The Kazakh government moved from Almaty to Astana in December 1998 and Astana is since then the Capital of Kazakhstan. The Kazakh language is very difficult to understand and to pronounce. If you speak and/or understand the Russian language, then you should be fine. But still Russian is considered to be tougher to learn (grammatically speaking).

The food consists of meat, potatoes, rice and pasta. And lots of it. If you're vegetarian stay at home, because if it doesn't have meat in it, it was almost certainly cooked on meat stock.Here are some dishes to recommend: Laghman - A thick noodle dish, usually served as a soup. Manty - Large steamed dumplings full of meat and onions. Plov - A wonderful dish of fried rice, meat, carrots, and sometimes other bits such as raisins or tomatoes. Beshbarmak - Wide, flat noodles, with boiled horseflesh on top. The traditional meal of Kazakhs. Shashlyk - Skewered, roasted chunks of meat, served with some sort of flatbread (usually lavash) and onions.