Christmas in Central Asia

[Mattg]

Some final pictures from Astana:







Finally, check out the number of ATMs at this shopping centre!

 

[Mattg]

Flight 3: DV702 Astana - Shymkent
Boeing 737-300
Departure time: 20:15
Arrival time: 21:55

For our domestic flight to Shymkent, we decided to fly SCAT Airlines as they had a flight at the time we wanted. The ticket was not expensive and all SCAT fares include baggage and a meal, so they seemed like a good option at the time. The airline's name is unfortunate, but I can look past that.

This was our plane as seen in Astana the previous day:



We got to the airport around 2.5 hours early, and we were unable to check in yet. The SCAT counters were open, but they were only accepting check-in passengers on one of the earlier flights until exactly 90 minutes before our scheduled departure time. Eventually we checked in without issue and were assigned seats 21A & 21B. (There was no possibility to choose seats online.)



The flight was around two-thirds full and we were the only foreigners on board. The plane, a Boeing 737-300, seemed quite old and worn on the inside. The cabin signage was all in German and English, for some reason. There was no in-flight entertainment and SCAT does not operate a Business class cabin on its Boeing 737s. The legroom at my seat was average but the seat was comfortable and well-padded.



We boarded early and the cabin crew came around with a basket of lollies before departure. On this flight, announcements were made only in Kazakh and Russian. Some of the crew members spoke a limited amount of English.

We pushed back from the gate 15 minutes early... so far, so good.

Before our flight left, the operating aircraft had been on the ground in Astana for around 2.5 hours. It was -21 degrees and snowing outside, and there was an obvious layer of snow and ice on the wings. This is what the wing looked like:



When we pushed back, I assumed we would be taxiing to a de-icing bay to have the ice removed. Yet, before I knew it, we were on the runway and accelerating into the night sky! I just sat there in disbelief, I was honestly shocked. I'm not a nervous flyer by any means, but at this point I was really fearing for my safety. I'm quite sure that SCAT Airlines would be grounded by CASA if they took off from an Australian airport without de-icing in such conditions. Then again, this airline operates in those conditions for a living... so maybe they know something that I don't?

I was never able to truly get comfortable for the rest of the flight. All I could think about was episodes of Air Crash Investigations (such as the one covering the Air Florida flight 90 crash), and I couldn't help but wonder if the airline was cutting any other safety corners. If you're not going to remove ice from the wings when it's literally snowing and -21 degrees outside, when are you?!

For dinner we were served a snack box containing a sandwich, ketchup and chocolate, as well as a choice of non-alcoholic drinks (soft drink, juice, water, tea or coffee).



I had a read of the in-flight magazine. Fortunately I have the required documentation for my large livestock, so I should be able to check it in next time.



The rest of the flight was uneventful (other than a rather hard landing). The basket of lollies was passed around again during our descent.

After landing we were bussed to the tiny terminal building at Shymkent Airport. There was a small baggage carousel in the arrival hall (OK, it was more like a room) but most of the bags never made it there... it was a free for all as passengers just picked up their bags directly from the truck on the tarmac.



The flight ended up being uneventful and the on-board service wasn't bad. But I doubt I will ever fly with SCAT Airlines again... and definitely not during winter. I'm not at all convinced by their safety standards.

 

[RooFlyer]

That street crossing button seems to have 3 sets of instructions, with 2 in Cyrillic script. So 'Kazakh' is a different language, using the Russian alphabet?

Besides shops and hotels, etc, how much English is there in public spaces, like around the buses? I assume you researched the airport bus, or could you just follow what you had to do when you got there?

 

[Mattg]

I have no idea whether there is an official taxi rank at Shymkent Airport, but if there is, we never made it that far. As soon as we walked out of the airport, we were hounded by taxi drivers. We did actually need a taxi, so I engaged one of them and started negotiating the price. The driver offered 3,000 tenge (around $12), which I knew was about double the normal price. I offered 2,000 tenge and he accepted. Luckily I had the address of our accommodation written in Kazakh, so he knew exactly where to go.

40 minutes later, we had arrived at the correct address but the Guest House did not appear to be there. Or, if it was there, the lights were off, the gates were shut and nobody was home. We tried calling them... no answer. It was 11pm by now and we needed somewhere to sleep, so the driver said to me "hostel?". He then typed "2,500" into his phone, which I assumed was the price in tenge that he was going to charge us to take us to said hostel. We didn't really have another option so agreed for him to take us to this mysterious hostel.

