Top Ten Countries Number Five - Central Asia

Zenkov Cathedral, Almaty

Yes, I am going to cheat here and instead of specifying a country, I am going to lump ‘Central Asia’ together in my top ten. Technically I already cheated when I included the UK, right? But for me, Central Asia was the ultimate in ‘different’. I visited Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan over six weeks back in May-June 2011 and had a wonderful time. I visited three countries bordering each other with dramatic differences. Beautiful mountains, flat steppe and searing desert.

Kazakhstan is the biggest of the three, in fact it is the 9^th biggest country on Earth. From the cultural Almaty to the mind-blowing capital, Astana, Kazakhstan is full of surprises. Almaty is a wonderful city, the ‘soul’ of Kazakhstan. Wonderful museums and theatre – I went to see traditional dancing there, friendly people, beautiful parks. The Russian influence is unmistakable, but it definitely has a European feel to it. The small but interesting Kazakh Museum of Musical Instruments was an unexpected highlight, where I got to witness a small concert of traditional instruments played. This is in the beautiful Panfilov Park, where stands the impressive and decorative Zenkov Cathedral.

Almaty is surrounded by stunning mountains, I headed up to Medeu one day, a favourite play-area in winter, but also lovely in summer. Kok Tobe is a peak not that far from the middle of town, where bronze statues of the Beatles stand (and sit!), and a cable car takes you up and down the big hill.

Inside Dostoevsky's old digs.

Semey was also a very interesting place. Behind my hotel is a park full of statues of communist figures such as Lenin and Marx. For a time Semey was home to Fyodor Dostoevsky, and today the house in which he lived is a small museum to the great Russian writer. The number one writer in town, in fact all of Kazakhstan is Abay though. This poet was also responsible for translating countless works into the local Kazakh language, and is a national hero.

Palace of Peace and Accord, Astana.

But is he a bigger national hero that Nazabaev, President of Kazakhstan since it became independent of the Soviet Union? Perhaps not. Nazabaev is a man of daring vision, and it was his vision that saw the capital moved from Almaty to the more central Astana. Now Astana is one of the more amazing cities of the world, with countless daring buildings designed by architect Norman Foster. This includes the Palace of Peace and Accord, a giant pyramid inside which are conference halls, a giant atrium and a concert hall, the Byoterek, a 97 metre tall tower resembling an ice cream cone, and the Khan Shatyr, a giant shopping complex enclosed in a tent-like structure, the likes of which you are unlikely to see anywhere else in the world. Come to Astana to be impressed, to be wowed, or even just to wonder ‘why?’ It’s simply an astounding place.

National Museum in Bishkek reminds us of the past.

I headed south from Almaty to Kyrgyzstan. I was now travelling by small mini-buses called marshrutkas for the most part, and every journey was an adventure. The capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, is a really pleasant, smallish city which I liked very much. An interesting museum there revealed that possibly Kyrgyzstan thought that the Soviet Union was still going, but the parks brimmed with a different kind of life, and art. People played table tennis on outdoor tables whilst others took wedding photos by fountains. In the evening, for a dollar or two, I saw an opera in town. Those are my lasting impressions of Bishkek.

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Kyrgyzstan boasts great natural beauty. Lake Issyk-kul, a huge freshwater lake 182 kilometres wide (by 60 metres) gives life to a whole region of the country. Around it I went to reach Karakol on the far end, an interesting and pretty if somewhat ramshackle town with some amazing old houses and a striking wooden orthodox church. I took a jeep up the mountains to a place called Altyn Arashan, and stayed a night in an old, large, wooden shack. It was party night there, the place had a big gathering, and despite the lack of electricity, it was a great night. The next day I took in the stunning and very European mountains as I hiked back to Karakol.

Bukhara.

Tombs in Samarkand.

I had to go via Bishkek and again Kazakhstan to get to Uzbekistan. That journey in itself, going from marshrutka to taxi to taxi to taxi, crossing two borders in one day, was an incredible adventure I won’t forget. Bukhara and Samarkand both proved to be amazing places, from the old silk road, with incredible Islamic architecture. Uzbekistan felt very different from the other two Central Asian countries I visited. It was very dry and hot – Bukhara was over 40 degrees, Samarkand just under it.

Statue of Temur, Tashkent.

Despite the heat (and the heatstroke) I adored Uzbekistan. It reminded me a lot of Iran, and there were a number of friendly people I met there on my journey. Tashkent was more like the other countries, its boulevards very wide, and it even had a working metro-system! The parks were the highlight, as were the statues of the greatest Uzbek hero of all, Temur! I visited his museum too. Again there were impressive monuments and fantastic parks, where people cooled down from the heat. Swimming in the fountains was an extremely popular way to escape the heat in Uzbekistan, especially for but not only for, the children.

