There was a sharp nip in the air in Almaty when I reached the airport early morning for the 8 am flight to Atyrau. The check-in was quick and efficient. That left me with some time to grab a coffee and do some social media work. The airport seemed busier than ever before with plenty of local and Russian tourists. The cafes, too, were busy with early morning fliers. I ordered a caffe latte and that turned out to be a big mistake. There was an overdose of milk and sugar in the coffee. It tasted more like a ‘payasam’ than a coffee. The Russian speaking waitress seemed lost when I asked her for extra decoction. After a while I gave up and decided to make the best of a bad bargain, sipping it slowly.
An interesting feature of the airports in Kazakhstan is that friends and relatives are permitted right up to security check along with the passenger. I haven’t seen many policemen or terminal security personnel in the terminals. If they are there, they are unobtrusive. The security check is non-invasive and efficient. Number of flights were announced within a short span of time and that kept the aerobridges busy too. The Almaty airport, though small, has a beautiful setting with Altai Mountains on one side.
Despite Kazakhstan being a very large country, the ninth largest in the world in fact, its population density is just 6 per sq km; 19 million people in 2.75 million sq km! Many regions are desert lands and uninhabited. The flight to Atyrau took slightly over three hours and I gained an hour as I touched down. From the pleasant climate of Almaty I had landed in a cauldron in Atyrau. It was energy sapping, to say the least.
I was picked up at the airport by one of my colleagues. It was straight to office and directly into work. Even after work was done for the day and I had checked into the hotel I did not dare outdoors till the heat had abated. The Grand Hotel, where I had reserved to stay through booking.com, was indeed a grand accommodation. The suite room had a large bedroom and ensuite bathroom, a large living room with TV, writing desk, etc. and a kitchen cum dining equipped with a refrigerator, plates, pans, cutlery, cups, spoons, knives and cleaning equipment. I picked up bread, baked beans, fruit juice, milk, chocolate and water from a grocery store just next door to the hotel.
The Ural River is just a ten minute walk from the Grand Hotel. Even by 6 pm the heat was overwhelming. I walked slowly, conserving energy to walk beside the river. When I reached the embankment of the river I was taken in by the transformation the season had made to the River! I had always seen it frozen over with people skating and walking across the frozen surface of the river. This time there were boat rides and people swimming in the river. The Ural River rises in the Ural Mountains and flows about 2500 kms southwards through Russia and Kazakhstan and flows into the Caspian Sea. The River also is a transcontinental marker separating Europe and Asia, as it were.
Atyrau is a transcontinental city situated close to the Caspian Sea - the airport is in Europe while the business centre is in Asia. Atyrau was known as Guryev till the country gained independence in 1991. It is also the capital of the Atyrau region, which is famous for its oil and gas industries. The proven oil reserves of Kazakhstan is the 12th highest in the world and has 260 times reserves in comparison to its annual consumption. With such riches, besides other ore reserves, one would expect the people to be well off, which, in fact, they are not. This is a major source of tension between locals and expats; the latter get paid multiples of what the locals are paid. It is quite evident that the pandemic and the strife in January has taken its toll. Besides, the Tengiz refinery work has also been completed. There are skilled locals with experience who are desperately looking for jobs.
After a short walk along the embankment of the river I took a slightly longer route to get to the hotel. Along the way I could see extensive road repairs being carried out. I was told that nothing had been done for two years and that had taken a toll on the infrastructure, including gas lines.
At the time of check-in I was given vouchers for a drink in the bar for the three days that I would be staying in the hotel. The hotel is quite tastefully done and the bar, though not busy, had a fair sprinkling of customers. Sipping a beer and devouring the free bowl of peanuts I completed all the work I had left over, before turning in for the night.
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