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I'm heading to the Expo in August, and to be honest I didn't expect to be inundated with crowds -- so this article is of no surprise. With that being said; I t

by Libbum 9y ago

I'm heading to the Expo in August, and to be honest I didn't expect to be inundated with crowds -- so this article is of no surprise. With that being said; I think what Kazakhstan is doing with their foreign policy, tourism and re-imagining their capital is commendable though. They've just dropped tourist visa requirements this year, so many countries have unfettered travel access now; soon they will convert (back) to the Latin alphabet from Cyrillic to be more accessible in the global market; and Astana looks like a real jewel. Their economy and living conditions are rising, and for the ninth largest country in the world it's sad that basically no-one travels there. Whilst the "if you build it, they will come" motto hasn't necessarily happened overnight, I think that the facilities that have been constructed for the fair will ultimately become a solid investment over time.

nsnick 9y ago
The facilities in a city that no one lives in? It would be like building facilities in Naypyidaw or Brasilia, capitals built to escape from their people.
- mrisoli 9y ago
  What do you mean Brasilia? It might have an empty feeling sometimes(especially compared to other crowded Brazilian cities), but it is growing and thriving, can't say the same about Astana or Naypyidaw because I've never been to either
  - soneca 9y ago
    Brasília for some time is trying to be less dependent on the government to grow, but I doubt it will be successful in any economic sector outside of public one. The stadium built there for World Cup is the biggest shame and example that GP is right. Anyway, the assessment of building a capital to escape its population is correct regardless.
    - dudus 9y ago
      The Stadium is not only in Brasilia. All over the country they built stadiums for world cup that are underutilized or in places where there isn't even a league to play into it.
    - mrisoli 9y ago
      To be fair that is partly its own population to blame, some people will even looking at you funny if you're not in the public sector(personal experience, and not just me). It was pretty obvious that the stadium would be a big failure, all stadiums outside of major football cities are(Cuiabá, Manaus), even stadiums in big football cities struggle to negotiate with clubs and end up empty most of the time. I just can't agree that Brasilia was built to escape the country's population, it was built just to overspend abundant injection of foreign investment.
43224gg252 9y ago
It's also very beautiful. I've been wanting to go hiking there for a long time.
NelsonMinar 9y ago
OTOH their human rights record is still pretty terrible. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Kazakhstan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Kazakhstan
- Xeoncross 9y ago
  > "jailed or fined dozens of people after peaceful but unsanctioned protests, and fined or detained worshipers for practicing religion outside state controls" + > "Torture remains common in places of detention" = Not going to be on my list of travel locations.
  - pjc50 9y ago
    Apart from the religion bit, that could also describe Chicago.
    - mac01021 9y ago
      Torture is common in Chicago's jails? Did I miss something in the news recently?
      - cultofmetatron 9y ago
        "don't drop the soap" is such a commonly understood meme, you see it in kids cartoons!
      - erikpukinskis 9y ago
        Prolonged solitary confinement is among the worst forms of torture if you value your sanity, and is quite commonplace in the U.S. particularly for political prisoners, like Black Panthers, whistleblowers, etc.
      - somedangedname 9y ago
        Homan Square: The Guardian reported in February 2015 that the Chicago Police Department "operates an off-the-books interrogation compound, rendering Americans unable to be found by family or attorneys while locked inside what lawyers say is the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Police_Department#Homan_Square https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Police_Department#Homa... https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/homan-square https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/homan-square
mrisoli 9y ago
I've been thinking about visiting Kazakhstan for a while now, especially with more low-cost flights going there, to be fair I didn't even know about the expo, do you think the expo itself is worth it to fit this year or maybe leave it to when the hotel prices drop?
yladiz 9y ago
Wow, I had no idea they upped the tourist visa days this year! I knew it was 15 days (for US citizens) when I was doing some research into visiting Kyrgyzstan, and found the number a little weird because it's not a multiple of 30 days like most other "visa free" countries. Now I might visit reconsider visiting Kazakhstan more fully. Is there a lot of tourism in a place like Almaty?
Animats 9y ago
Whilst the "if you build it, they will come" motto hasn't necessarily happened overnight, I think that the facilities that have been constructed for the fair will ultimately become a solid investment over time. That hasn't happened with Olympics sites. Sarajevo: [1] Athens: [2] Rio: [3] Beijing: [4] Huge, abandoned facilities, all of them. London is getting some site reuse.[5] [1] https://www.buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/haunting-pictures-of-the-abandoned-sarajevo-winter-olympi?utm_term=.kaXp23p1ow#.ktb6dN6nwq https://www.buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/haunting-pictures-of-th... [2] https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2014/aug/13/abandoned-athens-olympic-2004-venues-10-years-on-in-pictures https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2014/aug/13/abando... [3] https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2017/feb/10/rios-olympic-venues-six-months-on-in-pictures https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2017/feb/10/rios-o... [4] http://www.theblaze.com/news/2012/07/13/decrepit-four-years-after-hosting-the-beijing-olympics-this-is-what-chinas-40b-investment-looks-like/ http://www.theblaze.com/news/2012/07/13/decrepit-four-years-... [5] https://www.theguardian.com/cities/davehillblog/2015/jul/23/london-olympic-legacy-three-years-on-2012-games https://www.theguardian.com/cities/davehillblog/2015/jul/23/...
- homerrr 9y ago
  Well it didn't hurt Atlanta. It definitely revitalized a lot of areas there.
c-smile 9y ago
> they will convert (back) to the Latin alphabet from Cyrillic They never had Latin alphabet. Kazakhstan (as a state, part of USSR) was using Turkic Alphabet in its initial 13 years of existence. I wouldn't consider Turkic as a Latin alphabet. It uses some Latin glyphs but so does Cyrillyc.
- kingofpandora 9y ago
  > They never had Latin alphabet. Kazakhstan (as a state, part of USSR) was using Turkic Alphabet in its initial 13 years of existence. > I wouldn't consider Turkic as a Latin alphabet. It uses some Latin glyphs but so does Cyrillyc. Alphabets based on Latin are typically called Latin alphabets. Turkey uses the Latin alphabet as does English and Polish, despite them all having different variations.

