For various reasons, including logistical ones, we are now making our way to Kazakhstan’s former capital Almaty*). The first impression is that it is a city where Russian influence is strong. They have not, as elsewhere, renovated or demolished old Soviet buildings but have let them decay even when they are right in the city center. At the same time, the cityscape is still open and bright, there aren’t so many high-rises obscuring the sky.
*) The current capital is called Astana.
We are staying in a large, solid and distinctly Soviet-inspired hotel fairly centrally located. The promised restaurant and bar are closed, but on the first evening the breakfast restaurant, a large rotunda, is reserved for a wedding entourage. Languorous melodies ring out from there, a man in a light brown suit croones and a few couples dance in a close embrace. Like in an old movie.
The hotel is located right next to a large, beautiful and famous park, ”Парк им. 28 гвардейцев-панфиловцев” or ”28 Panfilov-guardsmen Park”. In everyday speech, simply Panfilov Park. The “28 guardsmen” were soldiers who died defending Moscow in November 1941. Accordingly, the park contains some high-minded patriotic decoration, such as an eternally burning gas flame, reliefs with grinning soldiers and dramatic gestures. A portal at a military history museum looks as Soviet as it possibly can.
But in the park you can also find the Ascension Cathedral, a beautiful Orthodox church built of wood and richly decorated. I myself fell for a tiled stove with a rustic painted motif on the tiles.
In an open space outside the church, vendors stand at small tables with packets of seeds. Customers who buy the packets open them immediately and feed a couple of hundred pigeons that flap so vigorously that the ladies’ skirts flutter.
We walk down Dostyk Avenue past two sports arenas and a sports club, continue past bars and restaurants and don’t stop until we’ve passed the spectacular Hotel Kazakhstan with its crown on top. Just behind it, we find the cable car that takes us up to Kok-Tobe, an amusement park and a viewpoint with great views over Almaty.
At Kok-Tobe, besides the obligatory Ferris wheel (here too!), which nobody rides, you can take off on an exciting roller coaster that runs in big sweeping curves partway down the mountain. Lots of people ride that one.
Or you can climb a climbing wall or have your photo taken with the Beatles or tackle a tricky course high up among the trees. Or just enjoy the views. You just have to watch out for all the children whizzing around in various electric vehicles.
Once back down in the city, we head west along Satpaev until we reach Republic Square, with some difficulty, because there are so many road and pavement reconstruction projects forcing us to take detours. The square itself is also a bit chaotic. Almaty’s first marathon has just finished here, and everywhere stages, speaker cabinets, cables and barriers are blocking the way. For a while, we actually lose track of each other, but only for a short time.
We never really get close to the Golden Warrior atop the Independence Monument, but we rest for a while in front of a fountain with lotus flowers made of yellow sheet metal. Every now and then, vents puff out a kind of mist over the pond. Unclear why, but fountains are an art form in their own right in Central Asia..
Now we’re heading north and passing small, pleasant yellow blocks that remind me of the old houses in Gothenburg, Sweden. This is a student district with lots of cafés and pubs, but we have to search for a while before we find one that serves us a cold beer each. Most of them only offer coffee, tea and fruit juice.
We’ve had our eye on Masisso, a Korean restaurant not too far from the hotel. But we don’t really have high hopes for what we can expect there. When we step inside, it turns out that almost all the diners are Korean. A good sign. I order a bulgogi and all the little side dishes that we recognize from South Korea arrive. And the bulgogi is probably the best I’ve ever eaten. Ever.
That many “Koryo-saram”, that is, Koreans whom Stalin deported from Siberia, live in Almaty is obvious. At the large market, there is a special section for Korean food!
By the time it’s time to head to the hotel, it’s gotten dark. We have to pass through a park and wonder if it’s safe. But it turns out that the park is lit up and full of people, it’s simply where everyone hangs out. Young people, old people, families with children, the park is full of them. Some are eating food they’ve brought with them, others are just standing around chatting in groups. A little girl is dancing and blowing soap bubbles.
Then we make a terrible mistake, but it’s not entirely our fault. We have read about a breeding station for falcons that was established because that particular species was on the verge of extinction. The station is located on the outskirts of Almaty and every day at five o’clock a special show featuring birds of prey is held there. We read about this in several places and all of them give the start time as 17:00. We arrive at ten to five and are told that the show is almost over. We beg and plead and are reluctantly allowed in to see and photograph the finale.
Afterwards we have a chat with the falconer Pavel who has trained the birds. During the show, which consists of the large birds coming to him on command, he is playful and funny. But when we want to talk privately about the right of birds to be free, he is a thoroughgoing cynic who claims that time is up for all wild animals. Everything is going to hell and there is nothing to be done about it. But we get a nice demonstration of the gyrfalcons by his assistant, and then we look at the aviaries with large beautiful birds of prey, falcons, eagles and a large bearded vulture. Two sleepy owls are there too.
We are now making our way to our final stop on this journey, and then we will cross yet another national border. But as we wait for the bus in Almaty, we hear a bang and the bench we’re sitting on jolts. A minute later, all the mobile phones in the entire bus terminal ring. Ours too, and when we look, we see a frightening message on the screen:
This is a message from the city saying that an earthquake has just hit Almaty, and it advices people to call the authorities if they are in danger.
The earthquake was of the magnitude 4 on the Richter scale. This is not unusual we hear and we didn’t see any damage to buildings on our way out of town.
