Why to visit Kazakhstan?

16 czerwca 2009 | Zarina Kalymova

Several centuries ago a nation which called itself Kazakhstan was born in the heart of the Eurasia. It was formed by a nomadic population in the Central Asian steppes. Kazakhstan has a very long and interesting history beginning from the appearance of the Turkic population, being invaded many times by Chingiz Khan to the conquest of a nation by Russian Empire. According to the work of the modern Kazakh historians the Kazakh nation is the descendant of many nations, such as hunny, arii, turki. Unfortunately, there are no reliable written documents about the exact time of the formation of Kazakhs. The modern location of the country stretches from the Northern Caspian region to the Altai Mountains in the east. It has boundaries with Russia, China, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan. As one of the Tsars of the Russian Empire mentioned, Kazakhstan is the key to the gates of Asia. During the short history of its existence the country and the native population have garnered up many traditions and customs. However, the Kazakh culture was radically influenced by the neighboring strong nation of the Russian Empire. Nowadays, Kazakhstan is a big interest to foreign investors. Nevertheless, Kazakhstan would like to develop tourism as well. Therefore, the government would like to show foreigners a unique mixture of the European and the Asian cultures in Kazakhstan.

In most places of the modern world, people know about Kazakhstan from the movie called “Borat”. The movie was made by a comedian actor Sasha Baron Cohen who gave a different impression about Kazakhstan, which was meant to be comic, but most viewers received a false perception from the movie. The whole movie is about a Kazakh journalist, Borat Sagdiev, who came to America from the glorious country of Kazakhstan to meet Pamela Anderson. From this journalist, American people could learn about progressive country Kazakhstan where women have been allowed to travel by bus only since 2003. In addition, Borat was also saying that if he would make a bad film, then he might have been executed in his native land. After this movie all the people in the world, especially the Kazakh society, had their own opinion about the movie “Borat”. On one hand, the entire world was interested in Kazakhstan, however, on the other hand the whole country seemed to be weird. But generally, the whole situation is much better in the real Kazakhstan than it was shown in the movie.

In fact, Kazakhstan is one of the fastest developing countries in the world with its vast amount of natural resources. Besides possessing many natural resources, it is also an interesting place to visit. One of the most important questions for tourists might be how to get there and by which means of transportation. The answer is simple. It all depends on how much time and money you are ready to spend. The most convenient and fastest way of traveling is, of course, by plane. However, it is cheaper to get there by train. Another essential issue is the cost of staying or going for a holiday to Kazakhstan. In comparison to European nations the cost of living is lower. The basic reason why it is so is that the country is still developing and it has the substantial natural possessions of its own. So, spending short period of time would not require much investment.

As it was mentioned above, Kazakhstan is the result of the mixtures of two cultures: Eastern and Western. It can be experienced in different parts of the country. For instance, the former capital of Kazakhstan is called Almaty. There, just walking along the street you can hear the Kazakh native speech along with a fabulous smell of the national dishes from the nearest restaurants and then walking one block away, you find yourself in a little France with the real shinning Eiffel Tower. You can explore this city further finding out more and more amazing things like an ice-skating rink in the Alatau Mountains just near Almaty. It is also possible to ski and feel yourself as if you were in the Swiss Alps, but for cheaper price. It is also possible to ski in the summer time, but it is only for extreme ski lovers. There are also many other cities with so much to see and try. There is a very famous health and pleasure resort town which is called Kokshetau. The nature is just astonishing there: deep and clear lakes, rich flora and fauna, stones with ancient writings on them. Further we can move to the south of Kazakhstan to the city of Turkmenistan where you can thoroughly learn about the Islamic religion in the Central Asia by visiting one of the oldest mosques and mausoleums. You can see there historical monuments as well as the Central Asian architectures. After that we can transfer to the west part of Kazakhstan, where are mainly steppes and semi-deserts. There is also a city called Atyrau which is the oil and gas capital of the country. It is situated on the northern coast of the Caspian Sea. One of the uniqueness of Atyrau is that it is divided into Asia and Europe by the Ural River. You can be in Asia or in Europe just by crossing the main bridge. Not far from Atyrau, archeologists found the unique ancient city of Saraishyk which was buried under the sands by several centuries. The Saraishyk was one of the main towns for the Kazakh Khans. A lot of historical valuables were found during excavations, including Golden Armors of an ancient warrior which can be seen in a local museum. But besides the ancient and historical heritage, you can also see people still living in native Yurts in the steppes and breeding sheep and camels. It might be very interesting and exciting experience to ride a camel and try traditional beverages made of the camel milk. In addition to that, you will be able to eat national meals and dishes in the local restaurants.

In Kazakhstan, there are a lot of other interesting things to explore. So, if someone would like to find out more about the Central Asian countries and their cultures, he or she might want to visit Kazakhstan because it consists of the Asian and the European cultures. It means that the country could provide you with unforgettable experience of sightseeing, meeting interesting individuals, discovering something new and finally having fun and adventurous time.

O autorze:
Zarina Kalymova

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