Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index 2009 (CPI) again and again showed us that two out of five countries of our region are in the list of 10 most corrupt countries in the world. To say that I’m not surprised is to say nothing. Uzbekistan lost 8 positions and placed 174th (166th last year). Turkmenistan lost 2 lines and in this year’s Index moved to 168th place (166th last yeat).

I decided to search the WWW to find reactions of bloggers on the report and found out a very interesting approach to show how ordinary people travelling around the world evaluate corruption level in these countries. This time I’d like to present you the TravelPod, a travel blog where people around the world post on their impressions on countries they visit. TravelPod’s starlagurl searched through TravelPod’s bloggers posts to find out more about each of Transparency International’s 10 most corrupt countries in the world from a travelers’ perspective.

crowdywendy from Australia shared her travel online diary on trip to Uzbekistan and to Bukhara in particular wondering why corruption is widely spread and even have its own local definition.

‘Our first morning in Bukhara introduced us to the entrenched police and official corruption in Uzbekistan. It was our first introduction to “bakeesh” or bribes to officials. At the first Bukhara bank we were told that we were not allowed in. “Why not?” we asked. It was a very large bank and there were numerous tellers open everywhere. Well, we just couldn’t. The police were stationed at the entrance of the bank and would not let people in. Well, of course with a little bribe they would… But we resisted and moved on to yet another bank, and another. Later that evening while talking with other hotel guests, we were told that it is not uncommon for locals to have to try ten or so different banks before they would be allowed entry. The young local people were openly disgusted with the practice.

Similarly, bakeesh is a common practice with the police. There are frequent road blocks throughout Uzbekistan. While we had no problems thanks to Naim calling out “tourists!” at every point we were told over and over again by locals about the road police. Apparently being a police officer on the roads is a much sought after profession. Although they are dreadfully underpaid they certainly make up for it in bribes or bakeesh.’

British ricka tells a story on her voyage from Turkmenbashi in Turkmenistan to Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital.

‘We loaded on-board after a trainload of freight was stowed and we were squeezed in between the carriages and the crew started to hassle us for “Security Fees”. We all had the sense to tell them to get lost! We were on at last! Another trip back into the customs hall to get our final clearance and it was back on board, passports handed over to a dodgy looking guy along with $90 and then a stagger up to the deck with our luggage. We wondered why there were loads of crewmembers smiling and laughing at us, little did we know!

The dodgy guy we gave our passports and cash to started to try to explain that if we wanted a cabin they were $100. We said no thanks, at that price we could manage the 12 hour crossing on the deck. I had a suspicion that things may not go to plan so I followed a crew down into the ship to have a look at a cabin. He showed me two of the filthyest, run-down excuses for cabins I had ever seen, with the “bathrooms” being even worse. I haggled with the guy anyway as I knew this was a “take it or leave it” situation and I settled on twenty bucks per cabin - I thought we would be needing them!’

Challenges western travellers face might seem exotic for them. But for Central Asians this kind of ‘horrors’ and ’surprises’ are more than common simply because they face it very often. The difference is that those coming from more democratic states, where for any question you can get an answer and then doubt it if not satisfied, are more critical and are, to some extend, eyes-wide-open telling us that it’s not normal when one is discriminated, opressed or/and unsatisfied.

For more information

For markwilliams84’s corruption story on Kazakhstan (120th in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2009) follow here.

For crowdywendy’s corruption story on Kyrgyzstan (162nd in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2009) follow here.

For jtroussier’s corruption story on Tajikistan (158th in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2009) follow here.

Also read neweurasia’s story on the “Worst of the Worst. The World’s Most Repressive Societies 2009″ report by Freedom House.