Central Asia

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>>1231285
Something about Ships of the Dessert...

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>>1231412
Am heading there (Kyrgyzstan) next month, OP. Going to spend a few days chilling in Bishkek, then heading up to the low end of the Kyrgyz / Kazakh plain around Talas and visit the Mennonite German village of Biebertal. Then will be having a few days at the lake resort of Cholpon Ata, visiting Karakol and checking in to the Soviet-as-fuck Sanatorium in Jeti-Oguz where the Russians sent Yuri Gagarin after his spaceflight. After that, going to head up into the mountains, get to Irkeshtam and try to hunt down some guy I saw on an old TV show. Going to finish up by some hiking around the Arslanbob walnut forests and getting to the Fergana Valley and Jalal-Abad & Osh. I expect there to be much vodka, and I will be unwisely attempting to buy a motorbike or moped/scooter to dick around on for a bit during the sober interludes.

>>1232708
>Mennonite German village of Biebertal
I have never heard of this. I'm German and plan to visit Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Are there actual Germans still living there? Do they speak Deutsch?

>>1232708

Not OP but fuck me that sounds like an epic trip. Do you speak their local lingo / Russian? If not, how do you manage travel in remote areas sans linguistics?

>>1231426
>Ships of the Dessert...
Sounds tasty

>>1232751
Met a few of those in Georgia, they were German-Russian bilingual. Given that they moved back to Germany at a young age, their Russian was worse than their German, but the older generations are apparently fluent in both.

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>>1232751
I got the name wrong, it's called Bergtal. There are indeed still some Germans there
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JgcM9CWnhE&t=56s

>>1232777
I can count to ten, say "Yes", "No" and "Thankyou". I did just about manage to learn the Cyrillic alphabet, but have no idea if it'll be of any help.
>how do you manage travel in remote areas sans linguistics?
Smile, show money at appropriate moments, and be prepared to end up somewhere totally different from where you intended to go.

Kazakhstan is the fucking coolest and I plan on going one day

>cosmodrome
>that town where an EMP went off and accidentally fried the whole grid and killed a lot of people, Karaganda
>that lake near the Polygon that is a nuke crater that's ten times the safe limit and requires tourists to wear moonsuits to approach, but locals still swim in it
>Aralsk and the Aral Sea
>possible tour to Voz, the abandoned city where scientists did experiments with anthrax and smallpox - used to be an island til the ocean dried
>KARLAG Gulag, mostly gone but has a museum and cemeteries of the wives and children of enemies of the state
>Polygon, area the size of Rhode Island that the Soviets closed off and used to test nukes, exposing locals to fallout and not letting them leave -- people still live here
>mountains in the northeast, Siberia

>>1232708
IMO my favorite 2 lakes in kyrgyzstan were song-kul and toktogul, the latter not even being a natural one but rather a water reservoir, it's halfway between osh and bishkek but it's worth stopping over there for a night as nobody even goes there, it's surrounded by mountains with icy peaks and sunset there is one of the most amazing views i've ever seen.
Do horse trekking to song-kul

>>1232751
My parents are from there and I live in Germany. There are not many Germans left. Most went to Germany and Wolga region but some are left.
The older generations (born until ~1960) speaks Deitsch (oldgerman). Young generation is learnig again german

>>1233116
Cyrillic alphabet will help a lot.
English wont get you far, just at younger people and even there not that many do speak it.
German is the most often teached foreign language but not many speak it good, just basic stuff.
In Bishkek and around IssyKul Russian is the language to go.

>>1234020
Sweet - I do know a few basics in German, certainly more than I do in Russian anyway.