let me tell you about the Marco Polo
when I first came to Kazakhstan, in 1996, I stayed in a hotel called
the Marco Polo - the only Western-style hotel in town. Rumor had it
the place was owned by a relative of Nursultan Nazarbaev, the
communist leader who had survived the transition to, well, a new
regime. (Yes, he's still around; in fact, he visited George Bush
last week, about which you can find news from your favorite
source.) I remember two things about the Marco Polo. The first was
its pool, an incredibly fancy water wonderland full of islands and
bridges and beaches, not exactly ideal for swimming laps. And it was
memorably cold. Ten years later, when I came to Almaty again and
stayed at the Hyatt, I wondered if it might be the same place. The
moment I saw the pool (but not until then), I knew it was. And, at
one edge of the wonderland, I found the same secluded stretch of
lapworthy water (see next photo). And fortunately, ten years later,
the water is warmer!
The other thing I remember about the Marco Polo was the tv set. No
internet in those days.... so I turned on the tv in search of CNN or
the BBC. The first, unfamiliar channel was labeled SHIT in the
corner. The next was PISS. And the third, which looked like CNN, was
some other four-letter word. I clicked through the channels and
finally came to the conclusion that some exhausted, lonely, bitter
engineer, seconded here for a month or two, had applied his skills to
reprogramming the tv. No such excitement this time around!
Esther Dyson Always make new mistakes!
Editor, Release 1.0
CNET Networks
28 East 28th Street, 10th floor
New York, NY 10016 USA
+1 (212) 924-8800 or (646) 472-3901
(Please note: I do not pick up voice mail. Better to send e-mail.)
blog: blogs.zdnet.com/Dyson/
pictures: www.flickr.com/photos/edyson/
let me tell you about the Marco Polo
when I first came to Kazakhstan, in 1996, I stayed in a hotel called
the Marco Polo - the only Western-style hotel in town. Rumor had it
the place was owned by a relative of Nursultan Nazarbaev, the
communist leader who had survived the transition to, well, a new
regime. (Yes, he's still around; in fact, he visited George Bush
last week, about which you can find news from your favorite
source.) I remember two things about the Marco Polo. The first was
its pool, an incredibly fancy water wonderland full of islands and
bridges and beaches, not exactly ideal for swimming laps. And it was
memorably cold. Ten years later, when I came to Almaty again and
stayed at the Hyatt, I wondered if it might be the same place. The
moment I saw the pool (but not until then), I knew it was. And, at
one edge of the wonderland, I found the same secluded stretch of
lapworthy water (see next photo). And fortunately, ten years later,
the water is warmer!
The other thing I remember about the Marco Polo was the tv set. No
internet in those days.... so I turned on the tv in search of CNN or
the BBC. The first, unfamiliar channel was labeled SHIT in the
corner. The next was PISS. And the third, which looked like CNN, was
some other four-letter word. I clicked through the channels and
finally came to the conclusion that some exhausted, lonely, bitter
engineer, seconded here for a month or two, had applied his skills to
reprogramming the tv. No such excitement this time around!
Esther Dyson Always make new mistakes!
Editor, Release 1.0
CNET Networks
28 East 28th Street, 10th floor
New York, NY 10016 USA
+1 (212) 924-8800 or (646) 472-3901
(Please note: I do not pick up voice mail. Better to send e-mail.)
blog: blogs.zdnet.com/Dyson/
pictures: www.flickr.com/photos/edyson/