Friday 15 September 2023
We started the day by deciding to try a local bus. We hopped on brandishing cash only to find Astana buses are 100% cash free. You pay by app or by using a pre loaded bus card. As we had no internet we couldn’t do the app and as to buying a card, we had no idea where to buy one. A kind lady bought us two tickets off her phone and refused us refunding her (180 tenge between us, ~35p).
Once alighted (alit?), we started by gold hunting at the National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan. It took us numerous goes to get past the ticket barrier. First off we had rucksacks. We deposited those in the cloakroom then were turned back for still having our coats on. We removed those and returned only to be told that the cameras we held were banned too. Why they didn’t tell us this in one go…? We then were refused entry to the gold exhibit as we had the wrong ticket do back we went again. 2 tickets and 4 trips later we were in! Of course, as our cameras were locked away we have no photographic evidence of us viewing the amazing Scythian gold from the 1969 find at Issyk kurgan. The museum is allegedly the largest in Central Asia. It is pretty massive: for example the gift shop was spacious enough to accommodate a 10 m high rocket (price tag not checked).
We meandered past Independence Square and the mosque. It was prayer time and 100s of (mainly) men were streaming into it.
We then headed downtown, a distance of ~5 km. We had wanted to catch a bus but there were no ticket machines. How tourists get buses in Astana is beyond me - which probably explains why we saw none on them (mind you, there weren’t many tourists here at all). After an hour's walk we attempted the bus again. Someone allowed me to hotspot their phone but I couldn’t even get to the payment screen for the tickets, and if it’s anything like Chicago their payment system would want a local address. So we pretended we’d sorted it and hovered by the back doors jumping off once we were in the centre. Honestly we would pay if we could, but we found it impossible to sort out in the short visit time we had.
Anyway, once off the bus, and not being arrested for fare dodging, we lunched during a rain shower. Soup and rice for Ruth. Meat and noodles for JC. Think omelettes, soup and rice will be my staple this holiday.
We found Chess Park, a small green corner with a large castle piece and benches adorned with bishops, pawns and knights. Shame they were all astroturf. I hunted for the tree planted by Kasparov to no avail, but found the other pine trees planted by other chess winners. Not sure how the small patch of grass will cope if all these firs grow to their full extent! I resisted the urge to rearrange the chess pieces in their correct places.
We tried to find a fountain in Central Square which, amongst other statues, the guidebook said had a “naked boy riding a wolf” which we were keen to see. Alas, Astana corporation had remodelled the area and they were all gone. New Square wasn’t much better. The ‘Tree of Life’ was actually a fountain but the sheep, eagle and other creatures mentioned in our 2018 guidebook had vanished. More sparkly tower blocks though.
We walked back over the Ishim River into Central Park. This was entertainment ‘heaven’ with dodgems, shooting booths, bouncing harnesses etc. I loved this upside down house and was disappointed to find it closed.
We climbed up to see the Monument to Victims of Political Repression. Again, five years after the guide book wrote about it, it’s lost some features and, like many bits of Astana, the paving and steps were also crumbling. Nice views though.
The guidebook had mentioned a kitsch ‘map of Astana’ which was a must-do on my list. JC was very unconvinced but, for 400T each (~75p) he humoured me and joined in touring Kazakhstan in miniature models. It really was pretty naff but a lot of fun too!
This is Almaty with its mountains behind (you'll recognise the cathedral when I blog Almaty for 16 Sep). And look at the dried up Aral Sea! I thought its lack of water matched the run down nature of the attraction, until I realised it was intentional.
Another longish walk back down to the central business district (we’d given up on buses by this time) allowed me to photograph the 6 lane city highways that had no central reservations. OK, people didn't zip along at stupid speeds but I still found it a little unnerving.
We walked past more shiny buildings then had a super supper at an Italian restaurant. Yippee, mushroom risotto time for me, not a soup or grilled vegetable for me tonight ;-)
JC wanted to photograph our local mosque by night and I sat on a big swing, rocking to and fro, (big swings seem to be a thing in Astana - a very chill thing) thinking how lucky I was - at a mosque in Astana under the stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment