The Detouring Doctor

That is how the Russians write the name of the capitol city of Belarus, Minsk. It is a pleasant city of 2 million. Clean green and orderly people are friendly and there is no sense of danger here despite the travel advisories.

This place got a “bad rap” when Putin invaded Ukraine 4 years ago. He was backed by the president and the media ran stories of Belarusian troops also crossing the border to support the Russian invasion.

Our pretty young guide Julia avers that this never happened when I raised it with her. As is the case throughout Europe and particularly in former USSR countries borders are often just lines on a map. Her mother is Ukrainian and father is Belarusian and her situation is by no means uncommon. This war has driven wedges between families here. I am inclined to believe her that apart from some sabre rattling at the beginning there has been little or no military input from here.

A small but pretty old quarter survives centred around Freedom Square.

This little country is justifiably proud of its pivotal role in the Great Patriotic War (WW2) where the resistance to the German advance was pivotal to the ultimate defeat of Hitler’s forces on the Eastern Front. By holding them up Stalin was able to organise his Red Army and of course Russian’s secret weapon is as always the bitterly cold winter. The purpose built museum is nothing short of brilliant and one could easily while away many hours here and the war memorials around it.

Independence square is the largest public square serving as the city’s political and administrative heart.

The metro is not as ornate as Moscow or Pyongyang but still worth seeing a couple of stops.

Hands up anyone who knows of an internationally famous (or infamous) person who lived in Minsk! I know of only one. JFKs assassin Lee Harvey Oswald defected to the USSR in 1959. Initially Soviet authorities did not grant him citizenship and sought to deport him. He slashed his wrists so they relented but sent him to live in Minsk. He eventually married a local girl but ultimately returned to the USA in 1962. I ask Julia, our guide to show us where he lived. There is no plaque nor any signage.

 

In the interregnum between the world wars European powers looked towards their ongoing security and among the many measures they designated multiple lines that they would defend if an enemy should choose to cross them. France had the Maginot line, Germans the Siegfried line. Many others had their own versions. For Soviet Russia it was the Stalin Line running 2000 km from the Baltic to the Black Sea with “pill box” bunkers every 500 metres manned all up with 12000 soldiers.

Interestingly the line ran well inside what became the Soviet borders. Cities such as Brest in Belarus and Lviv and even Kiev in Ukraine were on the wrong side of the line. The line ran just to the west of Minsk and the Belorussian’s have built a Stalin Line “theme park”. On site are actual bunkers with the original artillery present as well as anti aircraft guns and other defences. Of course there are rows of tanks, rocket launchers and aircraft. In the middle there is a range where for a fee you can fire off live rounds. Now I have shot pistols, navy machine guns, Kalashnikov at the Khyber Pass And rifles before but at $17 shooting off a massive mortar shell at a tank seemed too good to be true. In the end the massive queue and fatigue from “she who must be obeyed denied me of that opportunity. Nonetheless it was a fun outing, as she said to me “boys and their toys”!

We arrive after an early morning 4 hour train ride from the capitol of Belarus, Minsk tired but impressed by the 1930s train station in Brest at the far west corner of this country. This is the grandest station in the country. Commissioned by Stalin he wanted this to be an impressive entry into the Soviet Union for anyone from the west. This far western outpost has a special place in the Russian psyche bolstered by its performance in staving off the German blitzkrieg of 1941 which ultimately played a crucial role in the German defeat by the Soviet Union in 1945.

Brest is the second largest city in Belarus with only a population of 350000. It is a pleasant walkable city with lots of tree lined boulevards lined with restaurants, shops and cafes. Our first stop is at the St Nicholas Orthodox church, unusual for the blue domes commemorating local citizens who travelled to the far east to fight in the Russian – Japanese war in 1904.

A walk down Sovetskaya street the main pedestrian mall of Brest sees a procession of street sculptures, vibrant flower beds and a series of lamp posts with kerosene lit lights. These are lit at dusk by the popular lamplighter which has become a ritual and a tourist attraction, but more of that later.

Brest fort is the big attraction for this city. Built in the 19th century by Tsar Nicholas 1 to protect the westernmost outpost of his empire the old city dating back to the 11th century was sadly demolished to make way for the fortifications built on a series of islands in the Bug and Mukhavets Rivers. The island was skirted by a 1.8 km long 2 story round barracks.