by Libbum 9y ago

nsnick 9y ago

The facilities in a city that no one lives in? It would be like building facilities in Naypyidaw or Brasilia, capitals built to escape from their people.

mrisoli 9y ago
What do you mean Brasilia? It might have an empty feeling sometimes(especially compared to other crowded Brazilian cities), but it is growing and thriving, can't say the same about Astana or Naypyidaw because I've never been to either
- soneca 9y ago
  Brasília for some time is trying to be less dependent on the government to grow, but I doubt it will be successful in any economic sector outside of public one. The stadium built there for World Cup is the biggest shame and example that GP is right. Anyway, the assessment of building a capital to escape its population is correct regardless.
  - dudus 9y ago
    The Stadium is not only in Brasilia. All over the country they built stadiums for world cup that are underutilized or in places where there isn't even a league to play into it.
  - mrisoli 9y ago
    To be fair that is partly its own population to blame, some people will even looking at you funny if you're not in the public sector(personal experience, and not just me). It was pretty obvious that the stadium would be a big failure, all stadiums outside of major football cities are(Cuiabá, Manaus), even stadiums in big football cities struggle to negotiate with clubs and end up empty most of the time. I just can't agree that Brasilia was built to escape the country's population, it was built just to overspend abundant injection of foreign investment.

43224gg252 9y ago

It's also very beautiful. I've been wanting to go hiking there for a long time.

NelsonMinar 9y ago

OTOH their human rights record is still pretty terrible. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Kazakhstan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Kazakhstan

Xeoncross 9y ago
> "jailed or fined dozens of people after peaceful but unsanctioned protests, and fined or detained worshipers for practicing religion outside state controls" + > "Torture remains common in places of detention" = Not going to be on my list of travel locations.
- pjc50 9y ago
  Apart from the religion bit, that could also describe Chicago.
  - mac01021 9y ago
    Torture is common in Chicago's jails? Did I miss something in the news recently?
    - cultofmetatron 9y ago
      "don't drop the soap" is such a commonly understood meme, you see it in kids cartoons!
    - erikpukinskis 9y ago
      Prolonged solitary confinement is among the worst forms of torture if you value your sanity, and is quite commonplace in the U.S. particularly for political prisoners, like Black Panthers, whistleblowers, etc.
    - somedangedname 9y ago
      Homan Square: The Guardian reported in February 2015 that the Chicago Police Department "operates an off-the-books interrogation compound, rendering Americans unable to be found by family or attorneys while locked inside what lawyers say is the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Police_Department#Homan_Square https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Police_Department#Homa... https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/homan-square https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/homan-square

mrisoli 9y ago

I've been thinking about visiting Kazakhstan for a while now, especially with more low-cost flights going there, to be fair I didn't even know about the expo, do you think the expo itself is worth it to fit this year or maybe leave it to when the hotel prices drop?

yladiz 9y ago

Wow, I had no idea they upped the tourist visa days this year! I knew it was 15 days (for US citizens) when I was doing some research into visiting Kyrgyzstan, and found the number a little weird because it's not a multiple of 30 days like most other "visa free" countries. Now I might visit reconsider visiting Kazakhstan more fully. Is there a lot of tourism in a place like Almaty?

Animats 9y ago

Whilst the "if you build it, they will come" motto hasn't necessarily happened overnight, I think that the facilities that have been constructed for the fair will ultimately become a solid investment over time. That hasn't happened with Olympics sites. Sarajevo: [1] Athens: [2] Rio: [3] Beijing: [4] Huge, abandoned facilities, all of them. London is getting some site reuse.[5] [1] https://www.buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/haunting-pictures-of-the-abandoned-sarajevo-winter-olympi?utm_term=.kaXp23p1ow#.ktb6dN6nwq https://www.buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/haunting-pictures-of-th... [2] https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2014/aug/13/abandoned-athens-olympic-2004-venues-10-years-on-in-pictures https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2014/aug/13/abando... [3] https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2017/feb/10/rios-olympic-venues-six-months-on-in-pictures https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2017/feb/10/rios-o... [4] http://www.theblaze.com/news/2012/07/13/decrepit-four-years-after-hosting-the-beijing-olympics-this-is-what-chinas-40b-investment-looks-like/ http://www.theblaze.com/news/2012/07/13/decrepit-four-years-... [5] https://www.theguardian.com/cities/davehillblog/2015/jul/23/london-olympic-legacy-three-years-on-2012-games https://www.theguardian.com/cities/davehillblog/2015/jul/23/...

homerrr 9y ago
Well it didn't hurt Atlanta. It definitely revitalized a lot of areas there.

c-smile 9y ago

> they will convert (back) to the Latin alphabet from Cyrillic They never had Latin alphabet. Kazakhstan (as a state, part of USSR) was using Turkic Alphabet in its initial 13 years of existence. I wouldn't consider Turkic as a Latin alphabet. It uses some Latin glyphs but so does Cyrillyc.

kingofpandora 9y ago
> They never had Latin alphabet. Kazakhstan (as a state, part of USSR) was using Turkic Alphabet in its initial 13 years of existence. > I wouldn't consider Turkic as a Latin alphabet. It uses some Latin glyphs but so does Cyrillyc. Alphabets based on Latin are typically called Latin alphabets. Turkey uses the Latin alphabet as does English and Polish, despite them all having different variations.