KZBlog

One of the things I am looking forward to for New Years is the Ice Town. Although I hear that they do this in Scandinavian countries, I have never seen it anywhere but Astana so I like to think of it as a unique attraction in Kazakhstan. They’ve probably already started digging ice up out of the river and shaping it into blocks to build the Ice Town. Every year it’s different and sometimes they do two or three. But every year there are ice sculptures, ice slides and usually some kind of house or fortress you can actually go inside! It’s very beautiful and fun during the day and night when they turn the colored lights on, it’s even more extraordinary. In fact many of the sculptures have lights inside of them, so the whole sculpture actually glows.

These photos were taken a few years ago but they give you some idea of the scale and variety of Ice Town. Every year has a theme and in these photos the theme was Kazakhstan, so you can see a sculpture of a brave Saka warrior; I think it’s actually the Golden Man (Altyn Adam) and a fortress wall, like there used to be in Taraz or Otrar. Other years the theme has been children’s cartoon characters and once they did the wonders of the world with an ice Eiffel Tower and Pyramids and the Taj Mahal!

I highly recommend going at least once at night. But since it can be quite cold out, it’s worth coming on a sunny day so you can spend a little more time enjoying yourself! Usually it goes up around Duman, the aquarium and sometimes they make a smaller one near Eurasian University and/or Bayterek. One word to the wise: look out when you are near the ice slides. Kids (and sometimes adults or the occasional expat blogger!) come shooting down on pieces of cardboard without any warning. And on the ice, sliders can sail pretty far. So if you aren’t careful you might get your feet knocked out from under you. And with all that ice around, that might mean losing a tooth!