Over 10 years later at 04:15 22 June 1941 the German Wehrmacht Attacked the Brest fortress with no warning. The initial attack was resisted so a siege ensued where water and food supplies to the fortress were cut off. The remnants of the Red Army in the fort held the Germans at bay for a month allowing time for Russian defenses to be mobilised and crucially delaying the ultimate assault on Moscow until the bitter Russian winter played a hand in defeating the enemy as happened to Napoleon in 1812.

The fort is an atmospheric fusion of the old and new with remnants of the original 1833 fortress as a backdrop to the Soviet memorial of the 6800 Soviet soldiers who lost their lives here. I am not a fan but the brutalist massive reinforced concrete sculptures with the tombstones, flags, music and eternal flame was moving and poignant to me.

Final stop is St Simons Orthodox Church.

Later that evening we are there to witness the lamp lighting on the main mall amid a throng of a couple of hundred other spectators. To touch his jacket is said to bring good luck.

The killer is here, it’s all around. Its presence has me on guard. We have been warned not to touch anything including the long grass, plants and especially not the mother earth beneath our feet. It is silent, invisible, unable to be touched or smelt but it is deadly anyway. As I walk through the verdant fields, silent but for the occasional birdsong my nostrils inhale the fresh smelling air contaminated with caesium, strontium, plutonium and americium. All are deadly byproducts of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident.

On April 26 1986 reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power plant exploded near Pripyat in Ukraine. The explosion was caused by errors of procedure in the plant compounded by errors of construction that compounded the fire and lengthened the time of nuclear winds. Chernobyl is only 10 km from the border with Belarus and prevailing winds blew the nuclear fallout north into Belarus. The rest of the world was not informed for a week. In that time May Day celebrations (May 1) were celebrated as usual. The International Labour Day and first day of spring were marked by street parades festivities and dancing in what was then the USSR guaranteeing the unknowing people maximal exposure to airborne radiation.

Finally on 3 May, a week later the order came to evacuate all of those in southern Belarus in the most heavily radiated areas now known as the Polesie State Radioecological reserve. In all 140000 residents were evacuated with reassurance that they would only be away from their homes for 2 -3 days and not to pack large items or their pets. These people never returned to their homes or cherished belongings. Overall 107 rural villages were emptied of all humans never to return.

Now the 2100 square kilometers is contaminated. It is likely to be at least a millennium before humans can return and live there. Normal background radiation levels on earth is 1-2 microsieverts per hour. We are in the Polesie State Radioecological reserve in Belarus a long 4 hour drive south from the capitol, Minsk. Our Geiger counter registers 8 times that level on entering the reserve.

Whilst high that is a level where limited exposure is harmless. Forty years on this an area for research scientists. In that time with minimal human impact, nature has taken over. Rough unmaintained roads are now crowded with rampant vegetation and trees.Animal life has flourished while traces of humanity are decaying and being slowly absorbed into nature. Tourism started here in 2018 and we are transported around with a guide in the tough as nails Soviet era UAZ vehicles. Looking like a rusty khaki coloured loaf of bread these ugly minibuses eat up rough roads.

We are taken first to a high observation tower from the top of which the domed “sarcophagus” of Chernobyl is visible on the horizon. From there a tableau unfolds of abandoned houses taken over by trees, kindergartens still with bed frames and childrens dolls decaying. There is a small hospital, veterinary clinic, farm equipment and schools all littered with the chattels of the residents who were forced to leave them at short notice. It is poignant and sad and I cannot but help to imagine my thoughts at the time if I was there having been lied to with never a chance to return. It is a tragedy that should never have occurred. Nonetheless it did not happen as a consequence of malevolent acts by any players. Sometimes we humans are swept up by an ill tide that no-one can control.

Our guide, Yerlan lives in Astana. He is in his 50s and has a breathtaking level of knowledge in many areas especially the Russian nuclear program, nuclear physics, engineering and Soviet history. Unlike many who live in these countries who are happy to denounce the lost decades of communist rule he embraces them as part of their heritage that deserves respect. Similarly he is positive about the President Nazarbayev’s decision to build a city here.

