Uzbekistan - Country of Contrasts (ending part 3) Uzbekistan for Uzbeks But, despite the fact that small its territory of Uzbekistan holds such a unique treasure, the country is in an unpleasant situation. Its economy is exhausted, the average annual wage is barely $ 1500. The country depends heavily on cotton - a blessing and a curse at the same time - sales of which makes much of the profits, but at the same time drains, turning the desert, the remains of fertile land. The process further accelerated due to changes in river channels. I was lucky, I spent some time visiting family in one of the many villages near the Turkmen border. Here grow cotton, but I regret watched as children and students picking cotton. They obliged the state. For the good of the country. Local ceramics Despite the fact that Uzbekistan - the perfect place for tourism, is a police state with a dictatorial regime. In Uzbekistan, the police are just everywhere, especially in Tashkent, where police officers I have met every 20 meters. Outside the city police checkpoints can be met almost 50 meters from each other. Police brutality in Uzbekistan - business as usual. I personally have heard stories first hand that the police can be beaten, illegally detained, to entice a bribe. I also visited the city of Andijan, the place of the massacre in 2005, where the central square of about 1000 police shot and killed unarmed civilians without any reason. President of Uzbekistan Karimov, in power since independence. Paranoid and tyrannical man, he is doing in Uzbekistan, all he wants. Freedom of information, assembly, speech, opinion, religion in the country simply does not exist. If he has something or someone does not like it, it's something or someone just disappears. Corporation BBC Uzbekistan brought it to the list of 10 most repressive countries in the world. In the market, but it is interesting that in Uzbekistan this side of the coin, we do not see. For a month stay in Uzbekistan, I realized that there are two sides of Uzbekistan - for tourists and for the Uzbeks. Usually when you travel are clearly visible both sides, but in Uzbekistan is not so because the government has to try very hard to see the dark side was not. Sheep in the park when I wanted to leave Uzbekistan, I was arrested and detained because of what I have delayed the visa valid for one day. In a normal country, I would be fined 200 dollars - and all but Uzbekistan - the country is not quite normal. The situation was not simple: My visa expires on December 10, but my transit visa Turkmen began Dec. 11, which is why I remained in limbo. I'm on my own skin felt "famous" Uzbek bureaucracy. The first day I drove 9:00 escorted by different offices of the town Hodzheili, and then in the administrative center of Nukus. All paperwork finished only on the second day, at 4 pm, when police brought me out of the hotel where I was in isolation after I took the passport to the border. Initially, I was threatened or excessive fines in 670 dollars, or deportation. Do you think any of these two sentences the most fair? Police patrol, but most of all I was surprised that the police treated me like a king! At the border they are all sympathetic to my "big trouble" and ringing somewhere, wanting to help me. I was brought into a warm room from the street, where he was a terrible cold, and were treated to tea and chocolate. A little later, one of the officers specifically went to the cafe, which was on the same street, asked the staff establishment to prepare for my lunch, then brought it to me, but still paid for it! Within two days of my incarceration, I took photos on their mobile phones virtually all police officers and a couple of times he played the guitar, plucking wild applause. In addition, no one has ever tried to take me a bribe to facilitate the progress of the case, or accusing me of something. Never! But this country is considered one of the 20 most corrupt in the world! What happened to the police brutality? Instead, I was almost drowned in the attention and kindness. Moreover, despite the fact that I threatened to fine or deportation, I managed to get out of this with impunity, so even I was taken in Turkmenistan. My only punishment - although the more it looked like a prize - was stamped on the passport, which read: "Expelled from the country for violations of administrative regulations of the Republic of Uzbekistan". And always, when the police checked my documents, and it happened fifteen times, the officers were very polite, kind and smiling. Never to me did not try to take a bribe or present any illegal claims. I like that I can say even more liberal and democratic Kyrgyzstan, where I lived for six months. Some kind of local variation either checkers, or chess, but Uzbekistan is still a repressive state, because all the evidence that I have received - both from conversations with local residents, and in English, and Uzbek, as well as from various research - point to it. The truth is that bad to be an Uzbek, and live in Uzbekistan, but it's good to be a foreigner and come there for long. Due to numerous restrictions, we see only one side of the coin: the visa, which costly and difficult to get letters of invitation, and mandatory for foreigners daily check-in officially approved by the State Hotel. These rules are necessary in order to share the visitor and local, because tourists are needed to replenish the treasury, but at the same time, they can become dangerous if they knew too much about the local struggle. In one fell swoop What people? People friendly, courteous, curious and eccentric (me twice greeted and kissed the older single women, I was invited to a party in honor of the circumcision, and yet I saw two of these goats, protruding from the trunk). In a nutshell, Uzbekistan - an incredible combination of ancient history, interesting people, disastrous foreign influence, and hard-police state. And all this in the middle of the desert! Start material:
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