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mrsrcbinscn · 4 years

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BDRPWriMo Task #28 - Closet

BDRPWriMo Task #28: Your character’s closet! Or, 15 iconic Franny Robinson outfits

1-4. Franny’s (four) wedding dresses

Cornelius and Franny’s wedding was heavily influenced by Cambodian wedding traditions. [read here and here, later I’ll post a full HC post about what Khmer traditions they followed and how, and which ones they forwent - like obviously Neil didn’t pay a dowry for Franny]

A traditional Cambodian wedding is comprised of many ceremonies, music, meals, gifts, and guests lasting for three days and three nights. Cambodians choose the number three because of its relation to “three jewels” of Buddhism: the Buddha, the Sangha, and the Dhamma. So Neil and Franny’s wedding ceremonies lasted three days, only family and close friends were invited to the majority of the ceremonies, with the Actual Wedding and reception happening on day three.

Neil paid for all of her mother’s surviving (post Khmer Rogue years) siblings and extended family to fly in from Cambodia if they’d remained there, or from the other countries they’d been resettled as refugees to. For some of her siblings and cousins, the lead up to the 2002 wedding was the first time Sophea “Sophie” had seen them since before the fall of Phnom Penh in April 1975.

They wore traditional Khmer wedding costume for all three days, but Franny changed into a Western style dress shortly after the first dance.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3 - The Actual Wedding

Apart from her wedding, she has four aesthetics:

Stage

#vintage

Professional pencil skirts and pantsuits

Dress to DEPRESS

5. Nature Dress

Franny wore this nature scene dress when she accepted her most recent Grammy award.

6. “Who’s This Farmer’s-Wife-Lookin’ Girl?”

... was the first thought Atlanta Jazz Festival 2005 festival goers had when Franny Robinson stepped onstage in a dress and boots straight from her closet.

“I didn’t have things like stylists or sponsored outfits back then,” said Robinson in a 2014 interview. “I’d already made a bit of splash as far as songwriting went; by then I’d had full or partial credit for writing and-or composing twenty-two songs. Mind you, I’d only graduated from NYU with my Bachelors’ in ‘02, and finished my Masters’ in England in ‘04. But as a singer, I had only released an EP and featured on other singers’ tracks. I wasn’t, you know, Franny Robinson yet. The 2005 Atlanta Jazz Festival was the first in a series of test runs.”

When asked why the Atlanta Jazz Festival when she was already living in England at the time, Robinson answered, “Atlanta is my home. The jazz festival was one of my favorite things about growin’ up here, so I wanted to launch my music career here.”

To this day, the outfit remains one of the most iconic Franny Robinson looks. Instagram captions of fans wearing similar outfits often read “channeling my inner Franny Robinson today.”

7. Baby Pink Cherries

In 2009, Franny and her lifelong friend and song-writing partner, bluegrass and folk singer and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Maitland (fc: Martin Sensmeier), formed the duo Dara & Danny.

From an article:

Robinson and Maitland have known each other since middle school, when Maitland moved to her small town outside of Atlanta from Alaska. They started out as fiercely competitive rivals before Maitland proposed they marry their talents and begin playing music together. It was a match made in music heaven.

Even when Franny went to NYU and Daniel went to East Tennessee State [the only university with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music Studies, which he holds], they remained in steady contact and spent their summers at home playing and writing together. The first few years of their music careers were spent breaking into their respective primary fields - jazz music for Franny, bluegrass and folk for Daniel - and coming together to write music and lyrics for each other.

It was again Maitland who proposed they perform together, this time, professionally.

Dara & Danny, a duo made up of jazz musician and bluegrass musician, flirts with jazz music but is primarily influenced by bluegrass, folk, and indie rock a la Rilo Kiley.

“Dara & Danny is where I get to explore the music besides jazz that made me. I grew up in rural Georgia, bluegrass, country, folk music, that was all around me. And I loved it. I love all music,” Robinson said. “Like, I love hip-hop. My husband got a crash course in Outkast and the rest of the Atlanta hip-hop legends when we started seeing each other.”

The pink cherries dress was worn at the 2010 CMAs when Dara & Danny performed. They weren’t nominated for anything that year, but were super jazzed to have been invited to perform.

Dara & Danny, funnily enough, has been Franny’s most commercially successful project. Meaning, tracks have featured in movies, tv, and its what gets the most radio play. Her work in jazz is more highly critically acclaimed, and she is much more prolific with composing jazz music than anything else, but there are more people who first discover her through Dara & Danny that then find out she’s a world class jazz musician than the other way around.

