Almaty

November 1st 2006 – Almaty

Of course.. Kazakhstan and Horses go back a long way!!!!!


What a difference a few years makes! Three years ago when we arrived into Almaty Airport it was just a shed – open to the street, milling with guys in black faux leather jackets circling around us, obviously taxidrivers touting for business and not taking ‘Nyet’ for an answer! This lovely new building bears no resemblance! It’s as modern as any European airport without the hassle!

However we did have quite a delay in line for passport control – and were not sure if we knew what we were supposed to be doing. Therefore we sent Sue ahead and told her to give us the thumbs up if we had done everything correctly!!! We had!

Our bags came through promptly and when we went in to arrivals Frank (our coordinators in Kaz) had Sonia meet us! What a lovely lady! She was chatty as we drove through the streets of Almaty on our way to the hotel. She knew we had been here before and told us Galina, our coordinator had moved from Frank to another agency and would be in Ust in another two weeks. Do hope we get to meet her!

The cars have changed but ……. The driving is still the same!!! We saw two accidents on our way to the hotel. People change lanes without warning and of course traffic is much heavier! It’s a nice time of day to arrive in the country – early morning and the city is just waking up!

Sonia & her driver brought us to the Hotel Berkana. We were surprised with our room and of course later surprised with our bill!! Of course you get what you pay for and we paid for a lovely suite, big sitting area with leather couch and armchairs with dressers full of fancy dishes and a fridge that was chock-a-block with all kinds of everything in it! We did not touch anything!!! Our bedroom was also lovely, olde worlde!!! And the piece de resistance was of course the bathroom, complete with bidet which we could not care less about but had a lovely corner bath! They are not big on towels in Kaz, one small, one smaller and one smallest, whether it is a single or a double room – I know cos I checked with Sue!!!

Went for a little stroll, early morning and you would know the day was just starting, all these little covered stalls on the pavement getting their food ready to sell. What smells! Lovely but we had had our breakfast in the hotel dining room and it was okay – not a patch on the Gazovik though. No freshly cooked to order omelettes! After a sleep we were ready to start wandering agthis time with a map, courtesy of Sue. We found the TSUM, the mall we had been in three years ago, well, Diane, Gracie and I had – Declan had stayed at home in the apartment to look after a very noisy, upset little girl!! The souvenirs are on the top floor so checked them out but did not buy!!! Do not want any extra baggage going to Ust-Kamenogorsk tomorrow. Did see a lovely little orange Kazakh boy doll that we will buy on the way back for our new son! Declan said ‘No son of mine is going to have a doll’!!!! ……. We just won’t tell him!!!!!

Me... very contented after been given a warm blanket in the Cigarillo restaurant ......

Had to take a photo of some scaffolding we saw. Let’s say it DEFINITELY would not pass Health & Safety at home – looked pretty rickety with only one plank cross in places. You would wonder how many builders they lose or injure per annum!

Shortly after leaving that scene we came across a restaurant called the Cigarillo Club and decided to check it out for dinner. Luckily Sue, our new translator! has taken two years of Russian and could read the menu for us, well mostly! She got the beer part right anyway first and second time and must have inadvertently said ‘Da’ at some stage because suddenly another three beers arrived that we had not bargained for and did not want! She said she had been looking for the bill!!! Still we drank them! Declan ordered steak, I had chicken on a skewer (shaslyx) and Sue had the same only veal. It was good but they don’t seem to be big on vegetables as I remember. We had a very good evening getting to know Sue. She is one entertaining lady and has knowledge on everything! We might pick up one or two things!! Today was 19 degrees celsius so was lovely though I could feel the chill tonight through the open door of the restaurant once it got dark. So noticing this I was suddenly presented from the waiter with a lovely warm blanket which had been on the back of Declan’s chair. Reminded me of the BBQ’s at home. They even had the patio heaters.
Nice evening! Hope this is a good omen for the rest of our trip.