Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Day 51: Запрещён

Forbidden. Denied access. Today was not a good day for cyclists in Astana. On my ride to work, I was stopped by a pedestrian policemen who wanted to know why I was cycling on the street. I explained that the  path under the bridge running parallel to the street was disrupted by construction. (In Russian, the conversation went more like "The Street. Broken. I can't go over. I go to park.") He repeated that cyclists cannot ride on the street and I countered by pointing at the path and the huge crane and pipes sticking out from the path next to where he stopped me. He insisted and then with a smile and some good humor let me continue across the street to the park where it is okay to ride bicycle.

My husband rode his bicycle to work today to be told that bicycles could no longer enter the parking lot with cars. The parking attendant told him that it was forbidden to go "пешком" or by foot into the parking lot. My husband dutifully replied that he was actually going "на велосипеде" or by bicycle (not by foot). He was released but given a warning about his two-wheeled ways.

Who knew that "verboten" (forbidden in German) would also be a popular phrase in Kazakhstan?

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