8. Met Gala 2018

You know, the Catholic-themed one. She wore a dress depicting Adam and Eve.

9. National BIcon Franny Robinson

Franny is known for not changing gender pronouns when she sings songs originally performed by men. Prior to her coming out as bisexual in 2017, Franny dodged the questions by simply saying, “That’s how the song was written.”

In 2018 she appeared in a 1940s aesthetic music video for a song by her friend, fellow jazz singer, and out lesbian Lora Lopez. Franny starred as her love interest. There was seduction, there was making out, there was stealing from men. It was so gay.

The ‘Making Of’ video is hilarious because Lora kept laughing every time she grabbed Franny and kissed her because the first time she grabbed Franny she was like “oh my god I’m sorry, was that too rough?” and without thinking Franny went “you’re good, I like it rough, you can make it real kinky and slap me if you want.” Because that’s the kind of jokes Franny makes. And for like five takes Lora could not stop laughing when she grabbed her and kissed her.

10. Seoul Hanoi’d at Glastonbury 2016

Franny’s second most active music project - apart from her constant solo work - after Dara & Danny is Seoul Hanoi’d, the best pun I have ever made in my life. She is a founding member and co-lead singer of the band. Seoul Hanoi’d is a genre-bending performance group entirely made up of Asian-diaspora singers and musicians whose main careers are in various genres.

[I’ll make a full hc post about Seoul Hanoi’d later, too!]

The name, a pun on ‘so annoyed’ comes from the capital of South Korea and a city in Vietnam. Seoul Hanoi’d currently consists ethnic Korean, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Malaysian, Indonesian, Mongolian, Kazakh, Chinese, Nepalese, and Thai diaspora who rotate out for live shows as their schedules permit. The "core” members are almost all at every performance. Of the core members, Franny is absent the most however, because of her wildly busy schedule. She has a hand in composing almost every original song, arranging most of the covers, writing a huge chunk of their lyrics, and is the common thread between most of the other musicians, so she is considered the leader of the group.

Franny wore this outfit during their set at Glastonbury 2016, their first year performing there.

11. Swynlake Adult Prom 2019

The Gatsby-themed one? That was Franny’s JAM. She killed it with her art deco dress!

12. Postmodern Jukebox

Franny’s been featured in a Postmodern Jukebox video, and wore this green velvet dress.

13. Twinning Pink Ao Dai at a Vietnamese Festival with a Vietnamese Friend

The co-lead singer of Seoul Hanoi’d is a Vietnamese-American named Vanessa Pham. Franny and Vanessa met when they were students at NYU through their involvement with the university’s Asian Student Union. Franny, a jazz studies and musical theater performance double major from Georgia, and Vanessa, an engineering student from Texas, found that they had a lot in common.

They were both the only daughters of war refugees who came to the United States in the 1970s. They were both from the South. Franny even spoke Vietnamese almost as well as Vanessa, as she spent her first four years living with her mother in the home of a Vietnamese couple who’d taken her mother in when she was pregnant with her. In both Franny’s hometown in Georgia and Vanessa’s in Texas, the small Vietnamese and Cambodian diaspora groups were very interconnected, so each other’s culture was almost as familiar to them as their own.

They both liked to put bacon in their cheesy grits and put hot sauce on their rice when their moms weren’t looking. They both loved authentic Chinese food as much as the next self-respectin’ first-generation gal, but they also could put away some crab rangoons because cream cheese was truly king. They both could absolutely destroy their older brothers in a fight. They both knew all the worlds to every Dolly, Tanya Tucker, and Dixie Chicks song, but also found their parents’ old Khmer or Vietnamese music comforting.

Franny could count on one hand the number of other Cambodian students she’d met in her time at NYU, so even meeting Vietnamese Vanessa who knew how to order in hesitant, broken Khmer at the Cambodian restaurant they found was exciting. More than that, Vanessa was hilarious! And smart! And such a good, loyal friend. She had a hidden talent as a singer and wanted to do music like Franny, but her parents made her go into STEM for ‘job security.’

Vanessa graduated with her engineering degree and went on to get her masters’, but after working as an engineer for four years she quit to pursue music. It was shortly after she took the leap that Franny approached her to form Seoul Hanoi’d.

On Franny’s Instagram, there’s a picture of her and Vanessa wearing matching pink ao dai at a Vietnamese culture festival earlier in 2019 with the caption, “Thank you for sharing your beautiful voice, laughter, and culture with me for twenty years and counting!”

