Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Had an uneventful 1 3/4 hour flight from Almaty to Astana in the north central part of Kazakhstan. As Astana did not exist until 1997, everything about the city is new including the airport and the straight 6-lane road into the city center. Our hotel, the Radisson, is not as first rate as hoped, but certainly adequate. After checking in we stayed in the hotel for a fine buffet salad bar lunch and then went on a city tour with Olga and our new driver, Almas (21), a cute, single man who has several older girl friends. THe city is surreal, and not unlike Ashgabat, if you remember back 5 weeks to the capital of Turkmenistan. The major difference is that people actually live as well as work in this city, even though the buildings looks big enough to handle 2-3 times the current population of 750,000.
Astana is where President Nazarbaev has created a showpiece for himself and the business community he is trying to attract from Central and Western Asia and Europe. He wants the business world to invest in Kazakhstan and come to Astana for all their meetings and conventions. We saw several buildings dedicated to such large meetings, including one facility that has 9 meeting halls, the largest of which will hold 3,109 people. Several forums are in progress at any one time including one development forum that had 12,000 attendees and just ended on the 26th. At it Nazarbaev stated, according to the New York TImes, “Our optimism is embodied in Kazakhstan’s 2050 strategy to become one of the 30 most developed countries in the world”. GIven the thoroughly westernized populace, the stable government and a growing middle class with increasing demand and buying power, all of which we could see on the streets, I would not be surprised if Kazakhstan succeeds in meeting that goal, although one US government employee we met said the Stans, in his opinion, are still too entwined with the Russians to be viable individually.
We walked a long pedestrian corridor the size of the mall in Washington DC with the blue domed, Presidential Palace at one end and unique futuristic looking buildings along the mall that are very eye catching from a distance. Up close however, we could find nothing of quality. Olga told us the president made the decision to relocate the capital in 1994. Three years later, in 1997, he moved the government to this new city and named the place Astana, which means “capital”. Since then construction has continued unabated, in spite of the fact that breakdowns and repairs are needed because of the shoddy original construction and problems exist due to lack of forethought. The streets are already clogged, no subway system exists, parking is inadequate, sidewalks and steps everywhere are crumbling. Half the buildings we wanted to see were closed for repairs including the landmark tower called the “Symbol of Prosperity”, which is a 97 meter high white spire topped by a gold ball. THe legend for the structure is about a mythical bird that lays a golden egg containing the secret to happiness in a tall poplar tree out of human reach. We were not happy about being denied access to the orb.
The only buildings open to us were the city’s largest mosque, which proved to be the only building of quality we saw, and numerous shopping centers. So we visited the most odd looking one, which happens to anchor the pedestrian mall opposite the Presidential Palace. It is called Khan Shatyr and looks like a huge, lopsided aluminum tent. It is six stories high and includes entertainment as well as shopping and food. On the top floor are three swimming pools complete with sand beaches and a wave machine. One whole floor is dedicated to kids play structures and game machines and another to cinemas and a food court including KFC, which had the most customers by far. The bottom three floors were for shopping. Each mall we visited was packed with people even though the weather was perfect outdoors.
Because of so many closures, it was largely a frustrating walk and drive-by day, at the end of which the four of us went to a charming outdoor Chaihana (tea house) restaurant for dinner. We are finally getting the hang of what to order so we get food we want to eat. We lingered over tea and desert in the comfortable evening atmosphere, while the restaurant filled to capacity, an experience we have not often had on this trip. After dinner we walked back to our hotel along the bank of the river, which meanders through the city, watching the city lights and young families strolling with us. We are very aware of the youthfulness of this country in the many young adults and even more small children present everywhere in Kazakhstan.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
For our last full day in Kazakhstan, we chose to take a 20 kilometer drive out of town to a place called Alzhir, a Russian acronym for Akmolinskii Camp for Wives of Traitors of the Motherland. It was reserved for spouses of those men Stalin’s government considered enemies of the People. Over 20,000 women were held in this camp between 1937 and 1953. Today there is a museum near the site that tells a sad, enlightening story about the only all-women concentration camp in the USSR. Of the 20,000 who were sent there, slightly more than 7,000 completed their 5-8 year sentences, while the rest died in the camp. Many of them were raped and bore children, who were allowed to stay with them until the age of three, when they were taken to orphanages. The women had to build their own barracks, grow their own food and make their own clothes, when they were not sewing garments for the Soviets. Apparently there were about 11 labor camps in Kazakhstan, which was considered a distant frontier, while there were 500 camps throughout the USSR. It was a well presented museum complete with photos and artifacts of several of the women and a video of some of the survivors, of which only one is still alive.
The revolution, as some of you may remember, occurred in 1916-17. Lenin, a communist idealist, was in power from then until his death in 1927. Officially he died in a sanitarium from disease, however, he may have been assisted in that process. Stalin took control immediately and had no idealistic thoughts. He wanted power and control and was willing to get rid of anyone who got in his way. Between 1920 and 1950, repression was considered a tool for securing the normal functioning of the state system. Although the first labor camp was opened in 1918, the gulag system did not get organized until 1920. Gulag is the acronym for the name of the Soviet agency, which administered the forced labor camp system. The camps themselves were referenced by number. Point 26 was the official name of the Alzhir women’s camp. Fourteen million men and women were in Gulag labor camps between 1929 and 1953, about half without trial, and approximately 1.6 million died in these camps. Most inmates were not political prisoners. Six to seven million were deported/exiled to frontiers, including Olga’s family. None too soon, Stalin died of an aneurism in 1953, at the age of 71. The Gulag system came to an end in 1960 and the camps were closed.
Back in town we stopped at another shopping mall and had a KFC lunch, which was Olga’s idea as she has never eaten KFC. Mark and I could not remember the last time either of us ate at a KFC, but agreed that it was before we knew each other–maybe 30 years ago. After lunch we all agreed that we could wait another 30 years for our next KFC meal.
We tried again to get up into the golden orb, but had no luck and gave up. Olga and Almas dropped us off at the river bank a long way from our hotel so we could get a good walk. Little did we know that the pathway did not go through. We had to make a few detours and shimmy around a fence at one blocked spot, but we finally made it back to the hotel. The A/C was not functioning in our room, so we got moved to another that actually has a good view of the city and the river, making our last night in Astana more comfortable and appealing. By popular demand, Olga, Mark and I chose an Italian restaurant for our last dinner together. It was delicious and the conversation delightful.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
We took another long walk through the futuristic mall before heading to the airport. This afternoon we leave Astana for Frankfurt, spend a night at the Frankfurt Airport Sheraton and fly non-stop from there to San Francisco on Friday.
It has been a very interesting and educational journey through the 5 Stans. We are both very glad we came. We had few expectations, so were thrilled with the many wonderful sights and experiences along our path.
Looking forward to seeing you all soon,
Yellowbluebus,
Julia and Mark
Adventures with Julia 