My time in Uzbekistan is coming to an end. Time for a short, but illustrative conclusion! Shame on me that I never got the pics up, but I will definitely put a selection of my very best ones when I’m back in the world of normal internet speed connections.

Uzbekistan has been a wonderful experience. And everything about my trip was so completely different than I had expected beforehand. However, that’s the great thing about life and about travelling in particular. You can never predict what is going to happen and what is awaiting you. Anyhow, I know one thing for sure: this was not my last trip to Central Asia.

Today I lack the time for a longbreathing narrative. I will try to sum up my personal Uzbekistan highlights in 11 points (in an arbitrary way though).

> How can you get a better access to a country as through art? I have fallen in love with the paintings of Aleksander Nikolaev, or better called “Usto Mumin”. He was a Russian-born painter who lived in Turkestan and knew better than anyone else to transmit the charisma of this region in his works. First time I came across his paintings was in the Savitsky Museum in Nukus and then again in the State Art Museum in Tashkent.

> A very special place for me is the Ilkhom Theater in Tashkent. It’s where you can meet the most extraordinary people of Tashkent (besides the headbanging Rock/Hardcore community at Domino’s club) and the best-looking actors! They have a great repertoire. I saw Brecht, Chechov and French plays there.

> Ishratkhana Mausoleum is at the first sight not more than a ruine. It is located outside Samarkand. Few tourists go there, but it has the most amazing architecture. At dawn it is an eerie place, where only pigeons and bats rule…and then your phantasy starts working. {I have not written anything about my weekend in Samarkand, although it has impressed me deeply. What I want to say however, is, that Samarkand is still a somewhat magical place, where you literally feel the encountering between Eastern and Western cultures}.

> I’m glad to have discovered the Botanical Gardens in Tashkent. It is funny that it’s called so, because it is a jungle since at least the 1950s.

> The Tashkent Metro is an experience. Not only an almost identical copy of the Moscow one (you are not allowed to take pictures), it has also the most curious staff working there in very neat uniforms. I especially like the station Buyuk Ipak Yuli (Great Silk Road). There is an interesting residential area around it full of contrasts. The residence of the ambassador is located at the end of a dirt road.

> Alayski Bazar and Yongi Abat – hubs to traffic anything you want.

> Tashkent is the city of oak trees. I have never seen so many in any other city.

> In order to really grasp the spirit of this country, you need to talk a weird mixture of Uzbek and Russian. It’s ferocious, but I start understanding it … :)

> The mountains around Angren are magnificent – a bizarre mixture of natural beauty and abandoned uranium mines.

> The song that rocks this country right now is…of course Russian. “Moscow never sleeps” or “Moskva ja tebja lublju” is trashy, but will always remember me of Tashkent.

> I already know that I will miss watching the people. I just could not get enough of looking at the fascinating features of Uzbek men, women, children, yes especially children… these faces that best express the crossover between Europe and Asia.