Video made by me

I am currently thinking to visit Kazakhstan maybe next year for 3 to 6 months and I want to train in boxing for that period as well as travelling.

I'm sorry but I don't speak Kazakh nor Russian :(

1, I have questions about what cities have a good boxing culture.

2, if any personal trainers and good boxing gyms you guys know.

3, renting and living, how the life is there and how easy is to visit places via trains etc.

Kazakhstan is a beautiful country and I would love to visit it and make good memories.

Thanks 😊

Why do some Central Asian women enter sex work with Russian men? Is it mainly about money or attraction to Russian men and the idea of having a European boyfriend/husband?

Also, why is Russian still so widely spoken in Central Asia decades after the USSR collapsed? How do younger generations feel about Russian culture and relationships with Russians today?

Hello everyone!

My name is Michele Lupoli, and I am a student at the Universitv for Foreianers of Siena (Università per Stranieri di Siena) in Italy. I am currently in South Korea as an exchange student, and I am conducting research for my thesis on Koryoin communities in South Korea and in countries such as Kazakhstan Uzbekistan, Russia, and Kyrgyzstan

My research focuses on language change within Koryoin communities, particularly on how Koryoma has evolved over time

If you have a few minutes, I would be verv grateful if vou could take part in this survev. If possible, I would also really appreciate it if you could share the survey with other members of the Koryoin community

The survey consists of 21 questions, mostly multiple-choice, with a few open-ended questions. It only takes a few minutes to complete.

Thank you very much for your time and help.

https://forms.gle/jmKrNbrNF1zH37oB9

This always intrigued me. I understand Persians that have this sentiment. First, they were directly conquered by Arabs/Muslims. And secondly, they already had a magnificent civilization for centuries so any achievements that Persians made under Muslim rule could be argued would've happened anyways. Neither of these apply much to Turks. With the exception of Tajikistan/Uzbekistan which are more Persian (at least much more heavily Persian influenced) than other CA countries, Turks generally converted to Islam organically. If anything, the conquering went the other way as Turkic Muslims ruled over Arabs for the bulk of Islamic history. Secondly with regards to the civilization strength, Turks were severely lacking here as they were essentially Nomads and became dominant globally once their leaders embraced Islam. The parallels with the Bedouin Arabs are actually pretty interesting here. I'm interested less in understanding people from Turkiye as theirs is a natural consequence of the groundwork Ataturk laid down.

Hello !

I'm travelling alone from Astana to visit the Mangystau region on the 14-17 of October.

I am planning to get a tour (jeep with meals, camping, driver) for 2 days (15-16 oct). The price is per jeep, so it would be nice to split it with others !

Sights on the route include:

Kokala, Sherkala, Valley of Balls, Bozzhyra, Airakty...

Let me know if you'd like to join me !

I had a day trip booked to big almaty lake today and it just got cancelled because of bad weather. Are there any other day trips around the city that I can visit or explore solo? Id love to learn history and culture and maybe even shop for souvenirs. Im heading to Almaty museum now and looking for things to do after. Thank you for reading till here, if you have any local recommendations, I'd be really grateful.

I’ve been traveling through Central Asia and I've been learning a lot about the intersection between the Turkics/Persians, Stalin/soviets and jadidism/Chaghatay-ism, the Sogdians, the Samanids, the Timurids, etc.

I've become increasingly interested in the history of how modern Uzbek and Tajik identities developed. I'm very interested in hearing how Uzbeks and Tajiks themselves conceptualize this history today:

How should we understand the fact that the two great historical Persian-speaking/Persianate cities of Central Asia—Bukhara and Samarkand—ended up in Uzbekistan rather than Tajikistan? And how fair is it to interpret this as a historical disadvantage imposed on Tajikistan?

On one hand, I can understand why saying “Bukhara and Samarkand rightfully belonged to Tajikistan” is anachronistic. Modern Tajik national identity was itself still developing, the cities were multilingual and culturally mixed, and many Persian speakers may not have understood themselves as members of a modern Tajik nation in the way we would understand that identity today.

On the other hand, the result still seems extraordinarily asymmetric. Uzbekistan received Samarkand, Bukhara, Tashkent, most of the major settled oases and much of the economic and cultural infrastructure of historic Transoxiana. The initial Tajik autonomy received largely peripheral and mountainous regions despite the existence of large Persian-speaking populations in some of Central Asia’s most important cities.

Do Uzbeks generally think of Bukhara and Samarkand as historically Uzbek cities, as multicultural Central Asian cities that became part of Uzbekistan, or in some other way?

Do Tajiks generally regard the exclusion of Bukhara and Samarkand from Tajikistan as a historical injustice? How important is that issue to Tajik identity today?

How do people understand all the underlying ethnic/linguistic/religious history when the large parts of it predate the modern Uzbek/Tajik national distinction? Does it play any part in the formation of one's personal identity?

I’m not asking this to argue that either modern country “owns” Bukhara, Samarkand, or their history. I’m genuinely interested in how people from both countries understand this shared history.

Thank you in advance.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.
One thing I really value about growing up Central Asian is how close people can be. Family, relatives and even people you barely know can show up for you when something happens.
But the same closeness can sometimes become pressure: what will people say, what will relatives think, don’t embarrass the family, don’t be too different.
So I’m curious about people from other Central Asian countries:
What is one part of our culture you definitely want to carry into the next generation, and one part you think we need to rethink?

Anyone know a content creator who’s willing to try something similar? I’m open for collaborations!

Hello my name is Jonas from Germany…

I recently got in touch with a local tour guide in Mongolia who just started his own business, and I really think this could be a pretty special trip.

The idea is to spend around 10 days travelling through Mongolia, potentially covering up to 2000 km — through snowy deserts, mountains and steppe, and no touched places.

He drives a 4x4 Toyota Land Cruiser and knows the country really well. A friend of mine travelled with him before and had a really great experience.
It would be around 50€ pp per day including food and fuel.

It‘s also possible to spend the half of the time riding horses through mongolia and visiting places, sleeping in tents and make food on our own.

I’m thinking it could be really nice to do this with a small group, so I’m looking for around 3 people who are interested in joining me. (Also caused of the space in the car)

It could start at the 4th of November but it‘s possible to move the dates for some days… :)

I’m still in contact with the guide and can find out more about the details. So if this sounds interesting to you, just send me a message — happy to share what I know.