 

Tashkent

I’ve rolled three countries into one today, which doesn’t do any of them full justice. They are three amazing countries in the world, at one time they were one country with the rest of the Soviet Union. As individuals, I’m not sure they would make my top ten (they wouldn’t be far off) but together, they are just a brilliant travel experience. You can trek, you can see cities, history, culture, the future. Admire Islamic architecture or breath the mountain air and think you were in Europe. Central Asia offers the traveller so much. The tourist – maybe not so much, but for those willing to go the extra mile in paperwork, Central Asia rewards in bucketloads!

Writings :

Short Journeys – Kazakhstan (Amazon Link)

Coming February/March 2014 – Short Journeys: Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan

The top ten so far:

10 – Slovakia

9 – Romania

8 – Mali

7 – The United Kingdom

6 – Japan

5- Central Asia

Short Journeys - Kazakhstan (out now)

Hi all,

I wanted to get the next blog on the top ten destinations out today, but I have been doing so much writing of late my brain is a bit fried to be honest. I have been working on the latest two additions to my new 'Short Journeys' range, and I finally managed to upload 'Kazakhstan' yesterday. I was hoping to have it ready by the end of November, but the time just wasn't available. So today I present it to you. Kazakhstan, a beautiful, amazing and rather unvisited country in Central Asia. The 9th biggest country on Earth.

The cover I went with in the end. :) 

Short Journeys - Kazakhstan (US Store)

Short Journeys - Kazakhstan (UK Store)

Here are some photos and some snippets from the book to hopefully whet your appetite!

Introduction:

There are a lot of reasons to travel to Kazakhstan, outside from visiting a place which is well and truly off the tourist route and being able to wow your friends when you get home. Ok, that’s not a good enough reason on its own, but I hope to give you many reasons to go to the ninth-biggest country in the world.

Kazakhstan is a country with a long history, a diverse people, and a country which is just growing more and more as every day passes in the 21^st century. There’s something beautifully ancient about the country, something delightfully modern at the same time. A country building a future across a wide land, in a location between Europe and Asia, with a mix of Russia and the Ukraine added to the Kazakh people.

Park in Almaty

Kazakh Museum of Musical Instruments

Almaty:

Almaty is a city of contrasts. In some areas the roads are sweeping and wide, and then there are leafy parks, with statues. Wander through the right park and you’ll find flowers blooming and artists with easels set up as they paint what they see. I visited a couple of museums; one was the Museum of Kazakh Musical Instruments where my friend and I basically had a woman play various Kazakh instruments just for us in a small auditorium. There are malls too, shopping strips and not a single McDonald’s to be found, only a place called ‘McBurger’, definitely not a registered American fast food chain.

There are buses all around the city, as well as trams and trolley-buses – buses which run off electricity coming from wires above the roads, something between a tram and a bus. I had never seen such a bus before I went to Russia, but they are still very popular across Eastern Europe today. Then we have the metro, which was not open when I was in Almaty. The metro however is open today, two years later, in good news for all living in and visiting Almaty. 

Semey: - Dostoevsky Museum

Lenin and Marx next to each other in Semey.

Dostoevsky Museum.

Are you a fan of Dostoevsky, perhaps the most famous Russian writer of all? I have been ever since I first visited St Petersburg and decided afterwards to read ‘Crime and Punishment’. Fyodor Dostoyevsky periodically pissed on the rulers of Russia here and there, and was sent for a few years in exile to Semey, in Kazakhstan, where he lived in the house the museum is housed in with his wife and child. He also started work on ‘The Brothers Karamazov’ whilst he was in Semey.

The house is beautifully done, and I had my friends with me with was good because no-one there spoke English. However, it should be remembered that though the house is full of period dressings, tables, clocks and the like from the time Dostoevsky was in Semey (mid 19^th century), I think I am right in saying that nothing was actually there at the time or indeed owned or used by the great writer.

Astana:

Palace of Peace and Accord

Two giant... samovarry things!

Ahhh, only in Astana.

What I particularly loved about this part of town was that (as is often the case in Russia) the pipes were all above ground. Now I’m not sure exactly what they were carrying, presumably gas, maybe water, but as they run along the road they add to atmosphere and look of the place considerably. That’s the main vision I have in my mind from this part of town.

The bus ran along this highway into ‘town’, the centre of which I have talked about but is much harder to define. In the older part of town, which at some point gives way to the ultra-modern new part of town filled with Norman Foster (a British architect) buildings, there is almost a feel of Astana, albeit a much flatter one.

Kazakhstan Videos

Everyone, in lieu of the new books I am working on, I am also working on some short videos of my time in different countries. Today I present one I just finished working on last night. This is a short summary of my time in Kazakhstan where I visited:

1/ Almaty and Medeu
2/ Semey
3/ Astana

It's shot with my old Canon video camera which used mini-DVD tapes. In particular it features some performances from the Museum of Kazakh Musical Instruments in Almaty which was great, and you can see a lot of the strange and wonderful buildings in Astana. Shot in June 2011. Enjoy!

Curious Kazakhstan