Kazakhstan: Almaty

This article describes about my observations of Kazakhstan in general and Almaty in particular, also compare it with Tbilisi. 

Kazakhstan is a large country as big as India, located in Central Asia , south of Russia. Since Kazak was part of USSR, the history and literature is very much influenced by Soviets.

Most of the country is dry area covered with shrubs and desert plants. The horizon expands to large empty lands with hills and small mountains as far as eye can see. Apparently overall the population of the country is little over 20 million which can be understandable because of cold and hot weather with dry conditions.

In the old times people used to inhabit in the dome shaped tent kind of setting which is called Yurt that is made of thick canvas to withstand extreme weather. Inside it is comfortable for atleast 6 people with facility to cook, heat and sleep at night. Small towns still uses these Yurts as a separate setting apart from the main house. These days lot of construction is going on across Kazak to build these shelters and use it as guesthouse for the tourists. Following picture depicts it :

People seems to be more reserved but friendly when spoken to. The facial features are very much asian and more similar to Mongolians. Men faces are bit round where as women faces are bit wide with border cheek bones. I think they are attractive in their own way, however, kids are very cute with these features. 

Almaty is a metropolitan city of Kazakhstan where lot of trade deals happens, one can say it is a business centre. Huge snowy mountains covering on two sides of the city makes the city with cool weather. Almaty is medium size city with very clean roads, buildings are soviet style and kept clean. There are green city buses which runs on electricity, look modern and they take cash. It costs 40INR for any destination within the city but if you pay by ONAY card it’s only 30 INR, very much similar to Tbilisi. I always loved taking the bus to get the feel of the locals. Apart from buses, metro line is also available for faster commute. Lot of tourists uses Yandex for travel as its faster to commute and doesnt need to deal with change in the bus. Unfortunately Google maps does not work with public transportation so people use 2GIS app, also works in other central asia countries. Some how connectivity to the other places is not that easy compared to Tbilisi so had to rely on group tours only :(. Most of the cars used here are from china and few europen, japanese and korean cars. 

People as I said are reserved, polished, well dressed and keep to themselves. Their sense of dressing is simple but elegant, very clean cut that looks professional. People are mostly fit and surprising to see that many old people are normal is weight compared to Georgian people where they become fat as they old because of too much eating bread and cheesy foods. 

City is quite expense when it comes to food and accommodation. What I used to pay in Bali for a homestay, a hostel in Almaty costs the same. One has to be prepared to shell out 4-7K INR for a private accommodation.  The food is 2-3 times to that of Tbilisi or Bali. May be because it’s imported most of the items. 

I spent around 10 days in Almaty checking out the museums, doing local hikes and a group tour. There are lot of parks in the city and a Botanical garden. It’s good to stroll around the city and do people watching. 

First couple of days I explored the city and specifically the park Ascension Cathedral park. Nice park to hang around in the evening.

Some of the noteworthy locations:

Some of the noteworthy museums are Abhilkhan Kasteev museum, Central State Museum and Almaty Museum of Art. Next few days I explored museums which are nice but not as spectacular to that of European museums. Fortunately its so happened that 18th may was the International museum festival so few museums are free for entrance otherwise normally it costs 1000INR which I felt overpriced given the amount of artifacts present.

Abhilkhan Kasteev Museum:

Central State Museum:

First couple of days I checked out park, the main cathedral, mosque, Arbat bazar and green bazar. Somehow I always like local markets, there is something that feels good looking at the fresh vegetables and fruits sold by local people. 

Green Bazaar:

Arbat Almaty:

Based on fellow tourists I booked for 2 day tour to Kaindy & Kolsai lakes and Charyn Canyon. Initially my plan was to do these lakes on my own with shared minibuses but thats not possible which was a bummer. Here are the links:

Kazakhstan: Kaindy and Kolsai Lakes

Kazakhstan: Charyn Canyon

The last 3 days I decided to hike up to Shymbulak where I met my new local friend Dauliat. He is an electrician training in wrestling. It was great hiking together even though weather was not good. 

The next day we decided to go a much tougher hike to Butakovsky waterfall which was around 25kms from Medeu. It was really a great hike much details are here.

Kazakhstan: Butakovsky Gorge

Central Mosque of Almaty:

Last day I spent lot of cooking and relaxing and people watching. Initially I thought I would go different remote areas of Kazakhstan  however the transportation is not easy nor cheap. So for tourists I would not recommend more than 7 days to see it. May be I will visit again when Dualiat has a car and we drive entire country. 

The Sayran, the bus station to Kyrgyzstan, overlooking the mountains

Overall Comparing Georgia to Kazakhstan I would weight Georgie 2 times more touristy friendly in terms of expenditure, architectural, culture, food and hospitality.