Kyzylorda is filled with Russian relocants
Kyzylorda. The first capital of Kazakhstan. And the very south of the country. Almost 95% of its inhabitants are Kazakh-speaking. Few people know that the world-famous Baikonur Cosmodrome, founded in the Soviet Union, is located precisely in the Kyzylorda region. There are various stories about Kyzylorda: that there are the most cunning taxi drivers here, and that there are more flower shops and pharmacies than residents, and especially witty people call the city “Kyzylkoy” (“koy” in Kazakh means ram).
Which of all this is true and which is false, the MK correspondent found out.
A monument to the ex-soloist of the group “A-Studio” Batyrkhan Shukenov in one of the city parks of Kyzylorda. < /span>
B It was no coincidence that I flew to Kyzylorda. My Korean grandfather on my mother’s side is buried in this city. And, as you know, you need to remember and honor your ancestors.
Getting to Kyzylorda today is quite a task. There are no direct flights from Moscow there; we have to build complex routes. I chose the easiest one — through Shymkent. It is separated from Kyzylorda by a little more than 400 kilometers. Having paid 17,500 rubles for a one-way ticket, after 3.5 hours I landed in Kazakhstan. At the exit from Shymkent airport I was surrounded by an incredible number of taxi drivers who offered to take me even to Kyrgyzstan.
As a result, I got to the homeland of the ex-soloist of the well-known group “A-Studio” Batyrkhan Shukenov in 4 hours and for only 1,670 rubles — along an almost European highway. The taxi driver turned out to be a native of Kyzylorda. “The city has become better than it was 10 years ago,” he said on the way. — Probably, everything depends on the akim (the head of the local executive body of government in Kazakhstan.). At one time, the Kyzylorda region was led by the “terminator akim”: he loved to destroy everything, demolishing old buildings. Imagine, it destroyed half of the historical center of the city. The one who came after him is even worse. The locals called him “the barber.” He was trimming trees. Then the woman ruled. She seemed to be coping well. But she was “gone.” Now a man is at the helm again. And it’s still unclear — as they say, a dark horse.”
(Kyzylorda is the only regional center in Kazakhstan where there is no centralized hot water.).
“I also caught the time when townspeople were choking in cramped Gazelles and brushing aside plastic bags flying through the air. (Laughs.) And these packages were the calling card of Kyzylorda. But with hot water everything is really bad. The story stretches back to the early 80s. The city's ditch network has been destroyed. And because of this, residents of their houses use drinking water to water their gardens. And for washing there are boilers. In local terms — “aristons”. Unfortunately, in multi-storey new buildings, water often does not reach the upper floors. And you have to connect the motor and artificially increase the water pressure. But we are breaking through the issue with water. Local activists almost spend the night at the akimat (regional executive body in Kazakhstan.). In Kazakhstan, it is simply impossible to get an appointment with the akimat. It's easier to go to jail. (Smiles.) Officials from the akimat drive Kruzaks; they cannot see what is going on in the city. But we will still have hot water, you'll see!
…I haven't been to Kyzylorda for more than 5 years. During this time the city has changed. At least outwardly for sure. The most ordinary residential buildings are painted blue, red, and green. Many trees have been planted. In particular, this is silver poplar. These trees, according to local residents, are specially planted in regions with a sharply continental climate. When it is very hot in summer, it is windy and cold in winter.
Kyzylorda is a small city, about 300 thousand inhabitants. At the same time, almost every second resident has some kind of small, but individual entrepreneur — right up to a shoe repair booth. But Kyzylorda is known throughout Kazakhstan for rice and fishing. More than half a century ago, the region was among the leading in the republic in terms of fish catch volumes, but in the late 90s of the last century, due to the drying up of the Aral Sea, the fishing industry was on the verge of extinction. Due to the salinity of the water, many species have disappeared. Only perch, pike, pike perch, catfish, carp, silver carp, and grass carp did not give up. Carp is considered the most “hit” fish among the locals — for it at the local fish market (that’s what markets are called in Kazakhstan) they charge about 300 rubles per kilogram. Here they will clean it for you for free, cut it up and fry it right there for practically pennies.
One of the sellers sadly recalled that his childhood home was only 25 meters from the Aral Sea: “I remember the water shimmering in the sun. All houses were built on stilts. They hammered logs and built houses on them. The most amazing thing is that until 1975 I never bought fish because we went fishing all the time. And only when the Aral Sea receded did the fish, unfortunately, become much smaller. Today you can count on one hand the places in the Kyzylorda region where you can go fishing. But we have many places for hunting wild boars, hares, pheasants, and quails.”
