To the Future and Back

We went to Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, on Friday. We travelled in a van with a couple from France whom we met at the Baby Home, our local coordinator and translator, her prospective adoptive daughter, and a driver. The distance from Karaganda to Astana is just over 200 km. But it's very difficult to do the trip in less than three hours. That's because the quickly changes from a 4-lane divided highway to a 2-lane undivided highway and you sometimes get stuck behind heavy trucks; old trucks; and heavy, old trucks. That being said, the condition of the highway is very good. Much better than parts of highway 401 in Ontario or highway 40 in Quebec. Many times better than the roads in Cape Breton (sorry, folks).

You also run across (fortunately, not literally) the odd cow or horse standing right beside the highway, so you have to be careful. As well, there are many roads that just enter the highway without any off-ramps or on-ramps. Like the Trans-Canada highway through New Brunswick used to be. The terrain is very flat. Almost all of it is steppes. Like the Canadian prairies, but a bit more desolate.

On the way to Astana, we had lunch in a traditional Russian-style tavern on the side of the road. Seven of us had a fairly substantial meal, including tea all 'round, for less than $40. Tea is served either as chai z maloko or chai z limon. (Pronounce them as written, even with the "z".) The first is with milk already added into the teapot. Sort of like cafe au lait. The second is with lemon in the teapot.

On arrival in Astana, we saw that the city is divided into two parts, physically and architecturally. The part on the East side of the river is in the Soviet style. There are old wartime houses there, really shacks, hastily built when many people fled the advancing German armies in the West. There are also very square apartment buildings, built in a hurry in the post-war period, right up until the end of the Soviet era.

The part of the city on the West side of the river is all new. When they made Astana the capital, they decided to put almost all of the government buildings and foreign embassies there. Fifteen years ago, there was nothing there except steppes. Now, even the French family said that some of the architecture and plan rivals that of Paris. Companies built offices and developers built shopping centres and apartments. The architecture is very modern, even futuristic, but not ridiculously so. We will post some pictures when we get an opportunity. Fans of architecture should definitely research Astana more. It rivals Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and the cities in some of the emirate countries in the Middle East for futurism.

On the way back, we ate in a yurt, a round tent-like structure traditionally carried on the side of camels by Kazakh nomadic animal-herders. You sit on the floor on cushions around circular tables. Traditionally, you sit in a place assigned by your status. The table farthest away from the door is reserved for the highest ranking men, with the honoured guest or head of the household seated farthest away from the door. At the table to the right of the honoured guest sit the highest ranking women. Then the other tables decrease in rank as you move counter-clockwise around the yurt until you finally have the youngest children sitting together. We all ate at the same table, though. We had a traditional Kazakh meal of shashlik, sort of a meat-only shish kebab. You can have mutton, beef, or chicken. The meat is cut into pieces as is, bones, fat, and all. It's marinated for up to 6 hours. The marinade can be made of yogurt and lemon, or sometimes just lemon with water, and various spices. Then it is cooked directly on a fire on metal spits that are about 50 cm long. When all is cooked, the spits are then brought to your table. You have the choice of taking the meat off the spit with a fork or your hands and putting it on your plate. Or you can eat the meat directly off the spit. Remember, the bones are still there. The meal came with tomato and cucumber, along with fresh bread. And of course, more tea.

We also shared a bowl of kumiss. That's a traditional Kazakh drink. It is fermented mare's milk, with little bits of a specific grass added for additional flavour. Kumiss is quite thin and sour-tasting, with a hint of smokiness, like some cheeses. Everybody tried it and were surprised to find that it is fairly drinkable. You can buy it in the grocery stores here.

Altogether a very intriguing day. Our curiosity satisfied about Astana and yurts and horse's milk, we returned to Karaganda.