Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.

Keeping the 'Stans Straight, part 2: Kazakhstan

by Aaron Hotfelder on Jan 5th 2008 at 11:00AM

Kazakhstan

Capital: Astana, moved from Almaty in 1997

Location: Central Asia, northwest of China and south of Russia; the ninth-largest country in the world

In a nutshell: This oil-rich ex-Soviet republic has been experiencing an economic boom recently, thanks to its wealth of oil and natural gas deposits. Though the economic conditions might be improving and president Nursultan Nazarbayev has been lauded by some for his reforms, Kazakhstan's government is still plagued by corruption and many freedoms are still curtailed.

How you know it: Fictional home of Borat Sagdiyev.

Interesting factoid: Kazakh officials recently purchased a four-page ad in the New York Times to combat its backward, Borat-inspired reputation.

Make sure to check out: Any of the various sites from the Silk Road, which ran through the south of Kazakhstan. Photos here.

See also: Part 1 of this series, Kyrgyzstan.

Filed under: Learning, Kazakhstan, Budget Travel

Search Travel Deals

Add your comments

Your comments:

Remember me

E-Mail me when someone replies to this comment

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.