Astana, Kazakhstan, July 2016

Dag 56. Astana

I dag, begyndte vi dagen med at tage hen til Bayterek Monumentet. Dette er et 97 meter højt ”tårn”, som man kan komme op i, og kigge ud over byen. 

Ulrikka

The view - Udsigten

Flot udsigt, selvom glasset var lidt uklart og meget flot by. Efterfølgende hoppede vi på en turist bus, som vi troede havde en tur rundt i hele byen, det viste sig så, at de havde aflyst halvdelen af turen. Efter lidt diskussion med dem, fik vi vores penge tilbage og gik ind i Khan Shatyr bygningen. 

The Circus building - Circus bygningen

The Khan Shatyr building - Khan Shatyr bygningen

Khan Shatyr bygningen, ligner et kæmpe cirkus telt udefra, og indeni, er der et kæmpe shopping center med et vandland på toppen, der er også et kæmpe forlystelsesområde med dinosaurer og forskelligt gøgl. Bygningen er lavet af et varme absorberende materiale, så selv om vinteren, kan de holde 25 grader indendørs.

Sidst på eftermiddagen, gik Ulrikka, Michael og jeg ned til Ishim floden, og tog en båd rundfart, dejlig tur, med udsigt til mange af Astana’s mange flotte bygninger. 

The bridge - Broen

The colorful arch - Den lyserøde bue

Vi fandt en restaurant tæt på floden, hvor vi kunne se det utroligt flotte lys og ild show, som de viser hver halve time søndag aften, så vi nåede at se det 3 gange i alt. På vej hjem til hotellet, nød vi alle de flotte oplyste bygninger. 

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10th July, Astana

Astana, the country’s new capital, is a show piece for the 21st century Kazakhstan.

Its skyline reminds me of Dubai, with some fantastic landmark buildings.

Our first stop today, by taxi, from the hotel was the Bayterek Monument.

Astana buildings - Astana bygninger

The view - Udsigten

It is 97 meters high, and has a large glass orbit on the top. While waiting in queue, and wondering why the whole place was closed down, the lift doors opened, and out pops Chandra Babu Naidu, accompanied by the Indian Ambassador and all his security. He winked at me, as he walked by, and I could feel, he encouraged me to keep rolling.

On top, even though the glass dome was a bit dirty, we got a 360 panoramic view of the whole city, this was well worth it.

We then bought tickets, for ‘The Hop On Hop Of’ tourist bus. A few minutes later, while on the bus, we soon found out, that there is no audio in our headphones, and this silly bus, was just doing, one third of its trip. So after a short, loud, discussion, they refunded all our money, and we jumped of at the ‘Khan Shatyr’ building.

Amazing buildings in Astana - Flotte bygninger i Astana

This is Astana’s, most extraordinary building. It is a 150 meter high, tent like structure, made of a heat absorbing material, that produces summer temperatures, even when it is – 30 degrees outside. From the outside, it looks like a drunkenly leaning circus tent, while inside it has a fantastic shopping mall, food court etc. On the top level, it has a sky beach club, with a big swimming pool, sandy beach ( sand imported from Maldives, palm trees and water slides) it even has a dinosaurs park.

Inside Khan Shatyr - Inde i Khan Shatyr

We had our lunch here, and walked outside into the blistering heat, and quickly decided, to go straight back to our hotel.

Left our hotel, at around 5 pm, and walked across a beautiful designed bridge on the banks of the Ishim River.

Here we took a local ferry, which sails down the river, and we were totally astounded by all the beautiful buildings and parkways.

The light show - Lys showet

We then got of the boat, and had dinner at a beautiful restaurant overlooking the river. Here we saw the spectacular fire and light show. This show, starts every half an hour, so we experienced 3 different shows, while we enjoyed our dinner.

Walked home, through arches of lights, and enjoyed all the lit up buildings.

A beautiful end to a wonderful day.