Had a trip to Shakrisabz. On the way down we took the Registan, which is a European style luxury train. It was very odd to look out the window at houses with outhouses and wells – as if time had gone backwards beyond the rails… Shakrisabz was great, Amir Timur stuff everywhere… Strange experience there with a man who materialized speaking pretty good English. Invited us to Aquarium (not great, def. overcharge,) as his guests in 1 hour. We return and the guy is fucked up and much louder than before. Has us in, buys beers, vodka and soup. Brian and Ernie join me Josh and Doug. Guy begins with conversation material (i.e. how UZ used to be a more pluralistic society up until independence.) First bad sign was when the waiter drops a spook the guy goes, “fuck you,” to him, then, “just kidding…” Things get worse when he says almost at a shout, “Fuck Karimov.” Conversation continues and though he claims to love the United States he seems to hate everything about it. Asks if we are gay. Wife and kid materialize (we think they were called) and soon thereafter he asks me if I am a Jew along with a nasty stare. That’s when we decide to get up and leave. My gut was saying from the beginning that he was wrong somehow (govt spy, local thug??) Anyway, I hope to never see him again. Wasn’t all bad, though, visited a great tea house, bought pastries at the bazar and had a meal with the group consisting of pepsi and chicken. Another odd thing re. Shakrisabz. Gave the guy at the hotel front desk a tip and got note in return:
Phone #: 8 365 522 ## ##
loverstudio2004@#####.comPlease, Let me know how well have you arrived to Taskhent!
Administrator: A#### A Karimov
I’m not sure how to deal with this one.
He sounds far too stupid to be a spy, unless he’s a spy trying to pass himself off as a drunken chav. Every country’s got its meatheads.
Did you ever call the front desk guy? I’d say that’s a little sketchy, especially since you didn’t really know him. I don’t know, though, maybe he’s just a very friendly guy.
I never did… perhaps I knew somehow that I would end up at a site just 15 minutes from this place… It is extra-difficult to read people in a cross-cultural context. Although homosexuality is not spoken of in Uzbek culture, and in general, straight men have much more physical relations (hand-holding / roughhousing,) I still got a bit of a vibe. Who knows??