Today was a day to soak in the scenery around the city and explore the beautiful mountains of the Almaty region. Almaty is a city surrounded by snow-capped mountains even when it is summer. Medeo Gorge is well known due to the highest mountain skating rink in the world and the dam, protecting the city from dangerous mudflow. The Medeo ice rink is the highest mountain sports complex at an altitude of 1691 m above sea level and with an ice surface of 10.5 thousand...

We arrived late last evening and did not see anything of this city. Just time to meet our guide Oksana and check into the hotel to get some sleep. This is the beginning of our trip "Best of the Stans". The stan suffix comes from the Persian root istan meaning 'land' - hence 'land of the Kazakhs' or 'land of the Tajiki'. Squeezed between India, Russia, and China, the "stans" sit amongst imposing mountains, vast steppe, and desert. All independent nations now, each...