Since Otar Left

Went to see one of the free films at the Melnitz Theatre which was a Georgian / French film called Since Otar Left… not the most promising of starts but it did get a rather obscence score on rottentomatoes… so why not. It turned out to be set mostly in Georgia which looked particularly run down. So this got me to wondering if the surrounding countries that you never hear about are actually worth visiting or if they are just as grotty? Is there a Lonely Planet Azerbaijan for example? And do hordes of knowing travelers flock to Kazakstan or Turkmenistan?My hopes of unchartered excitement in the former Soviet Empire were dashed by the Lonely Planet’s description of some of these places…
Kazakstan
If you’re not a fan of endless semi-arid steppe and decaying industrial cities, Kazakhstan may seem bleak…
If it sometimes looks like the landscape has suffered from hundreds of nuclear explosions, well, parts of it have …