The Silk Road going through Central Asia has been on my bucket list for a while already, not only
because of the history of the Silk Road, but also because I can add ‘five’ countries in one trip! Now that
I am getting really close to my goal of traveling to 100 countries, adding five in one scoop is very
enticing.
One of the top priorities for me on this trip is to be able to pronounce the five Stans correctly –
Kazakhstan is the only one I have confidence in my pronunciation. Uzbekistan (Uz-beki-stan) is doable,
Tajikistan (Ta-ji-ki-stan) is not too bad, Turkmenistan (Turk-meni-stan) is starting to give me trouble, and
Kyrgyzstan (Kyr-gyz-stan) is impossible; I couldn’t even get the first sound out of my mouth. Ray tried
many times to help me, but I am still struggling with it. With 6 consonants at the beginning of the name,
I don’t even know where to start. We will see if getting to know the people and culture of Kyrgyzstan
will help me to pronounce it.
This region is one of the world’s least visited and less well-known destinations. The area covers vast
deserts and mighty rivers, and the epic Mountains of Heaven (Tien Shan) are where the Chinese believe the
“Heavenly Mother” lives. It should be very interesting following the ancient trade routes to discover
and learn from the remains of a bygone age.