Visa Watch ! - Part 5 (Uzbekistan)

Before I left Amsterdam, I found a travel agency in Tashkent who would supply my official tourist invitation for $30. Then it should be a formality of requesting and collecting at a Uzbek consulate somehwere. Forward planning proved useless as the Uzbek Ministry of Foreign Affairs will not issue invitations to any organisations until one month prior to arrival. So, unable to organise this in the Netherlands, I arrange to collect in Moscow. Arrived in Moscow around 14 july and checked if the visa was ready to collect as had been arranged - was supposed to be ready around 18 July - but the agency had forgotten to put in my request. As it takes 8 days to process, it would not be possible to collect in Moscow as I had no intention of staying there that long.
Changed collection point to Almaty, Kazakhstan. Agency have now requested visa authorisation and should be able to apply for it in Almaty around 7 August. Fingers crossed again.

8 August: Get to Uzbek consulate in Almaty in the morning, "come back at 2", this is completely in contrast to any other consulate I have visited, where if there are restrictions on times for applying and collecting visas, it is always, apply in morning, collect in afternoon.
Anyway back in the afternoon at 2, there are around 8 others waiting already, couple of German lesbians, a French guy who I saw at the Kyrgyzstan consulate yesterday and some Central Asians. After about an hour, I get inside, wait about 15 minutes to be served, give my Telex number that the tourist agency gave me after they faxed all information to have visa processed in advance and within 15 minutes, I have a visa in my passport !! Wow, most impressive. Not only that but the two ladies at the desk both speak excellent English, and even the security guard knew some and was happy and smiling and chatting all the time.. Defintely the best consulate I have visited anywhere... 4 stars to Uzbek consulate in Alamty !!! (Could have been 5 stars if they didn't restrict visa processing to 14:00 - 16:30).

Summary: Easy, helped by the fact I had arranged LOI with tourist agency in Tashkent in advance.
Time taken: 2 hours + a few emails in advance.
Cost: $75 + $30 for LOI, rather expensive though !