October 22-23: Traveling to Almaty
The tour officially started the morning of October 25 in Almaty, but I flew in a day early and spent the 24th walking around the city on my own. My flights were RDU-->Washington Dulles-->Frankfurt-->Almaty, on United and Lufthansa.
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| Trying to find my flight at the Frankfurt Airport |
I arrived in Almaty at about midnight on the 23rd. I had arranged airport transportation through the tour company, and a nice gentleman was there to meet me and take me to the Hotel Kazzhol.
October 24: Wandering the Streets of Almaty
Almaty is a city of about 2 million. It was known as Alma-Alta when Kazakhstan was part of the Soviet Union, and was the capital of the country until a few years ago, when the capital was moved to Astana, which is in the middle of nowhere. The hotel is in an older part of town, so most of the buildings around it are from the Soviet era, and are in various states of decay. As you can see from the pictures below, the hotel is fairly modern and up to US standards. They even had fast and free WI-FI.
Note that you won't see any pictures of Silk Road ruins or mosques in Almaty. The city wasn't founded until the late 19th century and is pretty much an example of a former Soviet city.
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| Hotel Kazzhol |
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| My room |
Despite the time change, I actually managed to sleep all night. I left
the hotel at about 10:00 AM, and started walking through Almaty in the
rain.
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| Across the street from the hotel |
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| An intersection near my hotel |
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| The Colonel is in town! |
Almaty has a relatively new subway system (1 line), and like most of the subways in the former Soviet Union, it's a showcase.
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| In the Almaty Subway |
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| Artwork in the subway |
My walk then took me by a few Soviet-era monuments and government buildings.
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| Soviet War Memorial |
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| Kazakh-British Technical University |
Since it was raining, I dodged into the Silk Way City Mall, where I had a Diet Coke at Kind Burger, and checked out the stock at the supermarket in the basement.
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| Silk Way City "Hypermarket" |
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| Slow day at the Kind Burger |
The supermarket was very impressive. The selection was pretty much what you would expect in the United States, although the brands were different.
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| Why settle for Coke when you can have Kazakhstan Cola? |
One thing that surprised me a bit was the incredible selection of beer and liquor. About 70% of the population of Kazakhstan is Muslim, but they clearly don't have much time for fundamentalism. Wine was more expensive, since the country doesn't have much of a wine industry, but beer and vodka were very cheap (cheaper than water), because the country *does* have an extensive beer and vodka industry.
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| A small portion of the beer selection |
Next stop was Zhibek Zholy Street, a pedestrianized shopping street. I had been told that there were no McDonalds in Central Asia, so I was surprised when I saw the place below. Further investigation show that it was the first (of many) places designed to make you think it was a McDonalds.
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| McDoner, not McDonalds |
I spent the rest of the afternoon strolling around Zhibek Zholy.
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| No McDonalds, but they do have Burger King |
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| Heinz is there, too |
There is a large Korean presence in Almaty. Apparently Stalin moved a lot of ethnic Koreans from eastern Russia to Kazakhstan in the 1930s to keep them from having too much power in the east. I had a beer at the Gangnam Coffee House, and dinner at a Korean restaurant.
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| They also have this version of KFC |
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| A mall on Zhibek Zholy |
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| Inside the mall |
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| Korean food for dinner |
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| Night time on Zhibek Zholy |
October 25: Almaty--National Museum, Kok Tobe, Panfilov Park, and the Green Market
(Note: portions in italics and quotes are descriptions of activities from the tour brochure)
Our group met up after breakfast in the morning. For the tour, we had a group leader who accompanied us for the entire tour, and individual local guides in each country. Our group leader was
Jamshid (Jama) Fayzullaev, who is from Bukhara, Uzbekistan, but spent several months in the United States (in Mississippi of all places). I can't say enough about the job Jama did. In addition to negotiating all of the local technicalities and border crossings, he had a great sense of humor and made sure that the group behaved. I would tour with him again in a minute. Jama actually works for Mir Corporation, which ran the tour for Road Scholar.
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| Jama (picture from the Mir web site) |
There were 24 of us in the group, all from the United States. Although I consider myself well-traveled, there were at least two people on the tour who had been to more countries than me. We even had a rocket scientist, a weatherman and another person from my neighborhood among us.
"Enjoy an introductory city tour. Spread out at the foothills of the
Zaili Alatau Mountains in the Tien Shan range, Almaty is the largest
city in Central Asia’s richest country, Kazakhstan. Present-day Almaty
sits on the site of an old Silk Road oasis town called Almatu; laid
waste by the Mongols in 1211, the city left no ancient remains.
