Dagmar Schreiber studied philosophy in Leningrad (St Petersburg) and Moscow, before joining the World Bank study project on living standards in Kazakhstan in 1994. During this three-year project she fell in love with the country, and decided to dedicate the rest of her professional life to it. During numerous far-reaching trips she became aware of its enormous potential for tourism, and formed a small, Berlin-based tour agency in 2003, specialising in environmentally friendly tours of the real Kazakhstan. Jeremy Tredinnick is a freelance writer, photographer and editor who is based in Hong Kong. Born in London, England, he fled his homeland straight out of school, intent on getting a taste of more exotic worlds in all their glory. An inveterate traveller, he eventually found his niche in Hong Kong, where he has split his career between bouts of Asian travel, writing features and making images for many of the region's top travel magazines and newspapers, and periods of full-time employment as editor-in-chief of Action Asia magazine, managing editor of inflight publications Silk Road, Dynasty and Morning Calm, among others.