The Central Asia travel guide
Pictures Clear wide shots of the astoundingly picturesque landscapes that Kazakhstan has to offer is what Kazakhstan-based photographer Konstantin Kikividze specialises in. Today the first installment of his view on Kazakhstan.
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Really? The last few weeks saw a lot of commotion around the announcement of Kazakhstan’s minister of Foreign Affairs Kazykhanov thanking Borat for increasing tourism numbers to Kazakhstan tenfold. Did Kazakhstan’s tourism really get a boost from Borat since the movie came out in 2006? I was talking about this with a well-known tour operator in [...]
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Really? It’s been a few years now that Gerard Depardieu has been frequenting the former USSR with some fervor. The actor/gastronomer has been seen in advertising for insurance companies, banks, electronics shops, airlines and the cuisine of Azerbaijan. Nothing wrong with making a bit of money on the side for a fading celebrity, you would say. [...]
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Trip reports Stuck in Bishkek over the weekend? Step back to Soviet time with an outing to the warm waters of the Issyk-Ata health resort. Get a cheap mud bath surrounded by fungus or go looking for some Buddhist remnants in the hinterland. I can only recommend it. Escape from Bishkek Bishkek is a quiet town with [...]
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Travel news A fire completely gutted the Royal Home guesthouse in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan’s capital city on Tuesday, according to Universal news wires on Tuesday. The Kyrgyz ministry of emergency situations said no one was injured in the inferno that engulfed all three storeys of the privately owned property in Bishkek. Ten people were safely evacuated from the [...]
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Economy Transitions online has an interesting piece on banking in Central Asia. Turns out in Turkmenistan 0 percent of people have a bank account. In Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, it’s 3 and 4 percent respectively. The article outlines different reasons why Kyrgyz and Tajiks might be so averse to having a bank account: the cost is too [...]
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Pictures A story about Uzbekistan in pictures: from traditional women selling herbs on the bazaar and old men sitting in the shade, to punk girls hanging out in the park in Tashkent and the captivating face of a young Luli of Samarkand, the population of Uzbekistan is more diverse than you imagined. A story in faces. [...]
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Religion Before the conquest by Arabs in the 8th century AD, different religions lived side by side in Central Asia. Nestorianism, Manicheism, Zoroastrianism, Tengrianism and Buddhism were spread along the Silk Road and found fertile soil to grow in the minds of the people of Central Asia. Spread of Buddhism in Tajikistan Between the first to [...]
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Environment Almaty city council has agreed on plans to build an international ski resort on the slopes of Kok Zhailau, directly above the city. Activists claim the idea is a ruse to privatise the last large public space close to the city. The government will invest 700 million tenge (4,8 million US$) in infrastructure. According to [...]
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Trip reports A Friday in early April with the sun shining brightly, it seemed like a good opportunity to set out for Big Almaty Lake once again, to have a picknick with friends and do some birdwatching. Driving up to the park through Almarasan gorge, the waiters of the shashlik restaurants had new faces (but with the [...]
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