Ethno Villiage

On August 15 we went to visit the Ethno-Village.  This was a permanent area that was built up outside the city near the horse track (about two miles from campus).  Similar areas pop up during holidays - especially Astana days in July and Nauryz  in the spring, but this ethnic village was set up as a way for tourists to see traditional Kazakh life and handicrafts.  It was also meant as a way for local artists to sell their arts and crafts.

We took one of the new buses (500 numbers) that stopped right in front of the university.  The bus took us directly to the ethno-village, and then it turned around.  The cost was a bit more than for a regular bus, but much cheaper than taking two taxis to and from the area.

We had a good time looking around. The kids had fun on the traditional swings. We also paid for everyone to take a shot with a bow and arrow.  Nika was the only one to hit the target, and she did it without even looking - and hit the bullseye, too!  We bought Oma a leather passport holder as a souvenir for the day.  

It was a very nice day, and when we got back to our stop, we went to the mall and had McFlurry ice cream from McDonald's for a treat. 

Girls swinging on traditional swings.

A row of Yurts where artists sold their wares.

An example of the work - saddles for Uncle Burl's viewing pleasure.

Dombra and other musical instruments.

Oma getting her passport holder.

Little restaurants selling different kinds of food local to the region.

Inside a restaurant yurt.

Posing - and arm wrestling.

Some figures showing traditional life.

Nika winding up.

Nika making her bulls eye.

Sophie taking a shot.

Lexa giving it a try.

Nina!

Papa having a go at it.

Yulia let me sit on the throne.... for a little while and only for the picture.

Expo - Day 2

On Thursday, August 10, we went back for more to the Expo.  We had bought tickets for the Cirque du Soleil show that evening, so we planned on attending the Expo all day.  We went a bit later in the day - starting after lunch - since the show didn't start until 7:30, and we knew it would be a long day.

Our plan for the day was to make it through all of the pavilions that we hadn't made it through on Tuesday.  We did a pretty good job of seeing everything, even though we missed the Korean pavilion, which was the most popular pavilion of the Expo because it was completely full - and completely booked for return visits by the time we got there.

There were a number of fun pavilions that we saw - the Austrian pavilion sponsored by Red Bull and turned into a fun playground that used different machines to make air that moved machines and made noise was a favorite for the kids.  Oma loved the pavilion about Lithuania and made friends with the worker there by asking so many good questions.  In the end they gave us a nice picture book of the country.  We also went through the USA pavilion.  We didn't see any of our friends from BYU that had been coming to church with us all summer when we went through, so that was our small disappointment for the day.

For dinner we went to a little food court building.  It had a few fancier places, and a pizza and burger fast food type of restaurant.  The girls voted for hamburgers, so we had burgers for dinner.  Oma was quite tired after a long day of walking, so she and I relaxed while Yulia, Babushka, and the girls went into the African pavilion to round out the pavilions that we hadn't seen.  We also took some time to go into the pavilions from the Central Asian states (Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan) that we hadn't been through on the first day.

The highlight of the day was the circus.  They had designed a special show just for the expo that incorporated traditional Kazakh themes as well as the themes of energy and technology from the Expo.  We knew some of the performers - the fire eating act and trapeze artists - from church, so we had extra fun watching for their parts in the show.  The show was fantastic from start to finish.  We don't have pictures from it - just from the warm up while we were waiting for the show to start.  

By the time we finished for the day and walked home, we'd had a very long and very exciting day.  The Expo didn't disappoint Oma or us.  We thought it was an event that was done well. 

Outside the Qatari pavilion - so bright.

Inside the US pavilion

Walking outside the pavilions at Expo 2017

Finland Pavilion - building with wood.

Hungarian pavilion, one of the favorites for the kids!

More Hungarian pavilion.

Hungary III

Hungary IV

Lithuanian pavilion

Looking at our photo book of Lithuania

Oma taking a virtual tour of Lithuania

Italian pavilion 3d- printing.

3d printer in Italian pavilion.

British Pavilion - all about earth and the cosmos.

Low energy, high brightness light bulbs at British Pavilion.

Taking a rest near a tour group

Austrian pavilion

Making music with air

See-saw air machine.

Czech pavilion was very futuristic.

Czech pavilion.

German pavilion.

Also German pavilion.

German pavilion - BMW

German pavilion - energy from conservation and saving energy.

More scenes from the expo grounds. With hundreds of small pinwheels to capture the wind.  There were shaded areas with grass and solar as well, and one with water.

Turkish day parade.

Dinner

African Pavilion

African Pavilion II

African Pavilion III - a market

African Pavilion IV

Turkmenistan - a saddle to show Uncle Burl.

Turkmenistan II

Turkmenistan III

Yurt

Inside the Yurt

Waiting for Cirque!

Getting the crowd ready!

Leaving Expo in the evening with Nur Alem lit up in the background.