The last couple of years have seen quite a few changes over here in Astana. Since the police cracked down on the use of very dark tinted windows in the front of a car, you can now normally see the driver (reassuring when trying to use a pedestrian crossing, at least for me – I want him to see my moral indignation as I bounce off the bonnet :)), if not the passengers in the back. The spate of badly affixed spoilers seems to have passed, with only a few cars now sporting non-factory add ons, and those that do seem to have had a decent amount of money spent on them. The best change? Wearing seat belts (in the front at least) is no longer seen as an insult to the driver, as again the police have really gone through a couple of clamp downs on the abuse of this law. In the past, I had to explain that whilst I may well trust the driver’s abilities of the car I was in, it was all the other nutters on the road that could crash into us that scared me 🙂
Jun 29 2009
Visitors, Straddling New White Lines, Posters and Yurts
You can definitely tell that there are foreign visitors about to arrive in Astana (there is the “III (I’m assuming that means 3rd?) Congress of leaders of world and traditional religions” – you can normally tell when a phrase is directly translated into English from Russian, rather than re-worded to sound more natural). The white lines on the roads are re-painted, even car parks get neat new spaces clearly marked out. Any billboard posters with our beloved president’s face on tend to be replaced (at least temporarily) with normal business adverts, or motivational ‘Astana city for the future’ type messages. You can tell when the big wigs have actually arrived though, as you’ll spot a lot more policeman at traffic junctions, sometimes ‘helping’ the flow of traffic by turning off the lights, other times ensuring that as a VIP’s car cruises down the road that no other traffic is met. The easiest way to tell when a VVIP is around? The motorcades get to drive on the wrong side of the road, with scores of cars, ambulances, motorbikes and 4x4s flanking the actual limo.
Anyway, we’re off in a moment to get and inspect the progress of the preparations for Astana day in the park opposite us – there are a lot more yurts there now, on raised platforms, and they seem to be making progress with the huge scaled up yurt in one corner. We have already taken a few pictures of the erecting process for yurts, and the mock castle walls at the pedestrian entrance to the park, I’ll try and post them soon.
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Jun 18 2009
Air, Teeth, Mud, Concrete and Burgers
This evening, so Anna could have some fresh air (and a snooze, as she had been cranky all day – teething?) we walked over to Mega (see previous tweet with picture). On the way there (we still take an extra few minutes to use the proper light controlled pedestrian crossing, compared to the main cross roads next to Mega, where cars don’t have to stop when turning right, even though the little green man is, well, green, for pedestrians) we cut across a little patch of grass to get to the pavement. It had previously been raining, and I suddenly found it very difficult to push Anna along. Looking down, I saw the wheel and lower part of the frame caked in mud. Lesson learned – stick to the concrete where possible. It looks like we may be needing some pressure washers to clear the mud off the frame for the pushchair. Hopefully the Akim here in Astana will consider building a proper pavement (sidewalk for American readers), as the one on our side of the road is actually just a series of (usually) connected concrete covers over large pipes.
Speaking of construction in Astana, NewEurasia.net has an article explaining how Kazakhstan hosting the Asian Winter Olympics has benefited Astana now that the city is co-hosting with Almaty (the old capital city over here). See here for the full run down.
Anyway, despite the use of big puddles, leaves and tissues, the pushchair was still leaving a muddy streak behind it when we arrived at Mega, so Ira ran in to pick up a few essentials from Ramstore, and also a couple of takeaways from Star Burger (I think that was the name) – I had a relatively tasty cheese burger, with no scary rabbit food (lettuce, tomato, gherkins etc), which filled a hole nicely.
On the way back a water tanker (one of the smaller versions, compared to what you might see in Europe) was drifting across lanes, apparently trying to drive through a car, rather than overtake it, luckily they both stopped in time for the zebra crossing, so we arrived back home in one piece, though a little wet, as the clouds broke again for a few minutes.
