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[ahamill]

Uzbeks are pretty sporty folks! Yesterday, I went with a friend to buy a new tennis racquet and tennis balls. FYI, the good new Wilson racquet was the equivalent of around 55 US Dollars, and the tennis balls were about 7 US Dollars for 4 in a pressure tin. Tennis is VERY big in Uzbekistan, a favorite of many of the political uppity-ups, even the top guy Mr. President.

Here's the travel tip: I've been to grocery stores, clothing stores, now the sports shop, and restaurants all over - and guess what? Everyone seems to have these discount cards for the location. Fancy places like DAR (one of the newest and best restaurants) as well as local down-home places like J Smokers have these sort of 'frequent flyer' type deals; use your card for a discount, then you rack up points that you can use later for, well, something free. Same thing at the stores - but you have to ask.

If you get to know some locals, SOMEONE will have a discount card that you can use to get a significant discount. At the sport shop, my buddy let me use his card and it gave me 20% off my purchase. Not small change!

Soccer is my favorite sport, and there are plenty of folks here who're eager to get out with me and play some pickup games. Plus, we'll be joining in this year's diplomat tournament in a few months - excellent!

Uzbekistan even has its own unique martial art - kind of like Judo. My buddy Djamshid is a big guy, and I'm afraid he's going to end up killing me accidentally while in class! It's a great workout.

All for now - hope you found it helpful!

[starlagurl]

Hmm, very interesting....good tip.

What's the martial art called?

[ahamill]

Kurash is the name - it's like Judo.