CIS- Commonwealth of Independent States are countries that were formed after dissolution of USSR. There are 9 countries as members including Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Moldova. Georgia and Ukraine, erstwhile members have backed out. These countries have a heavy Russian influence from language, culture, food taking influence from the USSR
Russian is often the primary or secondary official language in most of the countries. These countries often had their own unique traditions. For example, Uzbekistan is heavily Islamic. Being a part of silk route, it borrows influence from India too. Their love for Bollywood is unmatched, specially among kids and women
What each central Asian country looks like
Kyrgyzstan has some of the most dramatic mountain landscapes in the world, similar to Switzerland but rawer in its form
The Pamir mountains in Tajikistan are like Himalayas, slightly smaller in height. Most of the country is just covered in mountains and villages making a road trip here very popular
Turkmenistan is weirdest of all. It was not open to tourism till recent times, with a dictator led regime, tough visa process, agency mandated with tourists, less developed tourist infra, controlled internet, it was almost impossible to enter till last decade. The glazing gas crater at Darwaza is the most famous attraction in this country
Kazakhstan is the most developed one when it comes to cities like Almaty and Astana, thanks to its oil and mineral resources. Vast majority of the area is just steppe or grasslands where nomads used to live centuries ago. Cities and populations are far and few. You can see some of the grandest and at time bizarre architectures at Astana which is the current capital
This region was just a blob on the map till recent past. I could not locate them specifically on a map, until one of my colleagues was raving about Uzbekistan and how the walled city of Khiva is lost in time. I had heard about Tashkent where our former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri had passed away under mysterious circumstances. I started reading more about this place to realize that it is just 3 hours away from India
A special call out for Uzbekistan- listing reasons to convince all of you to visit
Why you should definitely visit Uzbekistan
- Monuments, mountains, lakes, deserts, orchards. No one will get bored here
- Uzbekistan has one of the most well-preserved monuments of silk route times. Khiva and Bukhara are adobe-colored cities. Samarkand has the mosaic blue everywhere
- Monuments are like the ones in Iran in Isfahan, Yazd which we might never get a chance to travel soon
- Another reason to visit is that it is quite cheap, at levels like Thailand in Southeast Asia. Low-cost carriers like Indigo run relatively cheap flights. Tourist infrastructure is good with trains connecting cities within couple of hours, riding hailing apps and metros making intra-city travel easy
- It offers one of the best hospitality in the world. We cover our stories here: Warmth of Uzbeks
- You can get excellent hotels under $50, a nice way to pamper yourself
- The food and markets are busiest, with widest collection from fruits and animals to gold
- You can find reasonably priced shopping collections from scarves, carpets, clothes, souvenirs and what not
- Visa is simple with e-visa for most nationalities
- You can see Aral Sea before it vanishes completely. It used to be twice the size of Belgium in heydays. It is a sad story of human exploitation and a good lesson to learn to protect natural resources
Some of the similarities and constraints to be aware of to avoid disappointment
- Uzbekistan: Has something for any kind of traveler. 15 days is just not enough to cover majority of the places. Too many monuments may get boring and give a blue haze, so prioritize 3-4 places and go deep
- Kyrgyzstan is full of mountains and lakes, best suited for people who want to chill out admiring nature and staying in traditional huts or yurt camps. If you plan to spend a month here, all mountains might start looking the same. We feel a week is good enough here
- Kazakhstan: The country is so large that you will end up taking flights to big cities and covering only places peripheral to each city. Organized group tours covering multiple cities or places beyond Astana and Almaty are rare to find. Pick 2-3 cities to get a sense. Wonders like colorful mountains of Mangystan are so remote that you need to plan just around this to make it and be comfortable driving in the interiors
- Turkmenistan: Covering Darwaza crater from say Uzbekistan near Khiva should be good enough. Not sure if it is due to lack of information with limited travel and restrictions of the past, we couldn’t find any other must visit wonder here
- Tajikistan: A long road trip across the Pamirs is a must to, but it might get monotonous after a week unless you are an avid trekker
You can potentially do one country plus a city in the neighboring country close to the border at a time. Each country is unique. While you might not be in awe as you visit many of them, they are unique enough to warrant a visit to the region a couple of times at least.