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Published: August 9th 2013
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sheep alarm clock - I thought they were supposed to help you go to sleep
they were heading straight for the tent until a, very suprised, shepheard appeared over the brow of the hill We're up early to find a large flock of sheep and goats descending on our camp site. I don't know who was more surprised, us or the shepherd who appeared over the top of the hill on his horse to find a dozen or so tents & bikes on his grazing patch. Having re-directed the flock he disappears off, back over the hill, and returns a few minutes later with another flock and two of his mates – I'm sure he rushed back to get them and said “you'll never guess what I've seen over that hill. After watching us for 10 minutes and waving they ride off to gather the flock and ride on.
From our camp-site its an easy 180km ride to Almaty. As we get closer the flat steppe land disappears and it get decidedly hilly. Almaty itself is surround by snow capped mountains and is full of traffic. It just all appears from nowhere as soon as we get to the “Welcome to Almaty” sign..
Almaty (City of Apples – apples originate from Kazakhstan, honest!) has a very westernised, European feel to it with modern skyscrapers and lots of green, leafy parks full of fountains
& statues. But, somehow, it doesn’t seem to have a proper centre. There's the, deserted, Republic Square with the parliament building and the monument to independence topped by the Golden Man on a winged snow leopard and surrounded by bronze reliefs of of important historical moments. There are the grand Soviet era buildings in all shapes & styles. There's Panfilov Park with it's magnificent and incredibly powerful war memorial alongside the cute and colourful Zenkov Cathedral (one of the few surviving tsarist buildings, the rest were destroyed in the 1911 earthquake). Each is worth seeing and interesting to visit but somehow none feel like the heart of the city. Maybe its just too big to have a centre – it was the capital until 1998
The places that are buzzing and alive are the western style shopping malls & coffee bars. Plus Kok-tobe - at the end of a cable car ride on the top of a hill overlooking the city. There's lots of locals up here enjoying the views, restaurants, souvenir shops and amusement park attractions.
In the State Central Museum we finally get to meet the Golden Man whose statue is found in almost every city
in the country. It a warrior's costume from 5
th century BC, found in a Scythian tomb 60km east of Almaty. It pretty impressive, made of over 4000 finely worked gold pieces with a 70cm high headdress. As usual there's a vaulted room full of exquisite Scythian gold from 6
th BC to 3
rd AD – it doesn’t matter how much of it I see I'm always impressed.
Getting round Almaty is great fun; you just stand at the side of the road with your arm out and fairly soon a regular car will stop. If he's going your way and the price you offer is reasonable you hope in and away you go.
Tomorrow we start our 7 days, 3600km dash across Kazakhstan and Russia to Lake Baikal.
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