Astana, Malinovka, Almaty
19.8: Bishkek -> Astana
20.8: Astana
21.8: Astana and Malinovka
22.8: Astana -> Almaty
23.8: Almaty -> Beijing
Planning and overall impression
Kazakhstan is not exactly a place you would visit for a holiday. The
reason I decided to go there was that I knew Astana is a capital with a
very interesting architecture and because I asked myself what would be
a cool, odd place to visit from Beijing.
By the end of July 2015 I had cancelled original plans to visit North
Korea due to all those restrictions to travel around and take pictures,
and then started considering Astana, as a possible place to visit.
Kazakhstan is a relatively wealthy country in central Asia, probably
due to the oil sector. Good infrastructure, good roads. Astana is a
very cool capital, with lots of modern architecture and lots of
development ongoing. The countryside is flat, dull and unimpressive.
Almaty was a bit below expectations. There is not that much to see there.
Costs
Travelling across Kazakhstan is not cheap. Hotels cost as much as in western Europe, and food and transportation as well.
Food
I didn't try out the local food (is there any?) and instead ate mostly
in international cafes/restaurants, in food courts or fast food
restaurants. Possibly there is local cuisine, but I couldn't find it.
Accommodation
I stayed in good, medium class hotels in Astana and Almaty.
Money / Exchange rate (August 2015)
1
Euro = the Kazakh Tenge jumped from 210 to the Euro to 280 to the Euro during my visit, making my stay a bit cheaper.
1 Euro ~ USD 1.10
For current
exchange rates
check
the
Universal
Currency
Converter.
Plenty of ATMs from which to withdraw cash available everywhere.
Mobile
phones and prepaid cards
I bought a local SIM card of Beeline at the airport in Astana. 1500 Tenge
for the SIM card with a 2GB data package (valid for one week?). 30
minutes of calls (national only) included; calls to Malaysia are 120
Tenge/minute. The salesperson suggesed to use Skype to make calls. The SIM card
had only 100 Tenge of balance left, so I bought a 2000
Tenge recharge.
Internet access
Either in the hotel using the hotel WLAN or with the smartphone
Weather
Mixed weather: I had some great sunny
days in Astana (moderate temperatures), followed by an overcast day,
and some heavy rain in Almaty.
Health / Vaccinations
Probably none needed for Kazakhstan
VISA / Entry requirements
Luckily I didn't need any visa to enter Kazakhstan.
Security
Kazakhstan seems to be a pretty safe country.
Recommended things
- Astana, because of all that cool architecture
Things to avoid
- Almaty was a bit disappointing. But then, if you are
interested in mountains, you better go to neighbouring Kyrgyzstan,
where travelling costs less.
Getting around
Because I was only in two
cities, I didn't rent a car+driver this time. In Astana I used taxis to
get around (and I chartered a taxi for the Malinovka trip), while in
Almaty I walked around the city.
19.8: Bishkek -> Astana
Business hotel. 14400 Tenge for a stylish room
with A/C, fridge, WLAN, phone, some furniture (table+chair, cupboard,
clothes hanger). Breakfast included. The heating seems to be on in the
toilet (floor heating), i.e. the floor feels warm. Breakfast included.
The location is not perfect (5km from the Bayterek monument), but this
was the only affordable option with A/C, and I wanted to have A/C as
the temperatures were forecast to reach 35°C.
Weather: sunny, blue sky in Bishkek. In Astana
also sunny, later in the afternoon some cloud cover.
After checking out of the
hotel, at 8:30am I get into the taxi to the
airport. The drive proceeds smoothly and at 9am we reach the airport.
No charge for the trip (it is covered by the room rate of the Silk Road
Lodge).
Major mess at the Bishkek international airport. There is no queueing
system at all, so all the queues at the various check-in counters mix
up totally and it takes a while to understand which queue is for which
flight. Then people have the habit to jump queue. As I'm not that used
to jumping queue I'm one of the last to check in.
Another queueing mess at the passport control counters, again caused by
the lack of a queueing system and the lack of queueing discipline of
the people here. Women with a child in their arm happily jump queues
and then call all the members of their extended family to join them.
Also, the passport control officials are quite slow.
Then, once in the departure hall, I notice that there is no gate number
on my boarding pass. Turns out that there is just one gate on the left
side which is active, through which all passengers pass. The other
gates are closed.
There is also some lack of control at the boarding pass check.
Nevertheless I'm on the plane at about 10:25am and I have an emergency
exit window seat, which sort of compensates for the inconvenience of
the Bishkek airport.
The Air Astana plane is an Embraer 190 jet with a 2-2 seat set up, and
is quite full (I'd guess 3/4 full). It touches down in Astana airport
at
12:10pm; by 12:20pm we leave the plane.
