Over the next week or so you’ll have the chance to read about some summer travels, about which, nakonets, I’ve had the time to write. In July and August I ventured outside of Kazakhstan and reached two opposite ends of Asia. In the East were Japan and South Korea. In the West was Russia, including Russia proper and its Republics of Tatarstan and Bashkortistan.
I will share with you not only my impressions of these three countries, with vastly different cultures and people, but comparisons to my current home of Kazakhstan. Aside from comparing the characters of each city, on this trip I was eager to learn if the cliche about some ‘generic’ Asian values being part of Kazakh culture had any truth. As well I hoped to see the originating point of the overwhelming Russian/Soviet influence on this country.
I’ll divide the 6+ weeks on the road (which included a short a pit-stop back in Almaty) into 10 parts, including one post on my final return home. In Japan I spent most of my time in the historic city of Kyoto, Imperial Capital for over 1000 years. While hosting more UNESCO sights than you can shake a fist at, I was more interested to absorb Japan’s truly otherworldly culture and the daily rhythm of a city that exemplifies the term ‘concrete jungle’.
Aside from short day trips to Nara and Osaka, the next stop of mine was Tokyo. To say this city left me speechless would be a lie, as I’m talking to you about it right now, but at some moments I had no words to describe the colossality of Tokyo-heck I just had to make up a new word for it!. As each new neighborhood unfolded a I became further immersed in a never ending urban maze of her streets.
The third and last stop of the East Asian leg was Seoul, an unexpected visit that I was lucky to experience after missing a connecting flight back to Almaty. While in my head I’d expected much outward similarity between Korean and Japanese cultures, vibrant Seoul was quite a shock.
The second half of my trip was to Russia. Lingering only a few miserable hours in Moscow, I spent almost a week beside the river Volga in Nizhny Novgorod, one of the major urban and industrial centers of the country. From there I went to Kazan’, capital city of the Republic of Tatarstan. Kazan’ is both a truly beautiful place, and a clever mix between Turkic and Slavic influences, much like Kazakhstan.
Finally it was time to head home to Almaty, but, as I decided to take a multi-day train back, the adventures were far from over. Physically I passed through Ufa, capital of The Bashkir Republic, and old frontier city Orenburg before fizzling out just across the Kazakh border in Aktobe. Culturally, however, I was far from the steppe, onboard a train which was bound ultimately for Tashkent, Uzbekistan. This being the summer season, I shared my wagon with mostly Uzbek workers returning home for vacation.
You can see a list of the different parts below and I’ll update the links as each new post appears, so use this page as a home base for the journey.
Part I: Kyoto, Japan
Part II: Tokyo, Japan
Part III: Seoul, South Korea
Part IV: Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
Part V: Kazan’, Tatarstan (Russia)
Parts VI,VII, VIII: Ulyanovsk-Aktobe by Train
Part IX: Aktobe, Kazakhstan
Part X: Back in Almaty, Kazakhstan
