SCATtered all the way to Shymkent

by Nisha Patel

My companions and I took the early evening flight on SCAT to Shymkent, the capital of South Kazakhstan and the third largest city on the Kazakh steppe. On mentioning to my Kazakh colleagues that I was heading to Shymkent, I was met with bemusement. You do know that it’s wild and lawless, don’t you? Why would a single female possibly wish to go there, when she had the shiny shopping malls of Astana on her doorstep? I was intrigued by their description of manic driving and wife stealing; and the thought of being kidnapped, hauled onto horseback and ridden across the steppe, whilst partaking in the traditional horseback kissing game Kuuz Kuu (‘catch the girl) appealed to my romantic side.

Steppe away from the cookie jar

With its unfortunate appellation, SCAT was not a particularly exciting prospect. Concernedly, I recollected the not so delightful in-flight services of Aeroflot to Tokyo, via Moscow. Besides the few horror stories of broken seats, and that oh so unpleasant Soviet service with a smile OR NOT, that I’d heard about, what didn’t instill me with great confidence was the knowledge that SCAT has been identified as having ‘serious safety deficiencies’ by the Aviation Safety Network and banned from flying in EU airspace. Oh well, I’d be scattered across the big blue Kazakh sky. A pleasant surprise then to find smiley air hostesses, a moist edible sandwich (except for the limp lettuce), a considerable choice of beverages, and a smooth landing at Shymkent airport 1hour 20minutes later! I felt we were off to a good start.