Outside Baikonur -- A Tough Life

Akay residents jumping over the concrete wall to get into Baikonur. In this illegal way people avoid the long lines and bureaucracy needed to get a special entry pass. The Russian administration fines people caught going over the wall.

A checkpoint at the entrance to Baikonur. The line of cars is sometimes several kilometers long.

Camels outside the wall surrounding Baikonur city as viewed from the village of Akay.

A bus stop in Akay village

A new row of houses with no electricity or running water.

A Baikonur monument in the village of Akay.

A street in Akay

The Akay secondary school

A street named after a local World War II hero in Akay.

Entering Toretam, a Kazakh-run town next to Baikonur.

A monument to astronauts erected at the entrance of Baikonur city.

A billboard in Toretam showing the Kazakh and Russian presidents shaking hands reads: "Strategic Partnership."

A house in central Toretam

At the Toretam railway station

The Russian ruble is also in use at Toretam's central market.

A new mosque in Toretam

Toretam's central street

The central market in Toretam

Railway and air-ticket offices in Toretam

The Toretam-Aktobe railway

A Soviet-era block of flats in Toretam. The central heating system has not worked for a long time -- people get their water from outside the town and use stoves to heat their apartments.

The Toretam Town Council building

A billbord at the Toretam bus station says: "Kazakhstan-2050 Strategy: A New Political Vector For The New Kazakhstan."