Adventures around Almaty

The early morning starts were starting to take a toll. We vowed that this would be the last time. Our flight departed at 5:55am from Beijing to Almaty, so that meant getting up at 2:45am. We were all packed and ready to check out a little after 3am. There was no-one at reception and the security guard was fast asleep in a chair. We had to walk down the dark alleyway to the Tongle Restaurant to catch our Didi.

The first challenge on this leg of the Amazing Race was ordering the Didi. Unlike in Australia where Didi automatically pays for the trip when you get to the destination, in China the passenger needs to authorise the payment. That step had been missed the day before. Jason quickly sorted out the payment and ordered a Didi. These were precious minutes that we couldn’t spare. As we waited, there were still drunken people partying in the restaurant, stumbling out onto the footpath.

A Didi arrived, and weary eyed we jumped in. Two guys appeared in the window, gesturing that it was their car. Jason showed the driver our Didi booking. We don’t understand much Mandarin but we understood "bú shì (不 是)" ("no"). So, we quickly jumped out. A second or two later another Didi pulled up. This was our Didi. We dumped our bags in the boot and took off. Cassandra the Soothsayer (aka Jason) made another appearance, predicting yet another missed flight. According to Cassandra, we’d better get fluent in Mandarin, because we were going to be stuck in China.

The night before Cassandra predicted that we would be denied entry into Kazakhstan, because we had missed the 72-hour window to apply for the ETA. It turned out it’s not compulsory yet. I think Cassandra’s prediction skills might need some fine tuning.

We arrived at the airport. The next challenge was to find an entry that wasn’t closed. Eventually we found an entry, where we were swabbed for explosives and made to wait in line for a minute. Tick, tick, tick goes the playschool clock. Fortunately, there was no-one at the Air Astana check-in counter. The stars were aligning for us.

But soon the Lost World would strike. We went through security and I was about to go through customs when I heard one of the security guys running towards me. Jason had already taken off through customs, leaving me for dust. I could see a mobile phone in the hands of the security guy. I knew it wasn’t mine. I went through customs and asked Jason if he had his phone. He patted his pockets. No phone. Panic immediately set before I revealed his phone. Ricky 3, Jason 1. The gap was narrowing, although I’m not sure what the first lost item was and the second one was only temporarily lost, so I feel the scoreboard is a draw.

We boarded the plane ready for the five-and-a-half-hour journey. I was positioned in the middle of the three-seat row. A Kazakh guy appeared . He said abruptly: “let me in”. I gave him the benefit of the doubt that it might be his limited English. But no.

Not long into the journey, the Kazakh guy leant over and told Jason to go to the toilet to blow his nose. He said that in Kazakh culture it was rude to blow your nose when people were eating. But on a plane it's not so easy to get up each time. Certainly others didn't bother to go to the toilet to fart. Jason politely apologised and left it at that.

But when we were disembarking, the Kazakh guy impatiently said to move along, trying to push in front of others. I turned to him and said: “don’t be so rude. Wait your turn”. He didn’t listen and pushed his way through the crowd. Not sure why he was in such a hurry.

The next road block challenge was to order a Yandex, the Russian version of Uber. For foreigners, it seemed the only option was to pay cash, so we quickly exchanged some Aussie dollars. We still had time to kill before we could check-in so we took our time. While I was sitting in arrivals, a Russian woman approached me and started to ask me something in Russian. All I could say was “I’m sorry, I don’t speak Russian”. I must look a bit Soviet.

We ordered the Yandex and it soon arrived. Thanks to translation apps we were able to have a conversation with the driver. We would speak English and he would reply in Kazakh. At one point, he said “your language sounds so cool”. We got a rundown of his life story. He was an Uyghur man from Almaty and his sister had a PhD from a Spanish university. He provided us with a few recommendations of things to do and places to eat.

We immediately could see that the city was undergoing a lot of construction. We could also see the smog covering the city like a dirty doona that hadn’t been washed since the Soviet era. The pollution was as bad as Beijing, despite a population of around 2 million. Apparently the pollution is worse in the winter, because of the burning of coal to keep everyone warm. The smog gets trapped by the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains between the warm and cool air. For the next four days, we would need to wear a mask.

As we pulled up at our Airbnb, we were spotted by some alternative-looking locals, dressed in black and full of piercings. They kept staring at us as they continued down the path. We'd booked an apartment in Almaty's alternative, trendy district, where the youth looked as cool as ice and we looked like we were itinerants looking for a park bench to set up camp.

We couldn’t check-in to our Airbnb until 2pm, but we were able to leave our bags at the apartment. We went up to the 12th level and there was a woman in the corridor. Our contact for the apartment was a woman named Nurshat. We thought it might be her. It turned out it was her sister. Luckily her son spoke English and told us to leave our bags in a closet and to come back in about two hours.

