Aktau and Atyrau on the Caspian Sea
Trip Start
Mar 10, 2011
1
4
5
Trip End
Mar 19, 2011
Where I stayed
I can't even remember
Aktau, Kazakhstan
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Dry, flat, bleak, colorless, windy Aktau. I'm glad we only stayed long enough to work the exhibition in the hotel, partly because of the uninspiring surroundings, and partly because the dark hallways and patterned rugs in our hotel reminded me so much of The Shining. I kept expecting to turn a corner to find Jack Nicholson axe-ready or the creepy twins giving me the evil eye. My co-worker's taunts of "RED RUM! RED RUM!" all day didn't exactly help.
Felt a little rusty at the expo, but lucky for me the interpreters were wonderful and by the end, they had memorized so much of the material, they hardly even needed me there at all. I got a few funny questions/comments from the students like, "I would like to go to Brown or Yale." Yeah, I'd like to win the lottery, but that's probably not going to happen either. Or, "Is everything really like American Pie?"
In Almaty, I commented on how I felt invisible. I've come to realize that people here assume I am Kazakh. Kazakhs look very much like half-Asian peoples, with very distinct arched noses with a high, prominent bridge, which I also have. I keep startling people--they speak to me in Russian or Kazakh and look quite confused when I reply in my American English.
Late that night, as jet lag hit me over the head like a ton of bricks, we boarded another red-eye flight to Atyrau, another city on the Caspian. The plane was awesome--a teeny little prop plane called the Fokker 50 (I'm not even joking. Dad, I knew you'd want the specs, so I Wiki'd it for you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_50). I could see the wheel of the plane directly outside my window seat. To top it off, this Fokker was piloted by a man who called himself Juan Mohammed.
Today, I'm getting ready for another expo, and then we're off tonight to Shymkent. I think I actually get a day off, that's the rumor anyway. I really need it, my mind feels slow and cloudy from jet lag. Even the excellent Turkish-style coffee here can't revive me.
More to come,
Lindy
Comments
Hi! Listen, Lindy, how you can assess any place if you was here 1 day. I live in Aktau and I think is the best place in the world. But you will never understand it!
I love Manglyshlak or Mangystau region. I'm from Turkmenistan and turkmen prople go there on summer
Yes, Akatau is windy. If you want to stay in heaven of the earthö you have to come to Awaza, resort city in Turkmenistan