Astana – “Мой Любимый Город!”

08.26.10 

Shymkent soundtrack: Traditional Kazakh dombra meets pseudo-hard knock Kazakh rap

Almaty soundtrack: Enrique Iglesias (PS: HOW is he popular now in the States?! I really thought that was a purely Kazakhstan phenomenon) meets soothing European lounge grooves

Astana soundtrack: Brain-busting space-age Russian techno meets Lady Gaga. 

That pretty much summarizes my comparative impressions of the noveau-chic capital with its bizarrely beautiful alien architecture, ostentatious Presidential wealth, windy stretches of meticulously landscaped nothingness, and an unsettling unpopulated feeling that harkens the endless steppe on which it sits.

[Grand Astana skyline...and absolutely zero people]

Astana (literally "Capital" in Kazakh, which some say was chosen purposefully so it could be renamed after President Nazarbayev post mortem) was officially declared the new capital of Kazakhstan in 1997, replacing southern Almaty.  There are various explanations to why President Nazarbayev decided to take on such a major and rather unpopular move: Almaty’s high earthquake risk given its mountainous setting and overpopulation problems, as well as of course Astana’s more central location (further away from the Chinese border, at that) and a more equal demographic split between Russians and Kazakhs as you move up north.

Unfortunately, Astana’s central location in the steppe also means frigid Siberian temperatures and no shelter from the biting wind (it's apparently the second-coldest capital, the first being Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia).  As diplomats and businessmen moved into the new modern superstructure, it also became clear that Astana was very much a city of transplants with no natives of its own and thus no real local identity (in many ways similar, by the way, to Washington D.C.  Let’s be real, no one ACTUALLY cheers for the Capitals or the Wizards [sorry, J:)]).  Nearly everyone I have met has grumbled about the superiority of Almaty, still considered in many ways the country’s “real” capital and beloved major metropolis.  And yet as if Astana knows it has a lot to make up for, I have never seen so many pro-city propaganda advertisements before!  Here’s a brief collection:

[Kamila's excellent reenaction of "Мой любимый город!" ("My favorite city!")]

Like a glittering Emerald City with an enthusiastic gold-handprinted wizard, Astana is definitely unlike any place I’ve ever been before.  Half of the city is the new business district with glitzy official buildings: the Presidential Palace, Pyramid of Peace, Independence Hall, Baiterek Tower.  This is also the half that is practically empty and not lived in – daytime walks and looping 4-mile runs both in the morning and in the evening (Anna was training for a half-marathon back home in a week’s time!) yielded more or less the same barren streets.  The old parts of the city that were lived in back when the city was known as Akmola are more normally populated.  The new and old parts are separated by a lovely river with modern white bridges and space-age-looking staircases stretching from bank to bank.  My friend and fellow Dostar volunteer Kamila and I entered one little mini mall that, like the rest of the city, seemed only half-real: beautifully constructed, perfectly functional infrastructure (even toilet paper in the restrooms!), but half of the stalls and boutiques were white, locked and empty. 

[Anna photographing Baiterek at dusk]

[Me with the two gold "teapot towers," the Presidential Palace and fountains]

[2-in-1 UFO and Circus!]

[Bridge connecting the left and right banks (also referred to as the "new" and "old" parts of the city)]

[A scenic beach view of some tower apartments?]

[Kami and I at the Pyramid of Peace...with no one else in sight, of course]

[From L to R: the "dog bowl," "chicken on a stick" and "bread basket," a.k.a Astana's stadium, monument and independence hall. The central white monument has a 15-foot bronze reproduction of Nazarbayev on one side]

[Not sure why these buildings have holes in them....]

[Crazy, mismatched, Gaga-like Astana architecture]

The newest addition to the skyline is the much talked about Khan Shatyry, a giant temperature controlled modern yurt-remake that houses both upscale mall shops, crazy amusement park rides (like a central “Tower of Terror”, and a water park coaster) as well as a year-round beach complete with umbrellas and palm trees on the top floor.

[Looking up the inside of the Khan Shatyry]

[Girls riding up the "Tower of Terror" at the center of the tent]

[Little cars can take you on an amusement park ride around the circumference of the tent]

[A water ride on the top floor...?!]

