When we first arrived at the festival, we saw some statues of peacocks, oddly out of place in all the snow. Then I saw what I assumed to be a statue of a camel. I asked Sophia to go up to the fake camel to have her picture taken. As we got closer, we realized that it was a real camel. I don't think I've ever seen a real camel before. A Russian man was standing next to it, allowing people to take pictures but not allowing anybody to get too close. It was pretty amazing.
After the yurt experience, we wandered around the tower. Really, for a city this size & the capital, it was a pretty pathetic festival. A few people were selling children's toys or food, one person had set up his art work for sale, there were a few yurts, a small stage with wrestling, and another small stage with singing and dancing. A little ways away were some large swings--big enough to hold half a dozen or more people, standing up.
As we walked away from the small singing stage and towards the swing, someone with a microphone overheard us speaking English and started talking to my brother. My brother backed away but I came up to see what was going on. It seemed that this man worked for a TV station--he was with a guy with a camera--and he wanted a foreigner's perspective on the festivities. So I agreed to be "interviewed"--basically I said a few lines about how wonderful the festival was, how beautiful the yurt was, etc, etc. So I made it on TV, somewhere in Astana.
Next we went to the swings. They are called "altybakan" (a swing with 6 poles). We waited in line for a short while before going on one, but never managed to reach a great height. Nevertheless, it was fun.
We wandered down the boulevard away from Beyterek. We came across a stand and bought sausage (for Sophia) and tea. Then, we had to use the bathroom and saw people entering and exiting a large building, so we decided to try that.
... And that is how we found yet another mall. This mall's name is Keruan, I think, and has four floors, with the food court & "Babylon" game area on the third and a cinema on the fourth. It is a lot like the Mega mall we have grown fond of--very American in style, more expensive than other places. At the food court we found a "Little Caesar's" and "Dominos" although I doubt they're connected to the chains in America. We ordered food from "Southern Fried Chicken" where Sophia found chicken she was willing to eat.
The food court was extremely crowded, and at 4:00 a Nauriz celebration started on a very small stage. People crowded around the stage, and Sophia and I could see nothing. My brother stayed to watch while we went elsewhere. He is tall and was able to get some good photographs of the different showcases. The first group we saw were some teenagers doing some hip-hop dancing. Not very exciting. But later there was a male acrobat, as well as more traditional Kazakh dances and instrument-playing. I saw some girls backstage looking very much like peacocks in elaborate, brightly-colored costumes.
Sophia and I went into the Babylon game area (much like a very large, very noisy Chuck E. Cheese's or a mini amusement park) where she decided to have her face painted. We waited about an hour for her turn, then about another hour for her entire face to be painted. In the end, she looked very much like a cat.
When we exited the mall, the yurts were down and snow was falling. Celebration of the beginning of spring...
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