Amazing Place - Ust' Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan

Trees at Kirov Park

A few years ago,  my future plans for jobs were fairly clear cut.  An over-riding priority was to work in a warm country.  Then China happened. Well, more specifically, the rapid development of chinese industry and the demand for raw metals in particular has led to the sudden wealth of several countries which supply those materials.  That wealth has allowed the governments of previously less economocially developed states to invest in their education systems.
I ended up in one such programme for 3 months earlier this year in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.  There the government has bought into the Cambridge International Examination board's IGCSE and AS/A-Level system so that all their students across the country will have access to a portable qualification accepted by universities world-wide.  Arriving in early March the temperatures started for me at -30C at night.  The last snowfall was on the 1st of June.
Returning home in mid- June I then was accepted into another nationwide educational project in Kazakhstan, namely the Nazarbayev Intellectual schools.  Cambridge are involved with this reform project too. Getting ready to go I visited the LD Mountain Centre in Newcastle (UK) where they were having a summer sale.  They had equiped folks before for Altai mountain expeditions so, being aware that my location for the next year was close (Ust' Kamenogorsk) I took advantage of the sale and bought a North Face "Vostok" 700g/litre goose down jacket and some Sorrel Caribou snow boots (rated to -40C).  I thought that that would be it for temperatures.  In August in Astana it was in the +30s C and then in Oskemen (a.k.a Ust' Kamenogorsk) it was similarly warm and then very wet.

Winter Sunset 

I was beginning to think that perhaps I had overdone the cold weather gear.  After all, the latitude was similar to Cherbourg in Normandy and the city altitude was only 300m above sea-level.  Stories of the weather over the previous winter from teacher who had been here a year suggested little snow and not too cold.
I was convinced by my research.  It would get cold and there would be snow.  The last year had to have been an anomaly.
I consulted with locals.  What bad weather had their parents and grandparents seen in the past?  The stories came back of cold and snow.  What was the average start of the first snow?  First week in November cmae the reply.
This year the first snow fell in October.  The 24th to be exact and hasn't melted since then.  The temperatures have dropped and the lowest was on the night of the 19/20th December at -44C.  We have taken delivery of a marvellous new set of atlases on Kazakhstan at school and Oskemen comes top of the lowest winter temperatures for a city for the whole of the country at -49C.  We're not that low yet, but, it is only December and the area has been cooled already.
The river water in the Irtysh is relatively hot and steam is contantly rising and blanketing the surroundings in fog which then freezes as a frosty coating on street signs, trees and the bridges. The latter have the appearance of a ship that has spent a trip in the high Arctic where the rigging is layered with ice.
So here I am, enjoying the chill air, the snowfall and the frozen landscape.  The opportunity for photos is huge.  Icicles on old buildings, log cabins, fir trees, misty rivers and silver birch.  For a place that will give the perfect Christmas card image, this could take some beating, even when you get the mosque in the shot!

Frosted Trees

Just out of curiosity,  I took a picture of snow building up on the balcony roof on 9th December and took the second one on 26th December and the third on the 7th January for comparison. The whole thing came off on 9th January as the wind picked up and temperatures rose.

The balcony cornice

Most of the extra snow accumulated on the 25th December.  

And then it was gone on January 8th.  Snow did return with temperatures also going back into the minus teens and twenties but by the 24th January the thermometers were reading over zero and up to +5C on 25th at lunchtime with some rain.  The compacted snow and ice now have a wet, slippery, smooth and very dangerous surface.  The sooner it melts completely, the better and safer it will be.

The Flight Home...

I am now safely ensconced back in England.  Apart from the day after arrival I have been working back in schools here.  The weather has been much wetter than in Mongolia, though luckily my home village avoided the deluge that clobbered the rest of the "Geordie Land" last night.  I have re-instated my Facebook pages and added all the links there.  Some likes are required before Facebook admin does something with the author page so that would be appreciated.

Exiting Ulaanbaatar's Chinggis Khan Airport, via its' single gate, the checking in and boarding and exit visa all went smoothly.  The flight to Incheon with Korean Airways was a bit bumpy with some quite severe turbulence.  This didn't bode well for the return over Asia the next day to London.  3 hours after leaving UB we touched down in Incheon and found our way to the transfer hotel desk, collected the vouchers for the Airport Hyatt Hotel and hopped on the bus to find the roads smooth, the drivers courteous and 15 minutes later the doors of the hotel.  Check in was easy and the rooms such a change from the Khabu Hotel in UB.  I managed to sleep from 5am to 830am before being awoken by the automatic wake up phone call.  Again such a change to be in a place where things worked as they were supposed to.  Breakfast was beyond compare with the hotel in UB, which didn't even have a star rating as far as I'm aware.  The food choice was phenomenal and of exceptional the Incheon Hyatt.  After breakfast it was back to the airport to check in for the flight to London (Heathrow).  The flight was delayed in its take off due to air traffic control over China airspace issues.  Taking off It was pleasant to see in the glorious sunshine the islands and long suspension bridge to the airport from the mainland before the Boeing 777 inched up into the clouds and turbulence for 11 and a half hours of flying across China, Mongolia, Russia and Northern Europe.
The time on the watch had edged into Monday morning (Seoul time) by the time we landed at Terminal 4 and I had to rush over to Terminal 5 for the half-filled British Airways connecting flight to Newcastle.  This was on time time and I was back in my home at 1130pm local time to a rapturous welcome from family and dog!

The Camera "Pulls a Sickie"

A surprise at breakfast.  I found out that the trip I had presumed cancelled was, in fact on, due to leave in 15 minutes and I was expected.
Quickly I grabbed a digital camera and got on the school bus after rushing to the school.  First port of call was Suhkbaatar Square in Ulaanbaatar and, not having explored that far across town, got  out the camera.  Unfortunately the camera appeared to have a glitch, the screen on the back showing a fuzzy "solarised" image reminding me of a poorly adjusted TV.  Tapping it did nothing to improve the situation so I put it away and started to just look around, taking in the views and atmosphere.
The bus then headed out to the east up over a pass at 1545m before heading down past an ethnic Kazak town where eagles, buzzards and vultures were aplenty, circling around in the sky.  I was able to see these and appreciate them without trying (as others were), to get the perfect photo.  The same applied as we stopped at the site where dromedary camels were sited near the road, and then again at the polished Chinggis Khan stainless steel statue and museum further along the road.
Cameras are fine, but what do they show?  An image of an object.  Why do people feel the need to take their own images?  What happens to the images once taken?  I will get images of the trip from others and select the ones I feel represent the things seen - raptors, two-humped camels, rolling plains and mountains, yak, horses, pleasant river with willow groves and an impressive statue.  With hands freed, I was able to collect a discarded eagle feather and from the river a lump of patterned crimson rock.   The pictures will not convey the horror of the school bus leaning over  by a ravine as the driver attempted to go down a steep rough track to the river and get the rear tyres next to the drop stuck in the soft sand.  Nor will the pictures record the jolts of the rough roads, the chill down the spine of the cries of the kites overhead not the joy of watching one grab a piece of chicken mid-air that had been thrown upwards.  The camera fails when it come to recording feelings first hand.  Others who see images are always going to be detached from the original situation ever if the picture is powerful.  The people taking the pictures are also putting a filter between themselves and the world they are trying to show. By focussing on a small view perhaps are missing the whole experience.
By the way, on returning to the hotel, my camera started working again.