Tashkent to Samarkand, not quite.

In the morning, I take a Tashkent to Samarkand shared car and as always, I start chatting with the passengers about my trip. Not long into the trip, we're pulled over by a policeman for speeding. After some words are exchanged, we take off. I ask the driver how much the "fine" was, and he replies with a sly smile, two of Samarkand's finest bread rolls.

One of the guys asks me if I want to exchange some of my money into cym, he says he'll do it as a favour to me at a rate of 1850cym. I appreciate the convenience and proceed to change 100USD. Every time we hit one of the many police checkpoints along the way, I hide all the money.

After we do the deal, I ask him for a plastic bag. As he opens his bag, I see it's full to the top with Cym, his wallet filled with crisp 100USD bills. He works at the bazaar he tells me, black market currency exchange.

Another one of the passengers (Utker) tells me that today is the one year anniversary of his father's death and that he would honoured if I would join him for the night. I misheard one of his questions (~~Astanishca~~ Ostaneshsya? and not Avstralia?) and end up agreeing to stay, rather than confirming that I'm from Australia. He pays for my seat in the taxi and we go to his late father's place.

Utker far left, myself somewhere on the right, a small part of his extended family everywhere else.

From the moment I come inside his house, I eat. Although they're following Ramadan, I should not be shy, any moment that I'm not eating, they tell me to eat. By the night's end, I've eaten more than I would in two days.

The night is marked by a large amount of guests, family and friends and a memorial is said in honour of Utker's father after the last of the five daily prayers.

Utker's oldest son. This kid is a real blast. When I'm in a room talking with all the girls at the function, he turns to me and says "ваня брат, у тебя есть телка?" (Ivan brother, do you have a chick?) I reply that I don't and he points at all the girls and says "Which one do you want?"

I spend the night sleeping outside looking at the stars and in the process commit another crime by spending a night unregistered in Uzbekistan.