could buy some Uzbek art. Online shops are fine - and I would obviously really appreciate if it were from Uzbek artists!

If anybody is teaching or taught at TIS.. could you elaborate on your teaching experience there? How's the school and co teachers? Pm?

Is this something that is widely discussed, shown on the news? Are people allowed to show public support for Palestinians? I’m just curious as I’ve traveled a lot over the past year and wanted to get an insight into public support and how it’s demonstrated.

What do you guys think about this? How reliable is this information?

https://youtu.be/MVHakGtL9dg?si=1fjAKdFiGBtjJqbW

Is a shared taxi possible? Thank you!