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Almaty – Day 9 – Idiosyncrasies

Having spent more than a week in Almaty now, albeit with a limited set of experiences due to having to spend my time with other things than exploring the town and, for that matter, Kazakhstan, it is time to share a few observations.

Online banks: I thought online banks were virtual organisations only present in the internet. I remember when Egg started business in the UK – I was quite attracted by the idea of having a lean easy bank that does what I want it to do: take care of my money, give me access to it when I need it – and all of this without having to bother to go to a high street branch. It seems there is a bank around here, that does not fit my understanding of an online bank:

Online bank? Doesn't look like it. — Online bank? Doesn’t look like it. Seen in Almaty.

The photo isn’t very good, but I think you’ll see the interesting bit all the same. Puzzling…

F… the system: I am so glad, that virtually everywhere we can find people who feel that they have to publicly express their differentiated view on this world. Should you have read Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s book, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, about the Soviet labour camps – he is describing his experiences in a Kasakh Gulag close to the city of Karaganda – you might have been shocked by the stories of completely innocent people having to go through the unthinkably cruel life in the Gulag. Now, I am not saying that somebody who quintessentially damages somebody else’s property by spraying stupid statements, in this case without even the faintest trace of artful aesthetics, should spend years in the Gulag. But, whoever the brave sprayer was, he would have been much braver had he done his work during the Stalin period. Which, thankfully, has been over a long time.

F.. the system, the sprayer says.. F... the sprayer, I say. — F.. the system, the sprayer says.. F… the sprayer, I say. Seen on the way and close to Gorky Park.

April 16, 2014 0

I always like a nice view…

… out of the office window

Or the hotel as well

April 16, 2014 0

Almaty – Day 8 – Reflection

Back to the treadmill it is. I don’t like Mondays. Which is actually not true; I don’t have a special like or dislike of any day of the week. And the treadmill is not so much a treadmill but rather enjoyable: how many people have got the chance to work on an exciting project at an interesting place like I have now? Alas, this is not about work, this is about, ehem, well, just rambling on in public, really, isn’t it?

Almaty's Gorky Park - probably not a great difference to any other Gorky park in this world. — Almaty’s Gorky Park – probably not a great difference to any other Gorky park in this world.

So, we had a good stroll in Gorky Park on Saturday and explored all the roundabouts and carousels and pools that are there. Unfortunately the weather was rather bad, so everything was closed (not that I knew whether it would have been in operation if the weather had been good), but it is a pleasant park with some quiet areas and a large section which is clearly kids paradise.

What did Mom's do before the smartphone? God beware, they might have interacted with their offspring instead of sending text messages. — What did Mom’s do before the smartphone? God beware, they might have interacted with their offspring instead of sending text messages.

A few kids we saw, and we saw them in a familiar situation – probably known around the globes: kids play, mother focusses on her smartphone. While this might not be particularly interesting it just shows the normality of Almaty in Kasakhstan – just like anywhere else in other parts of the world that consider themselves civilised. I am still stunned about the fact that I hang out in this place and feels so normal. However, it is a bit of a melting pot with people from all over the ex-Soviet-Union and Asia with no (at least visible to me) difference between people. One is almost tempted to describe that as tolerant where it is just pleasantly normal. I like it.

April 15, 2014 0

Almaty – Discoveries

Mc Doner. Now, that is a highlight. If not inventive, so at least funny. It’s not going to make the guys in Illinois nervous, so good on Mr. Mc Doner. The kebap stand is located at the Western end of the pedestrian’s area which is referred to as Arbat (with Moscow’s pedestrianised street as a model) – the street is actually called Zhibek Zoly Avenue.

Mc Doner at one end of the Arbat pedestrianised area. I wonder whether you could order a Quarter Doner with Cheese?

As appealing as the sign might be: I did not try a doner here, even though a Kazakh-American-German-Turkish fusion meal sounds like something worth trying. Next time. Maybe.

