Almaty- home for the next semester! I arrived dead in the middle of winter in January at 10pm after my flight was delayed by 3 hours. My exchange university sent a driver to bring me to my temporary accommodation, because my arrival coincided with Orthodox Christmas so the school dormitory was closed for check in. Urgh Christmas ruining plans. Before I realised it was the wrong location, he had already briskly unloaded my luggage and scooted off, leaving me shrouded with exhaust in my stunned face. Speaking not a single word of Russian and with only huge 10,000 tenge notes on hand, I relied on the generosity of the receptionist at Novotel to call me a cab. I say generosity because I don’t know how many times I must have insisted it was not Novotel, but the hostel I was supposed to spend the night.
Things to do in Almaty
Most of the tourist attractions are within the broader Almaty Region and not necessarily in the City. Winter might be the best season to visit the city as two of its major destinations are related to winter sports. Medeo is the highest ice-skating rink in the world, built at an altitude of over 1600m. It is outdoors and without handles around its perimeter, so as a skating beginner, I was extremely tentative about going at first. So many skaters were performing jumping and spinning tricks on the rough ice. Fret not though, you can rent a skating aid for 1000 tenge an hour.
Just one bus stop away is Shymbulak, a ski resort. The price of entry, cable car up to the ski base, and equipment rental was about a third of the price compared to the likes of skiing destinations in Europe or Japan. My friends and I spent about two hours sorting out ski equipment rental and hiring a ski instructor because as ski novices, we had no idea what we were doing. Food and water are a lot more expensive at the top, so go prepared!
Both Medeo and Shymbulak can be reached by public bus number 12, from the stops opposite Hotel Kazakhstan and at Dostyk Plaza. It takes about 45 minutes to reach the terminal, which stops right in front of Medeo.
Ascension Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox cathedral, is located in Panfilov Park. Watch out for the unusually buff pigeons flying together in flocks.
Green Bazaar (or Zelenyy Bazar) is close by. It is a modern take of bazaars in Central Asia, but still worthy to check out.
Foreword
The next couple of weeks followed pretty much the same schedule, attending classes on the weekdays and travelling on the weekends. For all except one of the travels, I did so with three of my fellow exchange buddies. During the Spring break we went off the grid into the Pamirs for 10 days. It was all fun and adventure, until everything got cut short by the coronavirus. Then it became serious, and with even more adventure.
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