Ulytau concert in DC

Ulytau gave a concert in Washington DC. These guys travel so much, so it seems easier to attend their concert abroad than in Kazakhstan.

The Lisner Auditorium in Foggy Bottom was 60% full. No fees for entrance. The concert was announced in facebook and those who wanted to attend it just RSVPed the number of people. Of course the majority of attendees were Kazakh people, but there were also some Americans who seemed to like the beats of the percussion as they were moving to the tact.

Live music is amazing! You feel the music inside yourself.Videos with Ulytau performance, dombra play (national music instrument) and songs performed by Ulytau producer will not be able to convey it.

 

Kazakh wedding

Check the video about Typical Kazakh wedding

Some traditions preserved, some new elements acquired, now it is a blend of Kazakh and Western wedding. This is the most typical Kazakh wedding.

However, in some places you will be able to attend a traditional Kazakh wedding, with the bride dressed up in the national wedding dress and all traditions kept.

Some people prefer westernized weddings, others have purely traditional weddings. What do you think Kazakh people should do: keep strictly to their traditions, or allow alterations in wedding ceremonies?

Shopping in Astana

I found this useful and interesting article posted by an American expat in Astana with tips for shopping dor groceries. For more articles about Astana you can visit the KZBlog

Shopping in Astana

Posted by KZBlog on 6 April 10 • Categorized as Life in KZ
Tagged as Astana, Астана

So I get a lot of emails from people planning to move here, or doing weird things like doing a role playing game, who want very specific information on living here. As a PSA, I try to tackle the most frequent questions here every now and again. The topic today is doing the shopping and I thought I’d outline what I buy where and why.

Personally, I do most of my shopping at Vester, which is located in the Keruen shopping complex on the Left Bank, near Bayterek. I think it’s the best compromise of price, availability of products and quality. I prefer to do most of my shopping in supermarkets where I can pick things out myself and also where I can buy as many things in one place as possible. Vester has excellent produce for a supermarket and good meat. The only thing I don’t like is that it doesn’t target for foreigners or gourmands. So if you want more exotic things, you have to go somewhere else. The produce section is pretty much apples, oranges, bananas, potatoes, onions, carrots, peppers, lemons and scallions. Sometimes you’ll see lettuce or pears or limes or grapes or kiwis. I can’t get much in the way of spices or sauces there either.

Ramstor is quite expensive so I don’t do a lot of shopping there. I mainly go there when I want American foods. Ramstor does target foreigners so they have microwave popcorn, mac and cheese, Worcestershire sauce, salsa, fish sauce, tortillas, and so on. All of it is way over priced (mac and cheese is $2 a box now!) because only crazy Americans like me buy it. And a lot of it runs out and then you have to wait a month before you can get more. I recommend going to Ramstor once a month and stocking up on whatever it is you miss from home.

Silk Way City which just opened in Sara-Arka shopping mall on Sara-Arka Street, behind Triumph Astana is somewhere between Ramstor and Vester. The basics are reasonably priced. American foods are expensive–but I did just pick up Shop Rite brand generic Cheerios and Shredded Wheat. Meat is insanely expensive (about 1.5 times higher than elsewhere). They tend to have a wider variety of produce and also more non-food items like toys and pots and pans than either Vester or Ramstor. I’m starting to go there more often and between them and Ramstor I think you can get anything you might miss from home–though you will have to pay for it.

There is a supermarket, Astana, located near the old square, next to Congress Hall and the city administration. As a supermarket, it’s not bad but nothing special–and the parking is awful in that part of town so if you aren’t in the area already it’s not worth a trip. However downstairs, with a separate entrance, is an excellent culinaire/delicatessen where you can get all sorts of salads and meat pies and pre-marinated meat and chicken wings and fish. Great place for a take-away lunch or a good dinner that just needs to be popped into the oven.

Finally, one thing any visitor to Kazakhstan will note is that there are little mom-and-pop convenience stores everywhere. We must have 5 within 5 minutes of our house. The quality and variety of these stores vary drastically, but they tend to be good places to go if you need one thing or you forgot to get something at the supermarket. Great for milk, bread, cigarettes, beer, juice. Or if you’re walking down the street and want a coke and a packet of potato chips. Some of them do have produce or even meat pies, cakes or other prepared food as well. The visitor should be forewarned that in most of these stores, almost everything is behind the counter so you will have to ask the cashier or if you don’t speak the language, you will have to point and hope they can follow you. That can be a lot of fun by the way. It’s like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get!

