Three videos shot earlier tonight, embedded into one post, instead of the three that were originally taking up too much space. We went over to Astana Park so Anna could have some fresh air, and I realised coming down the stairs that I’d not shown what the walk over to the park looked like. I’m still hoping to find a better quality replacement for semi-living streaming from my phone, but for now, you’ll just have to either put up with it, or not click play 🙂
Aug 23 2009
Horses And Tightrope Walking
Meeting up on the 5th of July with Walton and his brother, Dave, who was over here in Kazakhstan for a while, we had decided to try and catch the horse show put on at the entrance to Astana Park, as the day before it had been rained off. A year or two ago, Walton, Asel, Ira and I went to see Kokpar and horse acrobatics at an out of town stadium, again for Astana Day celebrations, but this year I hadn’t made it.
Once we’d seen the show, we could understand why the horse riders only wanted the driest of floors to work on.
-
- Pre Show Preparations With Walton Sporting His Dombra Hero T-Shirt
-
- Horse Wrestling – A Winner Is A Mere Half Second From Formally Kicking Ass
-
- Tiring Day For The Horse?
-
- Melee In The Middle
-
- The Last ‘Enemy’ Almost Vanquished
-
- Squeaky Voiced Rider?
-
- Lone Female Horse Performer – Least Blurred Photo. Hoping Dave Had Some Better Shots
-
- Bird Of Prey Keeps An Eye On The Car Park
-
- Same Old Uzbek Dude Walking To Work Again
-
- Tightrope Walker Attaches His Safety Rope. Camera Runs Out Of Space.
Comments Off on Horses And Tightrope Walking
Aug 19 2009
Night And Dawn Lights
Just a single image this time, snapped on the 29th June. To the right you can see the new bridge, with its lights that flash and change colours. In the middle you have Astana Tower, which is inter-connected with Ramstore (or Pam-C-Top if you’re Mum 🙂 ) and the North Wind ‘pub’. Finally there are some residential flats. In between us and those buildings, in the dark, we have the main road, tennis courts & gym, Astana park and the river Ishim.
It Looked Prettier At The Time...
Ah-ha, found another image, before we covered all the windows with mosquito screens, this one was taken on the 3rd July. You can see the rainbow effect here, though obviously the fact that the colours rotate across isn’t so obvious 🙂
Dawn Breaking - Lights Changing On The Bridge Over The River Ishim In Astana
Comments Off on Night And Dawn Lights
Jun 26 2009
One Week Before Astana Day…
Well, eight days I think, but anyway, as this was the 26th June again, you can see the camera batteries took a bit of a battering. We took Anna out for her (almost) daily walk, and decided to check out how the preparations for Astana Day (and the International Religious Tolerance Forum) were coming along. If you have ever seen pictures of Yurts, and wondered how they were made, and the process that creates them, you’ll hopefully get a slightly better idea soon. If you’re reading this on the front page, you’ll need to click the link under the first photo to see the rest – there are a lot, and so to keep the front page readable, I’ve hidden them away.
Anna At Entrance To Astana Park, With Yurts In The Background
Aug 04 2007
Nur Otan Event In The Park
Woke up this morning, and when we looked out the window, we saw something going on, over at the entrance to Astana park.
There were a lot of old Kazakh buses, so it looks like some companies bussed in their workers for some reason.
Then we saw a couple of flags flying and a guy started speaking over a PA system. People in white shirts started milling around, and then a cycling team turned up. I don’t know if it was the Astana team that recently made an early exit from the Tour de France, as I recently blogged on, over at Kazakh Cyclist Shames Astana Tour de France Team Out Of Competition. Anyway, it appears that the political party organized an event for people to see the cycling team, and the event was well attended.
Around 30 minutes later, everyone had gone from the park, and there were no more flags being waved.
Comments Off on Nur Otan Event In The Park
Aug 04 2007
Great Find In The Park
This evening, Ira and I went to find a new cafe to eat at, in Astana Park. Her parents had told us about a place that did good sashliq, and was not too pricey. When I discovered which one it was, I had my doubts straight away; a couple of months back we went in there, and walked out straight away, as the air was incredibly stuffy. Luckily the evening was still warm, so we plonked ourselves in their outdoor seating area.
The food was good, I had beef sashliq, which for once was cooked properly all the way through, but still retained some juiciness and flavour. Anyway, to the next person that comes out to visit us, we now have another local cafe/restaurant that we will be happy to take you to 🙂
PS Walton/Asel, if you read this, we may just have found a new Cafe Shimkent… it was a little more pricey, but the surroundings certainly make up for it, and the food was great.
PPS Walton, the vodka was cheap 🙂
Comments Off on Great Find In The Park
Jun 13 2007
Picnic In The Park
We recently went to a restaurant in the park near us (named, with some unique inspiration, Astana Park) with Walton and Assel. The place is based around the theme of a famous Russian film set in the desert, hopefully Ira will be able to inform me of its name in the morning.
Ira and I had not been there before, so we didn’t know what to expect. The food was good, the vodka must have been OK, as I forgot I took the following picture 🙂
When Alex gets over here in a week and a half, I’m hoping we can return the restaurant again. The service was a little slow, and it was yet another example of a place in Kazakhstan where ‘starters’ and ‘main courses’ arrive in a random pattern, but the waitress was pleasant in her attitude, when Ira and I went back there last week.
By the way, the post title is a reference to an annual event back in Cheltenham, where people went to Pitville park, with a picnic, and listened to some bands play…
Comments Off on Picnic In The Park
Jun 01 2007
Childrens Conference In The Park
As I recently mentioned here, there is some sort of meeting going on across the road. I spoke to Ira, and she believes it may be related to a children’s conference going on today.
If you look on the left, you can see a poster featuring our beloved President. The area the crowd is in, is one of the entrances to Astana Park, which has a lot of cafes in open in the summer, fairground rides, and eventually leads down to the River Ishim.
I’ll come back and update with more information, as I receive it.
Oct 28 2006
Drive In Theatre ???
OK, so not sure if this is going to be a permanent feature, or simply for a one off event, but opposite to us, very near the entrance to Astana park there has been a sign/board/screen constructed. For a couple of months, we weren’t sure what it was for, as the angle did not suit the normal billboard advertisements targeted at motorists, nor did it look like it would catch the attention of park strollers.
However, a new sign has been displayed today, proudly proclaiming something along the lines of ‘Drive In Theatre’ (or Theater for our USA readers/spellers), and the screen itself has been warped to a curve (not sure why, maybe going for one of those 180° immersive film shows?).
I’m hoping they will not use wired speakers for the audio of any films they show, as this would mean I’d need to buy/borrow a car, and drive 150 metres to watch the film. (Yes I’m capable of walking across the road, but would you fancy sitting to watch a movie, in a car park, in the winter over here?)
Instead, I’m hoping the cinema will use short range (but not TOO short ;> ) FM radio transmitters, so people can just tune their car radios (or a radio in their flat) to a certain frequency, and hear the film’s soundtrack.
I’m at the in-laws this afternoon, but will upload on Sunday the photos I took this morning of the scene.
[edit] as promised, here are the photos…
1st we have a close up shot of the area
Now we have a shot with less zoom, to give an idea of where the cinema is in comparison to the road and our flat
Comments Off on Drive In Theatre ???