Tag: Kazakhstan
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Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site
I’ve been visiting the old Soviet nuclear weapons test site at Semipalatinsk, aka “the Polygon”. The site isn’t nearly as bad as its rather dire historic reputation – the last 25 years have seen a lot of clean up and containment. The worst areas have either been scraped off and buried, or are fenced off.…
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Semey: A Bronze Titan
I’m in Semey, Kazakhstan. The Lonely Planet guide mentions that a backstreet park houses relocated statues of Lenin. I found the park and saw several small Lenins lurking among the trees. But where was the promised “large statue” that once stood in the main square? Then I looked up, and there he was. At somewhat…
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Kazakhstan: The Aral Sea
Yesterday, upon the steppes, I saw a sea which wasn’t there… The Aral Sea ship graveyard near Zhalanash used to host a dozen beached fishing trawlers. They had fled from the port of Aralsk as the sea dried up, but then, with nowhere else to flee, had been abandoned at Zhalanash. Most of the ships…
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Baikonur Tour Logistics
I visited the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Dec 14th-17th 2010 for the Soyuz TMA-20 launch. (Here are highlights and a photo archive.) For anyone considering this trip, here are a few details on tour logistics. Permissions and Entry Formalities Baikonur is inside of Kazakhstan but is under Russian administration. It is a secure zone, with controlled…
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Baikonur: Soyuz TMA-20 Launch
I was at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to watch the Soyuz TMA-20 launch. It was spectacular. I strongly recommend it. (Tour Logistics.) (More Baikonur photos.) I found myself in a tour group of six: our guide told us we were all the tourists visiting the launch. There were also some press, and various Roscosmos/ESA/NASA…
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Astana's Cosmonauts
Astana takes pride in being Kazakhstan’s visionary new capital. But in the older parts of town there are also many traces of the Soviet past. My favorite of these is a fine Soviet era mosaic outside the train station, showing a spectacled engineer and a waving cosmonaut. A nice reminder of Kazakstan’s broader role in…