May 23-28
We finally made it to Almaty, the once-capital and largest city of Kazakhstan, arriving late at night and haggled over a $5 taxi ride to our apartment. So long, Japan! We were staying in an Airbnb apartment, which is great because it gives an interesting view into local housing, but check-in and finding the place is often a challenge. Fortunately the owner's friend met us out on the street and walked us around back of a building to our place. This one had the most nondescript and kind of broken down looking entrance and a dark cement staircase with paint splatters everywhere, but was a cozy little 1/1 with a great sun room on the inside and a bustling neighborhood park outside. Kazakhstan is the land of nondescript entrances. What looks like a storm cellar or abandoned facade is really the store you're looking for.
Jet-lagged and exhausted, we finally made it to sleep around midnight but then woke up too early. We went and got coffee at a nearby shop and ate a breakfast of meat pastries and a doner. The food was similar to Uzbekistan and Russian prevalent. We figured out the local public transit thanks in part to an app (2GIS) recommended by a stranger. There's always a sense of accomplishment when you can hop on the buses and metro and get to where you need to go. We visited the Kazakh national museum and then I went thrifting while Tim relaxed at the apartment. The Kazakhs have great style – sleek but comfortable. My jam! We both crashed early in the evening, cutting our Almaty sight-seeing short, although from what we read we didn't miss too much. Almaty felt like Tashkent, a planned soviet city, although without the more unusual buildings and statues. The mountains in the distance would have been beautiful if it weren't for the hazy smog, but we'd be out in the mountains soon enough. Our marshrutka to Bishkek filled up soon after we arrived at the station and we were on our way.
Bishkek is the Kyrgyz capital and also has some Soviet influence, including many of the government buildings, public squares, a victory monument and a large public bath. It was a bit more difficult to find the Airbnb apartment this time around, which ended up being actively under construction. We saw a resident accidentally walk through some freshly poured concrete. Oops.
The most interesting experience in Bishkek was the Russian-style bathhouse. It was sex segregated with a large washing/shower area, a burning hot sauna, and an ice cold pool. I walked into the sauna and saw the jarring sight of a woman in full nude, wearing a felt hat that looked like a full face dunce cap, beating herself with a bundle of leafy branches. But then I couldn't breathe so was only in there for about 5 seconds. The hat is to insulate your heads from the heat. Tim lasted a little longer than I did in the heat, spending 30 seconds. It was really really hot. There was a bar as well, where sheet-clad men gathered to drink beer, smoke cigarettes, and eat bar food (dumplings, hardboiled eggs, and bread). All told it wasn't nearly as relaxing as the Japanese onsen.
I've started learning Cyrillic phonetics, which is surprisingly useful. Many words are essentially English words written in a different alphabet, like секонд хeнд = second hand. So useful! :-)
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| Mountains behind Bishkek |
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| Endless escalator to Almaty metro |
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| Ice cream in the park - perfect Sunday |
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