Kazakhstan.

Ok, most people on the planet have only heard about Kazakhstan because of the outrageous ‘Borat’ character, played by Sasha Baron Cohen.  Ironically, his persona has been linked to an increase in tourism to this large country in Central Asia, just to see what it’s about.

I can confirm that Kazakhstan is NOT a place where fermented horse urine is the national drink, where everyone indulges in incest and prostitution, and where women were recently liberated so that they could own their own plough.  In fact, Kazakhstan has some of the nicest people you will ever meet.  They are extremely hospitable – so much in fact, that your brain and liver will regret accepting their hospitality (via numerous shots of excellent vodka and cognac).

So what does the place look like?  Well, most of the country looks like this – the Steppe country.  It’s a flat paradise that has an 80 degree Celsius turnaround between winter and summer.  That’s right, it reaches -40 degrees in winter, and boils at +40 degrees in summer.

Most of Kazakhstan is dry and flat.  And that was a good enough reason for the Soviet Union who thought it was a great idea to use this brown and flat ‘wasteland’ as a nuclear testing ground.

The north east of the country had about 800 nuclear warheads (equivalent to 2000 Hiroshima Atomic Bombs) dumped on it for almost 30 years, which caused all sorts of problems like dodgy DNA and three eyed fish.

However, the south east of the country is mountainous, especially the area near the city of Almaty, the former capital.

There are many hidden gems in Kazakhstan.  One of them is the tomb of Jochi Khan.  Jochi was one of Genghis Khan’s sons and inherited part of his old man’s kingdom.  He died during Genghis’ lifetime, and is buried in central Kazakhstan, a few hours drive via dirt road from the industrial town of Zhezkasgan.

You probably won’t see this mentioned in any guidebooks, but I’m sure there’s thousands of these kinds of sites around.

When it comes to food, the Kazakhs make a delicious skewer kebab type dish called shashlyk.  It’s made from either chicken, pork or lamb and is usually marinated overnight in vinegar or wine with herbs and spices.  It’s then roasted over wooden coals which provides a smoky flavour.

Ok, it’s a vegetarians worst nightmare, but for us carnivores out there, get stuck into it!  Here are some photos:

Like most former Soviet Union countries, Kazakhstan still has many imposing statues that represent past glorious achievements, such as the space race and military might.  The example shown below pays tribute to rockets and MiG figher planes.

I really enjoyed Kazakhstan, mainly because it’s easy to see the real country, simply because it’s not that touristy.  Language might be a difficulty, so I would suggest learning some Russian phrases if possible.

Otherwise, it doesn’t matter, you’ll still have a great time!