SA+Day+16

I'm headed for Kazakhstan! Accomodations for this leg of the journey have come to a great low total of $1,080. My flight left India at 8:55 pm and I'm due to land in Kazakhstan (After a few stops and switching planes) at around 6:40 am on the 30th of June. In Kazakhstan I will do some more culture exploring but I will only be spending a few days with the nomadic villagers before I head to my next location. While in Kazakhstan Spencer Wells tracked down a man who had the DNA proving his ancestors had come from Africa. This had been another stop on our ancient ancestors journey when they left Africa thousands of years ago. This man's DNA had been in Kazakhstan for about 40,000 years. Dr. Wells had some border trouble here.

I hate to admit it but I'm one of those people who only know that Kazakhstan exsists because of the movie Borat. This means I have absolutely no idea what I can really expect during my one week stay here. As the plane lands I am becoming very anxious and excited. I know there will be so much more to this country than what the movie Borat has to show.

In ancient turkish, the word Kazakh means "free and independent nomad". Kazakhstan originally was a country made up of nomads. Arranged marriages were common to keep peace between the tribes of nomads. Arranged marriages are still very common in today's Kazakhstanian society.

The Kazaks speak 2 languages: Kazak and Russian. Russian is more common than Kazak. Horses play a big role in the lives of the village people. As with many symbolic parts of their culture the horses tie them to the nomadic lives of their ancestors. Many Kazakhs also follow the Muslim religion which is another important part of their culture.

I have really enjoyed my time in Kazakhstan. Border control was a little easier for me to get through because unlike Spencer Wells, I didn't have cameras following me around. It's been great but it's time for me to head to my next destination. Next I'll be visiting the Chukchi people. The harsh weather conditions will be rough but if my ancient ancestors can do it then so can I.