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Uzbekistan is a “Country of the Week” in The New York Times

02 April 2021

One of the most popular daily newspapers in the world – The New York Times promotes Uzbekistan in its next issue this week.

The New York Times is holding a quiz about Uzbekistan – the Pearl of Central Asia this week among its audience. The current quiz offers the readers of the publication to check their knowledge about a particular country in the world once every week. This time the questionnaire is dedicated to our marvelous country – Uzbekistan.

“Being located in the very center of Central Asia region, Uzbekistan does not have any access to the sea. The country borders with five countries around it and has a population of 33 million people today” – as described in the article of the New York Times.

The quiz dedicated to Uzbekistan has questions about Uzbekistan’s history, geography, economy, ecology and others.

We would like to remind that Uzbekistan welcomes travelers from all over the world in 2021, by providing necessary health and safety measures, such as “Uzbekistan.Safe Travel Guaranteed” certification program that guarantees safe travel for visitors during the COVID-19 pandemic period, by ensuring all sanitary and epidemiological safety measures are followed.

With the aim of making traveling to Uzbekistan easier for world tourists and to encourage more travelers to visit the country, Uzbekistan has been applying a new flexible visa policy since the end of 2016, The process of receiving a visa has become less bureaucratic and a lot easier, so that travelers could just buy their ticket, pack their bags and enjoy their unforgettable trip in 2021 to the breathtaking historical and cultural heritage Uzbekistan, including the ancient cities of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva.

While easing the process of getting a visa for many countries, Uzbekistan has been applying a visa-free regime for 86 states until today, whose citizens could cross the border for periods between 30 and 90 days, depending on the nationality. Also, citizens of 77 countries had the opportunity to come to Uzbekistan by obtaining an electronic visa.

Additionally, since July 2018 visa-free entrance to Uzbekistan was allowed for the period of 5 days for the citizens of almost 100 countries, traveling as a transit through the country. If you are passing by Uzbekistan as a transit destination, 5 days of stay in Uzbekistan gives you opportunity not only to stay in the modern capital of Uzbekistan – Tashkent city, but also quickly travel to historical cities of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva by train or by taking a local flight, which has become extremely comfortable.

As of 1 March 2021, Uzbekistan starts applying visa-free regime for the period of 10 days for the citizens of Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and China, including Hong Kong and Macau, the special administrative regions of China.

To make traveling to Uzbekistan even more convenient during the pandemic, as of 25 March of the current year, foreign citizens arriving to Uzbekistan will be allowed to enter the country without passing the express PCR test at the border, subject to providing a negative PCR test result taken in the laboratories meeting the international quality standards.

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Did you know?

Uzbekistan is one of only two countries in the world to be ‘double landlocked’ (landlocked and totally surrounded by other landlocked countries). Liechtenstein is double landlocked by 2 countries whilst Uzbekistan is surrounded by 5!

Did you know that Uzbekistan lies in the very heart of Eurasia, the coordinates for Uzbekistan are 41.0000° N, 69.0000°

Uzbekistan is home to the Muruntan gold mine, one of the largest open pit gold mines in the world! The country has 4th largest reserves of gold in the world after South Africa, USA and Russia

Uzbekistan is the world capital of melons. They have in excess of 150 different varieties, which form a staple part of the local diet, served fresh in the summer and eaten dried through the winter.

It is Uzbek tradition that the most respected guest be seated farthest from the house’s entrance.

Tashkent’s metro features chandeliers, marble pillars and ceilings, granite, and engraved metal. It has been called one of the most beautiful train stations in the world.

The Uzbek master chef is able to cook in just one caldron enough plov to serve a thousand men.

When you are a host to someone, it is your duty to fill their cups with for the whole time they are with you. What you must not do, however, is to fill their cup more than half-full. If you do that as a mistake, say it is a mistake immediately. Doing it means you want them to leave. Wow! Amazing, right?

To Uzbeks, respect means a whole lot. For this reason they love it if, even as foreigners, you endeavour to add the respectful suffix opa after a woman's name; and aka after a man's. Example: Linda-opa and David-aka. You could also use hon and jon respectively.

Having been an historic crossroads for centuries as part of various ancient empires, Uzbekistan’s food is very eclectic. It has its roots in Iranian, Arab, Indian, Russian and Chinese cuisine.

Though identified with the Persia, the Zoroastrism probably originated in Bactria or Sogdiana. Many distinguished scholars share an opinion that Zoroastrianism had originated in the ancient Khorezm. Indeed, today in the world there were found 63 Zoroastrian monuments, including those in Iran, India, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Thirty-eight of them are in Uzbekistan, whereas 17 of these monuments are located in Khorezm.

One of Islam's most sacred relics - the world's oldest Koran that was compiled in Medina by Othman, the third caliph or Muslim leader, is kept in Tashkent. It was completed in the year 651, only 19 years after Muhammad's death.

Tashkent is the only megapolis in the world where public transport is totally comprised of Mercedes buses. And due to low urban air polution it is one of the few cities where one can still see the stars in the sky.

You would be surprised to know that modern TV was born in Tashkent. No joke! The picture of moving objects was transmitted by radio first time in the world in Tashkent on 26 of July 1928 by inventors B.P. Grabovsky and I.F. Belansky.

Uzbekistan is the only country in the world all of whose neighbours have their names ending in STAN. This is also the only country in Central Asia that borders all of the countries of this region

Uzbeks are the third populous Turkik ethnicity in the world after Turks and Azeris (leaving both in Azerbaijan and Iran)

Did you know that there was silk money in Khiva? Super interesting right? Of course, but the best part of having silk money was that it could be sewn into your clothing.

Famous Islamic physician Ibn Sina (Avicenna in the Latin world) who was born near Bukhara was the one of the first people to advocate using women’s hair as suture material – about 1400 years ago.

Uzbekistan has a long and bloody history. The most notorious leader of Uzbekistan was Timur (or Tamerlane) who claimed descent from Genghis Khan. His military campaigns have been credited for wiping out some 5% of the world’s population at the time.

If you have thought that some of the Islamic architecture in Uzbekistan resembles that from Northern India, then that is because Timur’s great great great Grandson, Babur Beg, was the founder of the Moghul Empire that ruled much of India for almost four centuries! Babur’s great great Grandson was Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal.

Uzbekistan was once a rum producig country. There is still a real arboretum in Denau (city near Termez on the border with Afghanistan), grown from a selection station that studied the prospects of plant growing in the unusual for the Soviet Union subtropical climate of Surkhandarya region: only here in the whole of the USSR sugar cane was grown and even rum was produced!

Uzbekistan has been ranked one of the safest countries in the world, according to a new global poll. The annual Gallup Global Law and Order asked if people felt safe walking at night and whether they had been victims of crime. The survey placed Uzbekistan 5th out of 135 countries, while the UK was 21st and the US 35th. Top five safest countries:

Singapore
Norway
Iceland
Finland
Uzbekistan

Exchange rates

100 RUR

12857.09 UZS

100 USD

1286125.53 UZS

100 EUR

1365453.77 UZS

100 GBP

1645726.75 UZS

Weather in cities

Tashkent

Samarkand