In the hall of the moutain king

This post will be devoted to 3 subjects. First, I’ll take you with me in a little promenade around the colourful Zhelion(Green) Market of Almaty as well as the Chimbulak ski and skating resort, 15 minutes away from the city center. Radically different, I’ll explain you how Astana, the newly-born capital, has great strategic and demographic importance. Finally, I’ll say a word about the presidential elections, which are taking place today.


An empty fridge is never a good sign… Too much work, no free time, and non-stop delivery meals… It was time for action! Rachel, Simon and I, decided to hit the market located in the south of the city, next to the Mosque.
Known as the Green Market, this immense Labyrinths-like concrete building offers you anything you can think of. Since we were there for fooooood, and most of you know how important it is for me, we did a first pit-stop at the meat station. Mmmmmh, accurately divided into sections, one will easily find any part of any animal standing on 1, 2, 3 or 4 legs. It’s just a matter of taste in the end, in’it?

A few meters further, sweet fresh honey for your honey honey’s, asian spices and dry fruits.
As Simon wisely explained, the strategy consists of walking around for 1/2 an hour, have some interested looks, touch and weight the product’s quality, but resist to the temptation of buying everything at once… tough task, I can tell! Then, stage 2, the negotiation process can start, in Russian… loads of fun! Jarachooooo! Each of us left the market happy as sheeps, with their head under our arm…hehe

I enjoy my job for many reasons, and one of them is the given opportunity to meet country’s high dignitaries. In the case of Almaty, we have been invited by one of them to discover Chimbulak (the ski resort) and the great skating stadium (the highest in the world).

We then drove 15 minutes uphill, to discover what alamty count as most impressive and powerful, its mountains. I went back this week end with my mate Bertrand. Needless to say that experiencing central asian slopes was as much of an awesome time as it was unexpected when I first arrived… It still needs an extra layer of snow though, which we are expecting very soon!



To keep things clear and not confuse you guys, my team and I live in Almaty, ex-capital of 1.5 million residents. 2 hour-flight away, Astana is being created as the new, shiny capital. President Nazarbayev wants it to display a mix of several influnces, from Roma to New York, en passant par Singapore and Vegas. One wonders whether it is real. Various adjectives would define this “polis”: Sim City, Lunar, Mad max,… no one really knows what it is going to look like at the final stage, since it changes at an amazing speed.

Astana won't let leave you indifferent, but as far as I am concerned it lacks charm, ambiant and spirit. I have an enormous respect for the expats who manage to work and live there... of course, it takes a good oil & gas salary $$$$ to convince someone to remain there!!!!


December 4th 2005 is presidential election day, it also means that there are 99% chance that the great leader Nazarbayev will remain in power for the next 7 years. As I explained alreday, many awkward events have occured, such as banning of the opposition speech time in the press, assassination of former ministers, and repression on demonstartions. Still many people think that Nazarbayev is the best option to manage a country with a transitional economy which shows amazing potential growth. I'll tell you more when the results are published, but there not much suspense...


Finally, let me introduce you all to Zélie, an angel from the stars weighting 3kg. ... New born daughter of Odile, my beloved sister. Welcome to this amazing world, I wish you all the best and as much passion for life as I do! Looking forward to holding you in my arms at Xmas...