Exploring Soviet Gulag KarLag in Kazakhstan

History has interested me for as long as I can remember. How the human race has committed atrocities, and how we learn from the mistakes of others. How people are able to rise up against the odds, and prevail. KarLag is an example of one of these atrocities. What was KarLag? KarLag (short for Karaganda …

Big-Almaty-Lake

Traffic Jam at Big Almaty Lake in Winter

If you are going to check out nature’s attractions, I recommend looking up what the sight will actually look like in that season. We learned out the hard way that Big Almaty Lake was in the middle of snowy mountains after we got stuck in the snow heading to view the lake. We also learned …

WWII-Panfilov-28-Monument

First Day in the Stans: Almaty, Kazakhstan

When most Westerners hear Kazakhstan, they think Borat (very nice, I like—hopefully you read that in a Borat voice). Borat was filmed in Romania rather than Kazakhstan and Sasha Baron Cohen’s character speaks Hebrew, not Kazakh. Safe to say the portrayal of Kazakhstan in the movie is very different than real life. All Borat aside, …