“What I love the most about Asian cultures is just how many of them there are.” Robinson said in a 2019 interview. “I love when my Desi friends are like ‘hey! be my plus one at this wedding!’ and they invite me to wear their traditional clothing while celebrating with them. I love learning new Vietnamese phrases from my friends. I’m always so honored when I’m invited to participate in my friends’ cultures, because I know when I invite somebody to Cambodian New Year events, or a traditional wedding, its because I trust them to appreciate this important part of me and participate respectfully. Our cultures are so diverse, and beautiful, and vibrant!”

There’s a similar picture of Vanessa and Franny together at a Cambodian New Year celebration, where Vanessa’s wearing traditional Khmer clothing with Franny.

14. Plaid Dress

Franny wore and performed in this dress at the 2011 International Bluegrass Music Awards when Dara & Danny won the New Artist of the Year, and Song of The Year.

15. That Kickass Outfit

Franny wore this outfit when she attended and performed at the 2015 BRIT Awards, and won Best International Female Solo Artist.

#bdrpwrimomckala #&&...hc

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topfygad · 5 years

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35 Useful tips for traveling to Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is, by far, one of the strangest countries I have ever been to, along with Azerbaijan.

On the one hand, it is a surprisingly developed country, home to the most Westernized city in Asia, Almaty, whose inhabitants are very European-minded, as well as some striking mountains.

On the other hand, this oil-rich, barely populated country is also the 9th largest in the world and it is also home to some of the most bizarre places on Earth, like an old nuclear testing town, a drought sea, the Russian Cosmodrome and an extremely vast steppe with the occasional 2-humped hairy camel.

Kazakhstan has two faces and, for this reason, it can really have a place in everybody’s heart, both the traveler who likes to explore a cosmopolitan city and beautiful mountains and the avid traveler who likes to get deep into obscure places off the beaten track.

After traveling in Kazakhstan for a month, I have compiled this guide with all the travel tips you need to know.

This guide contains all the practical information. For places to visit, read my 1 to 4-week itinerary to Kazakhstan

�� Here you will find:

Visa rules Travel insurance for Kazakhstan Money Getting in The country, people and their culture Tourism in Kazakhstan Food and alcohol Transportation Accommodation Books Internet More resources

Total transparency! – If you like my website and found this post useful, remember that, if you buy any service through any of my links, I will get a small commission at no extra cost to you. These earnings help me maintain and keep Against the Compass going! Thanks!

Do you know what a VPN is? A Virtual Private Network allows you to access blocked sites when you travel, as well as it lets you access content only available in your home country (like Netflix), plus it prevents hackers from stealing your personal data. Learn here why you should always use a VPN when you travel

Visa requirements for traveling to Kazakhstan

1 – Visa-free – Travelers from around 60 countries can travel to Kazakhstan without a visa and they can get it on the arrival at any international airport or land border. This includes EU passport holders, the USA, Canada, most Latin American countries, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and a large etcetera. The visa is valid for 30 days.

2 – Extending your visa – Like in the rest of Central Asia, extending your visa seems tricky but, if you leave the country and re-enter on the same day, you will automatically renew your visa for 30 more days. The easiest way would be going from Almaty to Bishkek, as Kyrgyzstan has even more liberal visa rules. However, I think the maximum you can stay is 90 days within a 180-day period.

3 – Registration – For people traveling in Kazakhstan, there is a very strange rule: basically, when you enter the country, they will give you an immigration form which you need to fill in. Once you get it, the authorities will stamp it twice and that second stamp is your police registration. If you lose your card, upon your exit you will have to pay a fine.

Moreover, in the unlikely event that you don’t have a second stamp, you will have to register at the migration police station within 5 days of your arrival. If you don’t register, you could get into some serious trouble.

If you aren’t sure about whether you are eligible for a free visa, check the Caravanistan site.

Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan border – Traveling to Kazakhstan

Travel Insurance for Kazakhstan

4 – Kazakhstan is a pretty safe country but you would be completely nuts if you went there without proper insurance, especially if you go around Almaty, which is a hiking region.

For traveling in Kazakhstan, I strongly recommend World Nomads. Why?

