King Croesus: Pavlovdar, Semeypalatinsk, Kurchatov

Som tidligere nævnt er Kasakhstan vældig interessant pga. dets kontraster. Efter at have set landet gode sider, valgte vi en rute til Rusland for at se de steder jeg er afhængig af at se; forurenede møghuller som miljøforkæmpere finder afskyelige. Levende monumenter for menneskers mangel på respekt for natur og folk, resultatet af Sovjet-tidens megalomani. Vi kørte via Pavlovdar, til Semeypalatinsk og tog en omvej til Kurchatov før vi kørte tilbage til Rusland.

Det første højdepunkt var selvfølgelig Pavlovdar, berømt for luftforureningen fra dets adskillige metalværker. Smoggen var så tyk og fin, at vi skar en kube af luften ud som en souvenir, og stoppede den i rygsækken. Desværre er alle de udmærkede fotos jeg tog i 'RAW' format, og da en-eller-anden §!#&*! kazakhstaner har computeren med softwaren til at konvertere filerne, må du vente med at se disse billeder fra Paradis til senere.

Udenfor en landsby mellem Pavlodar og Semey knækkede forgaflen på Klaus' maskine. Vi fik hjælp af nogle af de lokale og den blev svejset, efter vi havde ventet i fem timer på at strømmen kom tilbage. De ville ikke have nogen penge, men fik en Singapore dollar, en (konvertibel) peso fra Cuba og nogle indonesiske rupia'er, hvilken begejstrede den lokale samler meget.

Sermeypalatinsk, eller 'Semey', er desværre bedst kendt for Semeypalatinsk Polygon testområdet, hvor de blæste 460 russiske paddehatte af. Skaderne fra det radioaktive nedfald trives fint, så kræft og andre knap så morsomme sygdomme er meget udbredte her.

Men denne by var Kasakhstans hovedstad en kort tid, og har været en slags 'kultur-hovedstad', hjemsted for den kazakhstanske kultur-guru Abay Kunanbaev. Fyodor Dostoevsky var en anden fin fyr, som levede her i eksil sammen med andre store russiske forfattere – alle sendt hertil fordi de havde sjove (men dengang ikke helt værdsatte) ideer mht. demokrati.

Fra Semey tog vi en omvej til Kurchatov, Polygon kontrolcentret (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semipalatinsk_Test_Site). Det er et ret interessant sted, bygget på kort tid fra 1949 og frem, og i dag en halv-forladt spøgelsesby. Mange bygninger er ubeboede og ved at falde sammen. Det eneste her i dag er et researchcenter og et museum for testområdet.

Museet skulle være vældig spændende, hvorfor vi kørte 150 km dertil i regnvejr og på meget dårlige veje. Da vi kom til museet sagde de at vi skulle have en tilladelse til at komme ind, og at den kunne fås i Astana. Jeg sagde ”Fedt nok, jeg er tilbage med tilladelsen om en halv time – det er kun 1000 kilometer”, hvorefter vi kørte tilbage til Semey. Selve testområdet er stadig meget forurenet, men de radioaktive ''hot spots' er ikke markerede, der er ingen hegn eller vagter (advarselskilte?), så besøg endelig stedet....

As mentioned before, Kazakhstan is extremely interesting due to the contrasts. After seeing the good sides of the country we chose a route to Russia to see the kind of places I’m addicted to; polluted shit holes that paint disgust on environmentalists faces. Living memorials of human disrespect of nature and people. The result of the extreme Soviet times megalomania. We went by Pavlovdar, to Semeypalatinsk and took a detour to Kurchatov before heading back to Russia.

The first highlight was of course Pavlovdar, which is famous for air pollution from the numerous metallurgist plants. The smog was thick and nice, and as a memory we cut out a cube of congested air and put in our backpacks. Unfortunately all the decent pics I shot there is in Raw format, and as some Kazakh dude has got my computer with the software I need to convert the files you’ll have to wait to see the pics from paradise.

Between Pavlodar and Semey the fork on Klaus bike broke outside a small village, but we got help from some locals and welded it, after being waiting for the power to come back for 5 hours. They did not want any money, but I gave them a Singapore dollar, a Cuban convertible peso and some Indonesian rupiahs which was very popular as he collected foreign money.

Sermeypalatinsk, or Semey, is unfortunately mostly known for the Semeypalatinsk Polygon test ground, where they blew off some 460 Russian mushrooms. The damages from the radiations lives on very well, and cancer and other not so funny diseases are still very popular in this area.
However, this is city used to be the capital of Kazakhstan for a short while, and has been some sort of cultural capital. The city was the home of Abay Kunanbaev, the Kazakh cultural guru. Fyodor Dostoevsky was another fine chap living here in exile among other big Russian writers, which was all sent here because they had some funny ideas about democracy, ideas that really weren’t that good back at that time time.

From Semey we took the detour to Kurchatov, the control center for the Polygon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semipalatinsk_Test_Site) . This is a very interesting place, build up in a short time period from 49 and onwards, today a semi-deserted ghost-town. A lot of buildings are uninhabited and falling down. The only thing up there today is a research center and a museum about the test site. The museum is said to be very interesting, and that why we went 150km in heavy rain to get there on very bad roads. When we got there they told us we needed a permit to enter the museum, and we could get it in Astana. I said “That’s great, I’ll be back with the permit in a half hour, it’s only 1000 kilometres” , then we went back to Semey.
The test site itself is still very polluted, there is no marking of radiation hot spots, no fences or guards, so feel free to go.

Tormod

Pavlovdar

Den lokale gnistmester. Hver gang den hjulløse Lads bremseskive ramte asfalten, stod der meget fine gnister op.

The local master of sparks. The Lada had no wheel, and where the brake disc touched the tarmac there were very nice sparks.

Den døde forgaffel, genoplivet ef den lokale forgaffel-healer.

The dead fork brought back to life by the local healer

Putting da fork back

Ivan i en lille landsby fodrede os og hjalp på anden vis, og ville under ingen omstændigheder have penge for det. Bortset fra lidt fremmed mønt, som han samlede på. Her vifter han med en indonesisk rupiah seddel.

Ivan helped us in his small village. They fed us and helped us, and there was no way he wanted money, except from some foreign money that he collected. Here with an Indonesian rupiah bill

Kazakhstansk landsby. De må være rige her, for pengene blir i hvertfald ikke klattet væk på deres huse og biler.

Village in Kazakhstan. I do believe they must be very rich in this villages as they apperantly spend nothing on houses or cars.

Kazakhstannsk politimand på min Nimbus, der rent faktisk har motoren fra en politi-mc, brugt i København engang i den yngre jernalder.

Kazakh policeman on my bike, that actually got engine from a police bike that were used in Copenhagen a thousand centuries ago.

Fyodors house in Semey

Monument for ofre for atomprøvesprængningerne; en mor som prøver at beskytte sit barn.

The monument for the victims of the nuclear testing, a mother covering her child

Rustem i Astana havde venner i Semey som hjalp os.

Rustem in Astana had friends in Semey that helped us out.

Testområdet lå lige tv. udenfor billedet. Et sted man ikke har lyst at opholde sig for længe, da strålingen stadig er ret stærk. ("...kyllinger...." (kim))