Mention the country Uzbekistan and more often than not, one gets a mixed reaction. What is there to see? Why go there? Where is that? These were the most common responses I received when people heard that I was going to Uzbekistan. Ask me my opinions on Uzbekistan 5 years ago and I would probably ask the first two questions as well.
As one of the -Stans (i.e. Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, etc), people normally associate it with vast cotton fields, cold, impersonal Soviet architecture and perhaps tall, blonde receptionists all seemingly named Svetlana. In more recent times, Borat came into the picture to portray what is a backward and inaccurate depiction of the -Stans (notably Kazakhstan). Nevertheless, it did put this rarely explored region in the limelight.
…