Almaty summer 2006

First of, why? I obviously don't pretend to counter Borat's great movie. It is unbeatable. I just want to tell you about my travel to Khazakhstan's south capital - Almaty- "Father of Apples".
My wife and myself flew from Toronto separately, using small Russian commuter company. It was cheap. I can't say it was good. I lost almost a day due to delays in Domodedovo airport (and yes company paid 10$ for a dinner), while my wife had to travel in airplane with floors soaked in some strange liquid...Yiek!

Nevetheless we eventually after few adventures arrived to Almaty. I was first a little shaky - Khazakhstan is a part of former USSR and I expected troubles and problems from local authorities, which you usually can encounter in Moscow. Nothing like that at all found I!. First you are automatically registered for few month as you pass the border. Later when we called police to figure about registering we were told that as soon we have 2 stamps on the passport we are registered. ( I have to admit I bore Russian passport- for Canadian there may be more trouble with this).
People in the airport were friendliness themselves. I ocassionally lost my baggage document and officer who was checking the baggages on the exit directed me to lost and found office where after few formalities and jokes the problem was resolved. Fantastically I even received a gift - Khazah magazin for man. I have to admit that not uncomfortability was felt when we communicated with security and airport people.

The first impression was very good. The second I got when my wife and her classmate drove me through morning Almaty. The car - little Pagero was with right steering wheel position. This was unusual for me...But more unusual was the driving style. My wife's girlfiend was driving like amazingly skillfully and fast. It was fun. And then came the third - "Sary-agash" mineral water.
It was a hot and dry period in the region - so I had to drink 2-3 bottles a day. The miracle was that I immediately started feeling myself way better that I was before drinking this water. I tried to find something similar in Canada...But no - I guess "Sary-agash" is endemic to Almaty.




My wife's granddad - to whom we actually came lived in a standard "Hrushevka" like style house.
It may be distinguished by a better than standard planning and unfortunately degrading state.
When you enter into the lobby it smells with urine and pretty dark in the night. As well it is dirty like hell. The garbage collectors don't work at all and the elevators are unreliable.
Inside of appartments it depends on who lives inside. Some people make enough monies to make a nice establishment inside. Others don't.Our grandad unfortunately could not make a renovation, for certain resons. The only thing we could do in a couple of weeks we were there is to put new mirror and change his phones. And also do some cooking and chess playing with him.

My wife has a lot of friends in Khazakhstan. School mates, girlfriends and friends. We were travelling a lot of time looking around the city and meeting different people. She was trying to show me a bunch of places wich deserved attention. We visited a lot of places and we met a bunch of people.

The Almaty city generally looks quite ordinary from architecture point of view.


It is a way more interesting when you communicate to people. Folks are very friendly there - independently from whether you present any profit to them or not. I was surprised when a lady suggested to me to help me out with a clumsy mirror which we were transporting in a completely full bus.
On the other occasion, when we stepped into the street car, which seems to be dying yet not quite completely type of transport in Almaty, the driver wondered if he can get picture of it, which I made when the street car was approaching. Can you imagine this in Russia - say in Moscow? I barely can. In Toronto, Calgary or Montreal transit drivers are generally more gentle than in Moscow, yet they would hardly (generally) start such informal communication themselves.

While Almaty is not something out of ordinary from city planning and architecture you can easily find there few interesting views and original buildings. Some of them originate
from former USSR times while others quite modern eastern style.
In general the old districts of the city are being in a pitiful state. However there are new ones which are being built in quite an American downtown style and there are multi-million villas at the near mountain district. This probably reflects dissection of the society to rich and poor. So to say Marx in action

One of the interesting parts of the city is Arbat - a walking street for tourists. It is pretty pleasant promenade with quite a few shops. The shops at this part of the city are very expensive. The prices for the good photo lens is as much as twice of Canadian price. No surprise that only most economically established layers of society can shop there. I doubt that many of the tourists would buy anything in those shops, unless they find it exclusive. On the neat and pleasant street you in the hot days you can find beggars. For those who forgot about or never saw post "Perestroika" former USSR daily life it may become a shock. The beggars are usually young children or mothers with young children. They look like Gypsies, but in fact they may be or not. You never know. The beggars are obviously aim at tourists. If you carry a camera or video you are identified as such and immediately asked for money. This is pretty cardinal difference from Canadian cities. You may find homeless or beggars in here - but not children. Interestingly, Arbat is the only place where I saw the beggars. I have heard the rumors that city was quite harshly cleaned from these undesirable elements by police. So those at Arbat are apparently paying off bribes to police.
One the most remarkable landmarks of Almaty is the Russian - Ortodox church. It is set in the middle of the Panfilov park and blinds you with elegant yet multicolor appearance. Events, such as weddings, are frequent guests in the surroundings and inside.
Another place where weddings are going on is the actual monument devoted to heroism of Panfilov fighters. You can frequently find groups of people posing against this landmark, nearby Eternal Fire. Khazakhstan appears to be more zealous guard of Soviet traditions than Russia itself and thus you can always find fresh flowers brought to the monument. People there (unlike in Baltia countries) remember heroes who saved the world from Nazism and whom the monument represents.
Part 2