Uzbekistan (pop. ~27 million) is a young multi-ethnic and multi-lingual country. More than three quarters of the population is Uzbek, with smaller percentages of Russians, Kazaks, Tajiks, Karakalpaks, Tatars, Koreans, Armenians and Georgians. Everyone above the age of 15 speaks Russian, but the official language is Uzbek. Learning a few basic greetings in Uzbek and Tajik (for Samarkand, Bukhara and the southeast) will make life infinitely easier.

The country, which is a little bigger than California, lies between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers. It is bordered by Khazakhstan to the north, Kyrgyzstan to the northeast, Tajikistan on the southeast, Afghanistan to the south, and Turkmenistan to the southwest. It’s generally dry, with a temperate winter (unless the heat is out and then even a Chicagoan will get cold), and astonishingly hot summers. Summer fruit is delicious, squash and lentils will get you through the winters.

In the last century Uzbek lands were converted to cotton fields, their history was rewritten/banned (according to some, they were told that they “had no history”) and the “world history” that made it out here contained some glaring inaccuracies. So, keep everything you ever read about the Turks, Mongols and Huns in mind, but make sure you ask the Uzbeks about themselves. And visit, because the land between two rivers is a lot more like home than you think.