Rayhan demytrie biography of william

For the last two years, the BBC Central Asia correspondent, Rayhan Demytrie, has been based in Kazakhstan in the former capital Almaty.

The city is surrounded by mountains.

Rayhan lives in a typical Soviet built apartment block, and her neighbours include several babushkas - old ladies who have been there since Soviet times.

When she was growing up in neighbouring Uzbekistan, she says she used to look down on Kazakhstan as a less developed country.

But all that has changed over the last 10 to 15 years.

Kazakhstan is one of the largest countries in the world - the size of Western Europe - and is now the most developed economy in the region.

Today, with its modern shops and restaurants, Almaty is the most cosmopolitan city in Central Asia, and perhaps the most expensive.

However modern day Almaty is a far cry from the past, when traditionally Kazakhs lived as nomadic herders on the steppe - a way of life that is still embedded in the national psyche.

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