But once upon a time the Aral Sea provided water and fish to dozens of settlements in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. But since the middle of the last century, the Aral began to sharply become shallow. In good times, films were even filmed on the shores of the Aral Sea. In 1988, Viktor Tsoi (the singer’s father, originally from Kyzylorda) came here to film the film “Igla”. But by the beginning of the 2000s, the volume of water in the Aral Sea decreased by 10 times. And just 50 years ago the water height reached 20 meters. Now there is a salt desert.
Not everyone knows, but Kyzylorda is the most rice-growing region in Kazakhstan. There is even a rice museum here. “Our rice farming is probably 200 years old, if not more,” the same seller told me. “At first, rice grew here wildly. But already in Soviet times they began to take it seriously. All engineering irrigation systems, water structure, everything is planned according to the figure. The city also has a rice growing research institute, which is engaged in systemic research. If there is no rice, then nothing will grow on our lands. Our soils are salty, and rice desalinizes the soils. Because only after rice can alfalfa, wheat and other crops grow on our lands.”
A passerby, from whom I asked for directions, also decided to have a “pro-life” talk with me: “Are you from Russia?!” Every day I watch the news on TV. I am Kazakh, but I also served in the Soviet Army. In Vladivostok. And if there was an opportunity now, I would volunteer for the Northern Military District. For the guys, for Russia! I believe that defending one’s homeland is the duty of every citizen.”
— Enough. For some, our city was a transit point. Your compatriots hung out here for a month or two and moved on to Almaty, Kostanay, Bishkek. But I know several guys from Russia who stayed here. They work remotely as programmers. And they like it here. Compared to Russia, prices for food, housing and communal services, and apartment rentals are not so high. Although after the announcement of the start of mobilization, inflation in Kazakhstan reached 14%. Rice has risen in price by 44% — now it costs an average of 150 rubles, milk — by 42% — about 100 rubles per liter. But meat prices have increased the most. We, Kazakhs, cannot live without him. Our national dish — beshbarmak (a traditional dish of Turkic-speaking peoples made from meat, dough, carrots, onions.) — includes beef, lamb, kazy (homemade horse meat sausage.). So, now you have to pay 600 rubles for a kilogram of beef. The prices for lamb are sky-high — at least 800 rubles. And for a kilo of kazy they ask for 600 rubles. Just last year, one stick of lamb shish kebab cost 200 rubles in a cafe. Now it’s 320 rubles. The state does not raise wages, and prices are growing by leaps and bounds.
…There were really a lot of cars with Russian license plates in Kyzylorda. Even guys from Tyumen and Bashkiria came here. One of them said that he had been living here for more than six months. I rented an apartment in the center for 20 thousand rubles, works remotely in the IT field, the family remains in Tyumen.
— I ask the relocant.
— I like that it’s hot here in the summer. Watermelons, melons. Cafes at every step. Very tasty cuisine. I especially liked the Korean ones: kuksi, chimchi, pygodi (Korean steamed buns with cabbage-meat filling and spices.). And not so expensive in terms of Russian money.
I was very surprised that many local Russians, Tatars, even Germans know the Kazakh language. Some learned it themselves, others through mixed marriages, and some Russians specifically send their children to Kazakh classes so that their children know the state language.
I would especially like to note the local population: very kind, open, hospitable. It’s great that a taxi is simply free — only 100 rubles. There are a lot of taxi drivers here — there are three for every city resident. I also ride on public transport from time to time. Bus fare is 18 rubles. Believe it or not, you need to pay for it using a QR code. This doesn’t even happen in Russia (smiles). I was also amazed by the sheer number of beauty salons. I even did the math once: in one house, on the ground floor, there were three hairdressers at once. But Wi-Fi in the city is very difficult. It is not available everywhere.
There are also disadvantages. Salaries in Kazakhstan, of course, are not particularly pleasing to local residents. The minimum wage is 17,000 rubles. One of my friends has a salary of 40,000 rubles. And he has a family. And after work he works as a taxi driver to earn the same amount. And this is just enough for him.
But pensions here are much higher than in Russia. My neighbor, a Russian grandmother, formerly worked as a nurse, receives a pension of around 40,000 rubles. Enough for life.
The house in Kyzylorda, where the family of singer Viktor Tsoi lived on his father’s side.
