Gambrill's dad and step-mom came and visited Kazakhstan last week. They flew in to Astana and I tagged along with Gambrill so that I could see the sites. Astana is an anomaly. There is nothing in Kazakhstan like it and it was a weird feeling being in such a new and modern city, when the rest of the country is much more harsh.
Astana is a new city. In 1997, Astana became the capital of Kazakhstan. Prior to 97, Almaty was the capital. The city literally rose from nothing out of the steppe 13 years ago. KZ's president has invested a lot of time and money into creating a marvel of a city. If you choose, you can view Astana as depressing- so much money has been dumped into fancy architecture, malls, and monuments when the rest of the country is much further behind. But it's actually a brilliant marketing tool. Foreign investors or heads-of-states who visit Astana get shown a dazzling new city with all the prospects that you can imagine. If you only visited Astana, you'd think KZ was developed and you'd feel comfortable investing in it.
So for Gambrill and I, it felt like leaving the country for a couple of days. Astana is beautiful - no doubt about it.
The first stop was Baiterek. This tower has become the symbol of Astana...and even Kazakhstan. It stands 97 meters high, which commemorates Astana becoming a capital in 1997. The monument is heavy in symbolism. According to an old Kazakh legend, on the banks of the World River was the tree of life, Baiterek. The roots of the tree lay in the subterranean world, the trunk in the earthly one, and its crown in the heavens. Each year the sacred bird, Samruk, laid a golden egg in the crown of the tree, only for it to be consumed by a dragon that lived at the base of the tree. This annual routine of egg laying and destruction symbolized the changing of the seasons, day and night, and good and evil.
Everything you see in this picture is no more than 13 years old. Most of the buildings were designed by acclaimed architects.
Inside Baiterek is a mold of president Nazerbayev's hand. He is the nation's first president and is therefore revered here.
The newest attraction in Astana is what US ex-pats refer to as "the hershey kiss". It is a large, climate controlled mall/entertainment center. The tent is 500ft tall. It has been designed to be an oasis for Astana during the winter months. There are shopping stores, a huge arcade, restaurants, and indoor beach and water park, amusement park rides, and more. The price tag was $10 million and it was officially opened this past summer.
On the central poll, there is a "free fall" ride.
The beach
The Nur Astana Mosque. It was funded by the Emir of Qatar.
Parliament is in the center.
Back in Karkaraly now. I have other new pictures that I'll post soon.
