The Consulate of Kazakhstan is small, calm, mild-mannered and very neat, a description that could also be applied to its representative. He was the first Kazakh I've ever met (probably), and he did a good job of making the nation seem competent and polite. If it turns out not to be a kind of Central Asian Canada, I'll be disappointed.
The Kazakhs are unusual in the region in that they don't require a Letter of Invitation to issue a tourist visa, and, unlike every other embassy I've ever heard of, they don't ask for proof that you're planning to leave again afterwards. What they do want is a handwritten letter explaining that you'd like to visit please. I didn't have one of those with me, so they gave me a sheet of paper and a pen.
There was a lovely big map of the country on the wall. This was good news for me because if you think I can spell Kazakhstan correctly under pressure, you are very wrong.
