There’s also a scheme of the entourage that will follow the torch bearers around: 11 cars. That’s more than usually accompany the Prime Minister or the President! And apparently for every one runner there are 6 “torch protectors”, whose job is presumably to make sure the flame stays lit, it doesn’t run out of gas, and so on. As opposed to armed guards.

Korgalzhyn is the northernmost point of migration for flamingos and you should definitely ask your guide to try to find some for you. But as you drive around, you’ll see hawks and eagles sitting on the ground or perched on electric wires. Swan and ducks swim in beautiful and picturesque lakes. Last time we were there we saw a dust cloud behind us that slowly but surely overtook our car, then suddenly swerved and passed us going the other way. The driver told us it was saigak, a native species of elk that can run over 80 km/h. The reserve really feels like being on safari, since you are in among the animals.

You can also see Kunayev’s guesthouse from when he was head of the Kazakh SSR and there’s some guesthouses and a small cafe as well. It’s definitely worth staying overnight to try to see as much of the reserve as you can.

GPS of Main Gate: 50.5259N, 69.6965E
GPS of Flamingo Lake: 50.6047N, 69.5388E
GPS of Hotel: 50.477N, 69.5429E
GPS of turn off the main road to get there: 50.6381N, 70.0475E

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Zakon.kz cites the administrator of Khan Shatyr as saying that the beaches will open in 2 weeks, maybe a month. It appears that the decision on the prices of going to the beach is the major obstacle to it being open to the public. However, it seems like the prices I was given are more or less in the ballpark: around 7,000 tenge on weekdays and 9,000 tenge on weekends. Meaning probably more than your average citizen of Kazakhstan will want or be able to pay. So why is this making such big news?

Anyway, I took some photos of the inside and outside for your viewing pleasure:

in the halls, they have the same tables, but without the revolutionary menu. However, they do have ashtrays. Somehow, they claim, that they smoking rooms.The walls are defiantly naked all the old stuff (rare phones and cameras, typewriters, portraits of leaders and the socialist advertising posters) have been removed.

RVS was a great place to meet, with old pictures of the Soviet Union, propaganda posters, and banners featuring clever satire on old Soviet slogans. My favorite was the banner outside that read: “Factories for the workers, Land for the farmers and Vodka for me!” It also featured old Soviet products and actually gave a good sense of what life used to be like. The menu was ironically English/American pub and bar food–some of the best chicken wings and potato skins in the country although over the years I noticed them adding more and more high class items. And the menu itself used to be in the form of a revolutionary handbill with nods to Cheburashka, Yuri Gagarin and other Soviet icons.

It’s one place I would have highly recommended to tourists, but now I guess it’s better to go to a pizza bar or something.

I don’t know what happened to cause them to change their style, but I present below a small tribute to RVS in the form of photos taken last summer.

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.

These photos were taken a few years ago but they give you some idea of the scale and variety of Ice Town. Every year has a theme and in these photos the theme was Kazakhstan, so you can see a sculpture of a brave Saka warrior; I think it’s actually the Golden Man (Altyn Adam) and a fortress wall, like there used to be in Taraz or Otrar. Other years the theme has been children’s cartoon characters and once they did the wonders of the world with an ice Eiffel Tower and Pyramids and the Taj Mahal!

I highly recommend going at least once at night. But since it can be quite cold out, it’s worth coming on a sunny day so you can spend a little more time enjoying yourself! Usually it goes up around Duman, the aquarium and sometimes they make a smaller one near Eurasian University and/or Bayterek. One word to the wise: look out when you are near the ice slides. Kids (and sometimes adults or the occasional expat blogger!) come shooting down on pieces of cardboard without any warning. And on the ice, sliders can sail pretty far. So if you aren’t careful you might get your feet knocked out from under you. And with all that ice around, that might mean losing a tooth!