The glorious capital of Kazakhstan greeted me with its perpetual cold winds and towers of glass in a frozen steppe. I got an unofficial taxi driver to take me to my hotel. He was a local, born and bred in Tselinograd that eventually became Astana. Extremely proud of the city, he showed off the local sites and did not stop talking until we got to the hotel. The city looked very impressive from inside the car, with towers of glass and intricate architecture. On closer inspection though, things didn't look so glorious. Although there are many buildings that look beautiful the majority stand empty. There aren't enough people here to buy apartments and certainly not enough to afford the new pretty buildings.
The height of the buildings does not do them any favors either. The wind here is so strong that anything higher than about 30 or so stories starts swaying. Besides, the wind rips off paneling and wall decorations from the outside as well. Even the most expensive hotel, the Radisson (that is apparently the most expensive Radisson in the world), looks like portions of it are missing. What's more, the odd thing about being here is that it feels like I am in a suburb with very tall buildings. There is no charm to this place and everything is too new to really look interesting.
This place has pretty fronts but every time I walk inside these pretty buildings they turn out to be half built and already falling apart. Unlike Almaty, however, there is an internet cafe here on every corner. Most are very empty, save for a few young men here and there, always playing computer games. Even the people at the front desk are playing. There are also groups here playing hybrid reality games, like the Encounter - en.cx There is more playing here than I saw in Almaty and I wonder whether it has something to do with the general weird emptyness of the place. I have the eerie sense that I am trapped in an odd version of the Potemkin village.
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