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Tag Archives: Kazakhstan
To the last city.
No, that’s a misnomer. Tashkent was, if anything, Uzbekistan’s first city, at least in the modern sense of the term. First one to be occupied by the Russians, first one to be reached by a railroad, first to host all … Continue reading
Posted in Central Asia, Uzbekistan
Tagged Asia, Central Asia, Christianity, City, Cityscape, Cycling, Earthquake, Food, G55 AMG, Hotel Uzbekistan, Islam, Islam Karimov, Karimov, Kazakhstan, Korean, Kosmonavtlar, Lenin, Marx, Mercedes, Mirobod, Soviet, Soviet Union, Street photography, Urban photography, USSR, Uzbek Koreans, Uzbekistan
9 Comments
“Out of Steppe” by Daniel Metcalfe, Arrow – Random House
If the passion for travelling off the beaten path, exploring places that don’t make it on the top-shelf brochure at your local Trailfinders (but, let’s face it, they don’t even make it to the bottom one), was a genetic strand … Continue reading
Posted in Books review
Tagged Afghanistan, Aral Sea, Arrow, Asia, Books review, Bukhara, Bukharan Jews, Byron, Central Asia, Colin Thubron, Daniel Metcalfe, Iran, Karakalpakstan, Kazakhstan, Moynaq, Pakistan, Random House, Tehran, The Economist, Thesiger, Travel literature, Travel writing, Uzbekistan, Volga Germans, Wilfred Thesiger, Yaghnobi
12 Comments
Disaster by design: the death and partial rebirth of the Aral Sea (Part 3).
I’d expected the whistling undertaker from For a Fistful of Dollars to be appearing at every corner I turned. I was to experience this feeling again, in Central Asia, but Aralsk looked – even smelt, if that was ever possible – … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Central Asia
Tagged Aral, Aralsk, Aralsk Harbour, Central Asia, Harbour, Hotel, Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Port, Sea, Station, Train travel, Travel
15 Comments
Disaster by design: the death and partial rebirth of the Aral Sea (Part 2).
I’d seen Serik a long time before we met in the parking lot outside the Altair hotel; in fact, I first read about him on Al Jazeera. Dubbed “Aralsk’s only tour guide”, he’d accepted to be my guide for the … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Kazakhstan
Tagged Aqespe, Aral, Aral Sea, Aral sea ships, Aralsk, Asia, Beached boats, Boat, Camel, Cotton, Desertification, Disappearance of Aral sea, Ecological disaster, Ecology, Impact on health, Kazakhstan, Lenin, Moscow, North Aral Sea, Salinisation, Ship Graveyard, Ships, Soviet Union, Travel, USSR, Uzbekistan, White Gold, World Bank, Zhalanash
22 Comments
Disaster by design: the death and partial rebirth of the Aral Sea (Part 1).
The aurora was a promise of yet another scorcher of a day, as it’d been yesterday and tomorrow was bound to be, but right now it was fresh and cool as I sat on my pack on the first of … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Kazakhstan
Tagged Aral, Aral Sea, Aralsk, Asia, Cotton, Desertification, Disappearance of Aral sea, Ecological disaster, Ecology, Impact on health, Kazakhstan, Lenin, Moscow, North Aral Sea, Salinisation, Soviet Union, USSR, Uzbekistan, White Gold, World Bank
14 Comments
“I’ve once been to Kyzyl-Orda, but never to New York”.
I recently attended a training course which, as corporate events normally do, started with an ice-breaker. Every attendee had to stand up, one by one, and declare to the roomful of colleagues something quirky, or unusual, about himself. When it … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Central Asia, Kazakhstan
Tagged Aktobe, Aktyubinsk, Asia, Astana, Burger King, Central Asia, Communism, Ice breaker, Kazakhstan, Kyzyl Orda, Kyzylorda, Mosque, Murale, Russia, Russian, Soviet, Soviet Union, Steppe, Train, Train travel
14 Comments
Out of the steppe.
There are trips we’ve wanted to do for a lifetime, which work their way up to the top of your bucket list. Well, I’ve just crossed one from mine and if I had to distil it in four pictures whilst … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Central Asia, Kazakhstan
Tagged Aktobe, Aqtobe, Aral, Aral Sea, Aralsk, camels, Central Asia, horses, Kazakhstan, Kyzylorda, Steppe
7 Comments
A snowfall that would’ve made Bruegel proud.
It was snowing when I arrived, and it hadn’t finished yet when I left. Everything between the flights from and to Kiev – with their cargo of harmonica-playing, duty-free-vodka-guzzling men – happened under a soft blanket of falling snow. Of … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Kazakhstan
Tagged Alma Ata, Almaty, Altai, Asia, Central Asia, Green Market, Kazakhstan, Kiev, Panfilov, Panfilov Park, Panfilov's 28 Guardsmen, Snow, Turkic, Ukraine International Airlines, USSR, Winter
18 Comments
“The Lost Heart of Asia”, by Colin Thubron, Vintage
Then I heard Pasha calling me to return. It was late and dark, he said, and this was not our country. It doesn’t happen often, for me, to arrive at the last word of a book and think Aw fuck, … Continue reading
