Fascinating piece. Kudos for ignoring all the narrow-minded media depictions and venturing where few are bold enough to go. I traveled last year to Uzbekistan and got similar reactions from my American friends who 1) had no idea where Uzbekistan was, but said it sounded dangerous, and 2) told me I was crazy to travel there because of State Department warnings. Each time I heard such admonitions, I laughed, saying, "You're kidding, right? We live in America. There are 400 million guns here. Other than Honduras and Yemen, we have the highest gun death rate in the world. I have a better chance getting shot at the local supermarket by some nut with an AR-15 than kidnapped in Uzbekistan." I went. Had an amazing trip in an amazing country, and the people couldn't have been more hospitable, generous and pleasant.