It is the only company that offers unlimited medical coverage

It covers the largest amount of adventure activities, pretty useful if you plan to hike around Almaty

It is one of the very few companies that allows you to buy it while you are already on the road

Money when you travel in Kazakhstan

5 – Currency – In Kazakhstan, they use the Kazakh Tenge and, in October 2018, 1USD = 370TEN

6 – Currency exchange – You can easily exchange Euros or American Dollars in many banks and offices across the country. Just remember that, except for Russian Rubles, they aren’t very big fans of their neighbors’ currency. I am not sure about Kyrgyz SOM but I was never able to exchange the Uzbek money I had left.

7 – ATMs – In the big cities, ATMs are plentiful and in Almaty, you can pay by card in many places. However, do have cash whenever you are in the countryside.

8 – How much does it cost to travel in Kazakhstan – Personally, I found Kazakhstan particularly expensive, as it was the last country from all the Stans I visited, after 5 months in Central Asia. It is, definitely, the most expensive one but, when I looked at its prices in absolute terms, it became very affordable. These are the prices of the most typical things: Dorms – 2,000 to 4,000TEN (5 to 10USD) Private rooms – from 5,000TEN (15USD) Meals in local restaurants – Mains from 1,000 to 2,200 (2 to 6USD) Meals in international, cool places – Mains from 2,000USD (5,50USD) Trains – Atyrau to Aralsk, 20 hours, 1,400km, 2nd class (4,000TEN – 12USD)

Read: Useful tips for traveling to Uzbekistan

An abandoned factory in Aralsk – Kazakhstan travel guide

9 – Bribes – Would you believe when I tell you that a very common question I receive from travelers is about policemen asking for bribes in Central Asia? Corruption in Kazakhstan and in the rest of the region is a well-known fact overseas. I personally didn’t have any problems but I heard from a traveler that the police asked him for money after checking his passport, claiming that there was something wrong with his visa.

Honestly, if you decide to pay them, not only are you really stupid but you will also be feeding their corrupt system. Because, seriously, how the hell is there going to be something wrong with your visa?

That guy didn’t pay obviously, basically because he told the policeman that, if there was something wrong, he preferred to be arrested and taken to the police station, so the policemen backed off.

Furthermore, a friend of me told me that he was arrested and taken into a room while he was smoking at the train station in Aktau, which was awful, as there were other people smoking as well. The policeman claimed that they had to pay a 100USD fine each. Smoking was technically allowed and if it wasn’t, no way would the fine be that expensive.

However, the policeman kept insisting, as he knew they were about to miss the train and they were going to Aralsk, which was 1,700km away, so it would have been a big deal to miss that train. They held the pressure, however, and, in the end, they agreed on paying around 20USD between the two of them, so they could catch the train.

Personally, I would have tried to hold a bit more, not because of the money but because I would hate that corrupt policeman to get away with it.

Read: Useful tips for traveling to Kyrgyzstan

The engine driver, I believe – Travel tips Kazakhstan

Getting to Kazakhstan

10 – By plane – I strongly recommend flying to Almaty, as there are very cheap flights from Europe operated by Pegasus. Alternatively, you could also fly to Bishkek, as it is very close to Almaty and has cheap flights as well. Flying to Astana (today called Nur-Sultan) would also be an option and, if you are in Iran or Azerbaijan, consider flying to Aktau, as there is a daily budget flight.

11 – Overland (bus or train) – There are open land borders with China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Uzbekistan. Practically, all of them are open and friendly, at least from the Kazakh site. I personally crossed by train from Uzbekistan.

12 – Overland (by boat) – Long-term overlanders like to take the ferry from Baku to Aktau, which takes 24 hours. I haven’t taken it but my friends from Journal of Nomads did. Check their report here.

Read: Kazakhstan 1-month itinerary

Train journeys over the endless Kazakh steppe – Tourism in Kazakhstan

The country, people and their culture

13 – Welcome to the ex-Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan – Kazakhstan is a republic which, like most former Soviet republics, got its independence from Russia in 1991. It is, however, the country with the largest Russian influence in Central Asia, not only due to its buildings and remaining infrastructure but you can see it in their culture, and Kazakh people actually like Russia:

We like Russia because she takes cares of us’, a Kazakh friend of mine said. Kazakhstan is the only Stan that borders Russia, so it is obvious that their presence and influence is highly visible.

14 – Kazakhstan today – The development of Kazakhstan is explained by its abundance of natural resources, such as oil and gas. It has really major, rich cities which have been totally built with the help of oil and have become business hubs filled with expats, like Atyrau, the first city I visited in Kazakhstan.

