Kazakhstan: A Mystery Country Now Solved

I went to Kazakhstan (KZ) and had my expectations blown away, which actually isn’t saying much given I had none to begin with. My only exposure with “The Land of Wanderers” was watching Borat last year, a 2006 satire comedy film, which, on the surface portrayed KZ as a terribly unsophisticated place. Even in the tipsy and tired state I watched the movie, I understood it wasn’t a true representation of KZ, but it didn’t inspire me to learn more about it either. I quickly dismissed any association with KZ as irrelevant.

KZ wouldn’t be nearly as unforgettable had I not spent it with Oscar and Law. We were very different from each other but made a great team.

So up until the point I flipped a coin that decided I would go to Kazakhstan after Mongolia (instead of South Korea), this Central Asian country remained a mystery that I was not the least bit curious to learn more about.

After spending 11 days around the Almaty Region of Kazakhstan, I found two words that do remain relevant from Borat. Kazakhstan is “very nice“! Gorgeous natural landscapes within driving distance of a green, modern city backed by snow-capped mountains reminded me of my home in Vancouver, Canada. The unique blend of Russian and Kazakh culture is apparent in it’s architecture and the beauty of the people. In Kazakhstan, I found another gem in my hunt for underrated travel destinations.

Below are 12 musings, stories, and observations, followed by a mini trip report.

12 Musings, Stories, and Observations

1 – A special type of traveller comes here. Because Kazakhstan remains a mystery to so many Westerners, it draws in a special type of traveller. It’s difficult to describe, but the people I met here seemed especially adventurous, “travel-wise”, mature and full of many interesting stories. I am discovering that a lot of the fun in travelling less visited places is meeting the other travellers there, which is not to say it isn’t fun doing it in more touristy countries, but just like the country they are in, these travellers tend to have more “off the beaten path” lives and views. One of the questions that often led to fulfilling conversations was “Why Kazakhstan?”.

Renting a car in KZ isn’t as easy and affordable as it is in North America…especially when you consider the increased risk of speeding tickets and “road taxes”!

2 – Long term travel requires flexibility. Me going to KZ is an example. With long term travel, you don’t have the time and energy to plan all details of a trip (from small decisions such as where to eat, to big decisions such as what city to go next) in advance. You therefore rely heavily on word-of-mouth recommendations from the people you meet. In this case, Law, a charismatic Californian I was on the Mongolian Gobi Tour with, mentioned he was going to KZ after Mongolia after hearing good things, and I figured it would be fun to join him. An open schedule allows for this type of spontaneity and is therefore something I would advise you to consider for any trip over 4 weeks in duration.

3 – The reality of solo travel. What may or may not be obvious is that solo travel can be sometimes feel lonely and it is tough meeting people and saying goodbye so often, knowing you may never see them again. If I’m not lucky, I spend stretches of days alone, which isn’t always fun and I begin to get homesick. If I am lucky, I connect with someone at a hostel, cafe, bus stop, or museum, spend 1-3 days with them doing and seeing very cool, possibly once-in-a-lifetime stuff, before going our separate ways. And then rinse and repeat. This, too, gets tiresome but such is travel. In KZ, I was fortunate to spend most of it with an American, Law, and Englishman, Oscar, that I got along well with. I didn’t feel like I was “solo travelling” once. As cliche as it sounds, what I will remember most from KZ is the people I spent most of it with: namely, Oscar and Law.

Looking at ominous clouds. Multiple times we got stuck in heavy thunderstorms with no proper gear. We were drenched! Hard times create strong men (right?!) is what I repeatedly said.

4 – I agreed to go on a 4 day road trip with someone I haven’t met. Another reality of solo travel means that things are more expensive too. Becuase you can’t share costs, you save less on accommodations, tours, taxi/uber rides, food, and activies. Given the duration of my trip (3 months) and the fact I was solo, I specifically chose a region that is easier on the wallet, and also prioritized countries that I didn’t see myself exploring with a family. Unfortunately, KZ (while not the priciest country) isn’t “cheap” either. Since I knew I wanted to do a 4-day road trip in KZ and renting a car is expensive, I wanted to find people in advance to share the cost with. So I used the chat function on the HostelWorld app, a very useful feature! Basically, once you book your accommodation on the HostelWorld app, you gain access to a chat that has all others staying at the hostel. I sent out a message and someone with a male Barbie doll profile picture (this would be Oscar) responded saying he was down. There’s obviously risk in agreeing to do a long road trip with someone you haven’t met, a risk that is heightened when you agree to do it with someone with a ridiculous picture, but over the years I became confident in working well with all sorts of people, so I figured it would be fine, especially since I already knew Law. Fortunately, everything worked out great! Oscar, a calm and cool 25-year old British chef, was wise beyond his years, and together with charismatic Law and my “overly analytical, difficult to describe” self, we made an excellent team.