[An indoor beach/pool with palms and umbrellas visible through the glass]

[The special transparent material covering the roof of the Khan Shatyry regulates the temperature year-round]

Other epic site-seeing expeditions were made.  The first was to the Baiterek, Astana’s signature tower that is supposed to represent a white birch tree with a golden egg on top (pretty spot on, right?).  That expedition included a tank of scary-looking catfish, a gift shop with $50 mini-Baiterek souvenirs, a miniature model of the Astana city center, a globe memorial donated by various religious societies, and of course the golden imprint of President Nazarbayev’s hand that is supposed to sing the national anthem to you when you place your hand in it (though sadly that feature seemed to have been temporarily discontinued on our visit).  We also visited a park with a miniature map of Kazakhstan (“It’s not a park, it’s a map!” one woman emphatically told me when I asked her for directions), complete with mini-monuments and landmarks from all of the major cities except for of course Shymkent, which slightly offended me (but then again what major landmark do we have here? Our Megacenter mall?:P).  Our last stop before I left was to Duman Oceanarium, supposedly the world's farthest aquarium from the ocean, complete with moving walkways (though sadly also not in operation on our visit), dollhouse-decorated fish tanks, and a surround-sight tank with sharks that swim above and around you as you walk/Jetsons-glide through.  Equally amusing was the bizarre internationally-minded mall that the oceanarium was located in, which had small tributes to America, China and Kazakhstan (look at that – my favorite places!).  It’s funny how seeing mini-life-sized versions of a teepee, the Statue of Liberty, the Great Wall, the Turkestan mausoleum and Baikonur rockets all in one room doesn’t even faze me at this point.

[Baiterek and me trying on Nazarbayev's handprint for size]

[Anna and I pointing to our respective homes in Kazakhstan at the entrance to the map-park]

[Anna, Ryan and I with the mini model of Astana]

[Baikonur, the Soviet rocket launching site, and the dried up Aral Sea are both represented]

[Ryan checks out a depiction of the Almaty wooden church and WWII monument in Panfilov Park]

[Teepee and totem pole in the Duman Oceanarium building. I don't ask anymore]

[Clearly, all pink fish need Barbie house accommodations]

[The moving walkway floor is supposed to take you through the shark-filled tanks, Jetsons-style]

[The tank surrounds us, and a diver has come in to play with the sharks]

[A Nemo! Rumor has it they spend a fortune flying special ocean water in to Duman, an indoor ocean oasis in the deserted steppe]

[A trio of thoroughly satisfied tourists]

Definitely one of the best parts about Astana of course was getting to hang out more with Anna.  She was everything one could ask of a hostess, housing me in her posh embassy apartment, getting me on the VIP list to the U.S. Ambassador’s iftar (a dinner breaking Ramadan fast, where ambassadors to many Muslim countries were in attendance), and feeding me delicious German breakfasts, curried dinners and homemade peanut butter cookies.  We also got to spend time with her great embassy coworkers over multiple dinner and drink dates, as we were all acquainted with each other through my help with SR Pandith’s visit earlier in the month.  Though embassy life is as nice as I remember it (I was a Public Affairs intern at the embassy in Tallinn, Estonia), it also reminded me how grateful I am to get a chance to do the grassroots-level work in the thick of things now with Peace Corps – a unique and valuable vantage point that I’m not sure I will have in quite the same way later in my career.

Speaking of work, I should mention what I was doing in Astana in the first place: meeting with various potential international donors including multiple embassies and UN bodies, on behalf of my organization(s) in Shymkent.  The meetings went very well and I think everyone supporting civil society projects around the country was excited to hear about the work going on in the South, which is admittedly “a land of its own” (so much so that I had a bit of reverse culture shock getting into the temperature-controlled Astana train station and temperature-controlled Astana busses that announce the next stop in a pre-recorded voice!).  I think it was very important PR and long-term donor relationship development for our org, and the trip resulted in several successful leads on funding opportunities to pursue this coming year to help make our projects and programs more sustainable.

Astana was followed by an enjoyable trip to Almaty, which I of course am much more familiar with.  There I saw and stayed with old dear friends, met new ones (the new PiAers and Fulbrighters are all coming in now) and had three more donor meetings before finally heading back to site!  September is absolutely packed with things to do – my next post will probably be after our grant project training trip to Bulgaria, so stay tuned!