Finally a couple of notes on shopping in general here:

• Don’t be surprised if stores run out of things or if things aren’t available all the time. Stores run out faster and restock slower than in the US in general.
• Don’t expect staff to run back to see if they have more in the warehouse. They might, if they feel nice, but I have had many a staff person say, “If it isn’t on the shelf, we don’t have it.” But smiling and looking slightly lost does sometimes help. Muttering under your breath, “In the US, they can get it for us,” has also been known to motivate people.
• Check the expiration dates. Monitoring of the health codes isn’t perfect.

Tours in Almaty, Kazakhstan

When you are in Almaty, do not miss a weekend tour! A number of tourist agencies organize various tours on Saturdays and Sundays. Places of interest are located in Almaty region and it usually takes 2-4 hours to drive one way. Buses usually depart at 08.30 a.m. to be back at 06.00-08.00 p.m. They have both 50-seat buses and 8-seat vehicles.

Guides are available, but not all of the agencies can provide English-speaking guides. Some have English, French, Italian, German, etc. speaking guides, but of course you need to make reservation in advance for them to arrange a guide.

Regular price for a weekend tour is 1500-2500 tenge (USD 10-15, you can also find the currency converter on the sidebar of this blog, search for Kazakhstani Tenge) if you travel by bus with a Russian-speaking guide. But you can also ask for a small van, or a big bus for your group and English-speaking guide.

When I was looking for an agency to organize a tour for a group of French people, it was pretty hard, because of finding an English-speaking guide and price. Prices in some agencies were pretty high. The one which was good both in terms of prices and services, was the Blast tourist company (located at Abay ave./corner Rozybakiyev Str.). The name of the girl who organized the tour was Nastya, she was really good and took care of the guests.

They charged us 38,000 tenge (USD 250) for the trip, which included rent of van with driver, plus French-speaking guide. Another tour that I organized though this Company cost 10,000 tenge (USD 70) without a guide.

The most popular destinations include:

THE CHARYN CANYON

It's a four-hour drive from Almaty to this amazing scenery, where one will be able to see whimsically shaped hills during 2-km walk down to the Charyn river.    
                    

THE BIG ALMATY LAKE

The Big Almaty Lake is like a crystal changing its color from pale green to turquoise blue. Since the lake is high in the mountains (2,511 meters over sea level), the water is always cold (July temperature is 8C only! - 46F). Despite the steep slopes, people usually prefer climbing there, but it's also possible to drive.

THE KOLSAY LAKES

Kolsay Lakes are called the pearls of Kazakhstan! It's a 2-day tour because it's rather a long journey, but it's worth seeing.

THE TURGEN FALLS

It's a nice tour when you will see the Falls, visit the trout fishery, where you will be able to fish for trout, and then have it cooked for you, and visit the ostrich farm, where you will be able to buy ostrich eggs and feathers.

THE SINGING DUNE

It's amazing how sand can make some music while you are climbing the hill!

If you are pressed for time, but still feel like seeing some sights, the options will be to see

THE KOK TYUBE

(also known as Kok Tobe)

You just ride a suspense train (7 min only to reach the top of the hill from the center of the city) and you will see Almaty as if it's in your palm! It's beautiful at night, but don't forget to take some warm clothes, because it is cooler over there. Besides, it is a popular place, so there might be many people and you might need to wait in a queue to get the ticket. It's not operational on Tuesdays.

CHIMBULAK

Or if you like skiing, there are many places to ski, like Akbulak and Tabagan, the most popular ski resort is Chimbulak. It is also a nice place to see.

Watch a video The Beauty of Kazakhstan

Kazakh music concert in DC (Apr 15, 2010)

If you would like to listen to some Kazakh music, you have an opportunity to listen to the performance by the Presidential Folk Orchestra of Kazakhstan organized by the Embassy of Kazakhstan and the Smithsonian Institution

Date:   April 15, 2010
Time:   08.00 p.m. 
Venue: Ronald Reagan Building
           and International Trade Center
           1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
           Washington DC, 20004

Event admission is FREE, however you will need to RSVP the event sending an e-mail to ehafen@policyimpact.com as seating is limited.

Source: facebook

People in Kazakhstan

Below I am offering you an article posted in blog by Rt Revd Nick Baines, Bishop of Croydon, who represents the Archbishop of Canterbury in an international interfaith initiative based in Kazakhstan (Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions). 

I met Nick back in October 2003 during the Secretariat of the Congress in Turkistan, Kazakhstan, and he is a permanent member of these meetings. In this article Nick shares his opinion and observations about people in Kazakhstan.

Nick has kindly offered and gave his consent to have his articles published in my blog. 

Thank you, Nick!

