August 17, 2015 Borovoe to Astana

We had a big send off from the Rixos Hotel resort complex after an 8 am briefing.

The hotel staff came out to say good bye... (note that you can really begin to tell that we are in Asia now)

especially to 6'7" "Mr. America" Mike.

and Svetlana.

The women of course wanted to sit on the motorcycles.  Boz, always the gentleman, was very happy  to grant their wish,

We waved goodbye and headed out of the resort.  I think everyond felt refreshed after the day off to reorganize, have laundry done, get massages, and relax for a while.

Today were are headed to Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.  Kazakhstan became independent from the former Soviet unnion in 1991 and the capital was moved to Astana in 1997.  Much of the building in the city dates from the late 90s.

Our riding today was all freeway, and only 155 miles, so we expected to be done by noon.

Well - that was before the group was pulled over for speeding.  We had just gotten onto the freeway!

Svetlana worked her magic, and got us off the hook.  

Soon we were motoring through the Kazakhstan countryside on a huge new highway, apparently but to support their Winter Olympics bid, recently lost to Beijing.

Pretty much the same scenery as yesterday, with a few more shallow lakes.

With not much to diversity of scenery, it gets a little boring sitting on the back of a bike.  I caught Svetlana playing airplane to while away the time.

We stopped about 11 am for a quick cup of coffee and to gas up the bikes.  These roadside cafes are mostly vacant, as are the hotels.  Much of this infrastructure, including the resort hotel we just left, was built to help Kazakhstan win the bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics.  The Olympic Committee awarded it to China instead, so the crowds may never come.

With most of the morning ride done and the temperature starting to rise to an uncomfortable level, we kept the snack break short, got the bikes gassed up and continued down the highway toward Astana.

We saw some more muslim graveyards, grain silos, and train tracks similar to yesterday.

Things were going well - until we came to the toll booths.  We had a problem getting through the gate. A few of us went through and waited on the side of the road on past the gate.  Then there was some confustion as the gate came down and hit Marilyn in the head, causing her to bump into Andre, and he and his big motorcycle went down.  Fortunately, no one was hurt.  I may have mentioned this before, but Andre Lacy is our oldest rider, at 75 years, and is still on the board of his large distribution/logistics company, and chairs the Indianapolis 500 board and is active on the Indiana State Fair board.  He is chagrinned that this is the first year in his entire life that he is missing the Indiana State Fair - but this adventure is also the opportunity of a lifetime, so here he is, falling down and getting up, several times so far.

Mike came through the gate, circling his finger overhead to round us up and head us out.  Off we go - except, for some strange reason, vehicles are supposed to stop about 50 yards past the toll gate.  Mike missed the stop sign.  A moment's hesitation as whistles were blowing and cops were yelling, but Mike throttled it up and zipped down the freeway with David right be hind him. Until - a police car rocketed past David and pulls Mike over.    

The officer was not happy with Mike for running the stop sign, then caught sight of my camera as I put it in my pocket.  He came over and demanded to see the camera.  I showed him the blank screen on the back of it.  Thinking that I didn't get a picture, he wagged his finger at me, inches from my face, and made it very clear that I'm not to take pictures.  So here is the picture that I did not take.

I'm glad he didn't see this one on the camera.

Mike had to go back to the police station.  After some questioning, sweet talking by Svetlana and picture taking with Mike, we finally get back on the road and sedately head for the capital.

The city town center is all new, with other areas a mix of old and new, 

mostly new construction.

There was a section of squirrely road due to th old pavement being taken up and we had to dodge cars and the asphalt machine on our way to the center of the city.

When we arrived at our destination, Traditional Hotel, we were not impressed with the outside.  It is an older building.  However, the rooms are decorated nicely in an old-timey traditional way, clean, and had a modern shower with the wall jets that David likes.

We arrived early afternoon and after a quick lunch and shower, went out for a tour in a small bus. About 20 years ago the President decided to create a new city here and invited architects from around the world to design signature buildings.  The result is a mishmash of architecture, with no real urban planning, so it is a suburban-stylw spread-out city, much like the las Vegas Strip going in every direction, completely un-walkable, with rich kids in Porsches and Ferraris riding around between prayers at the local mega-mosque.  Some of what we saw follows:

Khan Shatyr Shopping and Entertainment Center - basically a big shopping mall under the world's tallest "tent."  It has 8 levels, with an amusement park and beach.

KazMunaiGas

Northern Lights buildings

Bayterec Tower - this was built first as a center-piece, with everything else spread out from here.

A mish-mash of styles.

all around - mostly empty office buildings (really - who needs office space in Kazakhstan anyway - even in the capital?).

Nur Astana Mosque - the biggest mosque in Asia - built recently, so fairly antiseptic and over-done.  We went inside, had to take off our shoes and put on coverings (women).

Nur Astana Mosque

Kazakh-Eli Monument

Palace of Peace and Reconciliation

This is the arts institute - designed to look like a horse's hoof.  The goal succeeded, but why?

The Presidential Library

Astana was "interesting" in a kind of cultural awareness way, we are glad to have visited once to see oil money excess gone awry - but can't get out of here fast enough. Tomorrow, we will continue eastward toward Siberia, Mongolia, and China.