Talk:Kazakhstan Voyage Tips and guide

The article describes a hotel at 10 Euro as "cheap' - wow ! 203.63.143.122 18:25, 10 March 2007 (EST) Political corruption on all levels and rapidly changing laws to reward banditry prevail in Kazakhstan. Bring your wallet to do business.

"Just one tip, avoid everything that is very cheap: hotels, restaurants, trains, taxis, because these places attract many poor and uneducated people and you can easily get into trouble." -- I'm not happy with this expression: I don't think it's true, poor doesn't necessarily mean uneducated, and uneducated doesn't mean you'll get 'into trouble'. I'd say the opposite, if you restrict yourself to just the most posh hotels, and stick with private or luxury transport, you'll never meet the Kazakh people you came to see. We stayed in a very cheap hotel, and (besides the electricity being a bit dodgy) we were fine; given an extra breakfast, and spent ages chatting with the owner.

I agree. School education in Kazakhstan is free and mandatory. So if a child is not going to school teachers go to childs home to force him/her to study. Government gives grants to most of the students to study in University. I did my MSc in UK and government paid for each and every expense (be it a pen or a toilet paper). Even though there is a corruption in education system, if you're smart enough you can pretend for free education. And even those people who did not study in any University are wise - they know a lot about traditions, religion and stuff. In a day light it mostly safe, but at night you better be in a center of the town, just avoid dark and empty places. Almaty is mostly safe, especially in the "upper" part of it.89.218.47.122 06:36, 28 January 2010 (EST)

The movie "Borat" has apparently generated a lot of interest in making up funny fake things about Kazakhstan. Apparently Wikipedia's Kazakhstan article has been a real magnet for this kind of stuff; since it got protected, it's likely that our guide to Kazakhstan will get some attention, too. Please keep an eye out; if something sounds unlikely, it probably is. --(WT-en) Evan 14:17, 8 November 2006 (EST)

I will defend the from Uzbek slander against glorious nation Kazakhstan. -- (WT-en) Sapphire 14:31, 8 November 2006 (EST)

Is it not possible to get to Kazakhstan by boat over the Caspian Sea from Baku, Azerbaijan, for example? -- (WT-en) Paul Richter 04:00, 11 January 2007 (EST)

Good point. But is it possible? (WT-en) Jpatokal 05:36, 11 January 2007 (EST)

I live in Kz but I had never heard that information. (WT-en) Uvik 13:58, 17 June 2007 (CET)

There is supposedly a ferry from Baku to Aktau (WT-en) Od 12:04, 14 February 2008 (CET + 2)

I was very suprised as it sounds like there are no problems with alchohol in Kazakstan, despite it being half muslim.--64.230.2.204 21:24, 22 December 2008 (EST)

I definitely would not expect regulations, social or legal, regarding alcohol anywhere in the FSU. The Russians didn't succeed in converting Central Asia to Orthodoxy, but they had quite some success converting Soviet Muslims to the bottle. --(WT-en) Peter ^Talk 03:49, 23 December 2008 (EST)

It's always killed me to have a country the size of Western Europe lack regions, so I've scoured historical, vegetation, climactic, linguistic, topographical, sociological sources to try and come up with something passable.

The regions amalgamate provinces of Kazakhstan with the only exception on the eastern front, where I've drawn the Altai Region boundary along the old Soviet division between the now defunct Semipaliatinsk Oblast and Vostochno-Kazakhstanskaya. That way the region really only includes the (interesting) mountainous territory of the Altai. The weird discolorations at the tips are not regional boundaries--I'll fix that on the next upload.

The proposed regions I have here are:

• Almaty Region/Tian Shan (Kazakhstan)
• Altai (Kazakhstan)
• Northern Kazakhstan/Kazakhstan North
• Central Uplands (Kazakhstan)
• Kazakh Desert/The Qyzylqum and Aral Karakum
• Urals (Kazakhstan)/Mugodzhar Hills
• Turan Lowlands/Caspian Basin/Turanian Desert

Thoughts? --(WT-en) Peter ^Talk 02:10, 2 February 2009 (EST)

If anyone's been following this, the map is updated as I have settled on the names I think are best. I'm fairly happy with the breakdown, but am hardly an expert on Kazakhstani travel geography. The one major difference between the former proposal and this new one is that I have merged Aktobe Province into the Central Highlands, as I don't think it would well support a separate article, and because the topography and culture is only slightly different from the rest of the region (more hilly). Since no one else has voiced interest in working on this, and because Wikivoyage lacks a single Kazakhstani contributor, I'll make this live after a week has gone by without objections. It rather pains me that a country nearly the size of India, even a relatively empty one of low touristic importance, has no subregions! --(WT-en) Peter ^Talk 22:13, 6 April 2009 (EDT)