We then drove across town and arrived at this house with a sign out the front that said "hostel".



Well, at least we had somewhere to sleep! The driver spent the next 5 minutes banging on the windows, trying to find somebody to let us in. Eventually we found the owner, a polite lady who spoke English. Turns out the price of the hostel was 2,500 tenge ($10) per night - the taxi was still the same price. We paid our money and were shown to our... 16-bed dorm room.

Now, I actually don't mind staying at hostels. I've stayed at literally hundreds of them over the years and enjoy the social aspect. And, mercifully, only 5 of the 16 beds were occupied. But, even for a hostel, I wasn't hugely impressed with the place. The beds didn't have mattresses, so we literally slept on planks of wood. It also got very cold during the night. The wifi didn't work and, to top it off, the toilet also didn't flush. So, it wasn't ideal but it was late so we decided to just stay the night and then leave in the morning.

 

[Mattg]

That street crossing button seems to have 3 sets of instructions, with 2 in Cyrillic script. So 'Kazakh' is a different language, using the Russian alphabet?

Besides shops and hotels, etc, how much English is there in public spaces, like around the buses? I assume you researched the airport bus, or could you just follow what you had to do when you got there?

Yes, there is a Kazakh language that uses the Cyrillic (Russian) alphabet. Most other countries in the region also have their own language (e.g. Kyrgyz, Uzbek, etc.) but almost everyone speaks Russian as well as a second language. So in Kazakhstan, most signs and announcements are in Kazakh, then Russian and finally English.

Outside of high-end hotels and airports etc., English was not widely spoken. Occasionally we would meet somebody that could speak some level of English, but you should not expect this.

I knew about the airport bus from my previous visit.

This is actually a good segway into something I was planning to mention anyway in this trip report. If you're planning a trip to this part of the world, my #1 tip is to learn the Cyrillic alphabet. There are only 33 letters and 6 letters are the same as English, so you can do this in a single afternoon. This will make life so much easier for you as you'll be able to read street signs, menus, bus displays, etc. etc. Many words are also very similar to English (or other languages that I know), so being able to at least read the letters made a big difference. Of course, you won't understand what every word means but it will make it that much easier to get around.

If you're up for a challenge, learning a few basic words of Russian will also help as most people speak it in all three of the countries we visited (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Georgia). Even just things like hello, bye, thank you and basic numbers were useful for me.

 

[Dudditz]

Just visited Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan a couple of months ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. While English isn't necessarily widely spoken it was easy enough to get around. Cities like Astana and Almaty are widely more devrldeve, commercialised and have more English present than anywhere else in central Asia.

I did fly scat from Almaty to Astana and they were fine although it may have been only -6 when we arriv d into Astana so de icing didn't cross my mind! I think safety in general isn't widely considered in that part of the world which I think is somewhat reflective of the cowboy attitude over there which makes for entertaining yet terrifying adventures.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Flight 3: DV702 Astana - Shymkent
Boeing 737-300
Departure time: 20:15
Arrival time: 21:55

For our domestic flight to Shymkent, we decided to fly SCAT Airlines as they had a flight at the time we wanted. The ticket was not expensive and all SCAT fares include baggage and a meal, so they seemed like a good option at the time. The airline's name is unfortunate, but I can look past that.

When we pushed back, I assumed we would be taxiing to a de-icing bay to have the ice removed. Yet, before I knew it, we were on the runway and accelerating into the night sky! I just sat there in disbelief, I was honestly shocked. I'm not a nervous flyer by any means, but at this point I was really fearing for my safety. I'm quite sure that SCAT Airlines would be grounded by CASA if they took off from an Australian airport without de-icing in such conditions. Then again, this airline operates in those conditions for a living... so maybe they know something that I don't?

I was never able to truly get comfortable for the rest of the flight. All I could think about was episodes of Air Crash Investigations (such as the one covering the Air Florida flight 90 crash), and I couldn't help but wonder if the airline was cutting any other safety corners. If you're not going to remove ice from the wings when it's literally snowing and -21 degrees outside, when are you?!

