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These areas are quite free
regarding fees / trekking rules / compulsory porters / guides compared
to
e.g. national parks of Africa or Nepal. There is a long tradition of
self
supported trekking
in Russia especially. People even still send descriptions of the
treks they made for annual competitions. There are no porters and
almost
no guides there and maybe therefore no mass trekking destinations.
Local people are very
friendly and hospitable.
All different nations of ex-USSR, once
united by force
into Russian empire and later communist USSR, can
speak Russian (although it is
often not their native
language). This was a great plus for me in terms of communication with
them. One can find similar mountains, deserts, rivers
etc. in
other parts of the world. But if one can not communicate with local
people in some language they know, he/she is still in the same position
as thousands of other tourists and he/she is usually perceived by local
people as this kind of a tourist too.
English
as an intermediary language can help in many parts of the world, but
in
more remote places this can be a problem. The ordinary people like
shepherds and hunters
(and these people are usually the most interesting and hospitable) in
remote Siberian, Pamir, Caucasian, Pakistani, Chinese, Yemeni,
Colombian etc.
villages
can't usually speak English.
After previous almost 10 journeys into
Russia/Caucasus/Central Asia, I enjoy travelling to
other parts of the world as well now. My experience in Russian
speaking areas has shown me that knowing the local language makes a
great
difference. So
I try to learn
Arabic before I go to Yemen, Spanish before I go to Colombia etc.
Hopefully
I will learn some Farsi before going for 2nd time to Afghanistan
(Iran).
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