Kyrgyzstan has become a popular subject as of late for some amazing amateur and professional filmmakers who have accidentally or deliberately stumbled upon its splendor. I’ve been wanting to share some of these for a while, in the hopes that they’ll spark more interest in visiting the region. Continue reading “A Few Stunning Videos Of Kyrgyzstan”
It’s the end of the month and time for another look at my favorite photos from the past month! Some are prompted, some are spontaneous, and some are some throwbacks. Take a look, read about it, and click to enlarge if you want to see more closely. Continue reading “March 2017 Photo Roundup”
Kazakhstan is fascinating to me. It is the most developed of the Central Asian countries in the cities, with prosperous jobs, one of the world’s top-rated airlines, and even several Starbucks. And yet, the rural areas hang on to beautiful manifestations of Central Asian history and culture. More than any other place in Central Asia, this push and pull is visible in Kazakhstan. And we got to see it first-hand. Continue reading “Kazakhstan: A Journey Across The Steppe”
At the Winter Universiade, the talk of Almaty and indeed all of Kazakhstan was a young singer who had performed at the opening ceremony: Dimash Kudaibergen. And not long after, he also became my new Central Asian musical obsession after I shared a plane ride with him from Almaty to Astana. Continue reading “Central Asian Musical Obsession: Dimash Kudaibergen”
It’s the end of the month and time for another look at my favorite photos from the past month! Some are prompted, some are spontaneous, and some are some throwbacks. Take a look, read about it, and click to enlarge if you want to see more closely. Continue reading “February 2017 Photo Roundup”
February is the shortest month of the year, so that might be why it seems like I spent half of it in Kazakhstan with a few stops in Osh along the way. See, after the office rejected my plans to visit my friends and host family in Tajikistan last summer, I wound up with just shy of two weeks of vacation time with no way to use it but to burn it up before our COS conference, so I saved some of my local money (yes, I am able to save a little bit on an income of $250 a month living in the big city) and went on some adventures. Continue reading “Mile 22: A Whole Lotta Kazakhstan (and a little bit of Osh)”
I got to spend a few days last week in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the largest city and former capital, to explore and experience the 2017 Winter Universiade, a spectacular event that left an incredible impression on me.
Beyond things like unique politics and the -stan suffix, Central Asia is known for its headgear, and probably in no place is this more visible and famous than in Kyrgyzstan. I think it’s safe to say that just about every culture has a traditional headgear of some sort, whether it’s a hairstyle, hat, helmet, scarf, or some combination thereof, but here takes it to a whole new level.
In America, we’ve got the baseball hat (although a slouchy beanie might be taking over in a lot of urban settings). In France it’s the beret (even if I’ve seen more berets living in Kyrgyzstan than I ever saw living in France). But in Kyrgyzstan, there’s a whole selection of headgear for men and women that forms an external representation of several aspects of one’s identity. Here’s an (almost) exhaustive guide to headgear that you’ll probably encounter here in Kyrgyzstan. Continue reading “Hang On To Your Hats: An Exhaustive Guide to Central Asian Headgear”
I’ve talked way too much on this blog about how much I prefer taking marshrutkas and buses to riding in taxis. But, sometimes, you can’t get away from the fact that taxis are the only way that you’re going to get from point A to point B. Confounding all of this is the fact that just about every city in the former USSR has a different approach to taxis. Here’s a rough guide on navigating the major taxi systems of Kyrgyzstan (plus Almaty and Dushanbe). Continue reading “The Secret To Kyrgyz Taxi Fares”
At the end of a recent trip to Bishkek for training, I decided to hop across the border to Almaty, Kazakhstan, to explore the city, do some sightseeing, and of course, eat me some Burger King.
Almaty was the capital of the Kazakh SSR and of Kazakhstan until 1997, and is still more than double the size of the next largest city. With air connections to most of Europe and Asia on a variety of major airlines, it’s a great first stop for most on their Central Asian adventures. Continue reading “72 Hours In Almaty, Kazakhstan”