5 – KZ’s interesting evolving response to Borat. The OG Borat (2006) is clever, but I actually didn’t find it that funny and I think it is overrated. The Kazakh government seemed to agree with me AND also not think it was clever. On its’ release, they banned the film and criticized it. They did a complete 180, however, when it came to the 2020 sequel. Instead of rallying against it, the government has embraced the “very nice” catchphrase and adopted it as it’s own slogan in its nation branding efforts. See for example this fantastic ad.

Out of curiosity, I asked some of the locals that I met here about their thoughts on Borat and I received mixed responses. On one of my first lunches, the server, through the Google Translate app, went out of his way to tell me “I hope you know Kazakhstan is not like Borat”. Another person seemed annoyed by the overused Borat jokes from tourists calling these people and their jokes “braindead”. Many others didn’t mind. Given I didn’t find the movie that funny to begin with, I suspect I would fall in the calling someone “braindead” camp if I was Kazakh.

6 – Lack of Nation Branding. My lack of knowledge about Kazakhstan speaks to ignorance on my part, but it also speaks to a lack of effective “nation branding” on KZ’s part. Michael Rossi, an author, argues that despite the 2000 years of history and culture KZ has to offer, it is often overlooked in large part because the country itself isn’t doing enough promotion or “nation branding”. Like “gastrodiplomacy” (referred to in my Cambodia blog post), nation branding is a type of “soft power” that shapes perception and helps create a narrative that replaces stereotypes. Because of various factors, such as internal security considerations after the collapse of the Soviet Union, nation branding wasn’t a priority for KZ until the last few years. Increased nation branding efforts will help make KZ less of a “mystery” destination. Having visited KZ, I will be following along with their nation branding efforts, and will be interested in seeing how much more popular KZ will get over time. What nation branding activities does the country you live in do?

7 – The Soviet Impact: “Immigrants In Our Own Country”. One Kazakh woman we met (Kazakhs are the indigenous ethnic group of Kazakhstan, in contrast with “Kazakhstani” which refers to someone of KZ nationality) noted that she “felt like an immigrant in her own country”. I love zingers like this! Unlike Cambodia, whose population is 95% composed of ethnically Khmer people, Kazakhstan is much more ethncally diverse, where a wide array of other groups are represented (apparently over 131!). Why? In return for protection, Kazakhstan accepted Russian rule in the late 18th century until the early 1990s, which in turn resulted in them being home to all ethnic groups that had come under Russian control, and due to KZ’s central location, many moved here. In 1989, for example, only 40% of Kazakhstan was ethnically Kazakh. Now that number has increased to 71% but I can totally see her point of view. With the ramping up of immigration in Canada, will we see an increase in this sentiment back home?

1 of the 3 speeding fines we got. I was skeptical since it didn’t look too official…it looks like something I could create in 20 minutes on Microsoft Word.

8 – We got 3 Speeding Tickets. Are they legit or a product of corruption? In a 4 day road trip across the Almaty Region, we apparently got 3 speeding tickets. I wasn’t driving but at no point did I feel like we were going excessively fast, and definitely not faster than the speed of traffic. How it worked was that we had to pay the penalty fees to our car rental agency (who gave us the “tickets”), who would in turn pay off the speeding ticket. They weren’t that expensive from a Canadian opint of view, and we paid them, but even now, I’m curious to know whether these were legit. After all, in 2022, KZ ranked 101 out of 180 countries on a “Corruption Perception Index”, and we had multiple instances on our road trip where we had to pay a random “road tax” to some guy. I will never know if these were legitimate, but if they are legitimate, Canada should adopt the same speeding surveillance system KZ has. Successful implementation of that might justifying lowering our high personal income tax rates.

9 – A “Eurasian looking population. Perhaps this is obvious given KZ’s location in Central Asia, but this still surprised me and is worth a note: Almaty, KZ (being the largest Central Asian city) has a very large “Eurasian” (i.e., people of mixed Asian/European heritage) population, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it had the highest amount and proportion of “Eurasians” on the planet. According to Wikipedia, ethnic Kazakhs (which now compose about 70% of Kazakhstan’s population) were modeled to derive about 63% of their ancestry from an East Asian-related populations and 31% from European-related populations. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and in my eyes, the beauty of Almaty Region is matched by the beauty of the people living in it.

An example of a workout park I would see in various Almaty neighbourhoods. [Picture taken from Google]

10 – Almaty City Design: Outdoor Fitness Spaces. With it’s green spaces, proximity to nature, and backdrop of a snow capped mountain range, Almaty is a city that reminded me so much of Vancouver. One thing it has that Vancouver lacks is lots of outdoor fitness spaces, for working out! Having more of that in Vancouver would encourage a healthier population and they don’t look like it would be too costly or complicated. Parks Board – get on that!

11 – Hitchhiking Culture. Of the 40+ countries I have visited, KZ is the one with the biggest, safest, hitchhiking culture. Numerous times away from the city on our road trip, we saw both travellers and locals, both men and women, young and old, hitchhiking to get to the next destinaton. Had I known about this hitchhiking culture beforehand, I would have possibly opted to not rent a car. Our car found it funny seeing all the good looking young women get picked up instantly while the older people, especially older men, often getting passed by, and we joked it was like real life “swiping right and left” (on a dating app).

