Kazakhstan - Central Asia - page 112

the prices are excellent. Rooms are unfussy
but tasteful and well equipped, desk staff
speak English, and room rates include a
proper breakfast.
5 ¨Eating
Abat¨ RUSSIAN $
( % 56 85 33; Dulatov; terrace mains 600-1200T,
cafeteria dishes 150-500T; h terrace 11am-1am,
cafeteria 9am-10pm) The outdoor terrace cafe
here has a fun atmosphere in summer and
serves reasonable shashlyk, other meat dish-
es, salads and desserts. The indoor cafeteria
is inexpensive and run-of-the-mill, with of-
ferings such as plov, pizza, manty and fried
chicken.
Pepperoni¨ ITALIAN $$
(momyshuly 35; mains 800-2000T; h 11am-mid-
night; E ) If there's such a thing as a pizza
lounge, this is it, with sink-into chairs and
elegant but relaxed ambience. The pizzas
have thin crusts and successful topping com-
bos. There are risottos and pasta too, plus
good salads with surprising ingredients: the
'Guinea pumpkins' turn out to be aubergines.
Kofeman¨ INTERNATIONAL $$
( % 56 55 38; Internatsionalnaya 43; dishes 200-
1600T; h 10am-1am; W ) Semey's fashionable
coffee lounge, also doing American and
Mexican breakfasts, pasta, burgers, steaks,
cheesecake and alcoholic drinks. The latte is
such a work of art it's a shame to drink it!

Station; % 51 47 97; Karzhaubayuly 249) in the
north of the city.
The train station ( % 38 12 32; Privokzalnaya
1), just of the north end of Shakarim dangyly,
has two or more daily departures to Almaty
(4130T to 4480T, 19 to 21 hours), one every two
days to Astana (3520T, 17 hours), and one or
more daily north to Barnaul (10,250T, 11½ hours)
and Novosibirsk (13,530T, 17½ hours).

8 Getting¨Around
Buses 11 and 13 (45T) run from the train station
to the centre along Shakarim dangyly. Bus 33
heads from the train station to the main bazaar
(near the main bus station) then along Kabanbay
Batyr and Internatsionalnaya to Tsentralnaya
ploshchad, then eventually to the airport. Buses
35 and 41 also run between Tsentralnaya plosh-
chad and the bazaar. Taxis cost 2000T to or
from the airport.

Around Semey

Kurchatov & the Polygon
The town of Kurchatov, 120km west of
Semey, was the command centre for the
Semipalatinsk Polygon. The nuclear testing
zone itself stretched some 100km to 120km
south and west from Kurchatov. Today, the
rather desolate town is home to Kazakhstan's
National¨Nuclear¨Centre (Natsionalny Yad-
erny Tsentr; % 72251-2 33 33, tel/fax [phone];
www.nnc.kz; Zdanie (Bldg) 054b, Krasnoarmeyskaya
2, Kurchatov) , which, among other things,
works on the development of nuclear power
in Kazakhstan. You can travel freely to the
town and have a walk around - the central
square is dominated by the large, Stalinist-
neoclassical town hall (formerly the Polygon's
headquarters), and a rather manic-looking
statue of Igor Kurchatov himself, the direc-
tor of the Soviet atomic bomb program. But
you won't get into any of the museums or in-
stitutes unless you organise a trip through an
agency such as Istok (p118) in Semey (which
charges US$100 per car plus US$10 per hour
waiting time), or try obtaining permission
yourself by email or fax (in English is OK)
a week or more ahead to the Director at the
National Nuclear Centre.
The museum ( % 72251-2 34 13; h 9am-6pm
mon-Fri) F8 in the Radiation Safety & Ecol-
ogy Institute includes a model of the first
test site (where aircraft, buildings and live
animals were placed close to the explosion
to test its effects), along with pickled animal

8 Information
Istok ( % 52 48 99; [e-mail]; Office
241, Abay 102; h 9am-6pm mon-Fri) Environ-
mental NgO Istok can take you on one-day
tours to Kurchatov or the Shyngystau hills
south of Semey, homeland of Abay Kunanbaev
and other noted Kazakh writers. Prices are rea-
sonable and English-speakers may be available.

8 Getting¨There¨&¨Away
From the airport ( % 60 00 01), 11km south of
the centre, SCAT lies daily to Almaty (27,100T)
and ive times weekly to Astana (20,000T).
From the main bus station ( % 52 08 15;
Valikhanova 167), next to the busy bazaar, eight
daily buses run to Ust-Kamenogorsk (1300T,
four hours), three to Astana (3400T, 14 hours)
and two to Karaganda (3300T,19 hours). Shared
taxis to Ust-Kamenogorsk (2500T, 2½ hours)
gather here too. Two daily buses to Barnaul,
Russia (3600T, 11 hours), and three a week to
Ürümqi, China (9100T, 32 hours), go from the
Mezhdunarodny Avtovokzal (International Bus