Uzbekistan

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Flag of Uzbekistan Uzbekistan
Information
Language: Uzbek
Capital: Tashkent
Population: 27,727,000
Currency: Som
Paved roads: 71.237 km (87%)
Hitchability: <rating country='uz' />
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<map lat='42' lng='63.5' zoom='5' view='0' height='300'/>


Uzbekistan is a country in Central Asia. There are borders to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan.

It's probably a good idea to learn Russian, or at least the Cyrillic alphabet. Especially older people speak Russian. Also knowing some Turkish helps.

Hitchhiking

Due to most people do not own a vehicle, hitchhiking seems to be a common way to get around. But for the Uzbeks hitchhiking is like taking a taxi, so payment is expected. Anyway there might be a chance to get a free lift if you make it clear before you enter. Tell the driver that you are traveling without money and you are doing autostop (автостоп (pronounced like avtostop)) all the way.

Police

It seems that there are a lot of checks. Carry copies of your passport and visa with you. Don't give your passport away and if they want to see the original, try to do it in the police station. Sometimes some guys in fake police uniforms try to steal passports. Often local police officers try to get some money from travelers. If you are not sure, call your embassy and ask if the police is right. Don't give them money for flimsy reasons, if you are not sure discuss and make a phone call to somebody who knows. Don't take photos of strategical buildings such as bridges, border checks or the subway of Tashkent.

Border crossing

The border checks are very strict. Corruption is common. Stay cool, and better call your embassy and ask there if you think they are trying to fool you. Road checkpoints are opened from 9 o'clock in the morning to 6 o'clock in the evening. At night the borders are closed.

I didn't experiance the border checks as very strickt. They all asked me to play violin when entering, and didn't check my registration. When I told them, that I was bringing more money out of the country than I took in with me, they just asked me to rewrite my paper where I had written how much I was bringing out, so it formally looked like I wasn't bringing out to much money. - Very friendly police!

Registration

You need to register at UVViOG if you stay longer than 3 days. If you stay in a hostel or hotel they will do it for you. If you stay in a home, they can go to the police station and register you for one month at the cost of $ 20. Otherwise it cost around 5 dollar pr night if you do it cheap. Officially you need your registration when you leave the country again. But reports from many travellers say that they didn't check. For a safy case get atleast one or two registrations. Apparently if you get caught without registration, the fine can be more than €700. If you want to play it safe, get one every day. A little less lafe, one every 3 days (one can misunderstand the 72 hour thing, understanding that you only have to register every 72 hours). And to play it messy and unstrucktured just get a few here and there.

Edit by Hitch-hiker Nalddo : registration is automatic and free when you stay at any licensed hotel / guesthouse and consists of a small piece of paper with your name, passport number, dates of check-in and check-out and stamp of the hotel. Theoretically you may have to show a registration slip for every night spent in Uzbekistan when you leave the country (possibly) or at road checkpoints (unlikely). However it appears than the procedure is now fairly relax for foreigners on a tourist visa and registration slips are almost never checked (in 2011-2012).

Danger

There can be landmines in the border regions to Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Number Plates

Car with Uzebk license plate.jpg

The Uzbek number plate is white and begins with two numbers, which gives you a clue about the region the car is registered in.

Number Province
01-09 Tashkent (City Toshkent)
10-19 Tashkent (Province Tashkent)
20-24 Sirdaryo
25-29 Jizzax
30-39 Samarqand
40-49 Fergana
50-59 Provinz Namangan
60-69 Andijon
70-74 Qarshi
75-79 Termez
80-84 Bukhara
85-89 Navoiy
90-94 Urgench
95-99 Nukus

Cities

Border Crossing

  • With Afghanistan: at Termiz. They search people thoroughly.
  • It is compulsory to fill in two declarations (printed in Russian!) two times when entering and leaving country. Precisely enter all information about money you got. The bad side of this, is that you need to carry your declaration with you all the time so any policeman can quickly find out how much money you have. Also when leaving country be ready to prove your expenses with receipts from hotels, supermarkets etc. If you will have more money than you declared on entering show the receipts from cashpoints or they will confiscate your money since they consider it to be illegal. There is no need to carry out Uzbek money because the exchange rate outside of Uzbekistan is extremely low.

Credit cards

Uzbekistan has a very closed economy. It's not easy to find cashpoints. There are only 2 cashpoints accepting MasterCard in the entire country (2010). Both are in Tashkent. First one is in hotel "Uzbekistan" (also accepts VISA) near metro "Amir Temur hieboni" and the second one in hotel "Russia". Cashpoint only give out bills of 100USD. The exchange rate in the bazaar can be 200% from the official rate, but it's illegal.

Update 2024: I went to Uzbekistan in 2022. Not only this is irrelevant, but it can't be more than that. There are Mastercard and Visa ATMs everywhere possible, even in non-large cities. It's always better to have SOME cash around but progress made its way there too.

Russian/Uzbek Phrases

Salam - Hello (uzbek)

Kuda ti idyosh? - Where are you going (russian)

Ya Hachu payti v... - I want to go to...

Dengi njet, Problema? - No money, problem?

Spasiba/Rakhmat - Thank you (russian/Uzbek)

Kak ti? - how are you?

Kharasho - good

Experiences



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