We wandered the streets like Kazakh vagabonds, getting our bearings on our new surroundings. Along the way, we stopped off at a local fruit shop and bought some produce. Almaty is the motherland of apples, so we needed to try them. To be honest, they don’t beat the good old Granny Smith or Pink Lady.

We still had time to kill and needed a bite to eat before check-in. Outside of our apartment was a re-purposed McDonald’s. McDonald’s withdrew from Kazakhstan in 2023 due to the inability to obtain beef from Russia. The existing stores were rebranded and are now called "I’m". The menu looked very similar to McDonald’s with some local variations. I had to try the white peach thickshake.

On our second day, we did our own walking tour of the city, visiting the Ascension Cathedral and Green Bazaar. The Bazaar was filled with all kinds of produce and reminded us of the many markets that we have seen in Southeast Asia and South America. There was a whole section dedicated to different cuts of meat from all kinds of animals; all out on display without refrigeration. In Central Asia, horse meat is common in their cuisine. There were rows and rows of horse meat, which for us Aussies was fascinating.

In the centre of the market were a few eateries. Jason spotted a “restaurant” that offered Plov, a kind of pilaf with horse meat. We had worked up an appetite and could have easily eaten a horse and its jockey. Conveniently, horse was on the menu. So, we jumped on the horse and tried the Plov.

After we finished our meal, we paid and went to exit the restaurant. The woman who originally served us, who I’ll affectionately call Fatima, grabbed me, accusing us of not paying. We said we had already paid and pointed to the woman who took our money. Like a banshee, Fatima screamed out “Stella!”. Stella confirmed that we had paid and we were allowed to leave. We weren’t going to end up in a Kazakh jail for unpaid debts.

For the rest of the day, the Plov kept repeating on me. At one point, I was champing at the bit to break into a canter. We just hoped it wouldn’t give us the trots. Regardless, I had definitely caught the equine Hendra virus.

The following day, we were going to take a trip to Almaty Lake up in the mountains. Unfortunately the road to the lake was closed to vehicles and the only way to get there was to hike. Jason wasn’t having any part in that. The visibility of the lake was also poor, so there wasn’t much point.

Instead we took a subway tour of the eleven metro stops. Well, we got to number 10 before we decided it was enough. Each of the stops had a different theme. Some of the stops weren’t worth getting off, but others included elaborate bas-reliefs, chandeliers and mosaics. The highlight stations were Baikonur, Auezov Theatre, Abay, Almaly, and Zhibek Zholy.

From our apartment, we could see the snow-capped mountains; that is when the smog wasn't hiding them. We couldn’t come all the way to Kazakhstan without a trip up to see snow. We were lucky that the ski resort, Shymbulak, located about 25 km south of Almaty in the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains, had reopened the day before we left.

We caught a Yandex to the starting point of Shymbulak. We could have taken the cheaper option of a local bus, but to get the bus we needed a special card and the hassle didn’t seem worth it. We caught the cable car to the first base, taking about 10 minutes. Along the way, we could see wild horses, grazing on the mountains. They better watch out otherwise they might find themselves on the menu of a local Kazakh restaurant.

The first base is at an elevation of approximately 2,260 m. We then caught another two cable cars to the Talgar Pass, which was at 3,200 m. According to the forecast, snow was unlikely; however, just as we were about to make our descent, little snowflakes started to fall on us. Like little kids, we frolicked in the snow, attempting to make a snowman. Content with experiencing snow, we went back down to the base level and caught a Yandex back to our apartment.

In the evening, we went to a restaurant nearby to taste the national dish: Beshbarmak, boiled meat and handmade noodles. This time we went with the lamb. With our bellies full, we returned to the apartment to prepare for our next stop.

Next stop clue: Landlocked capital with mountain horizons near the foothills of the snow-capped Tian Shan in Central Asia.

Kazakh Phrases:

Hello = Сәлеметсіз бе? (sah-leh-met-siz beh) Or Say-lem

Good morning = Қайырлы таң (kai-er-luh tang)

Thank you = Рахмет (rahk-MET)
You're welcome = Оқасы жоқ (oh-kah-suh zhok)

Please = Өтінемін (uh-tee-neh-MIN)

Excuse me = Кешіріңіз ,(keh-shee-ree-NIZ)

Yes = Иә (ee-YAH)

No = Жоқ (zhok)

How much? = Бұл қанша тұрады? (bool kahn-shah too-rah-duh)

Where is the toilet? = Дәретхана қайда? (dah-ret-hah-NA kai-DA)Read more