Walking around in Almaty’s streets we stumbled upon this rather exciting sample – a little gem which has been used to chauffeur an elite Soviet functionary around. But that’s way back, now it stand close the Almaty’s Gorky Park and wants to be admired. And deserves to.

An old Chaika. Production ceased until 1981, but ever since 1959 it has been a symbol of the members of the elite in Soviet times. Not available to ordinary citizens.

April 14, 2014 0

Almaty – Day 7 – Hanging Out

Weather is still bad, very unpleasant rain. So, not ideal to explore town or countryside and, to be honest, work is catching up with us again. So we decided to go to breakfast at the Coffee Room and it turned out to be a great place to just hang out, chat, discuss, argue, get results, eat and drink.

Great place to hang - the Coffee Room not far from Republic Square — Great place to hang – the Coffee Room not far from Republic Square

It feels like a lounge bar with comfortable sofas and chairs, pleasant and friendly staff and a menu that covers breakfast, lunch and a serious drinking session if you are so inclined. There are quite a few posh cars parked in front, most notably Porsche Cayennes, automobiles indicating a certain lifestyle of consideration and modesty. Obviously, just a Sunday brunch time snapshot, so not a soundly verified and validated fact. But, since you are still reading on, I suppose you can hack opinionated writing.

April 13, 2014 1

Almaty – Day 6 – In Town

Unfortunately the bad weather up in the mountains drove us back into town. That said, the exposure to fresh air (down in Almaty the air is quite polluted and one can feel the smog quite drastically), cold rain and, uh, fresh air had made us rather hungry. While it was not quite evening it still felt a good idea to go back to the lovely Georgian Restaurant Daredjani we had visited before. And a success it was again. Khachapuri, spinach with walnuts, veal shashlik (extremely tasty marinated veal) and chingale.

Chingale (ital. cinghiale), filled pasta in the foreground, khachapuri, Georgian pizza behind

The picture above shows a glass with a green lemonade: the coriander lemonade was a distinct highlight. Probably not to everybody’s liking, but very tasty and definitely lemonade with, well, coriander flavour. A wonderful meal in a really nice restaurant. The meal was accompanied by a glass of Chateau Mukhrani Shavkapito, a Georgian red white out of an endemic grape – a perfect match. Hmmmm.

After all that food it was time to explore the city. The Daredjani restaurant is right adjacent to the Panfilov Park, a pleasant park which houses one of Almaty’s most interesting sites, the Cathedral of the Holy Ascension. Apart from the fact that it is an interesting building with a very ornamental inside the level of devotion shown by predominantly older ladies (who put on a headscarf when they entered the church), but also some younger people (who lit candles for reasons that had nothing to do with luminal darkness) was mind boggling. Probably not if you are a devoted Christian yourself, but if you tend to look at religion and its impact on society with some scepticism then it is a rather strange experience. Talking about strange experiences: not to far away from the church is a War Memorial, which seems to be a meeting place for weddings on weekends. Let’s start with the weddings:

Wedding couple at the War Memorial in Panfilov Park, Almaty

Now, let’s look at the main part of the memorial a little bit closer – just to make it clear: I personally think that war is one of the most horrible ideas that mankind produced. I also understand, that the soldiers fighting in these wars don’t necessarily find the idea of fighting in a war appealing at all. And I thank Henri Dunant for kickstarting the Geneva Convention to reduce suffering for injured soldiers and the civil population (I don’t thank the US of A for violating the very spirit of that convention with their wonderful prison at Guantanamo). Nevertheless, what has to be said, has to be said.

The incredible hulk, wearing a steel helmet, and a soviet version of Mount Rushmore.

Folks, wars are terrible. And any display that gets people to understand just how bad they are is good. But depicting a helmet-clad version of the Incredible Hulk with Soviet Union shaped wings with faces growing out of them misses the point. Obviously, I got it all wrong and this memorial is supposed to remind people of the heroes of war and invite them to think about the next battle. “Russia is huge but there is nowhere to retreat since Moscow is behind us.” as inscription is a bit of a giveaway. Now, I don’t think that the population of modern day Kazakhstan needs this kind of message any more.

