Some shots in Kazakhstan

[bolehboleh]

As per request from FK4...here are some shots of Astana and Almaty Kazakhstan

I'm working backwards here as I went to Astana first and Almaty second, but these pics will be of Almaty first. It was early April 2010 and the weather in Almaty was similar to Boston's but Astana was still friggin' cold!

Almaty


[URL=http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/adonchin/media/Facebook/Kazakhstan/25400_10150164418290596_3233763_n.jpg.html]

These next pictures are from Astana. The city is funny as it has an old section and a new section because it is the new capital. The new areas of town were dead - very little street life or any sort of activity. The old sections were a little better.



I actually found a synagogue in Astana!

 

[FK4]

Very cool to see pics of this part of the world, thx for posting. Almaty has some big mountains, who knew?

Astana looks crazy. I googled it up because I wondered what the pyramid/cone was in the 1st Astana shot. Found this short piece on the new capital architecture

 

[bolehboleh]

No worries...I have pics of other countries too but I don't want to clog up the forum with my travel photos.

Astana was interesting to me as a resident of Malaysia. Kazakhstan based their "new" capital of Astana on Malaysia's "newish" capital, Putrajaya. A lot of the architecture is similar and thanks to a lot of flat land (reminded me of the midwest), they have managed to sprawl out.

Very cool to see pics of this part of the world, thx for posting. Almaty has some big mountains, who knew?

I was pissed off on that trip because everybody else who came with us (about 15 -20 total) got to go up into the mountains on our last day there but boss thought it was a good idea to make appointments with clients. Stupid work coming before fun!

Another funny part of the trip was how people looked at us. For the few days we were in Astana, my boss and I took early morning walks through the neighborhoods before we had to work. Kazakhstan is about 60% Kazakh and 30% Russian with the remaining 10% being a mixture of Koreans, Germans and other ethnic groups from the region.

As I've lived in a few parts of Asia (Japan, Thailand and Malaysia), I'm used to getting the "what's this white boy doing around here?" look. Since my boss is Malay, he has somewhat similar features to ethnic Kazakhs and since I'm white (of Italian and Jewish decent), people seemed to wonder if I was a local Russian or something. I got the impression that everybody who saw us were wondering if we were local or foreign.

 

[George_Apley]

Love that pipeline cutting across the footpath, so they made stairs over the pipeline. Hahaha.

 

[bolehboleh]

Love that pipeline cutting across the footpath, so they made stairs over the pipeline. Hahaha.

What cracked me up was the how the pipes had to go up and over the side roads.

If I recall, someone told me that the pipes brought heat to peoples' home all over the city.

If you'll also notice, in the newer areas of Astana, the street life is DEAD. I understand it's a new area of the city but it probably wasn't a good idea copying Putrajaya Malaysia for their new federal capital. Putrajaya has been around for years and it's still one of the most boring cities in Malaysia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putrajaya

 

[Roxxma]

Want to hear something weird? For some reason my Macbook locates most of the photos I've taken with my iPhone near my house in the South End as having been taken in Almaty Kazakhstan. I have no idea why and no idea how to change it.

 

[bolehboleh]

Want to hear something weird? For some reason my Macbook locates most of the photos I've taken with my iPhone near my house in the South End as having been taken in Almaty Kazakhstan. I have no idea why and no idea how to change it.

You'd be surprised, but Almaty has some sections that actually do look a little bit like Boston. They kind of look like a poor man's brownstone. I thought I was crazy when I thought that, but later on I met the Malaysian ambassador to Kazakhstan (he had previously been placed in NY and told me how much he loved Boston) and he agreed with me.