Has anybody traveled to Central Asia? (flights, reviews, rail, easy)

[Warszawa]

Does anyone have any experiences with Central Asia? The five -Stan countries, and Azerbaijan and Armenia. It's a really often ignored part of the world, and it would be cool to hear from someone who went there. Is the knowledge of Russian enough to easily get around?

[Douglas Dakota]

I have been to Uzbekistan and it was incredibly great and worth visiting. Russian is good to get along in every situation there.

The main places to visit are Samarkand (Registan square is one of my favorite places in the world, absolutely stunning), Buchara and Khiva. Domestic flights and rail is quite efficient to get around.

[stan4]

My parents lived and worked in the Stans for over a decade.

While the stories were interesting, I'll pass.

[azoria]

I've been to Russia and Azerbaijan, I read Cyrillic badly and my spoken Russian is worse.

Older people in the stans will be fluent in Russian, younger people less. Much signage and print is still in Cyrillic.

Azerbaijan is fairly crappious, I can't imagine why you would visit there. Russia is fantastic, but difficult for travelers still.

Visas for all of these areas range from PITA to, dear-god-why-did-I-ever-think-this-was a-good-idea?

Georgia is very easy for Americans to visit, 1 year visa free. Good reviews from travelers, cheap, beautiful. On my wish list.

[Aredhel]

Central Asia is on my bucket list, but I don't know if I'll ever get there. It sounds like I should make it a priority, though!