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Kazakhstan Travel Blogs

Native Kazakhs, a mix of Turkic and Mongol nomadic tribes who migrated into the region in the 13th century, were rarely united as a single nation. The area was conquered by Russia in the 18th century and Kazakhstan became a Soviet Republic in 1936. During the 1950s and 1960s agricultural "Virgin Lands" program, Soviet citizens were encouraged to help cultivate Kazakhstan's northern pastures. This influx of immigrants (mostly Russians, but also some other deported nationalities) skewed the ethnic mixture and enabled non-Kazakhs to outnumber natives. Independence in 1991 caused many of these newcomers to emigrate. Current issues include: developing a cohesive national identity; expanding the development of the country's vast energy resources and exporting them to world markets; achieving a sustainable economic growth outside the oil, gas, and mining sectors; and strengthening relations with neighboring states and other foreign powers. To be updated

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Kazakhstan

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By His Dudeness
December 7th 2009

To see the sea that is no more, and enter Europe's eastern door Asia » Kazakhstan » Western Kazakhstan » Atyrau

Turkistan

The last few weeks I have been doing the raw work in travelling. Unlike what most people picture travelling to be like, it is not all laying on a beach, under a swaying palm tree, sipping fancy cocktails. Mostly it is arranging cheap accommodation, finding an inexpensive place to eat, finding out how the public transport works (backpackers can not afford taxis), trying to figure out train and bus timetables to get to the next destination, in short all the mundane stuff that never gets mentioned. And when one is travelling a country as vast as Kazakhstan, with a visa that [View Full Entry]

By His Dudeness
November 19th 2009

Learning about Kazakhstan, Kazakhs and a bit of the future Asia » Kazakhstan » East Kazakhstan » Semey

Almaty

Most people who think of Kazakhstan, think of Borat. Most people who have been to Kazakhstan might think of Almaty its former capital, and then there are some who decide to discover what the rest of the country might be like. I decided to go up north, and to keep me company along the way I went with an English man who went by the name of Tim, whom I had met in a rather decrepit dormitory in Almaty. Before long we were on a train riding up the steppes of Kazakhstan and I learned my first lesson on this country. [View Full Entry]

By kalomania
September 7th 2009

Durch die Steppe nach Europa Asia » Kazakhstan

Am Bahnhof von Turkistan

Atyrau, 7. September 2009 Nach zwei Wochen verlasse ich Almaty mit einem Zug nach Turkistan, wo ich das Mausoleum von Khoja Ahmad Yasavi besuche, das bei weitem architektonisch bedeutendste Monument Kasachstans. Ich unternehme auch einen Ausflug zum Fluss Syrdarja, der im kleinen Aralsee muendet. Junge Kasachen ueberreden mich zu einem erfrischendem Bad. Dies ist einer der raren Schwimmerlebnisse dieses Sommers, da meine Reise mich in erster Linie durch trockene Gegenden fuehrt. Es bleiben mir aber Zweifel was die Sauberkeit des Wassers anbelangt. Die Sowjets benutzten frueher das giftige Pestizid "Agent Orange" in der Region, um die Baumwollplantagen zu entlauben. Reste dieses [View Full Entry]

By kalomania
August 24th 2009

Die Stadt der Aepfel Asia » Kazakhstan

Auf dem Weg von Jinghe zum Sayramsee

Almaty, 24. August 2009 Ein letztes Mal profitiere ich von den billigen, puenklichen und meist komfortablen chinesischen Zuegen, um mich in die Naehe der Grenze zu Kasachstan zu begeben. Als die Sonne ueber der Steppe aufgeht erreiche ich Jinghe, wo ich auf den Bus umsteige. Die zur Haelfte fertig gestellte Autobahn nach Yining fuert durch eine trockene Berglandschaft in Richtung Suedwesten. Auf der Passhoehe erreichen wir den Sayramsee. Das noerdliche Ufer ist sehr trocken, aber das suedliche ist der alpinen Landschaft der Schweiz sehr aehnlich. Hier hin kommen die halbnomadischen Kasachen aus dem Ili Tal im Sommer, um ihr Vieh weiden [View Full Entry]

