Kazakhstan

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Kazakhstan got the shortest visit of my trip, despite being a huge country. It serves as more of a gateway to other places than a destination in itself. for me it was the place to collect my visa for Uzbekistan and is also the departure point for the last country on this trip - the strange and foreign UK!

Arriving in Almaty I wasn't quite sure what to expect, a taste of the USSR, little change from western China? In the event it is a very European feeling city, wide streets filled with posh cars. People dress well to stroll past cafes and top end brand name shops. At least in the centre of the city it looks - rich. Step outside the city and its back to donkey carts and dust. The source of the wealth is black gold and corruption. The one thing you will struggle to find is a decent hotel, they are all very overpriced and still tend towards soviet style customer service. One interesting fact about Kazakhstan is that it is one of the few countries in the world to have been (albeit briefly) a nuclear power and voluntarily got rid of all its weapons. (When the USSR broke up a load of missiles were in Kazakhstan - the first government had them shipped back over to Russia. The Aeroflot planes that happened to be in the country at the time were kept to form the new national carrier). Although about half the population is officially Muslim they seem to have re-written the rules on modest dress and alcohol consumption, vodka anyone?

I managed pretty much by accident to find a eco-tourism project that was started with help from VSO a couple of years ago and also one of the staff who worked for VSO in the country office for 8 years (VSO have now pulled out of Kazakhstan). They pointed me in the direction of a better hotel and a couple of day trips to fill the weekend before visiting the Uzbekistan embassy on Monday.

Collecting my visa for Uzbekistan took a few hours of waiting to get into the embassy but once in the visa was issued on the spot - with my pre arranged letter of introduction from a local travel agency. The only difficult moment was trying to explain what my job was. The word Commission in Forestry Commission looked a bit too much like communication which would have been a problem! A helpful chap in the line did some translating and everything was sorted out as I explained that I grow trees.

Almaty is nestled in the south of the country at the foot of some nice alpine style mountains. Much greener than in china it even rained on my second day there. I took a bus trip into the hills about one hour from town and was joined by a most of the local college which had just broken up for summer. All the kids spoke reasonable English as they have to do it for 11 years of school. Everyone is amazed that I don't speak Russian because "Russian is an international language just like English" maybe that's only within the old USSR?

My other day out was to a gorge in the desert something like a mini grand canyon. It was actually much more impressive than I expected, not THE grand canyon but well worth a day trip. I also had the chance to chat to some Kazakhstan locals and get some more insights into the country.

Moving on to the Uzbek border everything was going well until I tried to change a bit of money. In a scam clearly well practiced they present you with a huge pile of bills and hope that you don't stop to count them - while the minibus driver who is helpfully showing you the way impatiently hurries you along. I have so little trust for any money changer that I stubbornly settled down to start counting - when they realised that I would actually count the money the other half of what they were meant to hand over appeared. I have no idea how but of course I still walked away a bit short changed. 100 USD turns into a pile of bills about the size of a brick. The highest denomination note is about 1 USD value or a bottle of water. Buying anything large means lots of counting of cash. Luckily there are no coins!

So that was my short stay in Kazakhstan. I will be back for one night to get my flight back to the UK so it will also be the last country of my trip. The bits I didn't get time to explore include good trekking in the mountains, miles and miles of steppe and the new capital Astana that is being put together with some "fantastic" architecture - keeping Norman Foster in work.

I am currently in Uzbekistan which has almost too much to see. Builders of big impressive and beautiful buildings have been busy here for thousands of years. More soon - and some nice pictures.

Matt

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Photos

Man and his bird
Hunting with birds is a long tradition in Kazakhstan - this man is hunting for tourist dollars not furry prey.

Wads of cash
100 USD turns into a brick of Uzbek Sum - not a subtle pocket filler!

Snacks
Dried fruits and nuts are everywhere