Crayfish and Caesar Salad at Pivavarov. Not mine, obviously. With DanD, John, Inessa and Ira http://twitpic.com/264wh3
Jul 17 2010
Crayfish and Ceasar Salad at P…
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Jul 17 2010
I’m at Pivavarov (Astana). htt…
I’m at Pivavarov (Astana). http://4sq.com/aukaNG
Hmm, I was going to embed a Google Maps thing here, but foursqaure have disabled some Google features, and I’m too lazy to go and view the source code.
For now, it looks as though if you see a 4sq.com link, you’ll need to visit it yourself to see more information on the venue I’ve just checked into, sorry.
Jul 08 2010
Inside Khan Shatyr, Astana. Li…
Inside Khan Shatyr, Astana. Little bit meh so far. Not totally ready to be open TBH. Will post details later. http://twitpic.com/23gx6f
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Jul 08 2010
Inside Khan Shatyr, Astana, Kazakhstan
Inside Khan Shatyr, Astana, Kazakhstan (#qik) http://qik.ly/BqDI3
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Jul 06 2010
Happy Day Of Astana
I have previously been calling it Astana Day, but local official online sources seem to refer to it as the Day of Astana. Anyway, it is also our beloved President’s birthday today. He is seventy, which is still very young, and in his honour the Khan Shatyr was officially opened today apparently. Nursultan Nazarbayev (who is legally not insultable by anyone living in this glorious nation) was rumoured to have been pondering resigning today, but I have yet to hear about any speech confirming this. Since the Leader of the Nation law was passed, some people thought he would take this momentous occasion to pass on the baton to another great, perfect and non-corrupt leader.
Anyway, check out the BBC article here for some more details on Khan Shatyr, though I have a few queries regarding the “facts” in that story…
Astana celebrates 13 years of being capital perhaps, but the city was around, in different (smaller) forms for a little bit longer than that 🙂 The phrasing just makes it sound as though nothing existed here for decades, and suddenly over night it came into existence.
Khan Shatyr is the city’s tallest structure? Could be right, but 150 metres doesn’t seem all that tall compared to some structures here. This could just be my mistake though.
“from 30C in the summer to -30C in the winter.” – An argument I’ve had over at Wikipedia before. Summer is regularly above 30C, occasionally hitting 40. Winter definitely sees an occasional dip below -30.
Here is an earlier photo of the Khan Shatyr tent like structure, whilst it was still being slowly constructed, to ensure it was ready for the birthday of this nation’s wonderful leader.
Jul 06 2010
Better Than Expected
OK, so to clarify the tweets, twitpics and Qik videos from Sunday night, here is what happened… Irina’s friend from work had recommended a summer “café” in Astana park, near the river. (See below for the approximate location thanks to Google Maps.) Originally I had intended to check it out whilst watching a World Cup match or two, but friends and friends of friends already had their heart set on a different venue. So when it came to Independence Day (4th of July), we asked Walton and Assel if they would like to try out La Rivière. We arrived to find that it was less a café (which some would assume meant it was not as expensive as some restaurants), but decided to try it out anyway.
We knew there was the possibility of some live musical entertainment from Irina’s friend’s description, and we weren’t disappointed. When I saw the female singer (see previous posts for the male), my first impression was that she looked very good, and I therefore assumed that her vocal talents might not be as impressive. Although a few songs seemed to be outside of her comfort zone, the recordings below don’t really do her justice for the most part…
The lady singer preparing for her show at Rivière.
Here we have her version of You’ll See by Madonna, as well as a quick glimpse of a hookah/hubbly bubbly/water pipe that we had (water melon and grape was the flavour tobacco we chose I think.)
This time she is singing “Sweet About Me”, and another quick shot of the hookah
This was a cover of the Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
Penultimately we have Rihanna’s “Don’t Stop The Music”
And finally, she sang “Its A Wonderful Life” (Black I think? A group that has a colour as their name at least.)
The food was quite expensive, and there was apparently only a choice of two beers. However the cheeseburger (I know, I’m a classy guy 😉 ) was tasty, and the local Line Brew was relatively cheap and appeared to have alcohol in it 🙂 The samsas that were supposed to be a starter didn’t arrive until after the main course, but were OK. The service was great (especially by local standards), though if your company has given you a discount card for La Rivière, be aware that there has apparently been a management change, so these cards are no longer accepted. The water pipe was nice (we didn’t splash out on the extra money required to have a pineapple used as the charcoal bowl), and when the charcoals had died out, they didn’t try and charge us for more, so we were able to finish off the tobacco. The big screen (well projector and screen) looks like it could be good for the next World Cup match we go out to watch, though we may need to reserve a table in advance. Overall, I’d recommend this place if your budget isn’t tight, or if you only plan to have a couple of drinks and want to chill out outdoors, with the possibility of live entertainment.
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Jul 05 2010
Not As Upbeat…
As with the lady in white (her videos are to follow), this is one half of last night’s entertainment. For some reason, I chose his covers of Eric Clapton’s Tears From Heaven (in this case, how to take a sad song and make it even more melancholy by slowing it down) and also Sting’s Shape Of My Heart.
Overall, the lady (dressed all in white) sang more songs, had more range in the tracks she covered, and caught my attention more, though it is possible this wasn’t purely down to her audible assets? Give me a few more minutes, and I’ll have finished compiling her clips as well.
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Jul 04 2010
Pineapple hubbly bubbly (water…
Pineapple hubbly bubbly (water pipe) http://twitpic.com/22ebay
Jul 04 2010
Walton and Assel at a summer c…
Walton and Assel at a summer café next to the river Ishim – http://twitpic.com/22dpwl
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