Atyrau, Kazakhstan

Hello all! Should have posted sooner, sorry Emily!, but have been in a good book series (book coma) and was put off by weird phone typing in the Bangkok airport (still not sure what that was about!) Arrived in Kazakhstan last Friday morning, a little concerned about visa/taxi/getting suitcase (I have been so lucky!) but everything coordinated and I was able to see Emily, the friend I was visiting, off to her job before sleeping for the day! Emily had bought me birthday cake (thank you!) so I had that for breakfast before passing out.

I woke up to enjoy an awesome Kazakh delivery dinner and chatting. (Good thick noodles, borscht and something like really good Chinese food!) The next day we headed out to see the sights. I don't think I had ever been in such a relatively modern city with very clear planning, wide streets and sensical organization. There was enough room for everything, pedestrians, cars and some left for a pretty square with sculptures

(Makhabet Square, a memorial to Kazakh rebels in the 1800's) And tulips! (Many varieties of tulips originate from Kazakhstan.)



It was about ten degrees I would say, with some intense wind, but I had enough clothes and was relatively comfortable. Emily, the consummate tour guide and photographer, snapped my photo as we were still in the large square.

 

(Atyrau in Russian. Russian is common but Kazakh is also around and has many more letters than the Russian alphabet.) And also facing toward the pretty mosque.



We headed toward the Ural River and paused for a photo op on the European side (where Emily lives, thanks for all the photos!!)



before crossing

into Asia (as the Ural river divides the two continents).

And so it was that my first visit to Asia was accompanied by amazing tea and panini at a great bakery called Booblik where we went to warm up. We decided to walk along the river on the Asian side to cross back over a pedestrian bridge to the World War memorial. We saw lots more ice fishing (as above) as well as erratic ice driving, ladies in heels holding their pocketbooks crossing the river, people sledding and the University of Atyrau before coming upon the bridge (what a pretty color)



and crossing to the memorial.

  

Despite the look of these photos it was quite bright and pleasant out, though brisk! We warmed up and spent the evening puzzling and watching Trevor Noah comedy!

The next day we took a nice walk to another bakery/cafe for another round of tea and food! We shopped a bit in search of some cheesecake like stuff that Emily wanted me to try, and I found the milk supply entertaining.

Plastic bags with inflated handles! And we came upon a cheesecake substitute that was amazing (something like cheesecake filling sold in clear containers near the yogurt at the store). We returned to warm up at Emily's lovely apartment with more tea (so much amazing tea!), soup and Trevor Noah/puzzle.

On Monday I was able to briefly share the joy of 8 students in a class by visiting Emily's lovely and well appointed classroom, reading while her students were at specials so she could get things done and then we headed back to the store for more cheesecake!!! It was a wonderful visit and I am very happy to say I have been to Kazakhstan. I am sure the city has a totally different feel when the weather is warm and the river is thawed, but it was fun to see in the cold! Thanks to my excellent host!

I then packed up and headed out to Astana (the capital of Kazakhstan which Emily says is cool) and the Bangkok on my way to Indonesia. I am currently juggling a busy busy schedule of surfing lessons, massages and yoga classes with snorkeling on Monday. The weather is rainy but a nice day today, and so insanely warm compared to Kazakhstan with a relatively small amount of flying between the two destinations. It is so humid here it will be interesting to re-open my bag in San Francisco!