KathleenAstana is the capital of Kazakhstan. It was originally established as Bozok in the 8th century and was built into a sprawling modern city with huge boulevards, mosques, civic buildings, monuments and etc. by 1997, when it replaced Almaty as the capital. Not much that is historical remains here and it is mostly interesting as a modern, purpose-built city. It is glassy and expansive and impresses in a stark sort of a way. It is the first destination on this trip where the terrain has been completely flat and we find ourselves missing the hills of Armenia and Georgia. It was raining when we set out in the morning so we did what most would and hit up a local mall which came complete with a dinasaur-themed amusement park on the upper level of what appears to be a large circus-type tent from the outside. After lunch, the weather cleared and we managed to put our 30,000 steps to good use wandering around and checking out some of the highlights. We are off to Kyrgyzstan the next day, but will see some more of Kazakhstan (largest of the stans and the world’s 9th largest country by land mass) during our extensive tour of the stans which begins in a couple of days.
