Sparkchaser went to Kazakhstan. If you care, click here.

[sparkchaser]

Is this black glass the man-made radioactive version of obsidian?

The explosion threw the soil into the air and the heat from the explosion vaporized it. It solidified and fell back to the earth as a porous black glass.

Would it be safe to have that around or are radioactive levels high enough to harm people?

A few pieces in proper storage in your home or office wouldn't hurt you but I wouldn't want to live there.

 

[sparkchaser]

Sparkchaser,

If you're not already working on a book about your travels, you need to start. You take some great pics and your observations are very witty. Not blowing sunshine up your ass, man. Really, get to writing. Something with photos every other page.

I've thought about it but that would require me revisiting all the places.

 

[sparkchaser]

Were you personally safe from the radioactivity? I thought it took hundreds of years to decay?

I felt safe. Then again, I am a professional.

Depending on the isotopes, half-lives could be fractions of a second or thousands of years. One thing is for sure: that place was less hot than it was 50 years ago.

 

[sparkchaser]

Some of the more interesting food and drink I had in Kazakhstan:


Homemade sheep sausage with homestyle potatoes.





Manty. Steamed dumplings stuffed with meat.




More Manty.




Kumis. Fermented mare's milk.





Shubat. Fermented camel's milk. Seen here with some Kurt and salty cow cheese.

 

[sparkchaser]

Baursaky. Fried dough balls.

Irimshik. Made from evaporated milk.

Kurt. Also called curd bread. To make it they boil yogurt to make it thick, strain it, add salt, shape it and lay it out in the sun to dry.

Zhal. I had the sheep version which is fat from the rump of the sheep that is seasoned and smoked. It is served like you see pictured.





Shahar. A salad of boiled beef tongue, chicken, spring onions, field mushrooms, and mayo. Because of the mayo, I think this may have actually been Russian and not Kazakh.





Khyirdak. Chopped pieces of meat, liver, lungs, heart, and sheep kidney fried with potatoes in sheep fat. Also known as Kuyrdak and Kuurdak.

 

[abecedarian]

Baursaky. Fried dough balls.

Irimshik. Made from evaporated milk.

Kurt. Also called curd bread. To make it they boil yogurt to make it thick, strain it, add salt, shape it and lay it out in the sun to dry.

Zhal. I had the sheep version which is fat from the rump of the sheep that is seasoned and smoked. It is served like you see pictured.





Shahar. A salad of boiled beef tongue, chicken, spring onions, field mushrooms, and mayo. Because of the mayo, I think this may have actually been Russian and not Kazakh.





Khyirdak. Chopped pieces of meat, liver, lungs, heart, and sheep kidney fried with potatoes in sheep fat. Also known as Kuyrdak and Kuurdak.

In the bottom pic, what is that on the plate, cut pie-like?

 

[sparkchaser]

Hychiny (bread that reminds me of a cross between naan and a papadam) with brynza (soft sheep cheese).

 

[sparkchaser]

After Kurchatov, we headed to Chagan Air Base to see what happens when a giant air base is just abandoned. Chagan was an airbase for Soviet heavy bombers.




From the wiki:

In 1955, Dolon was one of only six Soviet bases capable of handling the Myasishchev M-4 (Bison) bomber. The 79th Heavy Bomber Aviation Division was created at Dolon in 1957. The Tupolev Tu-160 (Blackjack) was temporarily deployed to Dolon in the late 1980s. In 1990, Dolon had 40 Tupolev Tu-95 (Bear) aircraft, which were eliminated by 1994, ending the base's strategic bomber role.

Units based at Dolon included:

79th Heavy Bomber Aviation Division
1023rd Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment (1023 TBAP) flying Tu-95 and Tu-95M aircraft (1957-62), Tu-95K (1960-83), and Tu-95MS aircraft (1983-92).
1226th Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment (1226 TBAP) flying Tu-95 and Tu-95M aircraft (1957-62), Tu-95K and Tu-95MS aircraft (1984-92).

The 79th TBAD was under the control of Long Range Aviation from 1957 to 1960, the 8th independent Heavy Bomber Aviation Corps from 1960 until 1980, and, finally, the 37th Air Army from 1980 until 1992.

Both regiments were taken over by Kazakhstan in 1992 and the aircraft were withdrawn to the Russian Federation.

Chagan was abandoned sometime after the last bombers were pulled out in 1994.

Not long thereafter, scavengers moved in looking for metal. They dug up underground cable runs and pipes, tore out the stairwells in buildings, and who knows what else. While we were there, there were some people on the roof of this building cutting metal from the roof. Based on the condition of the inside of the buildings I had seen, I wonder how they got up there.

 

[sparkchaser]

My fixer and the driver stayed behind and set me off to wander and cautioned me to watch out for sinkholes and hidden holes. I walked around the old barracks, poking into buildings but it looks like they were all pretty much gutted.










The runway at Chagan is over 14,000 feet long but due to the hazardous ground conditions left by scavengers and our limited time there, I did not have time to go look for it and had to be content with exploring the barracks. Plus, I have a horrible sense of direction and didn’t have a compass or GPS so if I would have wandered off, I probably would have gotten lost, died, and become crow food.

Or maybe the cows roaming the area would have eaten me.

 

[canuck]

Some of the food looked more inviting than other offerings but I guess you ate pretty well. Lots of desolation, destroyed buildings etc.

 

[sparkchaser]

For the most part the food was delicious. The only thing not to my taste was the Kurt.

Aside from decrepit, decaying buildings, there were lots of beautiful (or new) buildings too.

Like in Astana, the capital.

The President's Residence:




These buildings that remind me of soda cans:




The Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center:



Yes, it is a giant translucent tent. Inside is a mall with 5 or 6 levels, a river ride, some amusement park rides, two swimming pools, palm trees, etc. It is a mall, city park, and amusement park all under big top.


Other random buildings:

 

[sparkchaser]

Between the President's Residence and the Khan Shatyr is a long walkway that they call The Mall.










These giant rings adorn the mall. I guess they are traditional Kazakh designs. Dunno.

 

[sparkchaser]

At night the place reminds me of Vegas but without the gambling.





Excuse the shitty phone pics.


And finally, the "small" Mosque in Astana:

 

[Sneezy]

That one speaks volumes about the cultural influences on their architecture.

 

[beer good]

Great pics once again. There was a very interesting article about Astana in National Geographic a while ago that talked a lot of what they wanted to achieve with the architecture in what's essentially a brand new capital built from scratch (and, to me, looks like 1970s East Berlin filtered through Vegas and built by Central Asians). IIRC, the Kazakh president even designed some of the buildings himself?

 

[sparkchaser]

Yep, the President designed some of the buildings himself. My fixer doesn't like the architecture. She says its too random and haphazard. She called it Nazarbayev's Legoland.

 

[canuck]

Liked the last bunch of pics - some really interesting and beautiful looking buildings, different from anything I've seen before. The night time shots are great.

 

[Sneezy]

Yep, the President designed some of the buildings himself. My fixer doesn't like the architecture. She says its too random and haphazard. She called it Nazarbayev's Legoland.

I think I would have liked your fixer.

 

[Conscious Bob]

I like these old abandoned buildings and the food, the food looks good.

 

[sparkchaser]

I think I would have liked your fixer.

She was pretty awesome. I am trying to find an excuse to work with her again.

I like these old abandoned buildings and the food, the food looks good.

It's a great place to go for urban exploration, that's for sure. If I was better equipped I would have spent a full day at the air base exploring.