Here's the beginning of my amazing trip to Central Asia! I just came back home early Sunday morning, so I am being really fast with this first post... My trip started on Friday night in the storm Hannah in Limerick, with the wind about 100 km/h and rain. I don't live far from the bus stop, just about 10 mins walk, but that night it felt a lot longer. I took the overnight bus again departing at 1.30 and arriving at Dublin airport just before 4. Perfect time since my flight to Frankfurt departed at 5.55. My team leader was actually on the same bus and the same flight, and we found that out just when we were leaving work :D
I was able to sleep a bit at home before leaving, slept a few mins on the bus too, and even on the flight! I had 9 hours in Frankfurt so I needed something to do. But breakfast first (the most important meal of the day remember). Then I took the train to central station, and did a hop on hop off bus tour like a good tourist. I went to tourist info on the train station, and the man there was very friendly and helpful, and told me about the different options. Sun was showing up at times, but it was mostly quite cool and rainy weather so I didn't feel like walking out that much. Did a few stops, walked a bit, took some nice (and grey) pics.
I was able to sleep a bit at home before leaving, slept a few mins on the bus too, and even on the flight! I had 9 hours in Frankfurt so I needed something to do. But breakfast first (the most important meal of the day remember). Then I took the train to central station, and did a hop on hop off bus tour like a good tourist. I went to tourist info on the train station, and the man there was very friendly and helpful, and told me about the different options. Sun was showing up at times, but it was mostly quite cool and rainy weather so I didn't feel like walking out that much. Did a few stops, walked a bit, took some nice (and grey) pics.
Exactly when you desperately want the flight to be on time, it is delayed. This time only about half an hour but it felt like days… Flight from Frankfurt to Nur-Sultan, as Astana is called now, took almost 6 hours. My gosh they were LONG hours! I didn't sleep one second so I was damn tired when finally landed. Immigration was really quick, and my new passport got it first stamp! Almost got emotional 😁. My driver (very nomadic) was waiting for me, and my name was even almost correctly on his sign! Since my friend had arrived the day before, we have booked the room from Saturday. Our hotel was MAXX Inn, quite nice hotel, but the receptionists didn't speak much English. After shower and breakfast I finally got some sleep, slept 3,5 hours and then it was time to hit the town! Walked for hours… had some lovely food and nice wine and got very sore feet. Sign of a good day! I had lovely risotto for lunch, and then I got complimentary dessert from the kitchen, 3 layered chocolate mousse! Me happy 😀.
That city just really confused me. 20 years ago it was a small village, and then the president decided that the capital should be in Astana instead of Almaty, that was 1997. Now Nur-Sultan is the second largest city in Kazakhstan, but Almaty is still the cultural centre. The parliament renamed the city to Nur-Sultan just over a month ago, after their former president Nursultan Nazarbayev. Surpisingly the vote was unanimous.
Almost all buildings are new, shiny and huge, and it is one of the most modernized cities in Central Asia. By huge I mean totally colossal monumental gigantic buildings, all modern and shiny and modern architecture. I think every architect tried to be unique, and obviously there's zero city planning considering what kind of buildings are allowed. It is very confusing, and the buildings just don't match together at all. They also have a lot of high towers with big balls on top of them, and big balls on the ground as well. So they seem to have a thing with high towers and big balls. Freud really would've had a word or two with these guys.
But, it is also very clean, and they have planted trees and put parks here and there, and pedestrian boulevards and fountains. Unfortunately the fountains were not on, would've loved to see those shows. The city also wants to be a smart city, they use a LOT of solar energy and highlight the endangered species in Kazakhstan. But I was also thinking how much the average guy gets from all that? Yea, they built enormous governmental buildings and monuments and fountains and museums, but do people get education, affordable housing and health care for starters? I saw amazing apartment buildings, but something tells me no bus driver lives there. We later found out that while we were there, a guy in Almaty was arrested for having a blank sign, which meant there is no freedom of speech in Kazakhstan. If you get arrested for just saying that, doesn't it kinda prove the point? Overall the city is just fake
Almost all buildings are new, shiny and huge, and it is one of the most modernized cities in Central Asia. By huge I mean totally colossal monumental gigantic buildings, all modern and shiny and modern architecture. I think every architect tried to be unique, and obviously there's zero city planning considering what kind of buildings are allowed. It is very confusing, and the buildings just don't match together at all. They also have a lot of high towers with big balls on top of them, and big balls on the ground as well. So they seem to have a thing with high towers and big balls. Freud really would've had a word or two with these guys.
But, it is also very clean, and they have planted trees and put parks here and there, and pedestrian boulevards and fountains. Unfortunately the fountains were not on, would've loved to see those shows. The city also wants to be a smart city, they use a LOT of solar energy and highlight the endangered species in Kazakhstan. But I was also thinking how much the average guy gets from all that? Yea, they built enormous governmental buildings and monuments and fountains and museums, but do people get education, affordable housing and health care for starters? I saw amazing apartment buildings, but something tells me no bus driver lives there. We later found out that while we were there, a guy in Almaty was arrested for having a blank sign, which meant there is no freedom of speech in Kazakhstan. If you get arrested for just saying that, doesn't it kinda prove the point? Overall the city is just fake
These first 2 pics were taken by my friend. So lets start with a big ball and a high tower.
I think that day was pretty much the only day to get this pic, since there were guys doing the change at that moment.
These guys freaked me out. Sure, they are cute minions, but to me these look like they are on crack.
See, a high tower and a big ball on top of it!
No idea what it says here but it just looked cool.
Dirt = lika in Finnish. We didn't go in (because it was closed)
Oh look, a big ball
We had dinner at a lovely restaurant of traditional kazakh cuisine. Our waiter, named Sultan, spoke ok english and asked where we are and asked us when is the best time to see aurora borealis because he really wishes to see them one day. A manager also greeted us and was very friendly, asked our names and made us feel welcomed. We left them a nice tip, because the food was great too! I love this kind of encounters.On the menu there was a lot of horse meat, and that is what my friend had, besbarmak. It is the most popular Kazakh dish with broth, meat and pasta, and you are supposed to eat it with hands. They also served baursak, it looks like a doughnut and it is fried, but it is bread. It is served extremely hot and it is very fluffy! We even got a doggy bag for them.
Monday it was time to take off to Almaty… There is a frequent bus to the airport, it is quite fast and costs peanuts, about 40 cents if I remember it correctly. We flew with Scat Airlines, and they had the most beautiful plane ticket I have ever seen! It advertises that Scat Airlines now have a route from Astana to Ulan Bator. In many places the city is still called Astana.
The airport is quite small, not much queue to check in or security check, so it was very fast. The flight was just about 1,5 hours, but still they offered big fresh sandwich, coffee, tea and soft drinks.
So we were off to Almaty, to be continued in part 2...
nice:)
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