Uzbek border

Uzbek Border

I've done quite a lot of border crossings, many of which were land borders, but none have every been quite like this.

Leaving Konye-Urgench we made our way to the border crossing just north. We started out early so that we would be through hopefully before the lunch break. Upon arrival we departed our truck with small day bags for them to search.

It took well over an hour to get through security just to leave the country. One by one we were ushered through. First through a metal detector, then to a passport check table, and then to a search table. Every single thing had to come out of our bags. Then our phones and cameras were checked for illegal photos. As I stood waiting for my turn a swam of police surrounded Alex. Being on the other side we had no idea what was going on. It turns out they saw his drone and were debating the legality of it. Here is the catch, we are LEAVING the country. These are police checking to make sure he is importing a drone in. Eventually he was passed on and allowed to take it with him. 

Now it was my turn. Approaching the passport desk I handed over my passport to be greeted with a massive smile when he looked at my passport. Commenting that I was beautiful he looked up at my face and his smile disappeared quickly. Holding the passport next to my face his eyes darted back and forth between the picture and me then flagged me on. This incident happened again two more times that day during previous check points. Alright, I get it! I haven't showered in days, have been camping in 120 degree heat in the dusty desert, and I don't look like my picture. Way to rub it in guys. 

After making it through exit security we had our passports stamped and began to wait. Why? Because exit security was now searching everything on the truck. One by one they pulled out the tents and even checked some of them. Another hour went by before making our way across no man`s land to Uzbekistan Border.

Here we were met with a similar circumstance. We filled out documents, presented them, presented them to more people, got things scanned, moved to new lines, and continued to wait. When we finally got to being stamped into the county the lined stopped with Lee. Holding Lee`s passport he made a few calls. Lee, who is from New Zealand, currently is teaching in Saudi Arabia. Often when he leaves the country he has to get permission from the country to do so. This was his best guess as to what was going on because he heard the man say Saudi a few times on the phone.

Another hour goes by! Finally the process starts back up and they let him through with the rest of us. While the truck was being ripped apart again, this time to enter the country we looked around at the border control signs. One massive one stood out as we all read it over and over again. It read something along the lines of this:

It is prohibited to bring in any journals, media, CDs, DVDs, books, pamphlets, cliches, art, recordings, (on and on the list goes) that undermines the Stale of Uzbekistan and promotes liberty, unrest, government change, political discussions, and war.

Coming into the country we knew that Uzbekistan was known for its overly harsh police government state of affairs. Our guide had told us stories of torture than were tales carried over the border. However, we were not sure what to really expect. This sign opened a slew of questions and we could not wait to begin to explore.