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Vino Back as a Contender in Tour de France

5 Jul

Alexander Vinokourov, known by the nickname of Vino, showed today that there was life in the old dog yet as the seasoned Astana team cyclist finished a very commendable third in Stage 4 of the Tour de France. He finished just a hair’s breadth behind former teammate Alberto Contador and the stage winner Cadel Evans.

The result leaves Kazakhstan’s top rider in 18th place overall, although it’s very early days with seventeen gruelling stages to go until the finish on 24 July. Only time will tell if his 37-year-old legs will get him on the rostrum in Paris.

Last year the Astana team, which is bankrolled by Samryk Kazyna, Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund, was victorious with Alberto Contador taking the coveted yellow jersey. But Contador quickly turned villain in Kazakh eyes as he jumped ship to join the Saxo Bank SunGard team.

After his victory,  Contador tested positive for the banned drug clenbuterol. He is currently appealing that decision but if he were to lose that he risks being stripped of last year’s title and this year’s – should he win it.

Vinokourov himself is no stranger to controversy – in 2007 he was kicked off the tour and given a two-year ban over blood-doping offences. At the time he was leading the tour. The Kazakh veteran returned to pro racing in 2009.

Kazakhstan will be watching closely to see if their homegrown hero can keep the flag flying for Astana in this year’s tour.

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Sting hits Kazakhstan

2 Jul

Sting will be returning to Central Asia for a concert on 4July in Astana for the first time since he was stung by a fierce UK press reaction following his concert for Gulnara Karimova in Uzbekistan in 2009.

The concert is part of the ageing rocker’s world tour, called Symphonicity and is timed to coincide with the ongoing celebrations for President Nazarbayev’s birhtday, sorry I meant the anniversary of Astana becoming the capital of Kazakhstan on 6 July.

In honour of the occasion, Kazaxia has penned a little ditty to be sung to the tune of that old Police standard, Roxanne.

‘Oh Sting, you don’t have to play for dictators,
your money’s made now, you’re a billionaire,

Oh Sting, why you wanna sing for dictators,
those days are over, why should you care?’

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Sweet Taste of Success

23 Jun

If you’re wandering in the area around Almaty’s Green Bazaar, chances are that you will notice the tantalising aroma of chocolate in the air.

A selection of delights from Rakhat

The area behind the sprawling market is home to the Rakhat confectionery factory, which offers chocoholics a sublime choice of products. It produces its signature milk chocolate bar ‘Kazakhstan’ which comes in packaging in the colours of the Kazakh flag and with a gold shanyrak – the circular opening that goes at the top of  a yurt and a symbol of Kazakhstan

Rakhat is always coming up with innovative products – recent new lines include a milk chocolate apple, available in red or green and a kazyna, or treasure chest, filled with gold -covered chocolate coins.  The apple, a symbol of Almaty, will remind  Brits of that perennial Christmas stocking-filler, Terry’s Chocolate Orange.

So, if chocolate titllates  your tastebuds, then Kazaxia recommends you get down to the shop that is attached to the factory and indulge your passion.

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Kazakhstan: Almaty Jewellery Wars Hot Up

15 Jun

Chopard face off with Alsara in central Almaty

The battle of high-end jewellery designers – Aliya Nazarbayeva and Gulnara Karimova – is hotting up as Chopard, the Swiss company working with Gulnara, placed a billboard directly opposite one advertising Aliya’s Alsara brand on the junction of Abylay Khan and Kurmangazy streets in the centre of Almaty.

As reported on Kazaxia in April, the youngest daughter of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev launched her exclusive jewellery collection through the auspices of Italian company Damiani. This made her the second Central Asian president’s daughter to enter the world of jewellery design, following in the footsteps of Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov’s eldest daughter, who launched her Guli collection in collaboration with Chopard in 2009.

