Bench for two, with privacy

This bench, in Astana's main Gorodskoi park, didn't charm us at first. It is a garish blue, and its proximity to the aquapark did little to infect any sympathy for its colour. It has a bin, let's not omit that - we must be fair in our approach to bench rating. The four thick planks don't look particularly appetising, even to the most tired of derrières. Of course, what is most revulsive about this bench is that it is backless. A stool, no more than!

Alas, my negativety has been a chirade, this bench, charming is at may not seem at first sight, has a perculiar benefit which is of most value to a perculiar people - the British! It may seem obvious to the lay global citizen that if all benches - which by definition can accomodate at least two persons - have at least one fine friend with their glutes already firmly rooted thereon, then you should simply join one of them and sit and relax in perfect harmony. Well, the friendly Brit is not impressed by this. We must have personal space! Share a bench? How can one relax?! The lack of personal space is enough to cancel out the benefit of the bench altogether!

Here in Astana, whose benches are charming, we have an excellent example of a backless bench which accomodates two fine British persons, each with ample personal space seating. They sit back to back! Thank you to Jaimie (left) and Doug (right) for modelling this fine bench in the picture above.

It is still garish blue and unappealing, but for its practicality we will save it a slating and perhaps give it 3 starts. Or is that too kind?

Sandbox

This is the Ishim river, which runs through the centre of Astana. There's a small beach on one of the banks and in this photo you can see a message (click for a bigger version) written in script which is, apparently, Kazakh. It's a love message of some kind, beautifully written. When we walked past the same place a few days later the message had been  washed away - I wonder if they know they're loved, or if it's a secret admirer.

Sunsets getting earlier

The sky is almost always very moody.

The seasons are changing with pace here and after an Indian summer the wind has switched directions and we have some magnificent siberian gusts! The sun sets just as we leave the office now - here's a few pics from my phone.

The far side of the university is a building site - campus is expanding

It's hot one day, cold the next, as the winds switch from the south or the north. Of course, all of this will be child's play soon as the real winter approaches. The 'heating season' begins on 15th October, and the whole country turns the heating on in unison.

This building is white, but the sunset turned it pink.

Cheesy story from the pub

Jaimie enjoys a pint
with smoked cheese

They have their own twist (tee hee) on cheese strings here in Kazakhstan. I'm not sure how far this little trinket of culture spreads ... maybe in Russia and the 'stans too? Apparently it has its origins in the nomadic lifestyle and the herds of sheep and associated milk ... blah blah blah. Anyway, they smoke the cheese, somehow prepare it in stringy strips, and It's served on a plate in a pub. Take a string, wind it round your finger and nibble away as you enjoy your pint. It's quite smokey cheese, delish!

Lovely day in Burabay

Doug and the taxi interior

A perfect day out of the city! After taking a sneaky photo of the hat with a large diameter, we took a taxi with a lovely interior, modelled here by Doug. We visited Buravoe lake and the scenery was really stunning.

Baravoe lake

It was low season but unseasonably hot, in the low 20s. We toured the perimeter of the lake in taxis, stopping off to see rocks which supposedly looked like an elephant, hedgehog, and camel - all light hearted fun.

Apart from the scenery, the weather, and the laughs, the highlight for me was attracting a golden eagle from the wild by holding a rat up. It came down and grabbed the rat and my friend and colleague Joe was quick enough to get this snap.

I made a friend.

Plastic tied to a tree - this
is a tradition when
making a wish

Of course the eagle was actually tied up and I paid the grand sum of 350 tenge ('ten-gey') - a little over a pound - to have a go holding it. It is remarkably heavy but even more striking was the look it gave me and the strength of its claws as it balanced on the leather glove. Amazing!

I love the woods!

Some of the School of Engineering crew.

Unsurprisingly, this Kazakh squirrel didn't understand me!

No comment. This one's just here for my mum.

End of a great day.

Steppe away from the city

A train. In Kazakhstan.

We got up early on a Saturday morning to get the train to Burabay, just under 3 hours from Astana.

Some (presumably) old soviet industry

This involved seeing out across the steppe. Steppe is a Russian word adopted by English. It describes the landscape that dominates this part of Kazakhstan - big, open, dry, grassy, flat and windy.

The steppe. This large field seems to be cultivated. There wasn't a building in sight - must be a large farm!

Not a lot grows on the steppe, which goes some way to explaining why the people here were nomadic until soviet times.

I liked the trees - in particular these silver ones. Silver birch?

The sky seems so big, the moon so small.

Autumn colors

Hat with large diameter.

Toilet signs

Which is male and which is female?! Comments please!

Astana benches

Astana scores maximum points in the 'benches' category. Its benches are numerous, well placed, mostly good quality, and with a good variety of aesthetically pleasing designs. This is the first in my collection, which I hope will grow with time. It's relatively simple but it has a soul. I think that's enough to qualify as a good bench. Extra points for having a bin attached on the end.

The bench is located at near MEGA centre on the Тұран (Turan?) даңғылы (Boulevard), which doesn't seem to have a latin version. It's loacted around 51.145312, 71.410528.

Traffic cop beeping horn phenomenon

Traffic cop soviet man of steel with baton.

Traffic cops in Astana are courageous men with hats that have a diameter approximately twice that of their head. I love these hats -  a wonderful relic of the Soviet era. Astana's big, wide, multilane streets get congested at rush hour and the traffic heroes step in to save the day by standing in the middle of a cross-road of two roads, 6 lanes each, and they spin a baton around to direct the traffic. I think the batons were designed to direct aircraft; the traffic policeman officers hold them at arms length, spinning them in a direction according to their demands of the traffic.

When we sit in traffic in the morning, the waiting cars start honking at him. This wave of excitement catches on, and the man receives an onslaught of horns and we marvel at both the audacity of the cars and tenacity of the traffic officer man boy hero who takes orders from no-driver.

Traffic cop. Note MEGA centre - more on that later

Our driver tends to be indifferent to all of this, and ideed the only international rule of the roads - viz. don't drive on the wrong side! - and he hurtles us in our non-descript white VW minibus down the wrong side of the highway, and then squeezes into position no.2 in the queue, ready to turn left asap and head on down to the university, via some fantastic landmarks which I will no doubt describe in due course.