Almaty, Kazakhstan

Off to Kazakhstan….

We hopped on the bus and headed to the Kazakh border. During the hour drive, our guide, Dinara filled us in on the proper procedure for getting across. Maybe we are getting used to Soviet bureaucratic procedure but it didn’t seem that bad this time. We had to get off the bus, pass through multiple passport and security checks, fill out immigration forms and carry our luggage through no-man’s land. Once again, most of the people at the border were oddly pleasant. A huge, muscular Kyrgyz army ofiicer brought his German Sheppard over to chat up our group. He glowed as he recounted his time undergoing military training in the US.

The trip to Almaty took several hours. The drive through the Kazak country side was quite beautiful. There was mile after mile of flower covered fields leading up to snow capped mountains. Some of the fields were so dense with poppies that it looked like a scene from the Wizard of Oz movie.

Almaty is the former capital of Kazakhstan. It is full of life (and quite expensive!) It is the economic heart of the country so there is a lot of foreign investment centred in the area. High end stores, boutiques and restaurants were everywhere – I guess that is why they call it the ‘Paris of Central Asia.’

We visited a gorgeous Russian Orthodox church with stained glass windows streaming coloured light on the massive golden, icon covered altar. After the obligatory visit to more Soviet monuments, we visited the newly reopened Museum of National Musical Instruments. They featured numerous traditional instruments with a constant soundtrack playing in the background. The (almost completed) renovation was quite nice with a state of the art concert hall and a Kinect equipped music game room. We were even greeted by multilingual holograms at that door.

The evening ended with a traditional Kazakh dinner. The tour guide recommended this place as they carefully prepare several complex dishes in the traditional way. We even got to taste a national favourite – hand made noodles mixed with perfectly cooked onions (still crispy but without a raw onion taste) and topped with horse sausage. It was quite yummy.