Traveling in Kazakhstan

Have you read any of the books listed here? Would you like to let others know what you thought of it? If so, please fill out a Book Review and I will add your comments. All of these book links open in a new window , so that you can continue to browse my bookstore while purchasing the books. A next to a book indicates that it has been added in the last month.

Lonely Planet Central Asia
by Bradley Mayhew, John Noble, Greg Bloom, and Dean Starnes, 4th edition, published August 2007
"In addition to listing the best accommodations in this intriguing region, this guide also covers the history and architecture of the cities along the famous Silk Road. Central Asiahas all the information you'll need on border crossings and visas, plus special language sections to help you express yourself on the road." Includes: Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and now Afghanistan. This is the only travel guidebook that gets updated. I wished I had bought it before we left! To read an article by the one of the writers of the new edition, see The Real Kazakhstan: Where Bor*t Never Was

Lonely Planet Phrasebook: Central Asia Lonely Planet Central Asia Phrasebook
published April 2005
"Your key to traveling the famed Silk Road, with essential words and phrases for getting around and getting to know the locals. From western Xinjiang to the Karakoram Highway you'll be able to haggle in the bazaars and order your favorite kebabs with ease. Covers all essential language and more, in an easy-to-use format; includes comprehensive sections on Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Pashto, Tajik, Tashkorghani, Turkmen, Uyghur and Uzbek; also includes essential words and phrases in other languages of the region; pocket-sized and organized by subject; the perfect language companion."

The Wordless Travel Book: Point at These Pictures to Communicate with Anyone
by Jonathan Meader, published July 1999
"It is a unique triumph for us to present a travel book that helps you communicate without words! All you need to do is point at the icons contained in this inventive little book and you'll be able to speak a foreign language and be understood. Encased in a sturdy clear plastic jacket for easy travel." This is a great aide when traveling in a country that you do not speak the language; yes, I have it!

Guide to Almaty - Stranded on the Silk Road: the What is Next? 308 pages with an Almaty map attached, by Amy Foster and Michael Rothbart, published in 2001 in Almaty. Silk Road Painting sometimes carries this book. Also reportedly available at hotels in Almaty.

Monuments of Central Asia: A Guide to the Archaeology, Art and Architecture of Turkestan
by Edgar Knobloch, published October 2000
"Trained in Middle Eastern history in Prague, Knobloch first visited central Asia in 1959 to research and photograph archaeological sites and architectural monuments. Now that the region is open to tourism, he offers visitors a guide to the history and features of monumental structures. He includes many color photographs."

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Once in Kazakhstan: The Snow Leopard Emerges
by Keith Rosten, published in January 2005.
"Kazakhstan became independent as the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991. Author Keith Rosten was a Fulbright Lecturer in Kazakhstan soon after the country gained independence. In Once in Kazakhstan, Rosten draws a sometimes humorous portrait of a critical period in the emergence of Kazakhstan. He interweaves the challenges and exhilaration of living in Kazakhstan with the historical backdrop of a country grappling with its independence. From horse heads in the Central Market, to guns on the ski slopes, to the first-ever parliamentary elections, Rosten takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of the country. He leads the reader on a tour of the war monuments in Almaty and the mines of Karaganda. He vividly recounts the change in currency from the Soviet ruble to the tenge. He travels with a candidate for parliament to a rural village near Semipalatinsk and journeys to the Karakhan Mausoleum in Dzhambul. Rosten uses his knowledge of Russian living and language to give the reader access to non-English sources on the history, politics, traditions, and spirit of Kazakhstan. The book contains photographs of the people, places, and monuments of the country. Once in Kazakhstan is an invaluable resource for anyone who is traveling to Kazakhstan."
Go to Keith Rosten's website or iUniverse for a table of contents and to read the first chapter.

Where There Is No Doctor
by David Werner, published May 1998
"Translated into over 90 languages, Where There Is No Doctor is considered the most accessible and widely used community health care manual in the world. This revolutionary health care "bible" has saved millions of lives around the world by providing vital information on diagnosing and treating common medical problems and diseases, and giving special emphasis to prevention. The book also includes sections detailing effective examination techniques, home cures, correct usage of medicines and their precautions, nutrition, caring for children, ailments of older individuals and first aid."

Kwikpoint International Translator. This laminated, passport size, multi-panel folding card lets you communicate your needs with over 600 colorful, universally-recognized drawings. No heat in your hotel room? Want your steak rare? Kwikpoint (®) will get your message across. (5 1/2 x 3 3/4"; 1 oz)

Kazakhstan: Nomadic Routes from Caspian to Altai
by Dagmar Schreiber, to be published February 2008.
"A country larger than Western Europe, Kazakhstan's vast expanse encompasses the Great Steppe, across which Genghis Khan's Mongol hordes galloped; the heights of the Tien Shan in the south, through whose foothills Silk Road travelers journeyed; the exquisite lakes and valleys of the Altai mountains in the northeast, and in the far west the archeologically rich desert coast of the Caspian Sea. With independence and the discovery of oil has come huge change, yet Kazakhstan remained one of the least known of Asian countries until the B*rat movie took the world by storm in 2006. Now, this land of rich history, welcoming people and whirling bazaars shares its wonders with a curious world."

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Page last updated on 17 February 2008.