First Full Day in Almaty, Kazakhstan

We had quite a mix of activities today. We started out at the natural history Museum. There was a good display showing how the nomadic people lived in this area. There also must’ve been a good source of gold dating back thousands of years because there was a whole room dedicated to these incredible gold sculptures and jewelry. Most of it was used for religious purposes. And most dated back to at least the sixth or seventh century BC. Unfortunately, they did not allow any pictures in that room.

Clothes and armament of Hunn chief warrior dating back 2 thousand years.

Clothes and decorations of woman of the Kanguy state dating back 2 thousand years.

The Golden Man, main symbol of Kazakhstan independence, is a warrior’s costume from about the 5th century BC that was found in 1969 in a Saka tomb near Issik settlement, about 60km east of Almaty. It is made of more than 4000 separate gold pieces, many of them finely worked with animal motifs, and has a 70cm-high headdress bearing skyward-pointing arrows, a pair of snarling snow leopards and a two-headed winged mythical beast.

Map of Kazakhstan showing the ethnic composition of different regions of the country. The purple is Kazak and the yellow is Russian.
Russians first started coming in 1861 with the abolishment of slavery. Since they were impoverished, they were looking for cheap land. Also Stalin sent different people from the Soviet countries into exile in Kazakhstan to reduce chances of rebellion.

A fun painting of camels hanging in the museum.

Our next stop was outside the city at a place that trains birds of prey. We saw an incredible demonstration, we had lunch in a yurt and then enjoyed a delightful concert on native instruments.

National dish of boiled beef and noodles. With a little hot sauce, it wasn’t that bad.

My lunch plate with flatbread, yummy, roasted vegetables, lamb kebab, and the beef with noodles.

Our next stop was Panfilov Park in the center of town, which has a wooden Russian orthodox church and a war memorial.

Front of Zenkov Cathedral. It is the second largest wooden church in the world, the the largest being in Canada. It was built in 1910 and it is made of spruce.

The war memorial was dedicated to Kazakhstan soldiers that fought in World War II. The memorial was built in 1975, 30 years after the end of World War II.

Our last activity of the day was a gondola ride up visit Kok-Tobe, a 3800 foot hill on the outskirts of Almaty. There is an amusement area for families and great views of the city.

Upside down House. You can actually pay to go inside. Notice the car parked in the carport in the upper left corner.

You can rent these little cars for children to ride in. The cars are controlled by a parent using a remote.

To the south of Almaty, there is a beautiful mountain range. Eventually, this leads to the Himalayas.

The next set of photographs were taken from the bus at various times during the day.

These are ski jumps for professionals to train on. They are even used during the summer by attaching wheels to the skis.

And orthodox church with the mountains in the background.

Dinner was on our own tonight. 11 of us went to a Georgian restaurant a few blocks from the hotel. I researched the food of Kazakhstan before I came. When I found out the national dish was basically boiled beef and noodles, I was concerned about my interest in the food here. Happily, I’ve been pleasantly surprised. At tonight‘s restaurant four of us got together and ordered two vegetable dishes, and two chicken dishes. The vegetable dishes were incredible. The chicken cooked in a nut sauce was also quite good. The dumplings were not as good as the ones we had last night. I also had to finish the dinner with a cheesecake.