| The Uzbek currency is called the Som. Our first day here we exchanged $50US for 138,000 Som. We felt rich! The largest bill is 1,000 so the pile of bills is about 3" tall. When we leave the hotel room rather than count how much local currency to take with us, we just decide whether to take 1/4 or 1/2 inch of it! | 
138,000 Som
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Local Market where the People Shop You might be wondering what you can buy with a Som... A beer or glass of wine costs us about 8000 som, ($3.50), a large bottle of water or a basket of bread with a meal is 2000 (less than a dollar) in a restaurant. A fresh loaf of bread costs 1000 ($.44) and a liter of milk 2500 ($1.10) in the market. Our guide tells us a worker in the local GM car factory would make about $1000US. A quick internet search indicates the average local salary is about $400 after tax, so much of a person’s income must go for basic necessities. A locally made, hand tied, silk carpet could cost several thousand $US. Imagine the wheel barrow you’d need to bring enough Som to pay for one. Fortunately, most of the vendors prefer $US so tourists can make large purchases like rugs with a check or credit card. Local people don’t buy handmade carpets; they purchase the machine made variety.
Local crafts include ceramics, silks, needlework, carpets, Damascus steel knives, puppets, wood carving, etc. - all too bulky to bring home. Fortunately, Iranian saffron fits beautifully in my suitcase.
| For several years after independence (from the Soviet Union in 1991) the Uzbek economy shrank, and then hyperinflation took over. Today the economy is growing and inflation has moderated to about 10%. Parts of the economy are tightly controlled - the government tells farmers what crops to grow so they can control quantities for local and export use. All land belongs to the government. Farmers must apply to farm sections of land and if they are not successful the land is given to another to cultivate. They sell their “prescribed allotment” to the government but any leftover crops can be sold on the open market. | 
Locally Made Damascus Steel Knives
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Shoe by the Door for Good Luck
| People own their homes but not the land they are built on. That makes it easy to re-locate people if central planning decides to build a road, monument or factory in a neighborhood where people are living. They simply provide the residents with another piece of land and pay them a sum of money to build a new home. We talked with a woman yesterday whose home was being relocated. She explained she’d initially been offered $20,000US, but was still in negotiations. The current offer for her home is $50,000. You can build a fine home here for $50,000, but it’s not in your old neighborhood... |