Moreover, the Government has been investing a lot in terms of education, one of their most successful policies being the opportunity of giving loads of scholarships to students to study abroad in major worldwide universities, with the only condition that they must come back and work in Kazakhstan after X years. This has led to a highly educated work-force for Kazakhstan.

However, Kazakhs claim that, given its abundance of natural resources, the situation should be much better and they blame a very corrupt and human rights-abusive President named Nursultan Nazarbayev, the first and only President that Kazakhstan has ever had. Since he was elected president of Kazakhstan back in 1991, Kazakhstan has never celebrated fair elections.

15 – The Kazakhs – Kazakhs are descendants from Turkic and Mongolian tribes. They are very ethnically mixed but most of them have strong Mongolian features. The Kazakhs used to be a nomadic nation that moved across the steppe and their biggest contribution to the Silk Road trade was animal-related products, like fur.

Friendly Kazakhs – Traveling to Kazakhstan

16 – Language – Kazakh, a Turkic language, is the official language in Kazakhstan. Russian, of course, is widely spoken, more than anywhere else in Central Asia and, in Almaty, it is the preferred language. Actually, many Kazakhs from Almaty claim that their Russian is better than their Kazakh.

As per English, most young well-educated people from the main cities can speak English but, other than that, you should try to learn some Russian words if you decide to visit Kazakhstan.

17 – Religion – Officially, Kazakh people are Muslim but, like in the rest of Central Asia, they are what I call Soviet Muslim, as their devotion to Islam was pretty much lost during the USSR .

Sure, you will see a few mosques with a couple of worshippers but most people are actually atheist and even those who do go to the mosque, also drink vodka whenever they have the chance. Saudi Arabia has actually invested millions in trying to reverse that.

Read: How to travel by train in Kazakhstan

Turkestan mosque – Visit Kazakhstan

Tourism in Kazakhstan

18 – The land of the weird stuff – Like I said in the introduction, tourism in Kazakhstan is about very strange, remote places, so it is the perfect place destination those people who really like to get off the beaten track.

On the one hand, you have those long journeys on a Soviet train through thousands of kilometers of boring steppe, yet, it is a great way to meet locals. Then you have those dark tourism places, like the Aral Sea or Semipalatinsk, a nuclear testing site whose inhabitants are still suffering from its brutal consequences today.

A Lenin statue in an abandoned factory

Moreover, there is also the forbidden Russian town where the Cosmodrome is (Baikonur), as well as extremely remote villages surrounded by nothing but steppe and hairy camels. Oh, and if that was not enough, you also have Astana (Nur-Sultan), one of those fake capitals built with the money from natural resources and composed of the most nonsensical buildings, sort of a Dubai concept I would say.

19 – Apart from weird stuff – I fully understand that there are many travelers out there who aren’t really into dark tourism nor visiting remote places just to see strange things, However, this shouldn’t stop you from visiting Kazakhstan, as I strongly believe that the city of Almaty and its surrounding mountains are a first-class touristic destination, as well the Silk Road city of Turkestan and the more traditional-oriented city of Shymkent.

For more information, don’t forget to check my 1-month itinerary to Kazakhstan

Kolsai Lake – Epic landscape around Almaty – Photo from my friends of Journal of Nomads

Food and alcohol when you visit Kazakhstan

20 – Food sucks – I traveled for 5 months in Central Asia and Kazakhstan was the last country I visited, so I am completely biased, but seriously, the food is the same across the region and let’s say that high-cuisine is not their strength, precisely. In Kazakhstan, pelmeni (dumpling soup) would be the most common option, so is lagman (noodles soup with terribly chewy and fatty beef).

21 – You must try beshbarmak when you visit Kazakhstan – A national dish which consists of pasta layers, vegetables, and the star-ingredient being horse meat, all served in a huge flat dish with a bit of broth. Usually, it is a sharing dish, so the few restaurants that serve it require a minimum order of a couple of people. Kazakhs reserve beshbarmak for special occasions.

Beshbarmak – Traveling in Kazakhstan

22 – Yes, horse meat is a thing – You can find horse meat in many countries from around the world but nowhere else like in Kazakhstan, where horse meat is the base of many of their dishes, so that’s why you can find farms all around the country.

I actually visited one horse-farm in Zhabagly, a mountain village around Shymkent. They had hundreds of horses and they told me that, when the horse gets into a certain age, they decide whether they keep it as a workforce or send it to the butchery. It was sad but this is life…

23 – Get drunk on vodka with the locals, at least once – In rural Kazakhstan, in places like Aralsk or even when you travel by train, you are likely to meet friendly locals who want to invite you to drink some vodka.