I had a read of the in-flight magazine. Fortunately I have the required documentation for my large livestock, so I should be able to check it in next time.

The rest of the flight was uneventful (other than a rather hard landing). The basket of lollies was passed around again during our descent.

After landing we were bussed to the tiny terminal building at Shymkent Airport. There was a small baggage carousel in the arrival hall (OK, it was more like a room) but most of the bags never made it there... it was a free for all as passengers just picked up their bags directly from the truck on the tarmac.

The flight ended up being uneventful and the on-board service wasn't bad. But I doubt I will ever fly with SCAT Airlines again... and definitely not during winter. I'm not at all convinced by their safety standards.

I bet even you applauded when you landed on that flight!

 

[henleybeach]

Great stuff matt , I would’ve snapped frozen like a sugar pea in minus 31!
we have Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan (Almaty) in May coming up , I better start learning my Russian.

 

[RoMambai]

Almaty is a very modern and western city. You'll have little problems getting by with English. Take the cable cart to the peak, go ice skating when you get there and even indulge in some falconry. The old orthodox cathedral is also worth a visit. I was there a decade ago though and it has probably changed heaps. Oh and the city grid slopes east to west so bring walking shoes.

 

[Mattg]

Almaty is a very modern and western city. You'll have little problems getting by with English. Take the cable cart to the peak, go ice skating when you get there and even indulge in some falconry. The old orthodox cathedral is also worth a visit. I was there a decade ago though and it has probably changed heaps. Oh and the city grid slopes east to west so bring walking shoes.

I agree that, in general, English is more widely spoken in Almaty (which, as you say, is a modern, first-world city).

However I think there was a noticeable difference between Almaty and, say, Shymkent or Bishkek. But I'll get to that soon.

 

[kermatu]

Love your TRs Matt, and your spirit of adventure.

 

[RooFlyer]

If you're planning a trip to this part of the world, my #1 tip is to learn the Cyrillic alphabet. There are only 33 letters and 6 letters are the same as English, so you can do this in a single afternoon. This will make life so much easier for you as you'll be able to read street signs, menus, bus displays, etc. etc.

I'd agree with that! I've been to Russia three times and knowing the alphabet does help. And of course its based on the Greek alphabet (good o'l St Cyril), do if you know that, you are already in front.

It was interesting in the metro, de-cyphering the advertising, which like here is mainly telco, health and banking related. We found in spelling out some of the signs, they were actually English words, translated phonetically into Russian script, so hey! we were instantly 'reading Russian' (not that it had much content of interest )

And when yo say some of the Russian letters are the same as English (like 'N'), you should mention that their sound and use are completely different from English!

I think this was your second recent night-arrival-with-no-one-home experience, wasn't it?

 

[Mattg]

And when yo say some of the Russian letters are the same as English (like 'N'), you should mention that their sound and use are completely different from English!

I don't personally count 'и' as being the same as English, as it's actually not the same letter (it's backwards) and of course it's an "I" sound. The six that are the same would be M, T, O, K, A and E (although admittedly "E" is pronounced "ye").

I think this was your second recent night-arrival-with-no-one-home experience, wasn't it?

Yep, happened a few months ago in Cincinnati.

 

[RooFlyer]

Oops yes, my blue on the 'N' thing

 

[Mattg]

Skymkent, Kazakhstan

As soon as we woke up the next morning, we packed up our things and left the hostel. The first order of business was to find a cafe with free wifi so we could book a hotel room for our remaining two nights in Shymkent. We settled on the centrally-located Park Promenade Hotel, which turned out to be an excellent option for the price.

Shymkent is the third-largest city in Kazakhstan by population, although it only has ~600,000 people. It's located in the south of the country, near the Uzbek border and just a short drive from Tashkent. (We considered making a day trip to Tashkent but decided against it as we would have both needed visas. However, I see that Uzbekistan will be visa-free from next month. So if I was going again, I might therefore reconsider!)

Although Shymkent was less than 2 hours' flight from Astana, it felt like we'd gone back about 10-20 years. It was definitely not as modern and, honestly, it was a bit dirtier too. That said, it seemed like a nice enough city and I didn't feel unsafe or anything.

Right in the centre of Shymkent, and just a short walk from our hotel, was a brand new pedestrian street (Beybitshilik Avenue) that had only opened about a month ago. This part of the city was clean, modern and brightly decorated with Christmas lights.




