Samarkand: following ancient Silk Road

I was really glad when I won this contract with SABMiller in April 2010. The contract included a series of trips to different extraordinary locations covering their promotional program Bochka Vpechatleniy (Barrel of Impressions). And the first destination was Uzbekistan: from Samarkand to Bukhara through Kyzyl-Kum desert spending 3 days in SUVs following the Silk Road. Crazy stuff!

The trips are organized to promote the beer brand called Zolotaya Bochka (Golden Barrel). And the way it works is: people drink Zolotaya Bochka, collect codes hidden under the caps then use them to win the main prize – extraordinary journey. The lucky bastard grabs two friends and goes along with them on a magnificent trip. My role is to show how cool it is and how much positive emotions the winners get. And believe me they get plenty of them!

There was one detail that was especially challenging for me. I had to send the photos every night along with a page of text to Moscow. In Moscow copywriter made proof reading and oops… next day everything is published on ZoBo web site. So the whole nation can follow the adventures of our team almost in real time. That was my first experience of this kind – very challenging and very interesting.

Uzbekistan is situated in Middle Asia and has very different culture and traditions. We felt the difference right in the airport. The queue to passport check lived its own Uzbek life. At some moment all people behind us magically teleported in front of our group and none of us even noticed how it happened. Oh, those Asian wizards! Then our team got lucky and our luggage came before the others. Keeping in mind resent experience I decided to watch the line to the luggage check. I was trying not to let aborigines to sneak before us again. I was rock solid blocking the way like a basketball player until that tiny woman with sad eyes asked me to let her in front of our group. Well, 20 minutes and a couple of dozens of luggage later I concluded that local traditions are definitely stronger than me and gave in.

Samarkand is totally awesome ancient town! Tamerlane tomb, mosques and tall minarets decorated with mosaics – everything was above my expectations.

And by the way, for a little baksheesh they let us inside of a minaret. The spiral stairway was very narrow but the view from the top was worth it. This is Misha – the lucky one climbing to the top .

The local market was very clean and surprisingly quiet. People were super nice, friendly and welcoming. I did not know that Uzbek like Russians so much.

The winner and his friends.

Here is the link to the original post: more of the story but in Russian only. At the first page you should confirm  that you are at least 18.

Sick promo video, a spoof

to bee continued…