I think we should plunge forward on this, I'm not an expert either - but it looks reasonable to me. Hmmm maybe some of the Russian dudes could have some input if you proposed something similar over on ru? --(WT-en) Stefan (sertmann) ^Talk 20:18, 13 April 2009 (EDT)

Heh, tried that—they asked whether we had any knowledgeable editors over here ;) --(WT-en) Peter ^Talk 21:24, 13 April 2009 (EDT)

I have a friend who is living in Almaty right now (she's been there for a number of years) and she may have insight into how Kazakhstan is traditionally broken up (aside from the official provinces). I think Peter is correct in his initial analysis of the regions. My two cents is that while Kazakhstan is the size of Western Europe, it's population rivals that of the Netherlands so there are massive tracts of land that are essentially empty; therefore it may not be prudent to break up the regions any further down than 4 or 5 (thanks, Stefan for bringing me in on the convo!)(WT-en) iqbalza (zain iqbal) 16:39, 14 April 2009 (EDT)

The Russian version has discussed these regions quite a bit, and still may make changes in the future, which is worth following. But as for right now, I really like their renaming of Almaty Province to a more historically important name: Семиречье, for which we usually use the Kazakh name in English, Zhetysu. Any objections to a move from Almaty Province to Zhetysu? --Peter ^Talk 20:12, 16 July 2013 (UTC)Reply

The following two cities were taken out of the list in the country aticle (to keep it at 9 per policy). They are both redlinked and I place them here as both sound like interesting cities and mopre than worthy of an article!

• Taldykorgan— The beautiful city on the south-east of Kazakhstan(Zhetisu region), It is worth visiting if you interested in fantastic natural view: moutains, rivers and forests. Almost like heaven.
• Shieli— A small town located between Shymkent and Kyzylorda, belongs to the Kyzylorda region. This town is very popular for its vegetables such as huge watermelons and melons. Also, "marjan kurush" - diamond rice is the highest quality rice grown in Shieli. Moreover, this region is crowded by very kind, hospitable and nice people who will always welcome you! --(WT-en) Burmesedays 22:13, 24 January 2010 (EST)

Just a note to myself (since I started to duplicate my work just now), I have copied these descriptions to the appropriate subregion articles. --Peter ^Talk 03:52, 17 July 2013 (UTC)Reply

I find the existing banner rather generic. It could be a sunset anywhere in the world.

Anyone object to changing? --Andrewssi2 (talk) 04:09, 8 April 2015 (UTC)Reply

Look for something better. I think the current banner is quite pretty, but of course it doesn't have any clear sense of place. I don't think you need anyone's permission to propose a new banner, though. Just post a thumbnail of it here if you want opinions. Ikan Kekek (talk) 04:30, 8 April 2015 (UTC)Reply

But it's a sunset on a flat, (seemingly) barren, and lonely steppe, which that part of the world is known for. If you have something special in your mind as an alternative, though, propose it here and let the discussion begin. Vidimian (talk) 06:22, 8 April 2015 (UTC)Reply

Apparently the glorious nation of Kazakhstan is getting into the high speed rail game as well. - And beating the US to it (if you discount the Acela that only barely makes the definition along a few small stretches). Wikipedia has more on that issue. If and when the system is finally built the "by train" section will need an overhaul. Hobbitschuster (talk) 17:39, 24 June 2015 (UTC)Reply

We have a reference to the future Moscow-Beijing HSR link in High-speed_rail_in_China#Future_International_Routes --Andrewssi2 (talk) 23:02, 24 June 2015 (UTC)Reply

If I am not mistaken, WP refers to domestic plans independent of what China and Russia do. The by train section appears to be a mess regardless... How long does a train from Almaty to Astana take again? Hobbitschuster (talk) 23:19, 24 June 2015 (UTC)Reply

The second sentence on WP is : "A Moscow-Beijing-HSR is either to pass through Altai or through Kazakhstan.". Not sure how long the journey you refer to is. --Andrewssi2 (talk) 23:22, 24 June 2015 (UTC)Reply

This page isn't either. At one point it says the journey take 24 hours, at another it says there are Talgo trains that take nine hours... Hobbitschuster (talk) 23:29, 24 June 2015 (UTC)Reply

From Kazakhstan#By rail "Kazakhstan is a large country. For instance, it will take you almost 24 hours to get from Almaty to Astana. However, going by train is a very fun way of travelling [...] There is also a train called the Talgo, which can cover the distance from Almaty and Astana in 9 hours. The cost of the ticket is about KZT9,000." So, either there are really two vastly different trains and the article is just confusingly written, or there have been some upgrades already and the article is not really up to date... Hobbitschuster (talk) 23:32, 24 June 2015 (UTC)Reply

