Yeah, I can totally believe it. Genuinely heartbreaking - for a while Russia felt like it was slowly heading in the right direction as well, and I’m glad in that brief window I got to visit and experience the place, but after 2014 it all just fell apart and they lurched into reverse.
Never been to Kazakhstan (hope to), but I believe you - I found people in Kyrgyzstan to be by contrast some of the friendliest and kindest in the world. Never felt uncomfortable hitching or travelling by marshrutka there, and had one of the most memorable meals of my life (beshbarmak, served to the honoured guest as a full, boiled sheep’s head with the top cut off…) with a family there.
Looking at the world today, and the barriers that fell during my lifetime being put back up just because three limp-dicked octogenarians think the whole planet should be carved up between them… It’s devastating.
Yeah, I can totally believe it. Genuinely heartbreaking - for a while Russia felt like it was slowly heading in the right direction as well, and I’m glad in that brief window I got to visit and experience the place, but after 2014 it all just fell apart and they lurched into reverse.
Never been to Kazakhstan (hope to), but I believe you - I found people in Kyrgyzstan to be by contrast some of the friendliest and kindest in the world. Never felt uncomfortable hitching or travelling by marshrutka there, and had one of the most memorable meals of my life (beshbarmak, served to the honoured guest as a full, boiled sheep’s head with the top cut off…) with a family there.
Looking at the world today, and the barriers that fell during my lifetime being put back up just because three limp-dicked octogenarians think the whole planet should be carved up between them… It’s devastating.