After the all furore surrounding Sacha Baron Cohen’s new movie Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, I’m sure many people were wondering what the little known (but geographically large) country of Kazakhstan would be like to visit. Well, thanks to Lonely Planet we can find out. John Noble has written a feature article on the real Kazakhstan for the Lonely Planet website:

Just in case anyone doubted it, Borat’s Kazakhstan is indeed a work of fiction. Horses do not yet have the vote here, women do ride on the inside of buses (and collect the fares too) and the country’s chief Rabbi not long ago praised the government for its support of the small Jewish community. Doubtless Sacha Baron Cohen alighted on this central Asian country as the home of his racist, sexist, ignorant journalist character because it was so little known in the West that few could point out the misrepresentation…

In the end, the guy maybe doing the country a favour. After all, millions who had never heard of Kazakhstan now have a notion of it that can only get better.

Lonely Planet also offer a brief online guide to Kazakhstan, which includes interesting facts and figures about the country.

Kazakhstan is included in the Lonely Planet guide to Central Asia (3rd Edition 2004), available in paperback for $41.95 (ISBN 1-86450-296-7)