Inflation in Uzbekistan

Money in Uzbekistan is a complicated issue. The currency´s name is Som, which means “pure” or as the etymology implies “pure gold”. The highest bank note is 5000 Som which is equal to 2 USD on the official market (which nobody uses) and a bit more than 1 USD on the black market. That means, Tourist and locals have to carry around a huge bundle of money. Imagine, a dinner

costs easily 20.000 Som and ticket from Bukhara to Urgench 60.000 Som. In Uzbekistan you actually spend a lot of time counting money. The inflation is Uzbekistan is a sensitive topic and the government is slow to acclimates the currency to a current value and introduce higher notes.
On the upper photo you see my new travel friend from Iceland who exchanged approx 200 USD and feels like a billionaire now. Just imagine that amount of money!