Dubai on the Steppe

So after flying from Tashkent to Almaty, I am now about 40 miles from where I was two weeks ago when I was visiting my friend Karina and her family on the shores of Lake Issy-Kul, in Northern Kyrgyzstan. 40 miles, but a world apart. Kyrgyzstan is a dusty, struggling developing country, which I characterized as "Africa with Mountains" (not pejoratively; I love Africa). Kazakhstan, or at least what can be seen from Almaty, is a burgeoning young republic, alive with young people, graceful avenues, and expensive restaurants. The guidebooks describe Almaty as a "European town," but I'm not sure that's quite right -- it's got none of Europe's charm, only its standard of living. A better description might be "Dubai on the Steppe."

The differences between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are striking -- firstly, the people. The Kyrgyz and Kazakh people are essentially the same ethnic group, both descendants of the nomadic Mongols. The distinction between the two came in the Stalinist period of collectivization, and was used essentially as an administrative tool to separate the people of the steppe, living in what is today Kazakhstan, from those of the mountains and alpine valleys, living in Kyrgyzstan. But today, the Kyrgyz are still largely an impoverished people, their skin stained dark brown from the sun and their faces prematurely aged, giving even young children the wisdom of decades. The Kyrgyz look every bit the part of of indigent former nomads. The residents of Almaty, just across the border, however, look like cosmopolitan urbanites. Their skin is fair, and they look much more like their distant Manchurian cousins of Northern China than anything else. Indeed, I've passed more than a few girls who look a lot like my girlfriend Vivian (though clearly none anywhere near as intelligent, nor pretty, nor charming,).

If it weren't for the highly unfortunate influence of Russian fashion, these young people walking the streets of Almaty would not be out of place in a suburban California shopping mall. Right now it appears very popular for women to wear suspenders let down to hang from their waists. See-through mini-dresses are also in, as is anything with "Dolce and Gabbana" written on it. Maybe the comparison with Vivian was hasty.

New found prosperity will do that to a people. Kazakhstan is in the throws of a fairly well-managed energy boom. The oil wells of the northern Caspian sea (brought to the Kazakhs by the good fortunes of Soviet gerrymandering), have funneled cash 1,000 miles eastward to Almaty, where you can see it flowing through the streets in the form of a very impressive array of luxury western vehicles. Mercedes, BMW's, Toyotas, Lexi, it's enough to pass at a Menlo Park soiree -- compare this to Kyrgyzstan or Uzbekistan, where the only cars you see are old standard-issue Russian Lada's or cheap-as-dirt Korean cars, pumped out by domestic factories (Hyundai in Kyrgyzstan, Daewoo in Uzbekistan). It's striking.

The third difference I'll point is the prices. And such prices! A Kazakh coming to California wouldn't blush at a $20 lunch... that would be considered quite reasonable in Almaty. I'm paying $4/hour here for the Internet, while 40 miles from here, in Kyrgyzstan, I paid a tenth that. My hotel is a steal at $80/night. I was thinking of booking into the Intercontinental for the one night I am here (to get the dirt out from under my fingernails), but their best rate was over $500.

And that $4 hour of Internet is now a minute from being up... I'll write more about the very interesting factors driving these differences between Kazakhstan and it's neighbors when I get more cash from one of the ubiquitous ATM's...