Product Description

Covers Kazakhstan (Borat's home), and other Central Asian regions. The only entire up to date guide covering the entire region.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #39116 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 508 pages

Customer Reviews

LP hits the wrong note - this is prejudiced and outdated
I know it's hard to keep up with what seem like interminable change in Central Asia, but even this updated LP guide has little to distinguish it from its mid-90s edition. The defeatist and unadventurous attitude is a million miles away from the enthusiasm of most LPs and I couldn't quite understand the worth of printing a guide that hardly recommends anything! The Bradt guides are much better to this lesser known and understood region.

New edition, much improved
Please be aware that all other reviews (so far) refer to what is really a completely different book. This one is pretty up to date, for example it covers post-Taliban Afghanistan. I would say this is the currently the most convenient way of acquiring certain basic modern information about these vast regions. Check it out. It should be in your local public library.

Reasonable but little alternative
Travellers to this area of the world are not spoilt for choice when it comes to selecting the book to guide them around the region. I could find no real alternative to the LP guide, others tend to be brief and cover the area as part of a mammoth expedition around all of Asia.

As I have found with other Lonely Planet guides, the style can be irritating, however given the size of the region covered and the volatility of the politics I usually found the guide sufficient.

My greatest criticism would definitely be for the language section. Granted, many languages are spoken in the region but generally Russian is the common one. Not speaking any Russian I frequently had to rely on the limited vocab supplied in the back. Being able to describe to a border guard 30 different regional dishes doesn't get you very far. Words such as passport and bank may be more useful to a traveller.