Back from Traveling the Silk Road in China and Central Asia

After a phenomenal trip with my husband and my parents traveling the “Silk Road” from China to Kazakhstan and then Uzbekistan, I am happy to be home. It was fascinating to visit a part of the world where I could barely form the sounds that make up Mandarin, much less begin to read the characters. By following the old trade route known as the Silk Road, we spent time in both China and two former Soviet block countries. Of course while we were away, we had access to CNN and the BBC and so received the horrible economic news that was taking place at home. With all this turmoil in our home economy, my perspectives on our travels took an economic view point as well.

The contrasts in industrialization, modernization, and culture among these three countries are immense. It was phenomenal to see how most of the cities we visited in China were modernized, so much so that you really had to look for the signs of the China I had once read about. The work ethic in China is immense, and the economic results omnipresent.

Kazakhstan is overflowing with money from oil and banking its natural gas resources for the future. We had never seen so many Mercedes, BMS, Lexus, and Cayennes in one small area before.

Uzbekistan was entirely different from China and Kazakhstan in that the country could not seem to get out of its own way. It had neither China’s work ethic, nor Kazakhstan’s easy oil. Its economy seemed to be based on agriculture, a cottage industry of handicrafts, and the stirrings of tourism. Although its population is educated through the high school level, there don’t appear to be the jobs inside the country to keep its educated population employed, and so many young people leave to work elsewhere.

Throughout our trip, I was able to call my children every single day with my AT&T cell phone, and had better service than I get in my hometown suburb of Boston! Internet access was limited and access to the Zoe Foods server was blocked when I was in China. I’m sure it was due to all of the crazy political views we espouse on this website! All in all, it was an amazing trip and I look forward to going back to China again. And of course I brought back a piece of China for my youngest daughter in the form of a tea set. She and her sister store it in the kitchen and have had several tea parties already.