A visit to the Park of the First President, Almaty.
Wales? Where Wales?….. oh, GARETH BALE Taxi Driver
It’s a scenario many Wales Away travellers will be familiar with. In the far flung corners of the world, not many people have heard of Wales. But everyone knows Gareth Bale. When we played in the China Cup, the Chinese crowd were chanting for him louder than we were.
Our driver spoke very little English. But he seemed to have developed his own technique. Just prattle on in Kazakh and eventually, every two hundred words or so, we would recognise something he was trying to say. ‘Real Madrid’, ‘cable car’, ‘Ritz Carlton’. It was great that he was making an effort, but we all wished he had made more effort to watch the road. At one point he was on Google looking for pictures of cable cars to show us. I’d have rathered he worried about the cars on the road in front of him.
Eventually he pulls up at a bus stop and we jump out.
I’ve made a point of avoiding Uber back home. They undercut traditional taxi and private hire drivers. It’s my union upbringing, solidarity and all that. But we have not seen a single traditional taxi in the week we have been here. Everyone seems to use YanexGo. If you can get your head around downloading the app and register an account, it’s brilliant. Hail a cab and it’s there within minutes (there are hundreds of them about) with live location of the driver. I’m sure I’m preaching to the converted with those that use Uber back home. But I bet you can’t have a 30 minute Uber ride for £3.50…
We’ve been dropped at the Park of the First President. The land had originally been an apple orchard, but with the fall of the Soviet Union it had fallen into disrepair. A plan was hatched to build a park in 2001. It was completed in 2010.
The park honours Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev, the first President of the country when it became independent in 1991. He ruled until 2019. Yep, he planned and oversaw the building of a huge park to honour himself. He’s that kind of guy.
Born in 1940 he joined the communist party in 1962, rising through the ranks until eventually becoming President of Kazakhstan in 1990. He was elected President of the newly-independent Kazakhstan in 1991. When I say ‘elected’, his was the only name on the ballot paper. He was the only leader of a former Soviet Republic to remain leader after independence.
He was a reformer and made many changes to improve life in Kazakhstan. However, ‘Dark Shadows’ by Joanna Lillis pulls back the curtain and reveals a world of corruption and clampdowns on criticism and dissent.
The entrance to the park is opulent. Huge pillars (reminiscent of ancient Rome, The Pathenon or Trump’s Mara a Lago) guard the steps leading into the park. There are statues of giant steel apples and fountains. There’s a small fountain before you walk before the gates. Kids hang around it taking advantage of the cool moist air. Just inside the gates sits another fountain. Huge, intricate and spectacular are three words that could describe it. Not, working and today, are three other words.
Despite the city being hot and dry, it is also very green. Everywhere you look there are lush green plants, and an enormous network of sprinklers constantly keeping them watered. They get more water than plants in a rain forest. This vast drain on the water supply must take its toll. I’m assuming that all the major fountains, and there’s a lot of them, are turned off in the hottest months to focus on watering the plants.
Once inside the park we look for a shady spot that is not currently being sprinkled to sit and eat a picnic. We have made cheese rolls and the cheese is literally melting, as if it had been placed on a hot burger.
Over the next few hours we slowly make our way around the park, stopping at shady benches on a regular basis. There are many meticulously laid out flower beds. These prove to have a double use. We go “ooooh aren’t they pretty” and “aaahhh that’s nice” as we get soaked by the sprinklers.
I get excited when I spot a red squirrel. It’s that kind of day. Pretty laid back, busy doing nothing. The highlight was probably putting a Spirit of 58 Bucket hat snd a Wales Women’s T Shirt on a dog.
There’s a Japanese garden with a water feature. Which is turned off. At the far end of the park there’s a raised observation platform, which is only slightly obscured by trees. We drag ourselves up a load of steps, observe the city, and the mountains and go back down the steps.
Wales? Where Wales?….. oh, GARETH BALE Taxi Driver number two
We finish the night back in the Munchen Pub. Still our regular. We hadn’t really thought about the prices in our new favourite pub, the Russian punk bar with mead in cans. When Becks checked his bank account, it turns out the mead was £4.80 a can. He was so outraged he logged onto WiFi to WhatsApp us to tell us he wouldn’t be going there again. Not sure what it’s got to do with him, he doesn’t even drink. He just pays for Posh’s booze. So, anyway. Munchen Pub. £2.30 a pint. They welcome us back like cosmonauts returning from space.
We have an early-ish night. We have to be up at four of the AMs. We are finally getting out to see ‘The Real Kazakhstan’ tomorrow – albeit visiting tourist attractions with a tour company. But hey, lakes, canyons and shit. Watch this space.