Who wants to be a Millionaire?

The currency of Uzbekistan named Sum.

Who wants to be an “instant” millionaire? Well, pay a visit to Uzbekistan and you are very likely to become one, without having to answer tough questions on world history or pop culture.

This is not some dodgy advertisement that comes through your cell phone; I am a living example of Uzbekistan-made millionaire, having stacks of cash that can’t fit into my wallet, instead, I have to store the Uzbek notes named “Sum” in a plastic bag and hide them in the bottom of my backpack.

Thanks to the black money market in Uzbekistan, I gain instant wealth by changing 500USD into local currency at an exchange rate of 1USD to 2170 Sum, as a result, I own 1,085,000 Sum – half of it in 1000 Sum notes (over 500 pieces), and the other half in 500 Sum notes (over 1000 pieces).

Read Full Post »

超“快”的网速

看起来先进摩登的网吧，网速却让人很崩溃。

乌兹别克斯坦各地的网吧都喜欢在门口张贴标语，不外是强调网速飞快的广告词；而在游客比较集中的城市和地区，还会出现英文标语，比如：”Amazingly Fast Internet”。

乌兹别克斯坦境内装潢摩登的网吧里，网速确实非常”Amazing”，经常让我坐在电脑前目瞪口呆，然后憋了十来分钟终于忍不住吐出一句脏话：”F***”。

这里的网速应该称为”Extremely Amazingly SLOW”！网速慢得要进去Gmail，也得把网页的界面变成轻装的HTML版本，要不然等上5分钟后很可能出现”error”的空白页，又或者被系统告知，此网站的server有问题，链接不成功。

Read Full Post »