All this week, we've got our Eye on Kazakhstan here at CNN,
home to a large part of the ancient Silk Road, one of the world's oldest trading routes that connected east Asia to the Roman Empire.
Well now, plans are underway to modernize that route. Have a look at this.
You know, Kazakhstan is such a huge and vast country that you can't really experience it unless you take a road trip.
So today, we're going to take a journey down what used to be the ancient Silk Road, where this country's constructing a new super highway.
The journey begins in Almaty, the largest city and former capital.
Pretty soon, we're making our way through the amazing mountain landscapes of eastern Kazakhstan, a rural area with interesting traditions.
A little dip in the river, more or less clothed. Turns out, this is a wedding party.
You guys after weddings go bathing in the river normally?
Of course, it's not our tradition normally, but we wanted to share our joy in the river and in nature with our guests, the bride's family.
They came from so far away.
In eastern Kazakhstan, that means a lot of vodka and fearless stunts.
Kazakhstan is the largest landlocked country in the world, its population and geography extremely diverse.?
Merchants passed through here on the ancient Silk Road hundreds of years ago,
and now that trade between east and west is booming again, the government has decided it needs to upgrade its infrastructure.
A new highway is under construction that will span the entire country and replace many of the bumpy back roads that make travel here such a chore.
Murat Kadyrov is in charge of building this section and says the new road will help boost mobility and safety.?
"The speed limit will be 120 kilometers an hour,"
he says. "There will be less crashes because there are no intersections, and it will enable Kazakhstan to develop economically and give people a substantial benefit."
Kazakhstan plans to spend about $19 billion on transport infrastructure by 2014,
the government says, especially on links from China to Europe, money that could help revive towns like Taraz,
once a major hub on the ancient Silk Road with a rich Islamic history.
Anna Krokosheva shows me the ruins of the old town and the tomb of its most important son, Karakhan Mohammed,
the city's governor in its heyday in the 11th century who made a major push to convert the population to Islam.
It was a big merchant city. The ruler of the entire state sat here.
It was the capital and the city was very rich. Both Persian and Arabic scripts mention this city.
Kazakhstan still has a long way to go to revitalize its role as a major trade route, but the effort is underway, the transport minister tells me.
"We have a serious policy for the development of the road infrastructure,"
he says. "The Europe to Western China highway is one of the main projects. It will connect Europe and China on the shortest possible path."
Today, the roads are so treacherous, most people travel by railroad. The train makes its way to our final destination, Turkestan.
About a thousand kilometers from where our trip started, Turkestan was also once a major way point on the Silk Road,
and its former wealth can be seen in the massive mausoleum for Ahmed Yasawi, who made Sufi Islam popular in this region in the 11th century.?
Millions make a pilgrimage here each year,
and the town hopes to attract even more tourists as Kazakhstan improves the travel infrastructure, building a new Silk Road.