April 12, 2014 0

Almaty – Day 6 – Up the Mountains

Weekend! Saturday morning, well sort of morning – we didn’t show signs of activity until lunchtime, eventually time to see more than the few blocks of Almaty that we’ve seen until now. We were picked up by a local colleague, who took us to the Shymbulak (a.k.a. Chymbulak) Ski Resort. Unfortunately we’re in the middle of April, so no more skiing, but I was very curious to see the lift equipment and maybe the slopes. Even more unfortunate it started to rain on the way up, so we couldn’t spend as much time as we wanted and therefore didn’t see as much a we would have liked.

Shybulak cable car station on the bottom of the resort. — Shymbulak cable car station on the bottom of the resort.

Nevertheless, the cable car station looks modern and well maintained – I so regretted that I wasn’t here two weekends earlier, when you could still ski at least at the top of the resort. Nevertheless, we could drive up further from here by car and thus had the chance to see the famous ice rink of Almaty or rather Medeo, where a lot of world records in speed skating have been broken.

The idea of an ice rink that high up is appealing, the place is probably the highest speed skating site in the world at almost 1700m above sea level. The architecture is distinctly pompous and you can almost smell the sweat of the speed skating proletarians, who, after spending virtually all their energy on extending the glory of the Soviet Union, still had enough power to break one or the other speed record in ice skating. But beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. From there we went further up to a dam just above the ice stadium, which has been built in the 1960’s to protect Almaty from potentially devastating mudflows.

Schematic of the dam project at Medeo above the ice skating rink.

The dam did a good job in July 15th in 1973 when 4.5 million cubic metres of mud were stopped here and did not flow down the gorge like in 1921 before. At this point the increasing rain forced us back into town, where fortunately the weather wasn’t quite as bad. More to follow.

April 12, 2014 0

Almaty – Day 5 -Thank God it’s Friday

So, predominantly another day of work. Followed by a visit to a pub – in this case Mad Murphy’s at Tole-bi Zhenkova 12. We arrived shortly before nine, just in time to see the first gig of the local band playing rock classics. And very well they played, at least to the ears of a Munich based German, where the bands playing in pubs usually will not play anywhere else in the course of their career. A good crowd was there, not overly busy but crowded enough to get a good party atmosphere. A few people started dancing, so a good place to spend a Friday night at.

Friday night in Mad Murphy's. Live band in the background - the frontman credibly performed songs sung by Axl Rose, Liam Gallagher. — Friday night in Mad Murphy’s. Live band in the background – the frontman credibly performed songs sung by Axl Rose, Liam Gallagher.

It was a great and relaxed start into the weekend – looking forward to seeing something, but unfortunately the weather forecast is really bad.

April 11, 2014 0

Almaty – Day 4 Impressions

Same old story. Work, lunch, work, dinner. So I keep it short until the weekend comes and I will be able to report something interesting. However, the Cafe World Class is a little highlight for a quick lunch: very fresh and crisp vegetables and salads, meat in form of stir fries, stews and roasts, some fish. To be recommended.

Café World Class at Naurizbai Batir str / corner of Kabanbai Batir street. It's a cafe based in a rather upmarket gym and offers a nice buffet lunch with lots of fresh vegetables, salads and a few meat dishes ranging from stews to fish. — Café World Class at Naurizbai Batir str / corner of Kabanbai Batir street. It’s a cafe based in a rather upmarket gym and offers a nice buffet lunch with lots of fresh vegetables, salads and a few meat dishes ranging from stews to fish.

World Class is actually a health club with gym, pool, squash courts and a wellness area. It is pretty high end with a lot of posh cars in the car park. I haven’t been to the sports area, but on the outside it all looks very well kept, modern and clean. If you are into the whole “if am not on a treadmill for at least 60 minutes a day I don’t feel like a person” lifestyle – that’s a place to go for.

Hopefully more interesting stuff to follow on the weekend.

April 10, 2014 0