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2009

In late April, we departed SFO and flew via Washington, DC to Moscow, Russia.  After a quick overnight near Red Square, we departed for Central Asia and a tour through the 5 Stans: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan on a trip developed by MIR Corp - a Seattle based travel company - for the Harvard Museum of Natural History. 

Though the emphasis was on the historic Silk Road, we were treated to an exotic skyline of minarets, mosques, mausoleums and medressas lifted directly from the days of Timur (Tamerlane) and exposed to some wonderful foods and hospitable peoples. 

We began in Almaty, a booming, cosmopolitan city, which had been the capital of Kazakhstan at the time it declared its independence. 

Officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan is a country in Eurasia ranked as the 9th largest in the world. It is also the world's largest landlocked country. Its territory of 2,727,300 km² is greater than all of Western Europe. It is surrounded clockwise from the north by Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and bordered by a significant part of the Caspian Sea. The capital moved in 1997 to Astana from Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city.

Vast in size, the terrain of Kazakhstan ranges from flatlands, steppes, taigas, rock-canyons, hills, deltas, and snow-capped mountains to deserts. With 16.4 million people (2009 census), Kazakhstan has the 62nd greatest population in the world, though its population density is less than 6 people per square kilometre (15 per sq. mi.).

For most of its history the territory of modern-day Kazakhstan has been inhabited by nomadic tribes. By the 16th C, the Kazakhs had emerged as a distinct group, divided into three hordes.  The Russians began advancing into the Kazakh steppes in the 18th century; by the mid-19th century all of Kazakhstan was part of the Russian Empire. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, and the subsequent civil war, the territory of Kazakhstan was reorganised several times before becoming the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic in 1936, a part of the USSR. During the 20th century, Kazakhstan was the site of major Soviet projects, including Khrushchev's "Virgin Lands" campaign, the Baikonur Cosmodrome, and the Semipalatinsk "Polygon", the USSR's primary nuclear weapon testing site.

Kazakhstan declared itself an independent country on December 16, 1991, the last Soviet republic to do so. Its communist-era leader, Nursultan Nazarbayev, became the country's new president. Since independence, Kazakhstan has pursued a balanced foreign policy and worked to develop its economy, especially its gas and oil industry. While the country's economic outlook is improving, President Nazarbayev maintains strict control over the country's politics.  Nonetheless, Kazakhstan's international prestige is building and it is now considered to be the dominant state in Central Asia.

Kazakhstan is ethnically and culturally diverse, in part due to mass deportations of many ethnic groups to the country during Stalin's rule. While Kazakhs are the largest group, (67%), Kazakhstan has 131 nationalities including Russian, Ukrainian, Uzbek and Tatar. 

Kazakhstan allows freedom of religion and many different beliefs are represented in the country.  Islam is the primary religion. The Kazakh language is the State language, but Russian is also officially used as an "equal" language in Kazakhstan's institutions and widely spoken.

Lacking many 3 or 4 star Hotels, we were 'forced' to stay at the Intercontinental.

Our guide and the national museum educated us to the fact tulips were native to Kazakhstan not Holland.

Zenkov Cathedral, built in 1904 entirely of wood and consturcted without nails, is one of the few tzarist-era buildings to survive the 1911 earthquake.  Following the revolution, it was used as a historical museum, cultural center, and then just in 1990 it was again given the status of a Russian Orthodox cathedral.  We were lucky enough to visit during a 'thanksgiving' mass.

A typical yurt, made of felt, and constructed over wooden ribbing.

Seated on pillows inside another yurt, members of our group prepare for lunch.