By popular request, the legit overview..
Culture and whatever :
The local uzbeks are muslism and more or less look like mongolians. The russians arrived 100 years ago, taught the locals to love vodka but are now slowly moving back to moscow. Tashkent’s population is about 30% russians, you may also see tall stunning mixed-breeds and even a few koreans. The uzbeks while not all too religious, are still pretty conservative and yet very friendly. Alchohol is only for men. The marriage question is a big deal, a woman who’s seen kissing for mere pleasure may lose her ‘reputation’ amongst her peers. The good news is there’s still a few bad-seeds to be found and the russian populace seems mostly excluded from these prejudices.`
Nightlife :
Three types of nightclubs:
- Hotel clubs : Filled with prostitutes and Indian businessmen. Half of the clubs are of this kind.
- Rich kid discos : Frequented by the ruling class’s children. These kids have traveled abroad and couldn't care less that you're a foreigner. Decent english literacy. No paid-for-girls, good ratios. Good game and wallet helps.
- Every man's discos: this is where the common man goes for his fix. Usually more than half of the girls are semi-prostitutes and the line is often blurred.
Catch what’s going on here? The most obvious nightlife is geared towards providing out-of-town business guys with quick fixes. Scouting ahead and doing your homework will reduce disappointing evenings.
Time: midnight to 6am
Venue hopping: Tashkent is a nice display of soviet city planning, expect wide boulevards and huge city blocks. The totalitarian regime keeps it safe and clean, but unless you’ve planned your night out, do not go by foot as you will be wasting precious time. Use taxis. There’s no club district and hopping around by car should take about 5-10 minutes. If you get a local to wave a cab for you, the cost should be $1 USD (2000 sums). Do it yourself and the price will be 2-3 times more, even if you can speak half decent russian.
Broadway Street:
Most of the "bars" on this popular walking street are actually strip clubs. There's one supposedly more normal discoteque called "Diamond Club" but it's always been closed when I went by.
Club Niagara:
The girls hanging by the bar are all semi-prostitutes, while the ones at tables are normal. Face control at the door... for girls! Nevertheless one of the best discos in town. Crowded thursday-friday-saturdays. Music is mostly euro dance pop hits type of deal. Address : corner kayumov and amir temur, north of alaiskii bazar.
Club Opera :
A disco for upper class rich kids. No pros. Ridiculously expensive drinks. Elaborate entertainment on the dance floor every few hours. Good if you have money to burn or tight game. 10 minutes away from the city core.
VM Bar:
A typical russian bar which attracts crotch rocket bikers. Music is american and russian rock classics. Little native uzbeks, mostly ice cold russian hotties. The place is quite clicky but the crowd and overall drunkenness of the place makes it easier to pierce social circles.
http://www.last.fm/venue/8992410+VM+bar .. Dont confuse with "FM bar", which is in fact a stripclub near broadway.
Sky Club:
Another club with a small bar area crammed with girls... all semi-pros. Not enough regular folks on the night I went, so I never did go back.
There's also a few irish pubs with not much going on.
Day Game:
Spend part of your days in a park, this is where you will have your best luck. Hide your beer if you’re drinking, spot some nice average russian girls, a mixed group even, doesn't matter, and ask for directions or whatever. Again, it truly doesn't matter, easy as pie. The russian girls in uzbekistan are as gorgeous as the ones in the motherland but much warmer in character. They’re very curious about foreigners and strive to leave the region. Many of them don’t go out much at night to the discos, so here’s your chance. Keep in mind that this is supposed to be a muslim country, so tone it down a little at first when approaching ethnic uzbek girls.
In spring, the downtown city core gets empty by 8pm. For some adventure, take the subway to a random station.
Hotel:
If staying at a hotel, figure out logistics ahead of time on how to bring back a guest to your room. Some doormen may not take bribes in such situations. Be ready to switch hotels in the morning if required.
Language Fluency :
A common question is "what % speaks english?". Im a bit puzzled when some can nail it down to an exact number. "80% speak english", yeah right. It’s never so obvious, some understand but can't speak, or are embarrassed and need coaxing, and others speak it terribly yet are quite extroverted. It takes time to figure out the overall english fluency of a place. Anyway, I’ll give it a try:
- A small % of the semi-pros speaks english, usually the russian ones
- Half of your average russian girl on the street speaks english
- Almost no uzbek/korean girl on the street speaks english
- Most of the rich kids in clubs speak english
- Half of the guys hanging around the bar in clubs will speak english. Dont go gay Im sayin, but find a wing or a translator
If all else fails, use whatever russian you know, everyone speaks it. If you’ve ever studied turkish, maybe look into learning some uzbek as both language are related.
Food:
(why not) The selection is surprisingly good. Kebabs, korean, indian and middle eastern restaurants can easily be found. Check out some of the bazaars for traditional plov (rice pilaf).
Changing money:
The first time you change money, it will be more convenient to do it at the hotel or a bank. The second time, do it on the black market with a street dealer as you will receive an exchange rate at least 50% more advantageous. You may be able to find one near “Mir Burger” in front of a small shopping mall. USD is desired over EUR. The risks of getting caught are minimal. Everyone does it, trust me
Resources:
Dating site / Nightlife site / Social networks: I honestly forgot
News :
http://www.eurasianet.org/
Map:
1 : Good day game park
2 : Club Niagara, and alaiskii bazar to the south
3 : Mir Burger, on this corner you'll find scammy taxi drivers, cell phone simcards (try ucell as provider), black market money exchange and maybe a small time pimp.