Summer Tour Domination!

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.