About Astana

When we first heard that we were going to Astana we set about researching as much as possible.  The only thing I knew was that Astana is the second coldest capital in the world, below freezing for half the year and blazing hot for the other half.  A few books and Wikipedia entries later and I was left little wiser.  I did look on Google Earth to see the city on a fly-over and I was very excited by what I saw.

Astana - Winter-wonderland

There are very few direct flights to Astana most carriers still fly to the old capital of Almaty which is a bit of a pain.  We have to fly via Istanbul, Moscow, Kiev, Frankfurt, Vienna, Minsk or Almaty adding a transit to any journey.  We arrived at 11pm on a Wednesday evening in August which meant that we got to see the city all lit up.  As we drove past a giant tent, a huge glass pyramid and many other weird and wonderful buildings our interest was piqued and we could not wait to explore.

Astana has only been the capital of the country since 1997 so it is a relatively new city.  It was previously called, at various times, Akmola, Tselinograd and Akmolinsk.  As Tselinograd it was at the center of the Soviet Virgin Lands campaign and agriculture is still very important in the surrounding countryside.  The name was changed from to Akmola at independence in 1990 and then to Astana, meaning capital, in 1998.

The Khan Shatyr, a giant tent housing a shopping center, theme park and beach

During the summer Astana is a garden city with large open parks planted with fragrant flowers.  It is a delight to walk everywhere and explore the various strange buildings and futuristic architecture.  The new city has developed on the left bank of the River Ishim.  The main axis of the new city is the long, open pedestrian Nurzhol boulevard stretching from the Khan Shatyr (a large, tented shopping and entertainment complex complete with theme park and swimming pool) to the Baiterek (Astana’s famous landmark), past the Parliament buildings to the Ak Orda (the presidential palace).

Baiterek - Landmark of Astana

View from the Baiterek to the Khan Shatyr along Nurzol Boulevard

View from the Baiterek to the Ak Orda 

Across the river along the same axis you get to the giant pyramid, the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation.  Many other buildings are close to this main axis – the beautiful concert hall, a new museum in the process of being built and the Astana Mosque which was finished only recently.  Astana changes rapidly with new buildings springing up all the time.  In the photo of the view from the Baiterek to the Khan Shatyr you can see an unfinished building.  The photo was taken in August 2011 and the building finished shortly thereafter.

The Pyramid - Palace of Peace and Reconciliation

The Pyramid with the Mosque, Concert Venues and Kaz Eli monument behind.

Away from the main boulevard there are many parks – opposite our house is the Arai Park, perfect for teaching the kids to bicycle or for walking the dog.  The river is calm, frozen for half the year; we enjoy walking along it in the winter or sledging down precipitous ice slides.  In the summer there are pleasure boats and you can see scullers from the Astana Rowing club. Many people enjoy swimming in the river in the summer and there is even a beach for sunbathing.  The river has a beautiful embankment making it a pleasure to run, cycle or even roller-blade along.

Arai Park in the Winter

The River in Summer with the Ak Orda and Parliament buildings behind.

Astana has a permanent circus building – it looks like a flying saucer particularly when it glitters with flashing lights at night.  A lot of touring circuses come through and the kids love to go and see a show.   Despite Kazakhstan being as far away from the sea as you can get in the world Astana has its own Oceanarium.  There are some displays of local fish but the showstopper is the tunnel through the main tank.  Here you can walk through a water wonderland and see sharks and fish, truly a miracle in this land-locked country. Nearby you can explore all Kazakhstan in miniature at the memorial map complex.

Astana Circus with beautiful summer flowers

The right bank of the river is the older part of the city.  It has a very different vibe to the newer part and younger expats prefer to live here close to the night life.  Respublika Prospect is the main artery of this part of the city and is vibrant and chaotic in equal measure.  Over on this bank you find the Concert and Organ halls, the bazars, some very good museums and, if you know where to look, some interesting antique shops.

Everyone who comes to live in Astana worries about the weather and this is as true for locals as it is for expats.  Winter 2011/12 was very cold with temperatures getting down to the very low -40’s at times and consistently below -20 but we found we were able to enjoy life nevertheless.  This winter has been much warmer with temperatures rarely falling below -20.  The cold in Astana is very dry so it does not penetrate the bones in the same way a wet cold does.  The biggest problem is the wind as windchill can have a big impact on the temperature. 

Nurzhol Boulevard Gardens in Winter

 Because of the extreme weather living in Astana is like living in two different cities, both are beautiful, exciting, enjoyable places to live.

Click on the picture for more posts about life in Kazakhstan.

21st Century Expat

What is life like as an Expat in the 21st Century?  I have been thinking about this a lot recently because I grew up as an expat.  I settled in the UK for college and career but when the opportunity came to travel again our family decided to leap at it and move to Astana, Kazakhstan.

When we told people we were moving out here we got a mixed reaction.  Some people did not know where the country was.  Those who did made jokes about the cold, others could think only of gulags and rockets, still more thought we would be living in yurts and riding camels.  The fact is that Astana is a thriving modern metropolis, yes it gets cold (down to the -40's at some points) but is is also lovely and warm in the summer and we have all the conveniences of modern life.  That said life here has its complexities as well.  We have had to learn a new language and a new alphabet, how to cope with an 80 degree temperature range and how to persuade the dog to go for a walk when it is very very cold.

It is all very different to the expat life I had as a child.  All of our postings were great fun and each of them enriched my life to a very great extent but it was not always easy though.  Communication is probably the thing that has changed the most.  When I was 11 my parents and sister went to live in the Nigerian bush - I stayed at school in the UK and spent holidays at home.  Our post took 3 months and it could take 6 hours to place a telephone call so the first time I flew out (on my own) to Lagos I had not heard anything from my parents at all and was not 100% sure they would be there to meet me. Today my children call their school friends and their grandparents on Skype whenever they want, email and the internet has made the world a very small place.

That is not to say that living here has proved plain sailing.  Finding out how to live in a foreign country is always a challenge, getting schools, getting a car and making friends are all harder with the language barrier but it has been fun and we have managed to keep a sense of humour.