New lands

It's been awhile since I had the thrill of setting foot on a country I've never been to before. The last time was 3 years ago in Brazil and Peru. There is something so thrilling to hear hitherto unheard of new languages, taste new foods and drinks and of course see new sights and meet new people.

The new land I am now in is Central Asia. Specifically, I am now in Uzbekistan. It's a eclectic mix, because of the geography and history, of Chinese, Arab, Mongol and Russian ethnicities and culture. I asked my guide, Alishev, why are there so many invaders? After all it is a landlocked country, albeit with spectacular mountain scenery and plenty of agrarian lands. It's because Uzbekistan is mineral rich, he told me. Land, platinum and gas are found here.

I don't know how these resources are being managed. It's far easier to do so poorly, and suffer the commodity curse than to do it right, a-la Norway. I'm here to meet the government and will surely share with them my precepts of economic development.

But there is one thing that is a leading indicator: the yearning of its people. I chose this words carefully. I could have easily described it as human capital, which generally is about the quality and quantity of the workforce in the country. But that's an outcome. The real input factor is hunger, or as I mentioned above, yearning. It's this yearning that causes one to work a bit harder, save a bit more, think about the future. For instance, here the labourers building/repairing the roads were all working, not watching as is so often the scene at these sites. All of these were neatly summarised in a roadside vendor from whom I bought some yoghurt balls from. She must have made it all herself, and she sat there on a rickety old table with her grandsons sharing her stories as she awaited customers, while her granddaughter is under the shade doing her schoolwork. This woman looked a bit like my maternal grandma, my original indomitable role model. And I always suspected the Hakka people had this central Asian way about them.

Just as importantly, and perhaps even more so, is that this yearning is layered with a spirit of neighbourliness. As I trudged my way to check out a waterfall, I passed a local family picnicking and was duly invited to join them. It's the same when we passed a Khimis (fermented horse milk spirit) stall. Although they were sold out, they engaged in friendly banter. Them in Uzbek, me in English, so what a banter it was 😀

These two are just great ingredients to build a nation with. That said, right now, there are lots of building to get on with. Take public transport for instance, it's practically non existent. Which means the people would have to rely on private personal modes of conveyance and timeliness then becomes a problem. It may be commonplace even acceptable in the everyday Uzbek life but once this culture of inefficiency sets in, it can be a real kink in the armour as was clearly in evidence early this morning to find an unmanned visa counter. Not exactly the first impression this beautiful and promising country should make on its visitors and investors.