Golden Tulip River Palace Atyrau

... t arrived on schedule. Was able to take a photo of the small plane that flies to the field, as well as the late 767 from Air Astana. Finally left about 1.5 hours late. But still can have plenty of time in the lounge. (Not like a bunch of people trying to get home to the US - most missed their connections).

Wrapped up my work real early. Some pics of the mosque from a different angle.<br><br>Went to pick up my bag, I didn't make it over there last night. Glad I left another bag at the hotel.<br><br>Went over to one of the 'malls' just to get outside for a bit. Of course, not much there. But still interesting to walk through one of their grocery stores. <br>

Sure was nice of them to let me check-in at 9:10 in the morning. Much easier to work in the room, then to get dressed up to go into one of the offices.<br><br>Plus, there aren't as many distractions. And I can take breaks to go swim or exercise when it isn't very crowded.<br>Did reconfirm my massage with Olga, so I should go home in pretty good shape.<br><br>Now I just have to wait for my bag to show up.<br>

Finally on my way down to Tengiz.<br>I was lucky enough to get a window seat. Got some good pictures of the city of Atyrau. You can see the resident's 'camp' on this side of the hotel/mosque, as well as the square, all the way down to the bridge. <br>Decided I wasn't going to walk between Europe &amp; Asia on this trip. But if you want to see the bridge photos, check out the other Kazakhstan trips.<br>

Well - back at work. This time back out towards the airport at the Worley Parsons' office. It doesn't even show up on the satellite photo.<br><br>At least they had donuts (bite size, cake) for the snack at the meeting. But lunch - ugh! At least I know I will have a burger for dinner.<br><br>We got more work done today, so it looks like my tentative Wednesday will give me time to work on the report and take a little break before traveling out to the field.<br>

Went to dinner with a couple of co-workers at the Italian restaurant, which is also a Japanese restaurant and a TGIFridays. It is located near the bridge between Europe and Asia, so we had to let the newbie walk across. The ice fisherman are still out there. And a whole bunch of birds on the ice ...

Will it be by train or plane? Clear blue skies at both the origin and destination. So the plane is flying. Woohoo! 45 minutes is much better than 7 hours. Staying one more night at the transit hotel - then over to the Renaissance Hotel since I will be going into the ...

... steso sulla città le conferisce un'austerità siberiana che le donava.sopravvive come la cosa che in assoluto preferisco un molo sull'uralsk dopo il ponte. al mattino scompare nella nebbia insieme al viale e -sembra strano- ma mentre attraverso il confine del risiko  (dormo in europa e lavoro in asia) sorprendo sempre qualcuno che pensoso guarda il fiume gonfio che scorre via.torno da dmitri karamazov.a presto.

... spia della benzina ha oscillazioni pazzesche, soprattutto l'ultima meta' del serbatoio puo' durare 200 come 2 kilometri, 7. e' allergica alle cinture di sicurezza, che infatti non si allacciano 8. beve come un elefante (per fortuna la benza costa poco) 9. e' un auto per tutte le superfici. dal ghiaccio alla steppa, dal fango alla strada 10. non mi viene in mente. ma avevo parlato di decalogo quindi dovevo mettere anche il punto 10

... sta che mi hanno detto che se ci tengo alla salute devo bere, cucinare e lavarmi i denti solo con l'acqua minerale. insomma pare che Atyrau sia una specie di citta' pattumiera. anzi, senza "pare". lo e' punto e basta. E i soldi del petrolio, direte voi, almeno una parte li useranno pure per le opere pubbliche e di utilita' sociale; insomma, migliorare le condizioni di vita dei 16 milioni di kazaki.....beh, diciamo di si, magari non di tutti, ma di qualcuno sicuramente...