Kyzylorda is, without exaggeration, the cheapest regional center in Kazakhstan to live in. For example, buying a three-room apartment in an old building in the city center will cost about 2 million rubles, in new buildings — from 3 million “wooden”. Rent of a three-room apartment starts from 25,000 rubles, but can be found for 18 thousand.
The reason for the cheapness is low salaries. According to a waitress at one of the local cafes, on average she receives 50,000 rubles a month, not counting tips: “Unfortunately for employees, many establishments, by law, include 10% of the service fee in the check. Now tipping is at the discretion of the guests. And I still have to pay for university studies. Therefore, we have to work almost seven days a week and save money. I'm not complaining. There is a job for anyone in Kyzylorda. People trade at the bazaar, some bake cakes and samosas for sale… Those who are luckier work at an oil field 150 km from the city — as welders, drillers, assemblers. Their salaries are good — up to 150 thousand rubles a month. Only a lazy person will not work.”
Another city resident, on the contrary, believes that all the money in Kazakhstan is in Astana. “It’s a shame for those who work at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. People work almost around the clock, and salaries are not as high as they should be. This is harmful work. We all know that the lease agreement was signed in 1994; I myself once worked at the cosmodrome. Russia transfers $115 million to Kazakhstan every year. This money does not bring any benefit to us. Where are they flying to? What does our state spend it on? Where does all our money go anyway?! It turns out that all the money ends up in Astana. Our government doesn’t care about the rest of the regions: live as you want.”
Locals also complain about frequent power outages in the city, popularly nicknamed the “Kyzylorda blackout.” This is all due to worn-out city communications. It turns out that about 70% of the city’s energy equipment has been in use for more than half a century. At the same time, the load has increased by 2-3 times — outdated power lines cannot cope with such a volume and are increasingly breaking down.
In addition to the Kazakhs, almost 10 thousand Russians, about 6 thousand Koreans, a little more than a thousand Tatars and representatives of many other nationalities consider Kyzylorda home. “None of them plans to leave Kazakhstan,” they told me at the local House of Friendship, where 11 ethnocultural associations peacefully coexist. — The most numerous ethnic group living in the Kyzylorda region are Koreans. They were resettled here from the Far East in 1937. Today Kyzylorda is considered the small capital of the Koreans of Kazakhstan. There are many more of them here than in other regions of our country. We, Kazakhs, love and respect Koreans very much. It was they who taught us to plant rice, grow potatoes, onions, carrots, melons…»
“Is it true that local Koreans go to work in South Korea?” — I asked one of the Kyzylorda Koreans. «Yes. These are mostly young people. They work there in factories in two shifts. Difficult. Most of us have been working like this for years. They work for a year, then return to Kazakhstan for three months and leave again. South Korea does not provide any concessions to our Koreans. Only long-term visa — for 3 or 5 years. The funny thing is that South Koreans don’t even know where Kazakhstan is. They confuse our country with Canada. And they don’t even know that Kazakhstan is the ninth country in the world by area. I myself work in Korea. We collect spare parts for Korean cars. Many South Koreans are surprised when you tell them that Kazakhstan is a multinational country. There are also those who mistake us in Korea for Chinese.”
The Temple of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God is a small island of the Russian world in Kyzylorda.
There is a common opinion among travelers that Kyzylorda is the most uninteresting city in Kazakhstan. Locals fundamentally disagree with this. “Our city is probably one of the poorest in the country. But the history of Kyzylorda is still quite nonlinear. Suffice it to remember that our city was once taken by Russian troops led by General Perovsky. And for many years it bore the name Perovsk. And besides, we are standing on the banks of the Syr Darya, the longest river in Central Asia. And only in Kyzylorda the New Year is celebrated three times: traditionally on January 1, according to the eastern calendar and Nauryz on March 22. And on Easter, in response to the phrase “Christ is risen,” you can hear “Birge bolsyn” (“Let’s go together.”),” said a parishioner of the Russian church.
The Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in Kyzylorda is a small island of the Russian world, where everyone is greeted with the words: “We are all one people, we must help each other.” The area next to the church is a shady square, in which you completely forget about the dust, the scorching sun, the booming roar of the bazaar located across the road, and other attributes of a foreign land.
The temple building is already the fourth. The first looked like an ordinary camp tent, the second looked like an adobe building, which was washed away by rain in 1868, the third was built from mud brick, and only after that the current church was erected.
Kyzylorda reminded me of an abandoned old man: a little sloppy , unkempt, sleepy, with a dubious past, but still with faith and hope in a bright future.