Almaty’s name means “the place with apples,” and the many varieties of
wild apple in the vicinity give scientists reason to believe that this
is where apples were first domesticated. Today the city is thriving on
the considerable foreign investment it has attracted, primarily in the
oil and gas industries."
We began the tour by driving through central Almaty to the National Museum. Despite what you saw in Borat, Kazakhstan is a relatively prosperous country, as it sits on a lot of oil and gas. Although the Soviet-era buildings are crumbling, there is a lot of new construction
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| Central Almaty |
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| More of Central Almaty |
The National Museum was pretty impressive, though fairly empty, as were most of the museums on the trip. Unfortunately, we weren't able to take pictures inside the museum, so you'll have to settle for picture of the interior that I stole off the internet.
"Tour the State Central Museum, a history museum with exhibits that
detail the development of Kazakhstan and its people from the Bronze Age
through the Russian Empire, the Communist Period and the present day.
One of the exhibits is a miniature replica of the country’s chief
archaeological treasure, the Golden Man, a warrior’s armor made from
4,000 gold pieces. There are also displays of Kazakh handicrafts and
souvenir shops selling rugs and jewelry. "
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| Outside of the museum |
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| Inside the Museum |
From the museum, we traveled to Kok Tobe ("Green Hill"), which is a park overlooking the city. Almaty is surrounded by mountains, so this provided some nice views.
"Visit Kok-Tobe, a 3,800-foot hill on the outskirts of Almaty with an
aerial tramway leading to a recreation area at the top. The view of
Almaty from Kok-Tube is fantastic and gives a unique perspective on this
sprawling regional business capital."
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| On the way to Kok Tobe |
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| You! Buy water! |
The weather was cloudy, but clear enough for a view of the Tien Shan mountains. On the other hand, Almaty has a real smog problem, as evident in the pictures below. Apparently all of the hot water in the city is provided by a single coal-fired plant, which puts out a lot of smog.
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| View of Almaty from Kok Tobe |
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| Another view--the brown stuff is smog |
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| Close up of central Almaty, bathed in smog |
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| A Russian-made Volga sedan |
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| Another view of the Tien Shan Mountains |
One of the attractions of Kok Tobe is a bronze sculpture of the Beatles, which is interesting, since to my knowledge, the Beatles never set foot in Kazakhstan. Nevertheless, it's a big tourist attraction, and locals go there to have their picture taken.
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| The Fab Four |
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| With a little help from their friends |
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| The park at Kok Tobe |
After lunch, we drove back to the older part of the city, near our hotel. Our first stop was at Panfilov Park, also known as the "Park of the 28 Guardsmen", as it contains a memorial to 28 Soviet soldiers (the "Panfilov Heroes") who died defending Moscow. The main attraction in the park is
Zenkov Cathedral, built in 1907, and the second-largest wooden church in the world.
"Next visit the Panfilov Park with its candy-colored Zenkov Cathedral,
built without the use of nails. Its yellow and green facade and golden
domes are from the era of czars; it is one of the few buildings in
Almaty that came through the devastating 1911 earthquake."
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| Zenkov Cathedral |
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| Inside Zenkov Cathedral |
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| Inside Zenkov Cathedral |
Near the cathedral were the Monument to the 28 Guardsmen and several other war memorials. In all of the Central Asian countries, it is customary for wedding parties to have their pictures taken at national monuments, and this was our first (but definitely not the last) exposure to this custom.
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| War memorial in Panfilov Park |
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| Wedding party at the Monument to the 28 Guardsmen |
Also in the park was the Museum of Folk Musical Instruments, where we were exposed to tons of information about Kazhak stringed instruments.
"Stop in at the delightful Museum of Musical Instruments for a tour and a
short performance. Created in 1980, the museum exhibits a collection
of traditional Kazakh instruments, including the dombra, a two-stringed
lute-like stringed instrument ubiquitous to Central Asia."
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| Museum of Folk Musical Instruments |
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| Inside the Museum |
Our final stop of the day was a 3 block walk to the Green Market, the major market in Almaty. We weren't allowed to take pictures in the market, so the interior pictures below were stolen off the internet.
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| Board of notices and advertisements outside the green market |
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| Exterior of the Green Market |
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| Interior of the Green Market |
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| Inside the Green Market |
October 26: Falcons, Lunch in a Yurt, and on to Krygyzstan
Our first stop today was a trip to the Sunkar Falcon Center, just outside Almaty.
