I learned a few things already about the place I was going to. The guy next to me on the plane was a Polish businessman who has been in KZ many times. The city of Astana is not very nice, very artificial and new, easy to see all of it in one hour.
Astana is also the worlds second coldest capital after Ulan Bator. The summer highs are around 40C and winter lows are -40C, there you go, continental climate!!

The kazaks eat a lot of horse meat and also lamb is very good, especially on a skewer I have been told.

It is a safe place to be, is nice to know. Better than Moscow and I know exactly what Moscow is all about, so we have established a reference point...

The drive over to the hotel was impressive at start, huge new building complexes and wide modern avenues. Las Vegas eastern style, one might say.

It was not long before we understood that this is not the part of town we are staying in, our partners are bringing in 30 people from all over the country, so soon the nice settings disappeared and it started to look like, yes, that is right, Moscow :-)

Our hotel is also where we hold our training sessions, is priced for local people, not for Western folks, so here we are in a not so flashy area...

Early to bed on this first day.