Hi Ketty,
Yes, I do speak some Russian but it is quite basic as I picked most of it up on the road instead of having formal classes (i.e., it’s very easy to identify me as American/European by my accent). So, my Russian skills did help when prices were indicated in a menu or in asking prices in advance. But, at the beginning I wasn’t aware to ask the price for everything in advance to protect us from “surprises” (as this wasn’t needed in Turkmenistan, for example). If you are fluent in Russian and are aware, then that will help prevent you from unexpected charges or prices. Enjoy your trip!

Thank you so much for writing this blog. Do I get correctly that you speak russian? Do you feel that they are more oriented ripping off english speaking tourists? I am not sure how much the russian language is common in Uzbekistan, Do you think that being fluent in russian will help me to get more accurate information?

Thanks

Sam, I’m very sorry that you feel that we are unfair and biased here. We ended with the story of Star to show how hospitable Uzbeks can be, and we also include other examples here: https://uncorneredmarket.com/a-real-peek-at-uzbekistans-silk-road-a-reflective-scavenger-hunt/

You agree that it is unfortunately common in Uzbekistan’s tourist areas to rip off tourists. From friends who have traveled there in the last six months they confirmed that this hasn’t changed much. We have seen this in many areas of the world where tourists are in high concentration and this is sad. However, we found that we experienced more instances of being ripped off in Uzbekistan than in other countries in the area and we wanted to let people know how to protect themselves from this. We also encourage people to travel independently so that their money goes directly to vendors instead of middle people.

We spent over five months traveling the Silk Road from Tbilisi to Xi’an, China and really do encourage other traveler to spend time in Central Asia, including Uzbekistan. You can see this here: https://uncorneredmarket.com/central-asia-travel-beginners-guide/.

I am the local of Samarkand, spent 10 years both in the US and UK and can say that people in Uzbekistan are very hospitable.

With regards to your rip-off claims, I unfortunately agree and it is the treat brought on by capitalism mentality. Many tour leaders who come to Uzbkistan are actually very thirtsy for money and on behalf of their company they rip off local vendors and local people. Rip-off is actually the result of tourism. On the other hand why do you pay almost 7 bucks for a cup of Coffee at Starbucks in wherever you are but do not complain to your coffee shop. The tourists are charged international rate because those extra cash will help the locality and people in there.

Your blog on Uzbekistan is hugely biased, to say the truth.

In Morocco I got cheated in the old town Medina, Fes and Marakech souqs. I was so enticed after sampling the juicy fat dates and delicious figs at one of the shops. Bought a 2 kilo box of figs in good faith but later found only the first layer was good and the rest were just fit for donkey’s food. In fact some wiggling worms were showing up by the time I arrived in my country. So was Marrakesh, I bought a small piece of amber for 125 dirham and later discovered it actually cost only 20 dirham! Even for a glass of juice, one can get ripped off. Ironically, I still love Morocco….but I’ll be smarter next time 🙂