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What a weird city!Capital til 98,this place has the feel of an African city.Like Bissau or Banjul,Almaty lacks any real centre ,is low rise and very spread out.Green too!We're used to an army of Chinese gardeners manicuring every blade of grass,digging weeds before they surface.Here they've gone for that apocalyptic look,leaving parks and roadsides to grow tangled and tall,achieving a 'lost city' feel when your in quieter parts of town.Quite like it,gave it a bit of character.
We ended up at 3rd dormitory a university block that housed families.Surprised it still existed in our badly outdated 2007 Lonely Planet of Central Asia.For 2500 tenge(our new gold)10 pound had us a large room sharing a bathroom with about 30 hyperactive kids that were here from Semey away to the north.Kids aside ,I was more interested with the football coverage and was happy to find two channels covering the games.Back of the net!
Had to fend off three separate attempts by the locals to rig up electric cables for freebies while we were here.One lady turned up with her portable oven as we were going out one morning.
''Can I just cook lunch in your room''
You cant make it up.
Had to run across town for the England game as our first choice venue The Dublin bar cost almost 4 pound a pint and had an atmosphere like Neptune with only a handful of families eating.Yes eating!You don't eat when the world cups on.This is football ramadan,no eating during games!
Missed Englands only goal of the game as we made quick time across town for our evening meal of litre mugs of beer (one for free) and a shisha pipe thrown in.Crap game though but thats England for you.
Plans for moving off quickly were soon quashed when we went to register at the police station,10 windows,forms in crylic and people milling everywhere had us thinking our 300 odd dollars of wasted cash on visas was definitely money poorly spent.If it wasn't for an angel with a briefcase we'd of shoved the forms up the police stations arse and carried on unregistered.Our angel had all the necessary bits including paper clips and pens and didn't even want payment for this helpful service.The registration cost four pounds though.Ridiculous!So we've crossed the border but it has gone unregistered but now we have the colourful piece of paper and everythings
sorted.Heres a crazy idea!Just make visas four pounds more expensive.Its not like we have to register everyday like in Paranoiastan or need a guide when you visit Meglomaniastan.
''Yeah,well we have to keep an eye on you incase you steal any camel eggs''.
When we cycled in Russia some years back we had to register every three days and keep the hotel receipts.We asked what if we camp for five days in a row.
''why would you do that''
''Russia is huge we may have to''
''you should stay in a hotel''
''what if there isn't one''
''???''
Anyway registration takes 24 hours which left us time to hang out in expensive Almaty.Made use of the time to book flights to Tbilisi from Aktau with SCAT airlines,hopefully they are bike friendly.Then we sorted out train tickets all the way from Aralsk to Aktau.Two trains,lots of hours with an overnight in Atyrau,sorted.
Later we bumped,once again into Phil and Deli,the other two foreigners in Central Asia who we last saw in Urumqi.They are about to take the plunge into war torn Kyrgyzstan.It seems things have really kicked off over the mountains within the last few days,tv pictures show
tanks and burnt out cars on the streets of the capital.We mused over the point in traveling to these countries with internal strife and decided that ,as long as you keep your head down and stay clear of trouble spots it should be ok.Ordinary people will throw open their doors to foreigners that make such an effort.
Spent alot of my time having a three course day of football,most games were extremely drab,like New Zealand v Slovakia for example.When a game like that takes your attention,then beware!You may have some kind of illness.
I bet the museums are interesting in Almaty.No doubt the bathhouse is refreshing,the cable car ride to overlook the city must be nearly as nice as a walk in the nearby mountains.I wouldn't know!
New Zealand 1 - 1 Slovakia, Ivory Coast 0-0 Portugal, Italy 1-1 Paraguay etc etc.
One thing we did find out in Almaty was that you should spend at least two quid on a bottle of vodka to avoid any KGB violence in your head the following morning,anything less than that and your fate lies with the gods.Very impressive displays of bottles in the modern supermarkets.Expensive though!We saw chedder cheese for sale for 15 pounds!Thank god it gets cheaper ,much cheaper outside of Almaty.
At the train station there was the added problem of no baggage wagon,so with some adjustments,a wheel off here ,saddle lowered there ,the bikes were packed down to a clumsy rope and bungy package.Scrutinized by the dour looking provadnitza we had them bundled into a handy cupboard next to the hot water samavar.On board the train she rubbed fingers against thumb asking quietly for 2000 tenge(10 pound) which was the price we paid for a bed each.We tried for 1000 and settled for 1500.What the hell.Were on ,its 1700 and at the sickening hour of 2AM we will step off the train into the darkness at Taraz station.
Right now,its comfortable and we have a small bottle of vodka to while away the time watching Almaty disappear and cross the endless steppe westward.
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