To participate, just make your guess in the comments section for each photo. Guesses will be held until the end of the contest, when they will all be made public. Anything and everything is fair game for getting a correct answer. Each contest will last 2-3 days, so submit your guess as soon as you have an idea.
Jak si? masz! This is the “government area” of Astana, capital city of Kazakhstan, formerly known as Tselinograd.
The spectacular architecture definitely said “former Soviet Republic”, one of those places with loads of oil revenue, so it was just a matter of checking a few places. I think I’ve seen a documentary of this. No, not Borat…
Comment by brian t | October 18, 2008
At first glance I thought I recognised New Delhi, but I was utterly wrong.
So my second hunch was a capital of a former Soviet Republic and: bingo!
It is Astana, the capital of Kazachstan. Zoomed in on the government buildings.
Found it in about 30 mins. Again a nice one.
Comment by Karel | October 18, 2008
Washington DC - Whitehouse
Comment by Keleti | October 18, 2008
Astana, the new capital of Kazakhstan.
It took me 10 min. I checked some new capital cities, and found it.
Comment by Milosh, Serbia | October 19, 2008
Astana, Kazakhstan.
Had fun with this one - northern hemisphere (shadows) and Russian-style apartment blocks helped to narrow it down.
Comment by ACG | October 19, 2008
Astana, Kazakhstan. It’s amazing how many “new” master planned capitals there are on earth. It took me a few hours; finally found it through a combination of google search and wikipedia.
Comment by Pan | October 19, 2008
Astana government buildings and the poplar tree monument(bayterek) Kazakhstan
Comment by Ewen | October 20, 2008
Astana, Kazakhstan
Comment by Bryan, DC | October 20, 2008
It’s the Bayterek Monument and Presidential Palace/Plaza located in Astana, Kazakhstan. Took me a while to get this one…I’d never seen or heard of it before now. I could tell it was in a dry climate, and someplace with some established infrastructure. I looked in the Middle East for a long time… guess I got lucky when I started looking up towards Kazakhstan.
Comment by ej | October 21, 2008
Astana, Kazakhstan
Presidential residence and government buildings
Comment by Aaron Predeek | October 21, 2008
Astana, Kazakhstan
Took a while. I knew it probably had to be some nation’s capital, but I couldn’t think of who it might be. The layout looked western, but looked to be still largely under construction. That really ruled out Europe and N. America. I finally started getting serious about it and figured it had to be some new capital being built by some despot somewhere. I started with Pyongyang and eventually got to the “stans” where I finally found it.
Comment by Keith M | October 22, 2008
This is Astana, the capitol of Kazakhstan…
Comment by RDaneel | October 22, 2008
Tselinograd, or Astana, Kazakhstan.
This one was difficult to find. Had to resort to “capital-hopping”. I was FIRMLY convinced it was a former Soviet Republic, based on the colors and architecture. It just took a while to convince myself that it wasn’t central Europe…
Pretty obscure, nice selection of location!
Comment by Andy McConnell | October 22, 2008
Astana, Kazakhstan Presidential Palace
Comment by Lotsofcats | October 22, 2008
center of Astana, capital of Kazakhstan. On the right, the President’s residence, and in the center, the Baiterek tower.
Comment by Michael T | October 23, 2008