If you say yes, they will order a bottle and you can’t just drink one shot but you need to finish the bottle with them, otherwise, you will be considered a pussy. If you don’t feel like drinking more than a shot, then just say no from the beginning. Vodka is always served very cold and a bottle costs just a few dollars.

A horse farm in Zabhagly

24 – In big cities you can find everything – I spent 8 days in Almaty and never ever ate any Kazakh food, like no way. It was my last destination in Central Asia before going back home, so I tried Japanese, Thai, Italian, and all sorts of international cuisine. You can seriously find everything. In Atyrau and Shymkent, I also found a few international options.

25 – Vegetarians are nearly fucked – Local cuisine is meat-based, even salads sometimes, and usually, this is the only options outside Astana (Nur-Sultan), Almaty, and Atyrau pretty much.

Meat everywhere, always (Almaty)

Kazakhstan travel guide – Transportation

27 – Train – Multi-day train journeys over the Kazakh steppe is an experience by itself and so much fun. For more information, I put together a train guide to Kazakhstan.

28 – Bus – I never got in any bus when I was traveling in Kazakhstan but I always took the train. However, I know that it is also an option to move around cities.

29 – Shared taxis – In some more remote places where trains don’t go, the locals move around in shared taxis. They are significantly more expensive than any other transportation.

30 – City taxis – To avoid any hassles, I recommend you download Yandex, which is like the Russian Uber.

Epic train journeys, always the most unexpected stuff

Accommodation

26 – There all of sorts of accommodation – From backpacking hostels to 5-star hotels, in Kazakhstan you can find all sorts of accommodation. I always booked them through booking.com.

In my Kazakhstan itinerary, you can find different accommodation options from each city I visited.

Books

31 – Kazakhstan travel guide by Bradt – Bradt just released the latest guide for traveling to Kazakhstan. You won’t find any more complete guide. Seriously, I have the Kindle version of all Bradt guides from all the countries I go because they are great.

Click here to check prices on Amazon

32 – Central Asia Travel Guide by Lonely Planet – If you are traveling all around Central Asia, you may prefer to buy one book for the whole region. It’s all right but you will just get an overall picture.

Click here to check prices on Amazon

33 – Russian-English phrase-book – Super useful.

Click here to check prices on Amazon

More nice landscapes, this time in Aksau National Reserve

Internet when you travel in Kazakhstan

34 – Wi-Fi – It’s all right throughout the country. Nothing wow but I managed to work online without any problem.

35 – Sim Card and 3G – SIM Cards and 3G data are really cheap and work well. Plans may vary depending on specific promos but I paid 2,000TEN and they gave me 20GB of data for 1 month. Amazingly cheap.

More resources for traveling to Kazakhstan

Remember to check all my guides and articles to Kazakhstan:

A guide to travel by train in Kazakhstan Backpacking in Kazakhstan: 1 to 4-month itinerary Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan border crossing

If you are doing a multi-country trip through Central Asia, don’t forget to check all my guides to Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.

After Kazakhstan, many travelers head to Azerbaijan and Iran.

source http://cheaprtravels.com/35-useful-tips-for-traveling-to-kazakhstan/

0 notes

topfygad · 5 years

Text

35 Useful tips for traveling to Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is, by far, one of the strangest countries I have ever been to, along with Azerbaijan.

On the one hand, it is a surprisingly developed country, home to the most Westernized city in Asia, Almaty, whose inhabitants are very European-minded, as well as some striking mountains.

After traveling in Kazakhstan for a month, I have compiled this guide with all the travel tips you need to know.

This guide contains all the practical information. For places to visit, read my 1 to 4-week itinerary to Kazakhstan

Here you will find:

Visa rules Travel insurance for Kazakhstan Money Getting in The country, people and their culture Tourism in Kazakhstan Food and alcohol Transportation Accommodation Books Internet More resources

Visa requirements for traveling to Kazakhstan

If you aren’t sure about whether you are eligible for a free visa, check the Caravanistan site.

Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan border – Traveling to Kazakhstan

Travel Insurance for Kazakhstan

4 – Kazakhstan is a pretty safe country but you would be completely nuts if you went there without proper insurance, especially if you go around Almaty, which is a hiking region.

For traveling in Kazakhstan, I strongly recommend World Nomads. Why?