Aliya’s posters feature her glamorous visage beaming down from the billboard at the teeming masses of motorists sitting in Almaty’s notorious traffic jams. One could not accuse Ms Nazarbayeva of modesty, as another billboard stands at the entrance to the Luxor fitness centre. She is rumoured to own the luxurious facility which is said to have been inspired by a visit to the fabled city in Egypt.

Still no word on Aliya shadowing Gulnara – also known by her stage name of Googoosha – into the world of music. Maybe she’s leaving that to her opera-singing elder sister Dariga, who has often performed on Kazakhstan’s stages and further afield, including Moscow.

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Kazakhstan Victory Sparks Fury in Baku

6 Jun

Astana Arena ... the new home of Kazakh football

Football fans in Kazakhstan are in a state of shock after the national team managed to beat Azerbaijan 2-1 in Astana last Friday. The victory gave Kazakhstan its first points in attempting to qualify for Euro 2012. In its five previous outings, the Kazakhs had failed to even score a goal.

Across the Caspian Sea in Baku, the reaction was one of anger at Azerbaijan manager Berti Vogts, who had toilet paper thrown at him at a press conference on his return from Kazakhstan. He was also presented with a ceremonial pitcher used for ritual ablutions.

There were other reports that Vogts had an ’emotional conversation’ with head of Azeri football Rovnag Abdullayev on his return to Baku. This result was a blow to the pride of the Azeris who now find themselves in a desperate struggle with the Kazakhs for the wooden spoon.

On the night in Astana, Kazakhstan’s hero was Sergei Gridin,  who was making his international debut He marked the occasion in great style with two second-half goals. The 24-year-old is a midfielder with FC Tobol Kostanay, who won the Kazakhstan league in 2010.

Vogts’s charges now have to play Germany on 7 June on home soil. When the teams met in Cologne in September 2010, the Azeris suffered a 6-1 defeat, so things do not look too bright for Vogts’s future on the shores of the Caspian Sea.

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Kazakhstan: Heading for the Hills

2 Jun

Yum yum ... horses grazing at Ush Konyr

It’s that time of the year in Kazakhstan when people in years gone by would have made off for the high pastures with their horses, cows and sheep in the annual migration to the rich upland grazing land known as the zhaylau. The summer months would be spent fattening up the animals – and the humans – on the riches in the mountains in preparation for the long, cold winter.

Wild flowers in Ush Konyr

Soviet-era collectivisation put paid to this nomadic existence and few people in modern-day Kazakhstan still follow the wandering traditions, but come the weekend and many city-dwellers still feel the call of the wild and take off to the mountains in their 4x4s for a spot of communing with nature and to get their supper by picking wild mushrooms.

Mushroom mania

Last weekend Kazaxia joined the exodus and visited Ush Konyr, which is easily reached from Almaty – head for President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s home village of Shamalgan and then follow the track that winds steeply up to the 3,000 metre pastures. In no time at all you’re in the rolling grasslands where President Nazarbayev spent his early years. He had such fond memories of this carefree existence that he penned a song about it. See it performed here by Kazakh band MuzArt.

More wild flowers in Ush Konyr

The smog and noise of Almaty feel light years away as you breathe in the clean air and concentrate on foraging for edible mushrooms and admiring the rich covering of wild flowers. You’ll see packs of horses grazing as you hike around and the occasional paraglider taking flight, but not a great deal else will intrude to spoil your peace and quiet.

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Kazakhstan Bank Boss for IMF?

24 May

Lord Venal is back with this contribution on the head of the National Bank of Kazakhstan being put forward for the top spot at the IMF recently vacated by Dominique Strauss-Kahn in controversial circumstances. 

It is no surprise that Grigoriy Marchenko,  a name that is highly respected in international banking circles, has been chosen by that august body the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) as its man for the top job at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Under his skillful stewardship as head of Kazakhstan’s central bank, this oil-rich nation has successfully rode the choppy waves of the global financial crisis to emerge as a real contender to join the elite GoGUN club.