We were walking down that street one afternoon when a journalist and cameraman approached me. The journalist started speaking to me in Kazakh, and I responded that "sorry, I only speak English". The lady became immediately excited and the cameraman started filming straight away. "You speak English?!?!" the journalist exclaimed. She then asked me all sorts of questions about where I was from, why I was in Shymkent and what I thought about their new avenue, while the cameraman filmed away. I have no idea where that footage ended up, but who knows - maybe I'm a star on Kazakh TV now?

 

[Mattg]

Here are a few more photos from around Shymkent...










We came across this amusement park, which would have to be one of the saddest I've ever seen. It was practically deserted.

 

[Mattg]

Our last full day in Shymkent just happened to be Christmas Day. (In Kazakhstan, this is just another normal day.) We decided to take a day trip to Turkestan, a small city around 200km north of Shymkent. Short of renting a car or taking the train (I did look into the train but couldn't work out how to buy a ticket without visiting a ticket office somewhere in Russia), the only way to get there is by marshrutka. A marshrutka is a privately-operated minivan that travels between cities on a first-come, first-served basis. These leave from the major bus stations around the city and will depart whenever all the seats have been filled.

Arriving at the bus station, we had to find the van heading to Turkestan.



The marshrutka ride from Shymkent to Turkestan took around 2 hours and cost 1,000 tenge ($4) each. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the roads, which I had heard weren't great outside of the major cities. Other than the occasional cow crossing the road, it was quite a smooth journey. That said, it seems that in Kazakhstan speed limits are optional, and the lines on the road are there for decoration only.

I also noticed that drivers don't tend to give way to ambulances or other emergency vehicles, even if they have lights flashing and sirens blazing. I wouldn't want to be waiting for an ambulance in Kazakhstan in a life-threatening situation, as they definitely didn't seem to get anywhere quickly.

This was the kind of view we had out the window:



And here are a few photos from around Turkestan:

 

[Mattg]

The highlight of Turkestan, and the reason for our day trip, was the Mausoleum of Khawaja Ahmed Yasawi. Now, this was truly spectacular. Built around the 14th century, it's a UNESCO heritage site and also, apparently, an important religious site for Muslims in Central Asia. Yet, on the day we visited, we pretty much had the place to ourselves!

Normally, when you visit this kind of tourist attraction in any other part of the world, you'll have people hassling you to buy stuff as you walk from your tour bus to the ticket office. You'll then wait in line to buy an overpriced ticket and compete with the crowds as you follow the arrows guiding your visit. If you're lucky, you might be able to get a good photo with other people out of the shot. Well, this was definitely not my experience here!

Arriving...




When we first arrived, we couldn't actually work out how to buy a ticket. We later found a ticket office, which was unattended. It felt like they didn't want to take our money! Eventually we found an official-looking lady who was collecting money outside the entrance to the mausoleum. The entry price is supposed to be 200 tenge for Kazakhs, 300 tenge for visitors from neighbouring countries or 500 tenge ($2) for tourists from "far abroad". I gave the lady a 1,000 tenge note for our two tickets, and was surprised to get 600 tenge change. She'd charged us the Kazakh rate! Like I said, I really don't think they wanted our money...

We spent a good hour or so looking around inside the mausoleum & museum. It wasn't allowed to take pictures inside. But the mausoleum contained lots of different exhibits, as well as a coffin containing Khawaja Ahmed Yasawi. You could literally hear a pin drop as you made your way around the many hidden rooms of the building - there were so few other people visiting, and everyone else seemed to be locals.

The building was beautiful from the inside, but even more spectacular from the outside.

 

[RooFlyer]

Are tulips a thing, there? There have been several artistic renderings.

I find the Christmas decorations / Christmas trees bizarre. I could understand them in shopping malls (as in "spend !!!") - but in public spaces in Turkestan?

 

[RoMambai]

The journalist started speaking to me in Kazakh, and I responded that "sorry, I only speak English".

I'm surprised they approached you (clearly a western looking gentleman) in Kazakh. When I visited (mind you 10 years ago now) even many ethnic Kazakhs in urban areas didn't speak the language, much less the sizable Russian, Korean and Uzbek communities. I know there has been a concerted drive by the Government to mainstream the language so perhaps it's working.