We had an absolutely fabulous weekend...'team building' at the Kazakh beauty spot of Burabay (or Buraboi). It was interesting travelling along the steppe to get to this spot, with lakes and hills and forests. It is an area where many school trips go, and many Kazakh families used to go for their annual holidays. It is now however, becoming more common to go to Turkey. Since I have been in Kazakhstan, there have been many firsts..... my first football match.... Ireland vs. Kazakhstan.. This was the match where the Irish players were rubbish, and the Kazakh players deserved an Oscar. Barry was shouting so much at their antics I thought he was going to storm onto the pitch and drag one of their players onto the pitch. As I said on Facebook, the Kazakh fans were impressed by his passion, and one turned around and gave Barry the thumbs up saying 'West Bromwich Albion'. Anyway I digress.
Maybe a bit touristy, but great to get my picture taken with an eagle.
On the left is the Samovar being used to brew our tea in the middle of the forest for our picnic lunch.
On that night we were to have a banquet... I didn't manage to get a shot of the huge carp stuffed with rice on our table.
We thought that was the meal, and rather large for us to eat... however, an enormous plate of besbarmac the Kazakh national dish was put on the table...even if we had eaten nothing and were starving, we could not possibly have even dented the food. it was delicious, but the Kazakh people pride themselves on their generosity. That wasn't the end of the meal..... biscuits, cakes, fruit and sweets followed that...... then after a couplwe of hours...... chips and roasted vegetables...... followed by more cakes and biscuits... and more fruit. This apparently is not unusual... what I find totally baffling is how an overweight Kazakh person is a very rare sight indeed... so how on earth do they do it?
