berik's photostream  

Spending all day outside in the cold is a tough job, but these guys were happy to pose for photos infront of their Chinese XCMG ZL50G loader.

The driver seemed fairly chirpy too, and was waving and smiling from his cab :)

Atyrau has had more snow than normal this year, and over the last few weeks there have been big efforts to clear as much of it as possible from the city streets.

If it's left, then when the thaw comes, the city will be not only very muddy, but very flooded - being below sea level, and having no drainage system, Atyrau is not a good place for snow melt.

A fleet of Kamaz trucks, most not as new as this one, have been touring the streets, getting filled both by hand, and loaders such as this.

The snow is then taken to various locations and dumped in ever growing mounds - it's tempting to suggest they construct a ski slope ....

No digital scales here.

Koktem market in Atyrau, the Republic of Kazakhstan.

This is a weekly stop for fruit and vegetables, often trying to find an interesting mix of healthy objects to force through the juicing machine.

There are rows of 'девушка' (girls / ladies), many selling what appears to be exactly the same produce, with (roughly) the same price - the choice of to whom to give our business is not always easy, but usually comes down to the girl with the kindest smile, and whose potatoes have the least holes ...

Shopping is always an adventure in Atyrau - this is the upstairs part of "Koktem" market, where the focus is on fruit and vegetables.

Downstairs is the land of meat, eggs and assorted dairy bits & pieces.

A small army of ladies dressed in fluorescent aprons encourage you to buy whatever they want to sell on that particular day - potatoes are always a croud pleaser.

The River Ural has been frozen solid for a few months now, and recent snow has turned the icy surface into a newly laid carpet of powdery snow.

-20 deg C, -4 deg F

This is taken from the 'european' side of the Ural, just a few minutes walk from our house.

In the distance, smoke and steam from the refinery, power station and incinerator drifts south on a light breeze.