After the dissolution of the USSR Nazarbayev was one of many former Soviet rulers who assumed dictatorial control of their former states in his case the newly independent Kazakhstan.He stared down internal opposition even from within his own ranks and pressed on with transforming this tiny bitterly cold town on the featureless northern steppes into a new capitol replacing Almaty. His dream was to build a resplendent new capitol with unique building design. He was a despot with a massive ego and I believe the purpose of the new Astana was to indulge in his delusions of grandeur. He stepped down from office in 2019 yielding to public pressure about emerging reports of corruption. His successor changed the name of Astana to Nur Sultan (Nazarbayev’s Christian name). It was changed back to Astana in 2022.

Nonetheless the result is nothing short of spectacular and this is a destination with true “wow” factor. Prepare to be dazzled! (Be warned there are a lot of photographs)

A 2 hour drive takes us to the nuclear test site. The countryside is flat and a boring steppe. The recent green spring grasses have burnt off to yellow. In many ways it  resembles much of outback Australia. I expected barbed wire fences and entry guards but there is nothing. Our guide quietly turns off the made road first to gravel then to grassy tracks. Nothing is sign posted the country is featureless and I marvel at his ability to unerringly take us from site to site.

First stop is Balapan lake. The Russians detonated an above ground 140 kiloton bomb (about 10 times more than the Hiroshima bomb) in 1965. It created a crater 100 metres deep which the Russians filled with a newly dammed Chagan River. The plan was to create a series of lakes for agriculture but for reasons that are not clear the plan never progressed.

The lake and its surrounds are still radioactive. In 35C heat the car stops well before the lake and we don our Hazmat suits and masks to protect us against the radiation. I have a Geiger counter around my neck which clicks intermittently as we started and as we get closer clicks more regularly but never crazily quick which is reassuring.

Half way through I am bathed in sweat and expiring from the heat. My nose is snotty and blocked under the mask and I am feeling light headed. Normally I would have sat down but the soil is super contaminated so I push on.

It’s a relief to shed the suit. Sweat pours out of my plastic gloves.

What follows is a remarkable journey through abandoned and looted sites, none of which are signposted all of which are expertly found by our guide weaving through a multitude of paths. The Berlin Wall collapsed in 1989. In 1994 Russia removed all of their military assets from their former satellite countries so what remained were hollow shells of monitoring rooms observatories above and underground and missile launchers. The most bizarre aspect of all of this is the lengths to which looters came in and reshaped the landscape to retrieve copper pipes and metallic mesh holding concrete together. Most of my photos look as though the landscape and building devastation is from nuclear explosions. It is from looters who often moved tonnes of soil and blasted or jack hammered through metre thick walls!

Another 2 hour drive takes us to Kurchatov a small town of a couple of hundred people that once used to be a Soviet base for 10 times as many people for nuclear testing.

This is a rundown town with an interesting incongruous sprinkling of modern multistoried buildings for ongoing nuclear energy research.

Kurchatov served as a base not only for nuclear testing but also an airbase for the aircraft that were to be the platforms for nuclear devices before the advent of rocket/missile technology. Most were extremely long range aircraft. Little remains and the looters have been out in force here too.

We arrive in Semey at lunch time to an unseasonal heat of 37C. Located close to the border with Russia this city was established in 1717 by Tsar Peter the Great as a city taking an area of disparate group of nomads together to form a community and a conurbation. This was the era known here as the “Great Game” where Central Asia became a “chessboard” for the Russians Empire and the British Empire. The latter grown more powerful with its control of greater India.

Fast forward to today and the initial impression is one of scruffiness. This is a very untouristed part of an untouristed country. Now it is a base for the occasional tourist who wants to explore the 20th century raison d’etre for this area namely the USSR atomic/nuclear research program.

We venture out in the old town. A few older buildings remain but it is nothing like other European style old towns.

As a first year med student I got hooked on reading the classics on public transport into and out of university. One of my favourites was Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. I literally could not put it down! I am really happy to explore the Dostoyevsky museum and the house where he lived here. At age 28 the recently graduated Dostoyevsky joined a literary group which was arrested on suspicion of being critical to the Tsar Nicholas 1. He was sentenced to death and the sentence commuted at the last moment before the firing squad to 4 years in a Siberian prison followed by 5 years of military service. The latter was to be served here in Semey hence the connection.

The afternoon finishes with a dose of Abai. His name is translated as Abay Kunanbayev and one I have heard of in passing. This 19th century Kazakh has an amazing body of work as an author, composer and philosopher. He was born and raised here. There is a beautiful museum and concert hall dedicated to him.

