by "Honeybunchesofgoats" (honeybunche0fgoats)
Published 02/25/2017 at 15:51
by "Honeybunchesofgoats" (honeybunche0fgoats)
Published 02/25/2017 at 15:51
Tags: politics: Muslim ban bad
STARS: 8
I don’t know what this van was. It was too big to be a Damas, but I think it was some sort of Russian market Daewoo, since everything in Uzbekistan was either a GM/Daewoo or Fiat. It broke down absolutely every time it stopped and our driver, Glich, would get out with a solitary wrench and it would eventually turn over again. Somehow, this thing managed to put Jeeps to shame with its off-road ability.
My most vivid memory of this van was laying down against the bumper in the shade in the desert. I lit a cigarette and about a second later our driver grabbed me buy the collar and pulled me feet away. He then pointed to the LNG tank filler and went “nyeto, nyeto! BOOM!” I learned an important lesson that day.
This was an awesome kid I saw in an F1 t-shirt. I asked his grandfather if it was okay to take a photograph. The kid loved it.
So then I asked to take a photo with the kid and the grandfather.
Then I asked to photograph all of the grandchildren and the grandfather.
Eventually, the grandfather invited us to lunch, which consisted of a huge spread of food and two bottles of vodka. Protip: drinking a lot of vodka and then going out into the sun in 106º temperatures will fuck you up .
Somewhere I have an external hard drive with photos of a disused gas station that had been converted in to a big ass house. The owner invited me in and fed me melon until I wanted to die.
"BvdV - The Dutch Engineer" (dutchengineer)
02/25/2017 at 16:10, STARS: 2
Awesome pictures and stories! Uzbekistan is quite an unusual travel choice, very interesting though.
The van looks to be based on the Russian GAZ Gazelle:
"Honeybunchesofgoats" (honeybunche0fgoats)
02/25/2017 at 16:13, STARS: 1
I think that has to be it, good eye! I sort of want one. That van just kept going through everything.
I was there doing an archaeological survey, which is why there are those giant mounds in the first few photos (the second to last was taken on one that a farmer built a house on top of).
"Leon711" (leon711)
02/25/2017 at 16:13, STARS: 2
I’ve never heard of the Gazelle before, looks transit based.
"RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars" (rallydarkstrike)
02/25/2017 at 16:17, STARS: 1
Cool pics, nice Lada in the last pic....though why, when I zoom in are there three cars sitting in the middle of the road on the opposite side in the distance and two have their reverse lights on? 0_o
"Honeybunchesofgoats" (honeybunche0fgoats)
02/25/2017 at 16:26, STARS: 0
There was a weird inexplicable road block and the police were redirecting traffic.
I was walking that way and got sent up a dead end road. I encountered two teenagers who advised me to take a taxi around, but I told them I didn’t want to and asked them if there was a shortcut on foot. They put headphones on me and made me listen to their heavy metal music on their discman while they took me to a shortcut back to the highway. Then one said “hey, English. Look.” Then he smacked his friend and said “biiiiiitch” and started laughing. Then they left me on my own to contemplate America’s cultural exports until I slipped and rolled down a hill and almost ended up in the highway.
"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse)
02/25/2017 at 16:26, STARS: 1
(tries to remember Cyrillic alphabet)
Yes, Gazel. The last character isn’t a letter as such.
"BvdV - The Dutch Engineer" (dutchengineer)
02/25/2017 at 16:29, STARS: 1
I only found out about it a few years ago when I was browsing through the Google Sketch-up model database, and also thought it looked like a Transit.
It looks a bit odd though, when you compare pictures of the two. A quick search learned that some rumour that Ford helped GAZ with some tooling, but that they simplified some parts, leading to a slightly off looking Transit.
Others state that they bought European competitors (Iveco Daily, Renault Master, Transit) during development, to study. From that I conclude that they maybe just copied it.
Some more of it’s history: http://www.madeinrussia.cz/en/manufacturer-181/
"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse)
02/25/2017 at 16:29, STARS: 0
"RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars" (rallydarkstrike)
02/25/2017 at 16:32, STARS: 1
...well.....that just sounds like a blast and a half! :P
"BvdV - The Dutch Engineer" (dutchengineer)
02/25/2017 at 16:35, STARS: 0
That sounds interesting! Did you do any major/interesting discoveries there?
"Honeybunchesofgoats" (honeybunche0fgoats)
02/25/2017 at 16:45, STARS: 1
Not really, sadly. There was no excavating to be done. My work consisted mostly of mapping unrecorded historical settlements, which meant traveling in widening concentric circles around Bukhara, asking people if there were any hills around, and recording their GPS coordinates. On the plus side, I fell into a sewage ditch and fractured an ankle next to one of the very rare mounds that the locals hadn’t named, so somewhere in Uzbekistan I have a mound named after me.
"BvdV - The Dutch Engineer" (dutchengineer)
02/25/2017 at 17:00, STARS: 1
Well, that’s one way to make your mark in history, haha