July 1, 2009

A steppe up (Kazakhstan 4)

Posted by nickbaines under religion | Tags: Kazakhstan |

The Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions is why I am here in Astana, but there are benefits to be had from all the hard work, too.

I have been coming here for inter-faith work since 2003 and have met some really lovely people. Kazakh young people are optimistic and proud of their young country’s achievements, looking ahead to a peaceful and prosperous future. They are not selfish or cynical, but want to see their country serve the peace of the region and the world. To tired Europeans that probably sounds very quaint, but if you meet these wonderful people, you will know what I mean.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had walked around Astana with a good friend, Lyazzat. She has helped me enormously in the work of the Congress and its Secretariat in the past and has now become a good friend to me and my family. She stayed with us in Croydon for two months in summer 2007 while doing an English language course in London. Lyazzat is bright, has the ideal personality and skills for diplomatic work and epitomises young Kazakh commitment to more than self-realisation. She is a lovely person and a great ambassador for her country.

Each Congress delegation is assigned a ‘liaison officer’ and I have always come up trumps with young, intelligent and sociable young people. This time we have been assigned a young woman called Zhanara Abdulova. Her first name means ’sunbeam’! I asked her if I could put her photo on here and she agreed. She has been unfailingly helpful, patient and efficient and we couldn’t have wished for anyone nicer. Like Lyazzat, she is a great ambassador for her country and my colleagues and I will be sad to say goodbye to her.

This evening we went into Astana and had a cultural introduction to Kazakhstan. This involved music, dance and cultural artefacts in a series of yurts. All this was interesting enough as we sat in the sun and drank it all in, but I was also chatting at length with Jonathan Aitken who (I have just discovered) is publishing next month a biography of President Nursultan Nazarbayev. We went from there to a cultural centre for a reception put on by the President who also turned up, addressed us and then spent ages chatting to people.

Now it’s late, I’m going to bed and will just shove a few photos up to illustrate the cultural stuff.

Air and railway tickets

Information on arriving and departing flights to/from Almaty airport is available on the Almaty airport official website. Seasonal timetables of outbound and inbound flights are also available on the site.


The main air operator in Kazakhstan is the Air Astana, which operates both domestic and international flights. As many air companies, Air Astana has a frequent flyer program called Nomad club. The web-site offers a weekly view of possible outbound and inbound flights depending on your dates and shows all options of available tickets. Tickets can be booked either online, or by e-mail, or by phone +7 727 24444 77. Depending on the way the ticket was reserved, changes can be made to your booking. If you booked a ticket by sending an e-mail, another e-mail will be needed to make necessary changes.When you see the price, everything is included (taxes, food and baggage drop), you do not need to pay extra money.

Some other flights are also available by other air operators, but they operate less flights and their services and airplanes are not that good. However, they have flights that are not operated by the Air Astana, like Semey Avia, which operates flights Almaty - Semey and back.

If your destination is not listed in Air Astana's coverage, you may approach a tourist agency and they will make reservation for you offering different flights depending on your dates. The biggest tourist agencies are Transavia, CGTT Voyages, Gulnar Tour, Zhana Tour, etc. For business trips I would suggest using the services of CGTT Voyages, which is a subsidiary of the CGTT Voyages in France. Though they have small office, they provide good services. The agent's name is Dina and she's really good in organizing your trip, she is very fast (she sent me the bookings 1 hour after I made a request) and she offers different options, she would warn you of any Company's rules regarding no-shows, changes and other penalties. Many companies also use the services of Transavia, which is also good, but when I booked a ticket with them, they made a mistake and were not very quick, I had to remind them also, so I decided not to take risks.

For leisure services, Gulnar Tour is very good, everything is well organized, but they charge more than other operators. When I traveled with them, there were no flight delays (the flight was a charter one), the flight was operated by a very good well-known air company, they have guides in the destination cities who will offer you different tours and help you, if you need assistance. Of course, another option is different websites like expedia, travelocity, and etc.

Travel agencies usually provide a number of other services, besides ticket reservation, like assistance with visa and registration, hotels, tours, and etc.

Railway tickets can be purchased at railway stations, travel agencies, or online (this website is in Russian and Kazakh only). There is no booking! Tickets need to be purchased right away. Railway tickets are much cheaper than air tickets, but you'd better buy them in advance, because they can be sold out. It would be advised to buy tickets a week before your departure date, or even earlier. There are three different types of carriages (economy class, compartment and luxe). If the number of your seat in economy class or compartment is odd, it is a lower one, if even - upper. I would not suggest taking an economy class, because it is very inconvenient, and there are many people in one carriage. Unlike airplanes, the staff in trains is not English-speaking.