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Thomson

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  • Birthday 11/26/1977

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    Barcelona, Catalunya

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  1. I think cafes are your best bet for 24 hour drinking, so I was told last night. Perhaps earmark one near your hotel. Otherwise, I recommend standing at the side of the road, put your thumb out, have 500 tenge ready for when you get out although they should have change, say Pivo to the driver. Don't complicate things.
  2. Put all my warm clothes on: twa sweaters, twa tracksuit taps, a thick bodywarmer, furry hat and gloves after leaving the terminal last night. If you are sensible, you will do this before leaving the terminal. I am not. The boots and kilt socks are now on as well after being fine with trainees and normal socks in Bishkek and Almaty. I was pestered by several taxi drivers, who were giving me ridiculous quotes like 6000 tenge. I decided to ask somebody about buses. A woman showed me where the bus left from, just outside the terminal and spoke to the conductor woman. It was ready to leave by the time I had all my warm claithes on. It cost 180 tenge-35p roughly. The conductor woman told me where to get off. Just have your hotel name written on a piece of paper perhaps. Even 3000 tenge for a taxi is already a piss take apparently. I got a 500 tenge taxi the rest of the way after getting off the bus, which involved the usual method of standing at the side of the road and putting my thumb out. Made it out about 3am last night after settling into my hotel. -13c outside. Met three guys in the street who were keen to speak to me. They insisted on buying me a couple of pasties. They were going to take me somewhere with pivo. A fight broke out between two of them, so I got in a taxi myself. Went to Zaza club but it was closed, being a Monday night. Pivo was the one common piece of vocab, which formed the basis of my objectives. The taxi driver took me to a place called Siviy Merin-a big beer hall type establishment. It was closing at 4am and it was now 3:35. The manager, who had a fair amount of English, appeared and was keen to serve me. Had two pints for £2. He then gave me a glass of dark beer, a cranberry flavoured spirit (30%-child's play), a cherry spirit, (40%-harder going), then a shot of 60% moonshine (no as strong as the ChaCha in Georgia but headed in that direction) with a glass of Coca Cola chaser. All free apart from the two pints. I doubted there was going to be anywhere open and it was 5am by that time. The manager said that it'll be open till 6am on Friday night. Headed back to the hotel. The two taxis cost me 500 tenge each-£1 each. Total outlay-£5. Got some free nuts with my beer as well. Cannae provide any more tips yet I'm afraid. We will be well looked after is all I can say. The people are magic!
  3. I would recommend going to the tourist information as soon as you arrive in Astana and getting a paper map. The thing to understand here is that road signs aren't as plentiful as they are in our country. They are also in Russian, which means even when you know which street you are looking for, you cannae read the Russian letters. I would also recommend 2GIS offline maps app. I cannae download it coz I cannae mind ma feckin Apple password. At this point, I might mention that Almaty means: 'he who planted the first apple is the Daddy of the apples', according to someone I met in Bishkek. The screen's fecked on ma phone as well, which doesnae help either. Anybody needing a new phone, this country is probably the place to buy one-everything is as cheap as chips!
  4. I only started booking this whole 12 night trip: Inverness-Edinburgh-Bergamo-Istanbul-Bishkek-Almaty-Astana-Minsk-Rome-Bologna-San Marino-Milan-Edinburgh-Inverness about 10 days before I left. After a lot of searching, I narrowed it done to the Bishkek route. Spent two nights in Bishkek and it was feckin brilliant. It's a very modern, cosmopolitan city. The gorge and the lake are the two must sees when I go back. I was drinking in a speakeasy disguised as a nailbar the second night there. 😆 I think I might move there and also to Almaty. Just spent two nights in Almaty. Bishkek is Glasgow-sized, Almaty is even bigger I'd say. Astana is anything between 350 000 and 850 000 depending on where you draw the line I've heard, so it should be pretty manageable. I found Almaty a bit overwhelming and was only getting to grips with it today when I left. Ascension Cathedral is stunning and managed to see it this morning, despite having stayed right next to it since I arrived Saturday night. 😄 Two Kazakh guys who were working in the 501 bars in Bishkek came up here yesterday. I was in the pub yesterday and we were all drinking straight Maker's Mark with pints of Mick Jagger chasers. All free for me, got treated like royalty. Sushi, straight vodka with Red Bull chasers and techno in a bar on Saturday night with twa burds I met in an English pub. Makes sense to me. The people are incredibly friendly, both in Kyrgzstan and Kazakhstan. Gonna be interesting to see their faces when they realise there's 500+ kilted lunatics like me. Any other questions, fire away, I've got an hour and a quarter before I need to check-in for my flight up to Astana. A half hour taxi ride to the airport cost me 1300 Tenge, which is £2.70. I wasnae sure if I'd successfully booked the 15:50 flight-I got an email reservation but no payment was taken-didn't want to risk booking two flights, so I just left it till I arrived at the airport.Turns out it wasn't booked-I'm guessing they don't accept debit cards. Had the option of paying £70 for the flight I hoped I'd booked for £38 or £44 for the 19:10 flight, which is the one I'm on. I'll be on again tomorrow to provide some Astana-specific info. If anybody is grateful for my reccy mission, then if they could help me oot with some liquidity problems, I'd be very grateful-managed to lose ma bank card on Saturday night (at least it wasnae my passport or a pepper spraying!) I can just transfer you some funds from my Nigerian Western Union account and you can give me Tenge in exchange. Easy peasy. Luckilly I still had some tenge and I'd taken out $100 in Bishkek for my second taxi from the border to Almaty and still had $70 of that, which I needed for my flight. Also had a £20 note in my bag, which has now been changed into Tenge.
  5. https://www.edgekz.com/about-kazakhstan/travel-info/important-contacts/ I've just been surviving on Wifi, but probably a good idea for those that can be arsed being that organised. My brother did this in Tirana. Scroll down in the article and you will find out the options for buying SIMs in Astana.
  6. £1=500 Tenge pal. A pint has been costing me a £1 or something. I might have paid more and less than that. A cocktail costs £2.50-£3.50. Dangerous place. A slap up meal will cost you a tenner. A taxi shouldn't cost more than 300-500 Tenge for a cross-city trip. In Almaty, any car is potentially an unofficial taxi, you just stand at the side of the road and put your thumb out and one will stop. For the more careful, Uber obviously and Yandex is another option.
  7. Just arrived in Almaty tonight after two absolutely brilliant night in Bishkek-you'd be amazed at how modern and lively the bar scene is, unspoilt by European tourists as well. Two nights here in Almaty before I fly up to Astana on Monday. Thought I'd post on the off chance anybody else is in Almaty and to see if anybody will be in Astana on Monday night. I know it's way before the game, but decided to make the double header into 12 nights away-that's called a holiday! Alba Gu Brath and Slangevar! 🍻
  8. Never seem to get in anywhwere after home games, anybody got any suggestions?
  9. I agree, he is shite. Loads of pace but little skill.
  10. It's all in your heid pal. My tuppence is that I voted Yes, as did another 1.6 million. I've no reason to feel embarassed nor cringe by singing FOS. I can see where folk are coming from by not wanting to sing it, but, as the Proclaimers' song 'What do you do?' goes:"What do you do when minority means you?". You keep on fighting. I will try to make Saturday night the loudest I've sung FOS, even if the stadium as a whole doesn't give the loudest rendition.
  11. The Georgians have decided they're too wee to be a country and run their own affairs and would like to return to the Soviet Union. However, those supporting this stance who are football fans are declaring themselves Georgian AND Soviet. So, debatable whether or not they'll turn up. I predict they won't and they're be a replay in Monaco (or Donetsk).
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