22- 19th June

22- June 19^th

A week away, and it flew by. I am not saying Beskol is boring, but the slow pace of life was certainly brought home to me while I was at camp. Shops, people, more people, even more shops, and plenty of friends to share it with. Rather different from sleepy little Beskol.

The bus ride down took four and a half hours, mainly spent looking at mountains out of the left windows, and steppe and farmland on the right hand side. I think we must have passed through 6 or 7 villages, and 2 towns in that entire time. Field of purple and yellow wildflowers not only created a spectacular painting like scenery, but their perfume like scents were strong enough to smell in the bus.

There were two notable – and very different – sights that I deemed noteworthy. One was such a shock, it seemed like we had been transplanted in Orange County or some other area with massive amounts of modern suburban developments. The village of Kuzularash (Red tree) seemed brand new, from the shiny (and pot-hole free) roads, to the tiny trees in gardens. Indeed, it might not even have been finished yet, with the 1500 or so houses appearing like they were only unwrapped that morning. This was an entire new village, in the middle of no where, with no apparent industry, and this is why it struck me as being so special. The population of Beskol has fallen in the past twenty years, as the Germans and Ukrainians left, and the youth have moved to the cities. And I believe this is a trend throughout Kazakhstan. So what justifies this massive new village to be created, 2 hours north of the city, and seemingly jobless is a mystery to me.

The second sight of interest was the Air Force base in Taldy Kalgan. Driving into town from the north, I was greeted by the sight of around 30 soil covered aircraft hangers, each capable of holding a single fighter yet. They were just the same as World War II hangers I have seen in England, and elsewhere in Europe. But while these were all museum pieces now, at least 10 of these Kazakh ones were still in use, with MIG fighter planes visible. I am not exactly sure what these planes were there to defend, as there must be an Air Force base closer to Almaty that would be of greater use, but they certainly provided more entertainment for the trip.

I was asked earlier about conversations I have here, so here is one. Al Capone was the only topic of conversation available to the driver, and seemingly his only English words.

Driver : American?

Me: Umm, yes

Driver: Chicago, Al Capone

Me: Yeh! Al Capone

Driver: Gangster (makes shooting noises) HAHA

That was the conversation… it was deep!