Ein Lastwagen auf der Passstrasse von Jinghe nach Yining

Die Jurten einer Kasachen Familie, bei der ich uebernachtete

By Alex and Sarah
August 22nd 2009

Camping in Kazakhstan Asia » Kazakhstan

Veiw Towards Aksu Jabagly National Park

We are ashamed to say that prior to visiting, the sum total of our knowledge of Kazakhstan was based on having seen Borat. This being an especially poor showing given that it is the seventh largest country in the world. We always had a suspicion that Borat wasn’t a documentary, but we didn’t fully appreciate how inaccurate a picture of the country it painted. Admittedly we saw only small percentage of the country, but it appeared to be an extremely westernised place. Having made the frustrating, but necessary, detour from Tashkent in order to get to a border crossing that was [View Full Entry]

Horse Riding - Aksu Jabagly National Park

By Bike Tour Eurasia
July 25th 2009

If You Don't Like Their Fire, Then Don't Come Around Asia » Kazakhstan

Kazakh bus stop

Kazakhstan is by far the largest and most prosperous of the former Soviet Central Asian states. Stretching from the 7000m+ Tian Shan to the Caspian sea it is longitudinally nearly as large as the 48 contiguous states. In the east, pipelines carry petros across the mountains into China. The western most regions, where much of these petros are mined, are technically in Europe. It is the richness of its resources that makes the young state a standout in an otherwise impoverished region and, as one might imagine, more than a few neighbor states are at length trying to get their hands [View Full Entry]

By Drinkthewater
May 24th 2009

Why I Stopped at Oral Asia » Kazakhstan » Oral

Oral - church

So I failed in my attempt to get from East Timor to Jordan without flying. I was so close, in fact I was even in Europe. The city of Oral in far northwest Kazakhstan is west of the Ural river, and so is considered part of Europe. In Russian it’s “Uralsk”, but in English it’s usually called after the Kazakh, “Oral”. I went as far as Oral, but I was hoping to go all the way to Kiev. And from there it would have been easy to get buses or the ferry down to Turkey and from there through Syria into [View Full Entry]

By Drinkthewater
May 24th 2009

Back in the U.S.S.R. Asia » Kazakhstan » East Kazakhstan » Almaty

observatory

In an effort to avoid my normal boring titles, I was going to title my blog “Kazakhstan is nice”, and then after a few days I was going to title it “Kazakhstan has a veneer of niceness”, but I was already sick of people making the Borat references, so I decided not to reference that film at all and instead go with the title from the Beatles song which got stuck in my head. In his book “In Search of Kazakhstan”, which I mention here in my attempt to sound more literate than I actually am, Christopher Robbins talks about how [View Full Entry]

By thedribbleman
May 5th 2009

Central Asia you got me Asia » Kazakhstan

Tulips

For four Journey’s there has been a travelling soul that has been in me wanting to find adventure, wanting to discover new things, new cultures. That soul has enjoyed nearly every possible moment. But here in Central Asia that soul was gradually drained of life. Hence for the first time ever, I pulled the pin and got a flight outta here. My last stop was the Kazakhstan former capital Almaty. One thing about football is that it can indicate where a country is looking towards. All the Stan countries play in the Asian confederation because they see themselves as Asians. Kazakhstan [View Full Entry]

By TomandLucy
September 21st 2008

Kazakhstan, IS nice Asia » Kazakhstan

Almaty at Night

We had a lovely albeit brief stay in Kazakhstan, a week of travel and errands, complemented by a bit of sightseeing and hospitable locals. Our stay here began with the multiple border checkpoints between Russia and Kazakhstan. The train crosses the border at about 9pm, with the rigmarole of the Russian and Kazakh border guards prodding and poking every nook and cranny of our compartment, what they were looking, drugs?, guns?, their hat they'd forgotten last time?, who knows, but they didn't find it and after a while stamped our passports and let the train on its way. Next thing I [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Asia » Kazakhstan