In the light of the sex scandal that has engulfed the former head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, many observers feel that a wholesome family guy is needed to fill this key post and who better than Mr Marchenko, who according to this site has already got the job.

Mr Marchenko  has told reporters that he does not plan to bother any maids if he makes it to the hot seat.  I can personally vouch for his good character – last summer I was pottering about the Med in the Venal family pedalo when I spotted some familiar faces on board a splendid-looking yacht.  Some Kazakh bigwigs invited me to join them and we all had a great time partying until the wee small hours. I cannot recall seeing Mr Marchenko on the yacht, in fact I cannot recall much of anything.

Back in the UK, it seems Dave and Nick are backing France’s Christine Lagarde for the post – I really must have a word with them about Grigoriy as I feel he is definitely the right man at the right time.


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Edgy Almaty Art

21 May

Almaty-based artist Justin Mulrooney, who is originally from Ireland, has launched a new website containing two collections of his provocative artwork.

Riverbank

He works in the medium of photograms – photographic images made without using a camera. The image is made by putting an object between a source of light  and paper that is sensitive to light.

O'Connell

Images from the  first collection – Vertebrae – caused a stir among Almaty’s art cognoscenti when exhibited at the Tengri Umai gallery in 2009. The other collection –Maps -is based on his travels around the world.

Athens

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Kazakhstan: Strange Days

18 May

17 May 2011 will go down in the annals of Kazakh history for the dubious distinction of being the day the country had its first suicide bomber and for an unprecedented hailstorm in the commercial hub Almaty.

25-year-old Rakhimzhan Makatov killed himself and injured two others in a blast that targeted the HQ of the KNB, Kazakhstan’s successor to the KGB, in the western city of Aktobe. Officials linked the suicide bombing to organised crime and claimed that Makatov killed himself in order to avoid responsibility for crimes he was alleged to have committed.

In a modus operandi more associated with religious extremists rather than the mafia, early suspicions were that the bomber was acting out of religious convictions, but this announcement by a prosecutor’s office spokesperson served to quash any whiff of links to Islamic radicals. Religious extremism is felt by many to be on the rise in western Kazakhstan.

In the south of the country, there was a massive hailstorm in Almaty which caused damage to trees and parked cars. The intense storm lasted for about 20 minutes and the hailstones were described variously by eye-witnesses as being the size of olives, egg yolks or cherry tomatoes.

The sudden storm was preceded by two days of high temperatures with the mercury touching 32 degrees Celsius on 16 May – temperatures more usually found at the height of summer. The storm caused extensive damage with trees were brought down on some central Almaty streets leaving a number of cars trashed.

Strange days, indeed, in Kazakhstan.

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Save Our Saigas!

11 May

The world’s saiga population has taken a hit in recent years with numbers declining drastically due to poaching but now a new eco-tour to Russia’s southern steppe aims to reverse the trend by bringing people to the region and provide much needed funds to support saiga conservation projects.

                                                       A close-up of a saiga’s snout                                                                                                                (taken from Wikipedia)

The saiga is one of the original steppe-dwellers. This strange-looking antelope with its long, flat snout has been around since wooly mammoths and saber toothed tigers roamed the earth.

Today there are still saiga populations roaming the plains in Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia. However, their numbers have fallen by around 95% since the early 1990s to below 50,000, leaving the species critically endangered.

Poaching, with saigas targeted for their amber horns, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine, has  led to this huge fall in their numbers. Matters were made worse in 2010 as a mysterious virus wiped out some 12,000 saigas in Kazakhstan.

Now the Saiga Conservation Alliance, UK-based charity which runs  saiga conservation projects in Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, has teamed up with Saga Voyages in Russia to run a 10-day tour starting in late August to see saigas close up in their natural habitat.

Proceeds from the tour will help support the SCA ‘s projects in the region and bring income to rural families.  The cost of the tour – which ranges from $1,275 – $1,600 depending on group size – may be too much for many, but you can still support the work of the SCA by making a donation here.

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