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| Soviet-style housing in Almaty, on our way out of town |
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| On the outskirts of Almaty |
Before we reached the falconry center we passed through some pretty wealthy neighborhoods.
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| The suburban side of Almaty |
"Visit a traditional Kazakh falcon farm outside of Almaty. Observe the
birds and the gear the hunters use when they ride out into the country
to hunt."
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| Arrival at the falconry center |
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| At the falconry center |
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| Jama explaining things at the falconry center |
The falconry center is run by Pavel Plander (a German) who rescues birds of prey and puts on demonstrations. He had a great sense of humor and the birds were huge.
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| Pavel and one of his friends |
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| That's a painting in the background, but the bird is real |
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| A local resident |
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| Don't mess with this guy |
After the falconry exhibition, we headed across town to
Medeu (Medeo), a resort area in the mountains above Almaty. Almaty is one of two cities bidding for the 2022 Winter Olympics, and if they win the bid, a lot of events will be held at Medeu.
On the way, we passed through the part of Almaty where most of the new development is taking place. Borat would be very impressed.
Eventually we climbed (figuratively) into the mountains to Medeu.
"Travel approximately 30 minutes outside the city to the Small Almaty
Gorge. The Gorge is 5,577 feet above sea level and home to the famous
Medeu Sports Complex with its Olympic ice rink."
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| Medeu skating rink |
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| Another view of the rink |
We stopped for lunch in a yurt near the Medeu skating rink.
The lunch gave me my first opportunity to eat horse meat (on the lettuce in the picture below). It was actually pretty good--sort of a cross between beef and lamb--but I probably won't get the opportunity to each much more. We were advised not to eat unpeeled raw vegetables or fruits, so some of the stuff on the table (tomatoes, cucumbers, grapes) stayed there.
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| Mmmmm.....horse! |
After lunch, we were treated to a concert of Kazakh music. I was unaware that the accordion was a Kazakh instrument, but one of the reasons we travel is to learn.
After lunch, we headed to the Kyrgyzstan border, about a 3 hour drive. Outside Almaty there are lots of markets/bazaars were all sorts of things, including cars, are sold. If you ever wondered where all of the flooded cars from Hurricane Sandy wound up, look no further.
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| One of the bazaars outside Almaty |
Once you leave Almaty, the landscape gets pretty dull, unless you like mountains (and it's a clear day).
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| Dull landscape outside Almaty |
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| Rural housing near Almaty |
About halfway through our drive, we stopped at (the only) roadside cafe for a bathroom break and a bottle of Funky.
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| Abandon all hope.... |
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| Ice cold Funky! |
Just before the Kyrgyzstan border we made another pit stop, and I emphasize the "pit" part.
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| On the list of the 10 worst toilets in the world |
Eventually we arrived at the border between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. (We weren't allowed to take pictures anywhere near the border, so the picture of the Kazakhstan side of the border below is taken off the Web.) To start the border crossing, you get off the bus and take your luggage, because the Kazakhstan bus can't go into Kyrgyzstan. Then you go through the Kazakhstan checkpoint, where they do the customs and passport inspection for leaving Kazakhstan. Then you walk across a no-mans-land of several hundred yards with your luggage. Next, you go through the Kyrgyzstan checkpoint where you do another passport and customs check. Finally, you get on a different bus in Kyrgyzstan. Fortunately, everything went smoothly, and we got through the whole process in about 30 minutes. It has been known to take several hours. Many thanks to Jama for making it take 30 minutes instead of several hours!
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| The friendly staff at the Kazakhstan checkpoint await! |
I mentioned earlier that in addition to having Jama as our tour leader, we had local guides in each city. Our local guide for Kyrgyzstan (who joined us at the border) was Fred, who is shown below in his native Kyrgyz clothing. Fred spoke almost perfect English and had a great sense of humor.
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| Fred (that may not be his given name) |
By the time we crossed the border, it was starting to get dark. We had a 30 minute drive to Bishkek, driving through what seemed like an endless stream of small shops and auto repair places.
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| Somewhere outside Bishkek |
We arrived in Bishkek after dark, and settled into the Golden Palace Hotel, which while very nice, was not a palace.
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| My room at the Golden Palace |
I do have to say that the hotel was prepared for any eventuality. In the closet they had graciously supplied a gas mask! I have no idea why they thought I might need it.
Next:
Days 4 and 5--Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
