:00:00. > :00:00.dream come true. I still cannot quite believe it. That is all the
:00:00. > :00:00.sport for now. There is more on the website.
:00:00. > :00:08.Hello and welcome to The Travel Show with me, Christa Larwood,
:00:09. > :00:14.Now, this is a town where the automobile reigns supreme, but it is
:00:15. > :00:34.I am here to discover what happens if you hit the road on two wheels.
:00:35. > :00:45.Ben finds out whether he has what it takes to grace the stage of
:00:46. > :00:48.Something tells me that he probably hasn't.
:00:49. > :00:51.But first, we are in Los Angeles in the Golden State of California.
:00:52. > :00:55.While some American cities have developed skyward,
:00:56. > :00:57.in the 20th century LA's population spread outwards, with
:00:58. > :01:00.the region growing at one of the fastest rates in the United States.
:01:01. > :01:03.It is home to some of the world's most rich and famous.
:01:04. > :01:06.On the streets of LA there is really only one way
:01:07. > :01:10.Each week, just over the Hollywood Hills here at Supercar
:01:11. > :01:15.Sunday, hundreds of people park up and meet like-minded car lovers.
:01:16. > :01:18.All of the car enthusiasts of LA seemed to be turning up
:01:19. > :01:21.for this event today, including some celebrities,
:01:22. > :01:27.Could you tell me a bit about your car?
:01:28. > :01:39.You can't get anywhere without a car.
:01:40. > :01:43.It goes like a mile or a mile and a half.
:01:44. > :01:49.You can get from here to where that guy is.
:01:50. > :01:52.But some feel that this love with the automobile has reached
:01:53. > :01:55.a tipping point and that there should be easier and safer ways to
:01:56. > :02:11.This is a safe place to cycle because they
:02:12. > :02:14.Unfortunately, that is not the case when you head downtown.
:02:15. > :02:17.Bicycle traffic deaths in California are among the highest
:02:18. > :02:20.in the country and many cyclists fear that they will be involved
:02:21. > :02:23.in one of the 20,000 hit and runs seen on the LA roads each year.
:02:24. > :02:27.Mike Bonin was one of the council members responsible for
:02:28. > :02:31.It hopes to ease congestion and introduce hundreds of miles
:02:32. > :02:35.One of the things that we need to do is make cycling safer.
:02:36. > :02:38.This is a city where people should be cycling more.
:02:39. > :02:41.It is relatively flat and it is always pleasant weather and yet
:02:42. > :02:46.Normally when we make transportation decisions in Los Angeles they have
:02:47. > :02:58.been about the single-occupancy vehicle, it has been how fast
:02:59. > :03:00.the car can get through an intersection.
:03:01. > :03:03.But while conditions may be set to improve a little for
:03:04. > :03:06.cyclists and the city, they have grown accustomed to dangerous roads
:03:07. > :03:09.This has set the scene for an unlikely
:03:10. > :03:11.but thriving cycling community united by a desire to experience
:03:12. > :03:18.The group ride phenomenon in Los Angeles is based
:03:19. > :03:25.Our roads are completely hostile to pedestrians and cyclists,
:03:26. > :03:28.but if you are in a group, with a couple of hundred people, car
:03:29. > :03:37.Don Ward played a key role in starting Los Angeles's group
:03:38. > :03:42.He now leads a ride called the Wolfpack Hustle from his LA
:03:43. > :03:48.studio, where he prints out merchandise and memorabilia.
:03:49. > :03:52.The group ride scene started with Midnight Ridazz.
:03:53. > :03:55.Don created the Midnight Ridazz website as a forum for people to
:03:56. > :03:58.Soon it had spawned three or four rides happening
:03:59. > :04:03.An all-female cycling group called the She Wolf Attack Team met
:04:04. > :04:14.Every night of the week, there's a ride listed and they're mostly
:04:15. > :04:22.And a lot of club rides graduated from that, where people still want
:04:23. > :04:26.to go out and see the city at night, but maybe get a better work-out
:04:27. > :04:34.Have we got a night ride to go on tonight?
:04:35. > :04:51.It's like reclaiming the night, reclaiming the streets.
:04:52. > :04:54.This has been amazing, but I think I will let you guys go.
:04:55. > :05:05.The main thing was that we could really take over the street
:05:06. > :05:08.and everybody felt really safe, despite the fact that there were
:05:09. > :05:11.almost as many cars as you might get during the daytime.
:05:12. > :05:13.There's something really special about the group ride.
:05:14. > :05:16.I was well into it but I think that's enough for me.