12 – What’s Next? The Rest of the Stans: Nope. India: Yes. Kazakhstan was my first ‘stan” country. In total, there are five ‘stans, which refer to five countries in Central Asia that formed part of the Silk Road: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkistan, Tajikistan. In part because of it’s location between the Middle East and China, it is probably one of the least visited regions in the world, and I was very tempted to use the remaining 3.5 weeks of my trip to visit them. Alas, they remain (especially Uzbekistan) on my “to travel” list because deep down I knew I had to scratch my “South Asia” travel itch before coming home. Thus (this time without relying on a coin flip), I booked my next flight to Delhi, India, with the intention of spending 2 weeks in India and 1 week in Bangladesh.

Mini Trip Report

Me capturing details of the trip in real time for my loyal Colin’s Compass followers

Background and Notes: Overall, I spent 11 days in the Almaty Region of Kazakhstan and had an excellent time. While I won’t say whether it should or shouldn’t be in your “Top 10 Places to Travel” list, it reminded me a lot like Vancouver, and just as I would recommend visiting Vancouver, BC to anyone, I would do the same for Almaty. The caveat is that if visiting from overseas, it should be one part of a larger trip to surrounding areas.

For me, this was the perfect destination between busier, more chaotic trips in Mongolia (where I did a 9 day tour across a desert) and India. Despite being a lesser known travel destination, Kazakhstan is an easy place to travel that is modern, safe, and not too expensive. Not once did I feel uncomfortable.

Budget: I didn’t have a strict budget for this specific trip per se, but overall I try to be disciplined with my money and don’t spend money on items I don’t need, such as fancy meals with alcohol (unless it’s for a special occasion). In 11 days I spent $924 CAD ($84/day), which excludes my airfare to/from the country. Could I have got by with list? 100%. Of this total, about $70 was for my portion on 3 speeding tickets, and I could have cut the 4-day road trip with car rental to 3 days, and not stayed at the Airbnbs.

Accommodation: I stayed at a mix of hostels, budget hotels, airbnbs, and guesthouses. In Almaty, I have heard there is currently only one good hostel and that is”Almaty Backpackers”. While it is labelled as a “hostel”, it really is a giant house that is re-configured to be a hostel. At the time of writing, the price of a bed for one-night is $10 USD a night. The biggest asset here was the large living room, which made it feel homey and easy to meet others. The price of my conveniently located Airbnb in Almat was $50 CAD/night. In Saty, where I stayed for two nights, you have to stay in a room at a guesthouse and the price was $8 USD a night. For two nights I stayed in a budget hotel near Shymbulak Ski Resort, which also cost around $15 USD/night.

Transportation: Within Almaty itself, taking the bus and metro is very affordable and easy – both options less than a $1. 2gis was helpful for that. I also took “yandex” a lot, which is their version of Uber. To get to the main sites around Almaty, I rented a basic sedan which was $240 USD for 4 days. In addition to that, we needed an International Driver’s License which cost us $70 USD. Others at the hostel were able to get to the hikes/lakes/canyons much cheaper through a combination of shared Yandex’s and hitchhiking.

Activities:

  • Road Trip (4 days): we rented a car for 4 days when we really only needed 3. The car was useful for going to the following:
    • Day 1: Charyn Canyon: this was a really fun, easy hike through the “Valley of Castles” with epic views. After, we drove to Saty where we would stay for the night and on the way we saw this beautiful gorge with views of the Charyn River.
    • Day 2: We went to Kolsai Lake, which was really busy and commercialized, which isn’t that since the lake is so large. If you actually do the hike around the lake (and potentially to the second Kolsai Lake), you will quickly get away from the crowds. After, we went back to our guesthouse and chilled.
    • Day 3: We went to Kaindy Lake, which required us to pay a driver to take us to the trailhead in a 4×4. This is a less busy hike than Kolsai. After we drove back to our hotel near Almaty near Shymbulak and had a great dinner.
    • Day 4: We returned the car.
  • Almaty: Given the nature of my travel being long-term, I intentionally had more “chill” days than I normally would. Almaty is a dangerously easy place to pass the time given all the “millenial fly trap” cafes there are, the ideal July weather, and how relaxed the city feels. Notably, there isn’t any single exciting thing I did in the city itself, but some activities that I would prioritize are:
    • Arasan Baths and Spa! This is THE spot to relax. It is a world class bath house where you can enjoy a range of spas, steam rooms, and massages (clothing optional). It is three stories and the first time I experienced something like this. If they had something like this in Vancouver and it was close to the law firm, I would be a regular.
    • Checking out the Soviet architecture with a walk through town, including: Ascension Cathedral, First President park, and the Central State Museum
    • Eating at Navat!

Overall, I think if you are tight on time, you could cover the Almaty region of Kazakhstan in 4-5 days before moving on and it wouldn’t feel too rushed!

3 thoughts on “Kazakhstan: A Mystery Country Now Solved”

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