The Five Stans of the Silk Road - A Short Introduction

Arriving at the airport to head to Central Asia on a month long journey

It has been a long ten months since I took my last big adventure. My journey to Turkey & The Caucasus (Armenia, Georgia & Azerbaijan) was a trip of a lifetime.

The trip was so successful and life changing that I felt it was time to organize a bigger challenge to test my limits. What better way than to open up doors to some of the most under explored countries in the world? The Five Stans of the Silk Road!!!

The Five Stans I am referring to are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.

For those who are new to travel and looking to enhance geography skills, these five countries are located along the Silk Road in Central Asia (see map below). The region is historically been used as a network for trading textile silk products between China and Southeast Europe, through the 15th Century.

(fun fact: there are seven Stans total, the others being Afghanistan and Pakistan - though, the focus of this article will be on the Five Stans only)

A map of Central Asia where I will be visiting

I write this from the capital, Astana (formerly Nur-Sultan) where I kickstart my five-week journey. Upcoming visits on the itinerary include Chong-Kemin (Kyrgyzstan), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Samarkand (Uzbekistan), and Darvaza (Turkmenistan), just to name a few.

I am excited to share restaurant and site seeing recommendations for those visiting Kazakhstan in the near future.

Can’t wait to inspire everyone on my travels in Central Asia.

On the plane before flying across the world on LOT Polish Airlines (fun fact: I scored a bonus and had a whole row to myself which made my flight more enjoyable)