It is the only company that offers unlimited medical coverage

It covers the largest amount of adventure activities, pretty useful if you plan to hike around Almaty

It is one of the very few companies that allows you to buy it while you are already on the road

Money when you travel in Kazakhstan

5 – Currency – In Kazakhstan, they use the Kazakh Tenge and, in October 2018, 1USD = 370TEN

7 – ATMs – In the big cities, ATMs are plentiful and in Almaty, you can pay by card in many places. However, do have cash whenever you are in the countryside.

Read: Useful tips for traveling to Uzbekistan

An abandoned factory in Aralsk – Kazakhstan travel guide

That guy didn’t pay obviously, basically because he told the policeman that, if there was something wrong, he preferred to be arrested and taken to the police station, so the policemen backed off.

Personally, I would have tried to hold a bit more, not because of the money but because I would hate that corrupt policeman to get away with it.

Read: Useful tips for traveling to Kyrgyzstan

The engine driver, I believe – Travel tips Kazakhstan

Getting to Kazakhstan

Read: Kazakhstan 1-month itinerary

Train journeys over the endless Kazakh steppe – Tourism in Kazakhstan

The country, people and their culture

We like Russia because she takes cares of us’, a Kazakh friend of mine said. Kazakhstan is the only Stan that borders Russia, so it is obvious that their presence and influence is highly visible.

Friendly Kazakhs – Traveling to Kazakhstan

As per English, most young well-educated people from the main cities can speak English but, other than that, you should try to learn some Russian words if you decide to visit Kazakhstan.

17 – Religion – Officially, Kazakh people are Muslim but, like in the rest of Central Asia, they are what I call Soviet Muslim, as their devotion to Islam was pretty much lost during the USSR .

Read: How to travel by train in Kazakhstan

Turkestan mosque – Visit Kazakhstan

Tourism in Kazakhstan

A Lenin statue in an abandoned factory

For more information, don’t forget to check my 1-month itinerary to Kazakhstan

Kolsai Lake – Epic landscape around Almaty – Photo from my friends of Journal of Nomads

Food and alcohol when you visit Kazakhstan

Beshbarmak – Traveling in Kazakhstan

A horse farm in Zabhagly

25 – Vegetarians are nearly fucked – Local cuisine is meat-based, even salads sometimes, and usually, this is the only options outside Astana (Nur-Sultan), Almaty, and Atyrau pretty much.

Meat everywhere, always (Almaty)

Kazakhstan travel guide – Transportation

27 – Train – Multi-day train journeys over the Kazakh steppe is an experience by itself and so much fun. For more information, I put together a train guide to Kazakhstan.

28 – Bus – I never got in any bus when I was traveling in Kazakhstan but I always took the train. However, I know that it is also an option to move around cities.

29 – Shared taxis – In some more remote places where trains don’t go, the locals move around in shared taxis. They are significantly more expensive than any other transportation.

30 – City taxis – To avoid any hassles, I recommend you download Yandex, which is like the Russian Uber.

Epic train journeys, always the most unexpected stuff

Accommodation

26 – There all of sorts of accommodation – From backpacking hostels to 5-star hotels, in Kazakhstan you can find all sorts of accommodation. I always booked them through booking.com.

In my Kazakhstan itinerary, you can find different accommodation options from each city I visited.

Books

Click here to check prices on Amazon

33 – Russian-English phrase-book – Super useful.

Click here to check prices on Amazon

More nice landscapes, this time in Aksau National Reserve

Internet when you travel in Kazakhstan

34 – Wi-Fi – It’s all right throughout the country. Nothing wow but I managed to work online without any problem.

More resources for traveling to Kazakhstan

Remember to check all my guides and articles to Kazakhstan:

A guide to travel by train in Kazakhstan Backpacking in Kazakhstan: 1 to 4-month itinerary Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan border crossing

If you are doing a multi-country trip through Central Asia, don’t forget to check all my guides to Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.

After Kazakhstan, many travelers head to Azerbaijan and Iran.

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topfygad · 5 years

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35 Useful tips for traveling to Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is, by far, one of the strangest countries I have ever been to, along with Azerbaijan.

On the one hand, it is a surprisingly developed country, home to the most Westernized city in Asia, Almaty, whose inhabitants are very European-minded, as well as some striking mountains.

After traveling in Kazakhstan for a month, I have compiled this guide with all the travel tips you need to know.

This guide contains all the practical information. For places to visit, read my 1 to 4-week itinerary to Kazakhstan

Here you will find:

Visa rules Travel insurance for Kazakhstan Money Getting in The country, people and their culture Tourism in Kazakhstan Food and alcohol Transportation Accommodation Books Internet More resources

Visa requirements for traveling to Kazakhstan

If you aren’t sure about whether you are eligible for a free visa, check the Caravanistan site.

Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan border – Traveling to Kazakhstan

Travel Insurance for Kazakhstan

4 – Kazakhstan is a pretty safe country but you would be completely nuts if you went there without proper insurance, especially if you go around Almaty, which is a hiking region.

For traveling in Kazakhstan, I strongly recommend World Nomads. Why?

It is the only company that offers unlimited medical coverage

It covers the largest amount of adventure activities, pretty useful if you plan to hike around Almaty

It is one of the very few companies that allows you to buy it while you are already on the road

Money when you travel in Kazakhstan

5 – Currency – In Kazakhstan, they use the Kazakh Tenge and, in October 2018, 1USD = 370TEN

7 – ATMs – In the big cities, ATMs are plentiful and in Almaty, you can pay by card in many places. However, do have cash whenever you are in the countryside.

Read: Useful tips for traveling to Uzbekistan

An abandoned factory in Aralsk – Kazakhstan travel guide

That guy didn’t pay obviously, basically because he told the policeman that, if there was something wrong, he preferred to be arrested and taken to the police station, so the policemen backed off.

Personally, I would have tried to hold a bit more, not because of the money but because I would hate that corrupt policeman to get away with it.

Read: Useful tips for traveling to Kyrgyzstan

The engine driver, I believe – Travel tips Kazakhstan

Getting to Kazakhstan

Read: Kazakhstan 1-month itinerary

Train journeys over the endless Kazakh steppe – Tourism in Kazakhstan

The country, people and their culture

We like Russia because she takes cares of us’, a Kazakh friend of mine said. Kazakhstan is the only Stan that borders Russia, so it is obvious that their presence and influence is highly visible.

Friendly Kazakhs – Traveling to Kazakhstan

As per English, most young well-educated people from the main cities can speak English but, other than that, you should try to learn some Russian words if you decide to visit Kazakhstan.

17 – Religion – Officially, Kazakh people are Muslim but, like in the rest of Central Asia, they are what I call Soviet Muslim, as their devotion to Islam was pretty much lost during the USSR .

Read: How to travel by train in Kazakhstan

Turkestan mosque – Visit Kazakhstan

Tourism in Kazakhstan

A Lenin statue in an abandoned factory

For more information, don’t forget to check my 1-month itinerary to Kazakhstan

Kolsai Lake – Epic landscape around Almaty – Photo from my friends of Journal of Nomads

�� Food and alcohol when you visit Kazakhstan

Beshbarmak – Traveling in Kazakhstan

A horse farm in Zabhagly

25 – Vegetarians are nearly fucked – Local cuisine is meat-based, even salads sometimes, and usually, this is the only options outside Astana (Nur-Sultan), Almaty, and Atyrau pretty much.

Meat everywhere, always (Almaty)

Kazakhstan travel guide – Transportation

27 – Train – Multi-day train journeys over the Kazakh steppe is an experience by itself and so much fun. For more information, I put together a train guide to Kazakhstan.

28 – Bus – I never got in any bus when I was traveling in Kazakhstan but I always took the train. However, I know that it is also an option to move around cities.

29 – Shared taxis – In some more remote places where trains don’t go, the locals move around in shared taxis. They are significantly more expensive than any other transportation.

30 – City taxis – To avoid any hassles, I recommend you download Yandex, which is like the Russian Uber.

Epic train journeys, always the most unexpected stuff

Accommodation

26 – There all of sorts of accommodation – From backpacking hostels to 5-star hotels, in Kazakhstan you can find all sorts of accommodation. I always booked them through booking.com.

In my Kazakhstan itinerary, you can find different accommodation options from each city I visited.

Books

Click here to check prices on Amazon

33 – Russian-English phrase-book – Super useful.

Click here to check prices on Amazon

More nice landscapes, this time in Aksau National Reserve

Internet when you travel in Kazakhstan

34 – Wi-Fi – It’s all right throughout the country. Nothing wow but I managed to work online without any problem.

More resources for traveling to Kazakhstan

Remember to check all my guides and articles to Kazakhstan:

A guide to travel by train in Kazakhstan Backpacking in Kazakhstan: 1 to 4-month itinerary Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan border crossing

If you are doing a multi-country trip through Central Asia, don’t forget to check all my guides to Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.

After Kazakhstan, many travelers head to Azerbaijan and Iran.

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