Chasing Racers is back, with a brand new Amazing Race 13 mashup. This map will update the morning after every new episode. Send along tips, rumors, gossip, locations and spoilers to our map editors, become a member and comment on the stories below and add to the Jaunted-Flickr photo pool to get in on the fray.

Remember to zoom in, out and around on the map--with so much happening in each episode, it's easy to miss a map point.

Well, race fans, we're down to only a handful of teams. Having lost Kelly and Christy last week, the remaining pairs must gear up for a very competitive finish. But having claimed four first-place finishes, will anyone be able to stop Nick and Starr?

Ken and Tina made unbelievable gains last week: Will they be able to continue forging ahead, or will they succumb to the bickering and divisiveness that has plagued them in the past? Only five teams remain. Who will have the strength and wits to fight through to the end and claim the million dollar prize? More importantly, who makes it to the end of this episode?

LET'S FIND OUT!]]> Todd 2008-11-17T08:44:38-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/11/13/81320/882

Proving beyond a doubt that even really bad publicity is good publicity, the previously little-known nation of Kazakhstan is now eternally grateful that nasty ol' Borat said such horrible things about it.

Two years on from the 2006 hit movie "Borat: Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan," tourism projects have taken off, with three huge resorts still going strong despite the global economic crisis. In just the last six months, the number of tourists braving a trip into Kazakhstan has increased by 13 percent.

And while Borat might've portrayed Kazakhstan as a poor country to the American market, the Kazakhs themselves have their own ideas of who they should insult. A deputy chairman in the tourist ministry recently said the "Borat" film "was made in Romania--it's a very poor country." There’s nothing like passing the buck.

Related Stories:
· Blundering Borat Boosted Tourism [AFP, via Google]
· Borat Begets Kazakhstan Tourism Boom [Jaunted]
· Kazakhstan Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: sssteve.o] ]]> amandak 2008-11-13T09:00:14-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/11/1/145015/064

We tend to think of pyramids as relics of the ancient world. After all, the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt was built some time around 2560 B.C., while Mexico's Pyramid of the Sun was completed in 100 A.D. But there's no rule that says pyramids can't be cool unless they're really old, so the oil-rich government of Kazakhstan decided to get in on the game and create its own. The result is the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, a modern, 77-meter high pyramid in Astana designed to house the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions as well as a 1,500-seat opera house, a national center for Kazakhstan's various ethnic groups, and educational facilities. Designed by high-flying architects Foster + Partners and finished in 2006, the concrete, steel, and stained glass structure is at once the most traditional and futuristic shape in the city's skyline, hearkening back to the days preceding the establishment of the Abrahamic faiths while pointing toward a technologically-sophisticated tomorrow. Kazakhstan is a somewhat dicey place to visit these days, but intrepid travelers who are smooth enough to make it to the capital without displeasing the authorities can marvel at the palace from a distance, visit its museum, and even take in an opera performance. And who knows, with the right connections and a few well-placed "gifts," you might find yourself surveying the steppes and mountains of this former Soviet Central Asian republic from the top of the world's newest pyramid.

[Photo: Deputy Dog]

Related Stories:
· Palace of Peace and Reconciliation [Foster + Partners]
· Kazakhstan's Astounding Futuristic Pyramid [Deputy Dog]
· Steppe Pyramid Photos [Flickr/Tienshan]
· Pyramid Coverage [Jaunted]]]> Victor Ozols 2008-11-01T14:50:15-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2007/3/5/10456/91947

Looks like Borat is having quite an effect on Kazakhstan tourism:

Post Borat Occurrences:
·Air Astana, the national airline, has added a third weekly flight from the UK.

·Major international chains, including Radisson SAS, have opened slick new hotels in Almaty and Astana.

·There is even talk from recent Kazakhstan visitors, that the country does indeed have the kind of scenery tipsters told Jaunted about way back when.

Oh, and of course, you travelers to Kazakhstan are treated to the kind of quirkiness they are looking for:

At a traditional Kazakh dinner party, the highest-ranking guest is always served a sheep's head -- the least important gets one of the creature's cervical vertebra.

We so called this.  Not the sheep's head thing, but they whole Kazakhstan tourism blowing up thing.

Maybe now the country can re-open borat.kz.

[Photo: irina slutsky]

Related Stories:
· Borat coverage [Jaunted]
· Kazakhstan coverage [Jaunted]
· Borat Boom [The Sun]
]]> markj 2007-03-05T10:46:50-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2007/1/31/124258/836
It's official: President Nursultan Nazarbayev, no longer busy vogueing for his country's tourism commercials, has passed a law requiring all casinos to be located in one of two approved cities: Kapchagai or Shchuchinsk. Kazakhstan is gambling crazed, and though the move reads like a negative blow at first, it could draw in some major dough. Kazakh officials hope to turn the cities into tourist draws, and major investments have been proposed by Chinese companies. Kapchagai could well turn into the Las Vegas of Kazakhstan (that's where the largest Chinese-proposed complex would be based) and Shchuchinsk its Atlantic City--not a bad deal, considering we feel far more comfortable at least trying to pronounce Kapchagai.

Kapchagai is close to Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city and former capital. We've never really felt compelled to visit Macau, but should Kapchagai turn into something better, you might be surprised to learn that you'd be able to reach it fairly easily. Almaty airport is served by several international airlines, including Turkish, KLM, and Asiana and Lufthansa, in addition to those with more highly questionable safety. Start saving those tenge!

[Photo: NYT via IHT]

Related Stories:
· Kazakhstan gambles on casinos [IHT]]]> djk 2007-01-31T12:42:58-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2006/11/9/75122/8844
Despite knowing that there's more to the world than the fluffy-moustached alter-egos of British comics, we seem to get a nervous twitch when we go too long without mentioning Borat or Kazakhstan. Luckily for us, Lonely Planeteer John Noble goes inside the real Kazakhstan this week. He's currently working on LP's fourth-generation Central Asia guide.

While Noble reminds us all that nothing in Kazakhstan is exactly like Borat tells it--that Cohen probably chose the country simply because most Westerners knew little about it, that ethnic Kazakhs look nothing like Borat, and that women do ride on the insides of buses there--he also, perhaps unintentionally, does a bit to rub in Borat's stereotypes as well:

Families trace their lineages back to the scions of Ghenghis Khan, and Kazakhs play the wild sport kokpar, a kind of free-for-all football on horseback with an animal carcass instead of a ball.