Preview of C.i.222's blog at TravelPod. Read the full blog here: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/c.i.222/1/1209728343/tpod.html This blog preview was made by TravelPod using the TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow creator. Entry from: Almaty, Kazakhstan Entry Title: "Five stans of Central Asia" Entry: "It was a very long day traveling to Central Asia This travelogue with pictures will be one of the longest I will ever post, because it covers five countries in Central Asia, and I took over 2,000 pictures. What surprised me the most was the simple fact that these countries we visited were living a pretty good standard of living, and that many of the sites we visited were well preserved and maintained. The friendliness of the children can't be overly expressed; it's probably the only part of the world where young children approach you to talk with you. It's probably a good opportunity for them to practice their English. Our travel group was made up from people all over the US, and many were college professors and/or administrators, and we had a doctor and his wife from Minneapolis, my roommate from Florida is a retired Colonel in the Navy, a restaurant chain owner from North Carolina, and some common folks like me. It was a good group. We essentially followed the Silk Road route in this region, and saw some interesting artifacts from that period in addition to meeting the people, and eating their food (and vodka). The architecture is a mixture of Islamic, Russian, Persian, and Chinese basically finished in colored tiles. We also learned a little about Tamerlane (Timur Empire), the supposed grandson of the Genghis Khan who conquered much of Central Asia which began in the early 14th century and lasted until the mid-1850s. The people, especially the children are very friendly towards American tourists. They approach us freely and start to speak English as if it's their first language, but many speak over five languages. In some countries, over 90% are Muslim, but it's against the law to promote religion in some of their countries. Since this journey was made almost three years ago, I will not be able to remember enough to provide a travelogue, so the pictures will have to suffice. There are about 600,000 Koreans living in this part of the world. Many can be seen at the bazaars selling their typical Korean salads. Before taking this journey, I worried that I would stick out as the only Asian in our tour group, but that fear disappeared quickly, because the many living in that part of the world have Asian faces. The only "shock" of preparing for this trip was the cost of the five VISA applications; with the pictures and processing fees, the total was over $800. I had the opportunity to travel to this part of the world with Road Scholar, because a gentleman I traveled in Israel with asked me to join him. The itinerary started in Almaty,Kazakhstan, followed by Issyk Kul, then on to Tajikistan, Kyrgystan, and Bishkek, Samarkand: Tashkent, Uzbekistan ..." Read and see more at: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/c.i.222/1/1209728343/tpod.html Photos from this trip: 1. "Frankfurt airport; hate this place" 2. "Our hotel in Almaty" 3. "Internet cafe across the street" 4. "Russian orthodox church" 5. "Memorial monument" 6. "Almaty museum was closed" 7. "Our lunch in a Mongol gert" 8. "Skating rink in Almaty" 9. "We rode down the hill on these cable cars" 10. "Some were riding down on these sleds" 11. "Our drive to Krygyzstan" 12. "We stopped at this animal market" 13. "We stopped to look at this mini Grand Canyon" 14. "We stopped often for animals" 15. "Crossing the border into Krygyzstan" 16. "Water slide at Issyk Kul" 17. "Our guide in Kazakhstan and Krygyzstan" 18. "Another picture of Issyk Kul" 19. "At our hotel grounds" 20. "Silk Road tower on our way to Bishkek" 21. "American University in Bishkek" 22. "Lenin is pointing towards American University" 23. "Bishkek National History Museum" 24. "Changing of the guards" See this TripWow and more at http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-00bb-3872-fd0c?ytv4=1

• published: 03 Dec 2010
• views: 1872