Shouldn't these be in the Astana article, rather than here? I would suggest moving them all and will do so myself if no-one else does it soon. Ikan Kekek (talk) 19:45, 5 August 2015 (UTC)Reply

Again, the question. What is actually the commonly used currency denotation? I do not remember having seen ₸ anywhere, more like TEH ... but I am not sure. Should we just use tenge like som for Kyrgyzstan? At least verbally this is what they definitely say. But I am also fine with ₸, it would just be nice to have it fixed somewhere. Cheers, Ceever (talk) 19:34, 3 October 2018 (UTC)Reply

I haven't been there, but tenge would seem to be consistent with other countries. Ground Zero (talk) 02:11, 4 October 2018 (UTC)Reply

@Ceever: shall we add this to WV:$? Ground Zero (talk) 05:17, 19 October 2018 (UTC)Reply

@AndreCarrotflower: I see the article has been vandalized a few times a week ago, but does it really need to be protected from editing (even by autopatrolled editors, which I sort of can't believe the vandals are :)) and even indefinitely? I mean, this is an article and not the Main Page or something like that.

I just wanted to move some photos to prevent the quickbar from being pushed to the left and creating a white space to the right of it (something I'm currently trying to fix on all country articles). -- ϒψιλον (talk) 17:39, 21 January 2019 (UTC)Reply

I changed the protection to autoconfirmed users. I'm guessing the excessive protection was unintentional. Ikan Kekek (talk) 23:43, 21 January 2019 (UTC)Reply

Thanks. ϒψιλον (talk) 05:32, 22 January 2019 (UTC)Reply

• Let's apply WV:Deny recognition Ibaman (talk) 19:56, 25 January 2019 (UTC)Reply

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• Центральная мечеть Павлодара.JPG

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 02:42, 5 February 2021 (UTC)Reply

I've never been to Kazakhstan or Central Asia for that matter, but I have flown over it – or at least, when I fly to Europe, I'd usually pass Kazakhstan during sunrise and I've never seen sunrise more beautiful than the ones I saw in Kazakhstan so to me, the current sunrise of Kazakhstan is what comes to mind. However, that may not be the most representative banner of Kazakhstan, and so I've cropped two banners. I think two is the most representative of the country, so I go 2, 0 and then 1. --SHB2000 (talk | contribs | meta.wikimedia) 02:36, 18 January 2022 (UTC)Reply

I like Banner 1, but I think we have to go for Banner 2 because of the folks on horses. Ikan Kekek (talk) 04:12, 18 January 2022 (UTC)Reply

Me too. Unfortunately, that banner is a bit too broad and could mean any mountain range. --SHB2000 (talk | contribs | meta.wikimedia) 04:35, 18 January 2022 (UTC)Reply

Which one is too broad, etc.? Ikan Kekek (talk) 04:47, 18 January 2022 (UTC)Reply

The one with the mountain (banner 1). SHB2000 (talk | contribs | meta.wikimedia) 04:54, 18 January 2022 (UTC)Reply

I'd go for number 2. After all, the Kazakh people were traditionally nomadic, and the guys on horseback showcase that. The dog2 (talk) 06:24, 18 January 2022 (UTC)Reply

Exactly, and the horse is very significant for Kazakhs. Ikan Kekek (talk) 06:29, 18 January 2022 (UTC)Reply

I'd agree horses are very significant for a traditionally nomadic society like Kazakhs, but a banner very similar to #2 is already in use in Altai (Kazakhstan).

Although its quality may leave much to be desired, I actually like the idea behind #0. Isn't Kazakhstan all about vast steppe landscapes? Vidimian (talk) 07:11, 18 January 2022 (UTC)Reply

I've cropped an alternate to Altai. As to "Isn't Kazakhstan all about vast steppe landscapes", it certainly is, but it's not obvious in the banner given its focus is taken away by the sunrise. SHB2000 (talk | contribs | meta.wikimedia) 07:56, 18 January 2022 (UTC)Reply

Then my preference would be 2, 0, 1. Vidimian (talk) 08:06, 18 January 2022 (UTC)Reply

Done. SHB2000 (talk | contribs | meta.wikimedia) 22:59, 18 January 2022 (UTC)Reply

Can we make it so that universally it is Astana on country maps bordering Kazakhstan? Like China, for example, it is Nur-Sultan and not Astana. Xirosaturn (talk) 22:26, 6 June 2023 (UTC)Reply