We are back here on the last day and find parts of the city that are green leafy and actually quite pleasant. The first stop is the Stronger than death monument which was installed in remembrance of the devastating consequences of nuclear testing near here (Semipalatinsk between 1949 and 1989).

Then it’s off to the war memorial park and eternal flame  commemorates war dead from WW2.

Finally a little unassuming green area in town is the relocated home to a giant Lenin statue which once dominated a main square and is now seemingly an embarrassment tucked away with a whole lot of trees partially obscuring visual access to him.

The former capitol of Kazakhstan is a beautiful almost European capitol. The snow capped Alatau mountains form a back drop and the streets are tree lined and a pleasure to stroll down. It sits close to the southern border with Kyrgyzstan. The name Almaty means “full of apples” a nod to the thought that the neighbouring mountains are the ancestral home of the apple. In spite of losing the title of capitol in 1997 to Astana it remains the most populous city in Kazakhstan and is its financial capitol.

A 20 minute walk from our apartment is Panfilov park (no gripes from the spouse about this walk!). The park honours the Panfilov 28 guardsmen who were soldiers who died in WW2 in the Battle of Moscow against the Germans. An eternal flame commemorates the fallen soldiers  in front of a brutalist sculpture honouring troops from all 15 Soviet republics.

In the heart of Panfilov Park is the Ascension (Zenkov) Cathedral. Consecrated in 1907 it was built entirely of wood without any nails. The Cathedral survived the 1911 earthquake which flattened most of the rest of Almaty. It was a Russian Orthodox church until the 1917 Russian Revolution. In Soviet times it was variously a museum and used as a radio transmitter. In 1995 after the fall of the USSR it was given back to the Russian Orthodox church. It is colourful and ornate and a highlight of any visit to Kazakhstan.

After a decadent lunch we rode the cable car up to Kok Tobe hill. When I was here in 2013 it was a pretty wooded park with views across Almaty. It housed a somewhat quirky monument, a life-sized monument to The Beatles. Unveiled in 2007 it was commissioned and paid for by local Beatles fans. Time does not stand still. The monument is still there but the quiet wooded surrounds have yielded to a somewhat garish amusement park.

Sheer genius, to use a Borat quote to name your travel company! So here we are in downtown Almaty at 5 am to be picked up for our day trip. On top of two 3 am starts in a row in the last two days it all feels particularly punishing but we feel surprisingly energised all things considering.

Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat may arguably be the most famous “export” from Kazakhstan (although he is in no way from here) and this country flies under the radar of tourists which is unfair as there is a lot to see here. It is a massive country with land borders with Russia and China. Until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989 it was a key part of the USSR and a land much exploited by the Russians for mineral wealth, energy and territory away from the mainstream to utilise for things such as atomic/nuclear testing and as a base for the fledgling space program.

Today we embark on the longest day trip that I have ever done leaving our accommodation at 5 am and not returning until 11 pm. The long and uncomfortable bus ride takes over 3 hours each way. The initial countryside is the classic green steppes that covers most of this nation. Occasional wild horses are grazing and the snow capped Tien Shan mountains are in the background.

The “pearls of Tian Shan”, the Kolsay Lakes is our first stop. Set at an altitude of 1800 metres the lake is quite a tourist spot with yurt hotels, cafes and kitsch tourist attractions such as dress ups as locals to have photos taken. I normally eschew these but my life partner was keen so off we went on condition that I hold the eagle away from her as she has a phobia about birds. The joke was on her when the photographer slipped the glove and bird on her. The bird is heavy but a majestic creature and even she took to it.

Lake Kaindy is a steep half hour climb which incurs the wrath of my life partner. I endure the barbs stoically. It was formed in 1911 by a massive earthquake triggered landslide. It has its surreal “sunken forest”. The icy waters have perfectly preserved the underwater branches of submerged Tien Shan spruce trees which rise eerily above the vibrant turquoise surface.

The coup de grace for this trip is Charyn Canyon. It is often called the “Grand Canyon of Central Asia” and extends 154 km carved out by the Charyn River. The depths extend down 300 metres. I was here in 2013 and enjoyed a picnic lunch on the rim. After lunch I hiked the 5 Kms along the valley floor through the Valley of the Castles. Today our time is limited as it is near to sunset so I contented myself with a rim walk. Spectacular!