What should I see/do in Kazakhstan?
I'm gonna be in the country for about a week in June. Was originally planning on popping over the border to Kyrgyzstan, but since getting a visa for Kyrgyzstan is a pain in the ass I'm probably only going to be in Kazakhstan.
I'll fly into Almaty and will probably fly out of Astana a week later. Are the two cities any interesting? Where is the most interesting nature?
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan Greatest Country in the world
All other countries run by little girls
>>1116708
Most interesting nature is in the north east, but that's not really accessible so I suggest you spend your time in the southern parts.
Almaty is the best for a mix of nature, city and night life and a good point to do day trips from.
Check out the mountains behind the city (pic related) just a short bus trip from the city center, make a trip to Charyn Canyon, (the Grand Canyon Jr) , visit some of the lakes, eat some horse and drink some kumyz at the green bazaar and get drunk with some Kazakh men in a beer/shashlyk garden (bonus points for slav squatting.) Those are all the things off the top of my head.
I never stayed there, but Hostel Loco is run by a pretty chill dude I met in the mountains. I'm sure he can point you to some interesting shit.
Only spent a few days in Astana, but it felt a bit empty and alien to me. Large empty highways, little to no action on the streets... Spend a day there before your flight to check out some funky architecture.
There's not much touristy stuff to do, and the people don't really understand service or speak English, but there is a lot of fun and adventure to be had if you go in with an open mind.
I lived in Almaty for a year and really enjoyed it, so ask away anon.
Aralsk is the former port of the Aral Sea, but the Soviets fucked up by draining most of it. Now it's creepy as fuck, like a desert with decaying buildings, but people still live there. Look for the abandoned airport.
From Aralsk, you can see Vozrozhdeniya Island, or just "Voz." It has an abandoned Soviet base there which was used to test biological warfare on. The official story is that all of the smallpox has been removed (there were several large rusting tanks), but many people doubt it; People have found piles of petri dishes abandoned on the ground.
Then there's "The Polygon," in Semipalatinsk. Wear garbage bags over your shoes and a dust mask, and burn your clothes after. It's where the Soviets tested nukes.
Kazakhstan is weird as fuck like this. A few months ago, there was a giant herd of deer that simultaneously died, almost going extinct, although no cause was found. They were burned and then buried. Then there's a city in the central north, downwind from former mines or test sites, where the people seem to become zombies. They get violent, demand sex, have to be restrained, and lash out at people for no reason (it's only affecting a small group of people and might be psychological, but the government was investigating.)
Weird, weird country.
>>1117038
Here's a pic of Semipalatinsk. It looks like another planet. If you want to visit Voz, you might need an Uzbek visa. It's on the border of the two countries.
>>1116735
>nature to the northeast is inaccessible
I was planning on going a road trip through the northeast to Russia and Mongolia in a few years. Is it even possible just by following GPS?
Throw the jew down the wll
Check out the Baiknour cosodrome. They have great tours.
>>1117039
Yea it's possible for sure, sorry for my poor wording, but for OP, who seems to be going for a week and by public transport, it isn't possible to reach that place quickly enough. If you have your own vehicle there isn't anything I see that could stop you. Watch our for the coppers.
>>1116708
I thought Kyrgyzstan was where it was one of the easiest to get a Visa in the Stans?
>>1117506
Yeah and nah, I wad walking down the street once and a cop drove by, slammed on his breaks, reversed and made me show my passport. I didn't have it cause who the fuck carries their passport at all times, so he threatened to take me to jail for the night if I didn't give me 50 dollars.
Their salaries are really low, so yeah, when they see your foreign plates they'll know it's feeding time. Taxi drivers always kept little rolls of bribe money on the side, though I don't know how much you'd need. Uzbek police are pretty based tho.
>>1116708
>but since getting a visa for Kyrgyzstan is a pain in the ass
from where are you?
>>1117039
>Semipalatinsk
if you are still planning to have children sometime, I don't recommend going to this place.
>>1118123
kyrgyzstan lifted for most eu countries visa completly 2 ore 3 years ago. germany and netherlands for sure. and even before that it was easy as fuck to get visa
bishkek is pretty boring, stay max 2 days there, visit durdoi market, white house + mainsquare and some food market and you are pretty much done
i would recommend to go to bischkek and from there drive to issykul lake and do trips to mountains from there. its awesome there if you have more time go to the south of the country. Its completly diffrent.
>and do I have enough time to see the nature?
just drive 15 min out of bischkek and u see awesome nature
>>1118123
Yes, you should got to Kyrgyzstan instead of Astana.
>>1117039
>Semipalatinsk
How exactly would I go about seeing the ruins? I don't want to get lost in miles and miles of radioactive steppe. But this would honestly be very cool to do.
>>1117038
Why is it weird, anon? What's the explanation for some of this behavior? Radiation?
>>1118342
Shouldn't be that powerful to kill the deer, I only heard about the story for a few days but it got buried. But I don't think it was directly near Semipalatinsk.
One day I'm road tripping through Kazakhstan, I don't plan on having kids anyway.
>>1117038
Looks like that fallout 4 stronghold
>>1117038
Get out of here, Stalker!
>>1119917
My information may well be of use to you, Stalker.
>>1117038
>Then there's a city in the central north, downwind from former mines or test sites, where the people seem to become zombies. They get violent, demand sex, have to be restrained, and lash out at people for no reason (it's only affecting a small group of people and might be psychological, but the government was investigating.)
Some infos? Links?
Thanks!
Go to Kyrgyzstan best Stan
>>1117038
>From Aralsk, you can see Vozrozhdeniya Island, or just "Voz." It has an abandoned Soviet base there which was used to test biological warfare on. The official story is that all of the smallpox has been removed (there were several large rusting tanks), but many people doubt it; People have found piles of petri dishes abandoned on the ground.
that's completely fucked up
>>1121116
Best part is that it's no longer an actual island. It's now connected to the Kazahk mainland since the Aral Sea dried up.
>>1121134
But water used for glorious Soviet agriculture, comrade! And smallpox for victorious somethingorother!
>>1120118
Can't find the article that talks about them raging, but here's a link to something that I think was the same village. People afraid to sleep, spooky shit. Kazakhstan really is an environmental disaster.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/kazakhstan/11497382/Sleeping-sickness-traps-Kazakh-town-in-waking-nightmare.html
Bonus!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIMnph2CXt8
>>1117038
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_2lJ4gtMLE
Here's a video of a couple of British documentary dudes who go to Voz. They're literally led by 2 scrappers, basically real stalkers.
