Radisson Sas Hotel, Astana

<br> With a fair wind this is to be my last day in Astana. Armed with the camera I walk to the other side of the river to photograph some of the famous new structures in the new centre with its most amazing array of government and private buildings. My other purpose is to see if I can remember where Dmitri's workshop is. I take my pictures and after a bit of retracing my steps and using Dracula's Castle, an expensive hotel, as my guiding landmark sure enough, amidst all the ...

... Our conversation is through the good offices of my new dictionary, Nikolai's few words of English, but mostly he speaks German. Whatever works! "What does Nikolai work at?" <br><br>"This and that, control". <br><br>All I can say is that "control" seems quite profitable!<br><br>We end up at Astana Motors where there is joy all around at the good news. Another photo ...

<br><br>I spend a pleasant day wandering around downtown Astana, along the river and visiting the Fine Art gallery and the President's Cultural Centre. All very cultural and enjoyable. The Cultural Centre is informative about Kazakh history, culture and traditions. I can't help but notice how many modern wonderful gifts were bestowed by large corporations and governments at it's opening. The ...

<br><br>It takes me an hour to pack up and then to the cafe for breakfast. I say good morning and order with authority and my nyet lady compliments me on my improving Russian!!! The rescue truck is expected at 14.00 and bang on time pulls up outside. I had in mind a truck with a small low trailer, hopefully double cabbed so I could catnap on the way to Astana. You win some, you lose some! A product of Soviet mechanical engineering the Gaz pickup truck that ...

... Russian, but the maps we bought were in English. This makes finding your way around in the car very tricky so we have resorted to the trick Helen taught us in China. We stop a taxi, point were we want to go and follow him to the destination. Taxis are cheap so it's not a problem. But often the drivers don't have a clue about maps and the English translations mean nothing to them. Nurbeck was a lucky exception for us. As we approached Urumqi, the ...

Eine fast normale Woche, die Polizeikontrollen nahmen zum Monatsende imm** mehr zu, zum Glück hatten die Ordnungshüt** ab** nie Zeit für Diskussionen mit einem Ausländ** und haben mich imm** wied** ganz schnell fahren lassen. Da in Almaty sowie in Astana die Geschäftseinheiten uns**es Unt**nehmens einen weit**en Ausblick auf das laufende Geschäftsjahr gewagt haben durfte ich meine Meinungen in beiden Städten kund tun ...

... In welcher Tasche hatte Chruschtschow seinen Kamm?". Die lokale Fluggesellschaft AirAstana hingegen bespaßt die Fluggäste regelmäßig mit einer verstecken Kamera Sendung mit dem Titel "Joking Around". Maybe it's just me being used to the local sense of humor now, but it's just hilarious! Der dazugehörige YouTube Kanal ist mir gerade nicht zugänglich, falls der ein oder andere aber mal über die Sendung ...

... inklusive Präsidentenpalast, Haus d** Minist**ien, Parlament, etc. Dies** neue Teil d** Stadt ist inn**halb we***** Jahre aus dem Steppenboden gestampft worden, es wurden Stararchitekten beauftragt und Pipapo. Das Ergebnis ist auf den **sten Blick sich**lich sehensw**t, ab** schon beim **sten Gedanken daran in dies** künstlichen Stadt zu arbeiten od** gar zu wohnen üb**kommt einen Unbehagen. Neben für den w**ten Les** sich** unint**essante Meetings gab es heute im B ...

... A little man came by to check everyone's credentials and identification cards. The main problem with that was that John and I had no passports with us. They are back in Almaty, getting Kyrgyzstan visas put in them. We had grainy copies of our passports, which turned out to be as useful as handing him a potato. We couldn't quite explain to him why we had no passports, or even that we understood what he was asking. He kept demanding "PASSPOT" and flipping his hands like ...

... Location: part of the Himalaya mountain range; straddles border of Nepal and Tibet. Named for: Sir George Everest, a British surveyor-general of India. The Tibetan people do not actually refer to the mountain as Everest they call it Chomolungma which means "mother goddess of the universe" in Tibetan. Age: approximately 60 million years old. Countries visible from the summit: Tibet, India, and Nepal.