Living it up in Astana

 This is my thrid "-stan" in the former Soviet Union, and I must say that I have been pleasantly surprised by all of them. And that is probably the greatest thing about travelling. You get your prejudices challenged. It is easy to sit at home, reading about people from different countries and regions and judge them all from little or no knowledge. And then visit them and see that it was all just cherrypicking and innuendo. 

As the train arrived (on time as usual) in the newly finished train station in Astana, I was stunned at how modern it was. Beautifully made. I found a taxi to take me to the hotel. He drove me through the quickest route and I could enjoy the modern architecture of the city. It looked like designers and architects had just been given infinite money and free reign and let loose on a blank piece of cityscape. And they had really gone wild. It was obviously planned, but the designs were modern and exploratory.

I arrived at my hotel, which was a small hotel inside an apartment building. Very close to a sphere-shaped museum. The room was very nice indeed. Very new, and with modern amenities. And a great view of the hospital on the other side of the road...

I unpacked, and walked outside to explore the area. The spherical museum was closed, unfortunately. Due to renovations. So I took a few images before walking down to the 311 metres tall Abu Dhabi Plaza a few km away. I was hoping they had a skydeck I could visit to get the best view of the city. But unfortunately, no skydeck. At least not that I could find. But it did contain a shopping mall. And ari conditioning. When the temperature was a bit too high, and my shirt was getting to sweaty...

But right behinde the skyscraper, I found the 105 meter tall Baiterek tower. A building that looks like a cross between a football prize and an olympic torch. It has an observation deck and a restaurant/cafe. I paid the ticket fare to go with the elevator (open glass) and zoomed to the top. It was a great view of the city indeed. The windows were slightly tinted, so the color on the photographs were a bit off in color.

The presidential palace

I also walked past the presidential palace. The number of police incresed exponetially with the closeness to the palace. So I decided to walk to the other side of the lake to see it from behind. Magnificent building. 

And not far from there, an "alien" building. Also closed. But I got to see it from the outside.

One of the days I spent in Astana, I also visited the "Astana grand mosque". And it was ginormous. Take a look at the people outside...

The inside was stunningly beautiful. And the main prayer room had acoustics that would rival many old cathedrals. When the chanting started from the imam (?) it was an amazing experience. Just like in the St Peters basilika in Rome. Just like in the basilika, my jaw dropped as I heard the amazing acoustics and sound. I stood there for a while just enjoying the view and the sound. 

During my stay, there was also a festival in Astana called "Nomad fest". Through most of human history, we have been nomads. Moving from place to place to seek new lands, new hunting grounds or escaping environmental disasters. So we are all descendants of nomads. I took a photo of myself infront of a "nomad" mirror. We may have given up our nomadic lifestyles, but we still have the nomad in our genes. Moving to new places when the opportunity arises.

The musicians below played one song I had heard on local TV. A song that perfectly blended modern and the traditional. I love when they do that. Here is the official music video for your enjoyment : 

Me, a nomad

I loved walking through this city, seeing such a modern city also embracing its past.

Ragnar

Nomad to the core

The final frontier

As a space nerd, Kazakhstan is of course one of the prime targets for travel. Baikonur in southern Kazakhstan is where Sputnik and Jurii Gagarin was launched from. And it is ideal for such operations. It is dry, relatively warm, and has vast empty areas where rocket parts can fall semi-securely into the ground. Unlike the US, the Soviet Union didn't have a cozy place by the sea where they could launch their rockets. So using the ocean as drop zone wasn't an option. Kazakstan with it's wide open areas was ideal. For both launching rockets and testing nukes. 

After the dismantling of the Soviet Union, Russia made a deal with Kazakhstan to rent the area. But they don't want to be dependent upon the kindness of Kazakhstan, so they have built another space-port. Leaving Baikonur with only a few launches per year. 

I wanted to visit this historic site, but with the current political climate, it left me weary. Since technically, Baikonur, both the city and the launch site, is Russian territory. And you need a special permit to enter. Almost like a visa. And you have to apply at least 90 days prior to the visit. I found out the latter when I decided to apply. Another thing was that it was impossible to get the permit outside of a tour-company. And they, of course, insited you buy a tour with them. And the cheapest I found came in at around $500. If it had included viewing an actual launch, I wouldn't have flinched. But just for a tour? Nah. Maybe I'm just a cheapskate...

