Catching up with Tim
13 AugA sleep in today. The sun is well up when we rise at 6am. The wind hasn’t died down, so packing the tents is amusing.
We arrive in Almaty at 8:30am, right in Central Asian peak hour! It takes 90 minutes to battle across town to Tim’s dormitory, and when we arrive he is at the Canadian Consulate.
The more you carry the more you can sell I suppose. A car off to market in peak hour traffic:
Almaty is supposed to be a trendy place, the Milan of the East. We quickly, and independently decide it’s horrible. Perhaps it’s rude of me to say this after only being here one day. The oil money in Kazakhstan has led to rapid expansion and prosperity, and don’t they know it?! This is a city that wants to be Paris, but just doesn’t have the class. Tim says it’s like they read one hundred cosmo magazines and thought that was western europe. The people are unfriendly and stuck up, the girls ridiculously overdressed, and too upmarket to smile in the street. There are loads of people driving Porches and massive 4wd’s, and there is a Brabus dealership across the street. It does have it’s good points however, it’s at the foot of a range of snow capped mountains, and has beautiful tree lined streets. It slopes steeply away from the mountains, and water from the snowcaps flows endlessly through the cities cement drains. It’s full of outdoor eating and trendy cafes.
We stop at a small café on a side street and order some breakfast. It’s back to the Russian food now, rice, a lamb schnitzel with cheese on top, and some tomato based sauce. The cost is around $4US each. Then we read in the Lonely Planet that you can get a proper coffee in this town, so we go to the coffee shop and order a couple of Lattes. This is a proper chic café. What we get served is in a glass almost like you’d serve wine. It’s layered, with the weakest of coffee mixed with milk at the bottom, and then more hot milk on top of that. The milk isn’t aerated, just hot. It has whipped cream on top, and you drink it through a straw. It’s not pleasant, but when in Rome...so down it goes. We ask for the bill, and are astounded to find each latte is around $9US each!
We get a room at Tim’s dorm, and he returns around midday. He looks well and relaxed, but has obviously been having a frustrating time. I’ll let him describe his own story. Here he is pictured with his temporary british passport, which unfortunately only allows him to travel to Australia.
I spend some time typing the blog, and then we go for a walk around the city. There is a lovely wooden church built in 1904, and another impressive war memorial. There isn’t much old here, as the city was completely flattened by an earthquake in the early 1900’s.
A good view of the church. Closer inspection shows it’s a little tatty:
It’s strange, Stephen and I have been looking forward to chilling in Almaty, but now we’re here, well we just want to leave again.
Tim has an entire pose of friends here, and one of them, an American called Brian knows a good place for dinner. It’s called Camelots, and it’s reasonably priced. The food is American, and I eat a big burger with cheese and mushroom. This is some seriously western food, and I have to say, I was loving it.
Our dinner crowd. At the back from the left there is Tim, Michael, Nico, and the front there is Brian (doing his masters at a local Jelena (not sure on spelling, French and also waiting for a replacement passport) and Stephen.
