3 lies I told myself about traveling in Central Asia
Before I traveled to Central Asia, I was a bit freaked out. No one I knew had traveled in Central Asia and it just seemed so remote and strange. But I was adamant about it and I knew that this was a trip I just had to do. I’d been dreaming about those mountains for so long, to get to know the nomadic people and see the madrasas in Uzbekistan. I’m so happy I did it because it turned out to be one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life. And I’m so happy I didn’t listen to the 3 lies I told myself about traveling in Central Asia.
Here are the 3 lies that I repeated in my head constantly and that almost stopped me from traveling.
It’ll be unsafe
Three months of traveling around Central Asia really opened up my eyes to this part of the world that’s definitely not as scary as it might sound like to people who’ve never been here. But I can totally understand why many people think it’s unsafe here. This was one of the first lies I told myself about traveling in Central Asia. I thought since not many people go to Central Asia, it has to be unsafe. But I couldn’t be more wrong. I was so surprised by how safe it is and how easy it is to travel around. During my three months of traveling, I never felt unsafe. Not even once, not even when I walked home alone at night in Almaty, probably the biggest city that I visited in Central Asia.
Everything will be difficult
Well, there were some difficult times, but I was surprised that tourism has started to develop here too. It might not be as easy like traveling around Southeast Asia, but it’s far from difficult. It can be a bit frustrating at times if you don’t speak Russian or the local language, but you’ll be surprised by how far you can get with body language.
No one will speak English
All the blogs I read about Central Asia warned me about the language barrier and how difficult it would be to travel without knowing Russian. So before I left, I was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to communicate with anyone. Although it is true to some extent that people don’t speak English here, you will still be surprised by how many people who at least knows a few words. You’ll almost be guaranteed that the receptionists at your hostel speaks English, the tour guides and people who works in tourism. Many young people in Kazakhstan has good knowledge of English too and like stated above, you can always get away with body language. Or google translate.
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