Sooo. Without any trip to the "main site" for space operations in Kazakhstan. I decided to find anything space related and enjoy that. And the first site, I found by accident. When I was planning the train rides and buying tickets, I found I had to break the trip between Aralsk and Karaganda. And I found a city named Dzjezkazgan in the middle of nowhere. At first, it was just a place to stop for the night. But since I was going to stay there anyway, I decided to check if there was anything worthwhile to check out. And indeed it was. Before Gagarin was launched, he planted a tree in this very town. As a "good luck" thing. And since then, all cosmonauts have made it a tradition to plant a tree here before they are launched. So there is a large park packed with trees planted by the cosmonauts.

I tried finding a hotel in the town, but the only thing available was a rented apartment. But I had to apply to be allowed to rent it. And I was refused... Which meant that I had to just get off my first train, go to see what I wanted, and then get back on the next train to Karaganda. I had a few hours.

I arrived in the morning. As usual, the train was on time. To the minute. So I knew I had a few hours. I didn't find any lockers for my bag, so I had to carry it. I was contemplating taking a taxi into the city centre, but I felt a need to walk. I had been sitting/sleeping on a train for way too long, so I needed to move my legs. I walked to the centre. A few miles from the train station. And I passed the Juri Gagarin street. And then I arrived at the park. I was hoping the trees would have some sort of plaques or something identifying which tree "belonged" to which cosmonaut. But nothing. Just a bunch of trees. I assessed that the biggest and oldest looking tree probably was Gagarin's tree. So I looked for that. I don't know if this is the correct one, but I assumed it was. Since it was the largest and oldest looking I could find.

Cosmonaut trees

Maybe Gagarin's tree?

I continued walking, and I found a space monument, and by sheer coicidence, I spotted another monument depicting a Sojus rocket. So I got a lot more than I bargained for.

At the end, I walked into a small shop to buy something to drink and eat. It was packed with youths. As they saw me, I felt like a celebrity. As they all wanted to greet me and say "Hi!". It seemed like that was the only English they knew. Or felt confident enough to say. Then they all giggled. I just smiled. I left the store eating one of my favorite ice-creams here in Kazakhstan. A plain vanilla type. Delicious after a long, sweaty walk in the heat.

I got back on the next train taking me to Karaganda. I had found that there was a museum here with lots of parts of rockets falling down as they have been launched. Because, even though much of Kazakhstan is empty, there is always the odd chance stuff will fall down close to people. And Karaganda is "down-range" from Baikonur.

As I started walking from my, I should say, magnificent hotel, the first thing I found, was a magnificent murial depicting a cosmonaut. The old soviets loved murials. And I love them too. Even though most of them are just plain propaganda, they are beautifully made. So too with this one.

As I was closing in on the museum, I expected to see some signs. But nothing. I checked my GPS, and found the building. But no signs. Whatsoever. I walked into a door I found and in a corner sat a middle aged woman behind a small desk. Looking at her phone and looking bored. "Museum?" I asked. She said something in Russian. I pointed to the sky, trying to explain I wanted the "space museum". She pointed to a door. I took out my walled. She waved her hand and said something I interpreted as "free". Hm. A freebie! Not that common. But certainly appreciated. But as soon as I entered the "museum" I figured out why. It felt more like entering a storage room belonging to a hoarder. The whole place was packed to the rafters with not only space stuff, but with anything and everything. From stacks of papers to old soviet era tv sets and of course, space debris falling from the skies...

The stuff was just strewn out on the floor...

Nozzle of a small rocket engine. My foot for comparison

Looks like the fuel injectors for a rocket engine

Some form of antenna?

I walked through the "museum", trying not to step on anything, and found some interesting bits and pieces. Sometimes literally..

I left the museum and checked if I could find anything interesting on the map on the phone. And then I noticed a large heart. I zoomed in and checked. It was a hotel. I smiled when I realized this was the hotel all cosmonauts stayed in after they landed. Did I go to check it out? Silly question! It was an interesting looking hotel to say the least. It looked like a flying saucer had landed on the roof. And it was obviously a luxury hotel. If I had known in advance, I would probably had stayed here instead. Imagine, staying in the hotel of the famous cosmonauts. Maybe taking a dump on the same toilet as Gagarin? Oh well. In the reception, there were images of the most famous cosmonauts, like Gagarin and Tereshkova. First man and woman in space. 

As I walked back to my hotel, I came across a guy who had set up his telescope to let people look at sunspots through a solar filter. He didn't speak any English, so I only checked out the sunspots before giving him a thumbs up. Hopefully, it means the same thing here as in my home country...

So even though I didn't get to see Baikonur, at least I got some space related stuff. And the train to Aralsk actually passed through the Baikonur area, so I got to see some space antennas far out into the distance as we passed. That is something, I guess...

Ragnar

Space nerd