:05:17. > :05:19.Whether or not the new plans lead to Angelos leaving their cars
:05:20. > :05:23.at home remains to be seen, but from what I have found from my experience
:05:24. > :05:34.on bikes here, cycling seems set to go from strength to strength.
:05:35. > :05:40.The Travel Show, your essential guide wherever you are headed.
:05:41. > :05:43.Well, to end this week, we are off to Kazakhstan.
:05:44. > :05:46.If you were watching last week, you might remember seeing Ben Zand
:05:47. > :05:48.taking to the mountains on horseback.
:05:49. > :05:51.Well, this week, we decided to get him to do something
:05:52. > :05:57.a little more cultural and thought a spot of ballet was in order.
:05:58. > :05:59.During the heyday of the former Soviet Union,
:06:00. > :06:02.cut-price access to the arts was a cornerstone of political policy.
:06:03. > :06:06.The argument was that the masses deserved to be uplifted,
:06:07. > :06:10.even if many of the shops behind the Iron Curtain were half empty.
:06:11. > :06:14.25 years on, here in the Republic of Kazakhstan, Soviet control may
:06:15. > :06:18.have gone, but that idea of affordable access to things
:06:19. > :06:25.Kazakhstan is a quickly changing country, but a relic of its former
:06:26. > :06:28.days of a surprisingly cheap yet classy night out can still be had
:06:29. > :06:34.I'm talking about the Abai Theatre in Almaty.
:06:35. > :06:39.The stage plays host to both operas and ballets, but despite such
:06:40. > :06:44.high-class entertainment, tickets here start at just ?2.
:06:45. > :06:57.Mukhtar has been conducting here for over 20 years.
:06:58. > :07:00.It will be possible to buy tickets, more people can go,
:07:01. > :07:07.You feel the music and you feel a good feeling.
:07:08. > :07:12.The opera classics like Puccini, La Boheme.
:07:13. > :07:20.Despite a low price tag, they don't put on second rate shows here.
:07:21. > :07:31.Rafael is a ballet principal dancer and he has got some serious game.
:07:32. > :07:40.Does Kazakhstan have a good reputation
:07:41. > :07:46.We have a very good history because our teachers started ballet
:07:47. > :07:50.in Moscow, in Russia, at the Moscow Academy, the best
:07:51. > :07:56.ballet, the Bolshoi Theatre, and Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg.
:07:57. > :07:58.Now, I am not much of a dancer, but when you get
:07:59. > :08:06.the chance to learn some moves from the pros, who can resist that?
:08:07. > :08:17.Not only did I not have the muscles for it, my body simply did not want
:08:18. > :08:30.I suspect I am properly started about 20 years too late
:08:31. > :08:37.But that doesn't stop me wanting to spend a couple of quid to sit and
:08:38. > :08:46.Rather than go it alone, I'm tagging along.
:08:47. > :08:54.And in keeping with our cheap night out,
:08:55. > :09:00.We're paying about 2,000 tenge which is about ?2.50 per person.
:09:01. > :09:11.Combined with our ballet tickets, our evening's total is just ?5.
:09:12. > :09:14.Obviously, ballet is a beautiful form of dance, but is dance itself
:09:15. > :09:22.Dance has always been in Kazakh culture, it is a more traditional
:09:23. > :09:25.understanding of what ballet is, all the influence that came from Russia.
:09:26. > :09:28.A lot of them are a mix of traditional Kazakh music
:09:29. > :09:52.The Abai Theatre is a beautiful and grand building,
:09:53. > :09:56.designed by Soviet architects just before the Second World War.
:09:57. > :09:59.It turns out we have come on the pretty quiet night, but despite
:10:00. > :10:09.the small numbers, the dancers still put on quite the show.
:10:10. > :10:11.Some amazing dancers have trained and performed here at the
:10:12. > :10:15.Abai Theatre and many of them have gone on to perform with the Bolshoi
:10:16. > :10:19.And seeing the performance tonight, it is not hard to see why.
:10:20. > :10:22.All in all, it has been a fantastic way to spend the evening, without
:10:23. > :10:42.breaking the bank, and a great way to end my trip here to Kazakhstan.
:10:43. > :10:46.Well, that is all we have got time for on this week's show.
:10:47. > :10:50.We are in New York's Harlem where more
:10:51. > :10:53.and more locals have been priced out of the area and church congregation
:10:54. > :10:59.We discover how tourists are coming to the rescue.
:11:00. > :11:04.In the meantime, don't forget, you can keep up with us
:11:05. > :11:10.while we are out on the road, in real-time, by signing up to
:11:11. > :11:14.But for now, from me, Christa Larwood, and the rest of The Travel