Of course, one can’t write this piece without first mentioning that inimitable movie, Borat.  Sacha Baron Cohen alter ego is at it again and has produced a corker whichever side of the fence you’re standing on.  This a movie that crosses all boundaries and shocks you to your very core, a movie that is so bad it’s hilarious and has you squirming in your seat.  This is one of those must see films that has you laughing into your popcorn but trying hard to look surprised.  And as much as I believe there is probably some element of truth in Baron Cohen’s character, Borat, as any comic genius does, you mimic real life situations.  However, are all Kazakhstan men that facially hair challenged and a bunch of frightful homophobes?  Unlikely, although you may find the odd one or two, but most of all the Kazakhstan people an interesting lot with an ancestry to match and extremely generous.  If you are a person with a taste for the mysterious and unusual then Kazakhstan is for you. 

Kazakhstan is strategically placed between Russia, China and the Caspian Sea.  The Huns, the Oghuz, Arabs and the Chinese all ventured into Kazakhstan at one time or another so there’s lots of culture.  Astana, the capital was a tiny mining town until the 1950s, when Krushchev announced his Virgin Lands scheme to turn vast areas of Kazakhstan steppe into wheat and cotton fields. Astana became the project's capital and became the centre of an important grain-growing region.  Both with 4000m plus peak, they are two spurs of the Tian Shan which run east-west between Almary and Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzsan.  This beautiful region of glaciers, wild rivers and steep valleys used by nomadic herders as summer pasture is great trekking territory. There are dozens of trails of varying length and difficulty, including hikes right over the range to Lake Issyk-Kul; Almaty travel agents can arrange a guide.

The weather can be extreme with the seasons around the same time as the UK but with highly defined summers and winters.  Temperatures in the summer can rise to 32*C and winters can see temperatures drops as low as a freezing -15*C at night.