And add in the fact that this Sunday it was raining so good excuse to stay home. Fine for me but limits being able to tell you much about the place. What exactly did I do? Shopping next door in local supermarket. That's a 50 meter walk!!!
Then home for lunch and relaxed. Sat about strumming my guitar and read a book. Also caught a rerun of the Lions match so all in all an OK lazy Sunday.
However all is not lost on the reporting front! I have during the week, been walking to work most days. Its 25 minute walk and generally its cool and not to windy so no dust storms flying debris or rubbish. I must just say that Atyrua is surprisingly clean and tidy. I was told there are very strict laws against littering. Whatever the laws are, they are working. Very impressive.
The main road between airport and town is being spruced up for the arrival of the Kazakh President and the UK Prime Minister David Cameron.
A spokesperson for the Kazakh government, said that Mr Cameron would visit the cities of Atyrau, Astana and Almaty during his time in the country. The trip will involve meetings with British oil and gas companies as well as official talks with Mr Nazarbayev, they added. (Independent 25th June 2013)
Thinking in the office is 'Dave's visiting to secure some UK business deals. Makes sense as Kazakhstan has an abundance of oil and gas, not to mention a lot of minerals in major demand for industry. (See footnote) So for that I wish him luck. Hence obviously with this visit the road and siding are getting a lot of loving attention. Cleaning, painting, new pedestrian pavements, an abundance of trees planted and grass laid and watered, complete with some additional statues including some camels and deer's. Also along the way are brightly coloured new hoardings, and nearly all the apartment blocks along the way have been given a face lift. If he wants to know what it looks like before he can take a small diversion and take a parallel road. It's amazing what a few cans of paint can achieve. Makes and place so much brighter. And obviously his visit is seen as important to all concerned. Should not complain as it is good to see 'Dave' getting the royal treatment. Just hope it's worth it to the UK tax payer.
Wikipedia extract
Kazakhstan ranks second only to Russia among the countries of the CIS in its quantity of mineral production. It is endowed with large reserves of a wide range of metallic ores, industrial minerals, and fuels, and its metallurgical sector is a major producer of a large number of metals from domestic and imported raw materials. In 2005, its metal mining sector produced bauxite, chromite, copper, iron, lead, manganese, and zinc ores, and its metallurgical sector produced such metals as beryllium, bismuth, cadmium, copper, ferroalloys, lead, magnesium, rhenium, steel, titanium, and zinc. The country produced significant amounts of other nonferrous and industrial mineral products, such as alumina, arsenic, barite, gold, molybdenum, phosphate rock, and tungsten. The country was a large producer of mineral fuels, including coal, natural gas, oil, and uranium.[1]
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