May 27 2009
Made Me Mad
Walking back from our flat a couple of days ago, I saw a baby being carried by his/her mother in a car. This, sadly, isn’t too unusual in Kazakhstan, and I think I’ll have a few battles in the future when it comes to insisting that Anna is able to use her car seat over here when we get a lift.
Part of the problem is that the law in Astana (laxly enforced) only applies to the front seats as far as seat belts are concerned. This means that even if belts are fitted in the rear when the car was made, they are often ignored, left under the seats or in some truely kcufed up cases removed!
Anyway, back to my story… Not only was this small baby held loosely in her mother’s hands, she was actually sat/leant against the dashboard in the front! So we now have a baby inches away from the glass windscreen, should any accidents occur. But it didn’t end there, this car was an almost new Toyota (Camry? I didn’t notice the exact model), and I’d bet 100 dollars against your 5 that it had air bags.
This means that should even a relatively minor shunt occur, the air bag would… well, lets just say that that baby’s parents would most likely be grieving.
It doesn’t matter how many people tell me that there isn’t the culture of safety over here, or that people don’t consider things like seat belts & car seats for children as necessary/affordable, it does not take a fricking genius to look at the little bundle of joy in their arms and wonder what would happen if this car was crashed into, right now. Anyway, rant over, and just to show that this sort of problem is obviously not just restricted to Kazakhstan, here is a quick picture from failblog I noticed recently…
May 29 2008
Car Rules Changing
Kazakhstan recently tightened up car regulations. For example, the main and front side windows can no longer have tinted glass. This has led to policeman pulling over even posh looking cars, with important businessmen in the back, and instructing the chauffeur he can not continue the journey until he strips off the film. Quite what they do when they come across the odd car that actually has tinted glass, rather than just the post-factory film stuck to normal glass, I’m not sure.
It also appears that motorists must turn on their headlights at all times of day, at least on roads outside of the city. Unfortunately, there is still no sign of people being forced to wear seat belts, and many cars can be seen driving around with broken tail lights and curtains in the rear window. (To keep the temperature down. I can see the logic, but you are supposed to be aware of the traffic behind you when driving…)
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May 23 2008
White Lines
No, not a reference to the seminal track by Melle Mel and The Furious Five (not Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel, as often quoted – this was a marketing ploy by the record label, who listed ‘Grandmaster’ as a track artist), nor Duran Duran’s version of said song. No, I’m happy to report that Astana has had it’s road markings reapplied. Drivers still don’t seem to exactly stick to their lane (or even stick to the principle of three marked lanes should equal a maximum of three real life lanes of traffic), but it does seem to have a small effect.
The reason for this being done now is probably the birthday celebrations Astana will be holding soon – many construction projects and visible improvements are being rushed through to completion in order to make sure all looks well in time. Sadly, they took down the rainbow road ornaments; DaveG had a point that they didn’t really fit in with the image of a modern capital city, but at a personal level, they looked pretty. Also, with the (necessary) ice scraping done all winter long on the roads, not only do the lane markings disappear, also the pedestrian (zebra) crossings have no visible clue left to their whereabouts. Now you could just cross where you know they are supposed to be, but the rainbow structures over the roads hopefully used to give some motorists a reminder that the pedestrians were supposed to try and cross there, and should therefore be avoided a little more often.
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May 03 2008
Train Horn In A Car?
I have seen these for sale before, as well as MP3s of the isolated sound of the horn, but this video shows what happens when you put said train horns in a car, and drive round scaring people.
Personally, I would love one if I ever drive over here in Kazakhstan, just to make sure other drivers were aware of my presence, but I’m not too sure how well the police would react. In any case, it seems like a better idea than the one an old boss implemented – he managed to import an American police siren, installed it in his Volvo, and used to tear down the fast lane on motorways, using it when people wouldn’t let him pass!
May 01 2008
It Could Be Worse
The next time I complain about Kazakh drivers not stopping for you on zebra crossings, or the way cars are driven when a pedestrian is on the road for some reason, remind me to look at this video from India…
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