Estrogenistan Dispatch
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Uzbek visa - you've got to want it

8/27/2013

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Maybe it's because Uzbekistan and the US aren't on the best of terms but it seems Americans get very special treatment when it comes to visas: no airport visas for you, Amerikanski!

The process involves detailed forms (with bonus bad instructions) from the Consulate in NY and then, from you: $160, your ACTUAL passport, a COPY of your passport, an EXTRA passport picture, and return envelope postage paid.  They won't register or certify anything and they reserve the right to reject your application for any reason while keeping your money.  Nothing says "welcome" quite like an old school Soviet-style bureaucratic shakedown. 

Nevertheless, I am happy to report that my application was approved.
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why central Asia, you may ask

8/26/2013

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It started 5 years ago when my daughter and I spent 3 weeks in Turkey celebrating her graduation from college.  Even then I was surprised at how many people didn't seem to understand a trip to Turkey: "why there?", "that's an interesting choice," "gosh, there are so many other places to go."  When people learn I'm traveling to Central Asia, they often don't even say anything and just stare blankly as if perhaps they have misheard, waiting for me to clarify that I am going to Central Arkansas.

Turkey was amazing.  Among the many, many things that intrigued and delighted me in Turkey, the textiles grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go.  I arrived with a certainty that I would purchase no carpets; I bought 5.  I envisioned perhaps a few meters of ikat, a scarf or two.  Many embroidered suzani items and prayer shawls later, I returned home with an obsessive fascination for these textiles (along with a whopping credit card bill.) What I had learned and would later understand in greater detail is that many of these textiles originate in Central Asia and that their presence in Turkey is modern day evidence of Silk Road trade.

The more I learned about Central Asian textiles, my desire to go there also grew.  Perversely, the fact that it was so far off my list of desired destinations made it even more interesting. And now that I have read more about my destinations of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, "interesting" takes on new connotations:
  • polo played with the carcass of a headless goat instead of a ball!
  • feasting on the revered delicacy of fatty sheep tail!
  • mountain rides in old soviet troop transporters!

Who can resist?





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    Dana, estrogen-deprived and textile-hungry, ventured from the Pacific Northwest to Central Asia in 2013.  Now the lure of bandhani & woodblock take her India.

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