B - reporting
Woke up before the alarm after a night of stress dreams, mainly about being unable to fill out forms. We had all our papers prepped, so left about 7:50 for the Kyrgyzstan Consulate. We had heard that it opens at 10am, that one has to get one's name in a book in order to be seen, and that one then has to take a form to a bank to pay before the Consulate closes at 2pm.
It was a beautiful warm sunny morning. We walked past coffee shops with patios, and posh apartment blocks, in the shade of huge oak trees. We purchased 2 coffees in the world's smallest plastic cups from a stall, and arrived at the Consulate by 8:55. It was basically a large house, with a tall metal gate, and nothing to indicate it was an official building. We pressed the buzzer, expecting to be told 'come back at 10', and the gate swang open to reveal a guard. 'Visa?' he said. 'Oooh, yes!' we forgot our Russian in our excitement. He seemed happy that we were Canadian, and even joked with me about having a bomb in my bag! (I didn't).
There was no queue, the forms were in English, we paid on the spot and get to pick up our visa tomorrow! We were out by 9:16 and had the whole day to explore Almaty.
We walked past some really flash buildings and hotels, the 'Guns n Roses Pub', the 'Shakespeare Pub' and 'The Crowne'. We found peanut butter in a supermarket, walked through a lovely park and interesting war memorial, and ended up at the Moka Loka internet cafe we had used yesterday.
After some pistachio icecream and emailing, we lunched and went to the Green Bazaar, where there are rows and rows of meat (arranged by animal, including horse), pyramids of lovely fruit, all manner of eggs, wonderful displays of spices and nuts. We bought almonds and walked to the Kok-Tobe cable car for a view of Almaty.
Unfortunately there is quite a lot of smog here, so the mountains were a bit hazy, but it was interesting to see the really expensive homes, with porches etc parked outside, in the hills to the south of the city. There is a LOT of money here! The park at the top of the cable car is fun, with a Beatles statue and beer garden.
When heading back to the hotel we stopped at the Shakespeare Pub for a quick beer, where we met the Irish landlord who told us about 'curry night' on Wednesday! We will be back...
We finished off a mad busy day with chicken and pork shashlik in an open-air restaurant in the warm evening.
Woke up before the alarm after a night of stress dreams, mainly about being unable to fill out forms. We had all our papers prepped, so left about 7:50 for the Kyrgyzstan Consulate. We had heard that it opens at 10am, that one has to get one's name in a book in order to be seen, and that one then has to take a form to a bank to pay before the Consulate closes at 2pm.
It was a beautiful warm sunny morning. We walked past coffee shops with patios, and posh apartment blocks, in the shade of huge oak trees. We purchased 2 coffees in the world's smallest plastic cups from a stall, and arrived at the Consulate by 8:55. It was basically a large house, with a tall metal gate, and nothing to indicate it was an official building. We pressed the buzzer, expecting to be told 'come back at 10', and the gate swang open to reveal a guard. 'Visa?' he said. 'Oooh, yes!' we forgot our Russian in our excitement. He seemed happy that we were Canadian, and even joked with me about having a bomb in my bag! (I didn't).
There was no queue, the forms were in English, we paid on the spot and get to pick up our visa tomorrow! We were out by 9:16 and had the whole day to explore Almaty.
We walked past some really flash buildings and hotels, the 'Guns n Roses Pub', the 'Shakespeare Pub' and 'The Crowne'. We found peanut butter in a supermarket, walked through a lovely park and interesting war memorial, and ended up at the Moka Loka internet cafe we had used yesterday.
After some pistachio icecream and emailing, we lunched and went to the Green Bazaar, where there are rows and rows of meat (arranged by animal, including horse), pyramids of lovely fruit, all manner of eggs, wonderful displays of spices and nuts. We bought almonds and walked to the Kok-Tobe cable car for a view of Almaty.
Unfortunately there is quite a lot of smog here, so the mountains were a bit hazy, but it was interesting to see the really expensive homes, with porches etc parked outside, in the hills to the south of the city. There is a LOT of money here! The park at the top of the cable car is fun, with a Beatles statue and beer garden.
When heading back to the hotel we stopped at the Shakespeare Pub for a quick beer, where we met the Irish landlord who told us about 'curry night' on Wednesday! We will be back...
We finished off a mad busy day with chicken and pork shashlik in an open-air restaurant in the warm evening.
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| War Memorial |
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| Church of the holy mother |
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| I think this was the musical instrument museum |
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| Apartment block looking like something out or Judge Dread/Blade runner! |
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| Cable car |
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| View from the top |
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| View from the top |
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| Definitive proof Almaty is a civilized city :-) |
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