Things then proceed quite smoothly: I get through passport control (guy
asks why I'm travelling to Kazachstan; seems positively surprised that
I'm here on a holiday) and immediately after that retrieve the luggage.
Then I get some cash (and on two ATMs for some reason my bank card I
use for withdrawals doesn't work) and purchase a SIM card. 1500 Tenge
for the SIM card with a 2GB data package (valid for one week?). 30
minutes of calls (national only) included; calls to Malaysia are 120
Tenge/minute and here the lady suggests to use Skype to make calls (I
wonder if the data connection is fast and stable enough). The SIM card
is of Beeline and has only 100 Tenge of balance left, so I buy a 2000
Tenge recharge.
By 1pm I'm in a taxi on the way to Astana (distance seems to be
10-15km; cost is 2500 Tenge). The first impression of Kazachstan is
definitely good: high living standard, good infrastructure, efficient
procedures. While driving to the hotel I see a modern city, with lots
of cool buildings and lots of construction ongoing.
Astana lies at 320m altitude and at 51° latitude, i.e. as north as
Düsseldorf or London. Much further north than Bishkek, which is about
as north as Rome. You can see the difference of latitude in the sky.
The light is much different from the one in Bishkek.
After getting settled in the hotel, I walk to a nearby cafe where I
order a pizza. The pizza is properly cooked, but a bit tasteless. Looks
like they forgot to add the right spices. Not cheap by the way, I spend
about 3000 Tenge for the pizza and a soft drink.
By the way, I notice that very few taxis are passing by the street.
This means that waving a taxi along the street could mean a very long
wait.
I go back to the hotel and ask the staff to call a taxi for me. 15
minutes later the taxi is finally here. For 900 Tenge the driver will
bring me to the Bayterek monument. We arrive there at 3:50pm.
The Bayterek monument looks like a high tech thing of steel and glass.
It's a big golden sphere on the top of a metallic tower. A lift brings
on the top for 500 Tenge (lift has no A/C;
inside it's quite hot).
Inside
the glass ball you can walk to a higher level. People then queue up at
an even higher level for some reason. The views are not bad, but the
damn coloured glass makes everything yellow.
From the Bayterek monument I walk towards the presidential palace. This
a quite cool white palace with a turquoise dome with a golden pin on
top. It's more like the palace of a king than a government
building.
There is very little security in the streets and near the
palace, despite being close to the presidential palace and the
parliament building. Seems like people here are not paranoid about
terrorism. I can move around freely, take pictures of everything,
without any policeman or security person harassing me.
Not so many people on the streets and not so many shops. Actually in
this area I don't see any shop. There is not so much life in Astana, or
let's say in the centre of Astana.
I slowly walk back westwards,
towards Khan Shatir. It's now 5pm and the
sky is getting a bit overcast. I discover a big mall on the left side.
Modern building, shops selling almost exclusively western branded
stuff. I have some food there in a KFC restaurant.
When I'm done it's almost 6pm. I continue walking towards Khan Shetir
and discover another mall (this one has a supermarket open until
midnight).
Finally I reach Khan Shatyr
at 6:40pm.
Khan Shetir is like a big
conical tent of plastic. The interior is
air-conditioned and contains another shopping mall, again selling
western branded goods (are there no Kazach goods in Kazachstan?). At
this time of the day Khan Shetir is full of people. There is a food
court on the third level and on the fourth level there is a children
fun fair. I guess Shirley and the kids would love this place. Not so
easy to get from one floor to the next, because there are only few
escalators.
I have some noodle soup in the food court, then get out of Khan
Shetir shortly before 8pm. Now the sun is very low and is illuminating
the big arch and the theatre to the left. I shoot some photos in this
nice evening light, then wait for the blue hour to come.
At 9:20pm, when I'm finally done taking the last picture, I walk to the
supermarket in the mall and buy some food and drink. Then, when I'm out
again I look for a taxi. Not so easy to find one. After some waiting
finally a taxi shows up. I take that and because the driver doesn't
speak English I call the hotel and ask them to explain to the driver
where they are. I'm back in the hotel at 10pm. The driver charges me
1000 Tenge for the trip (no meter).
20.8: Astana
Business Hotel, Astana
Weather: sunny, blue sky the whole day.Thin
clouds layer in the morning.
In the morning I leave the
hotel around 10:20am and take a taxi (800
Tenge) to the
Palace of Peace & Accord, a glass and steel pyramid behind the
presidential palace.
I walk to the nearby Hazrat Sultan mosque and have a closer look. When
I walk
inside, I can't find a large prayer hall. Rather, the interior
of this building looks like a hotel or café.
For the next hours, until 2pm,
I will explore the area
behind the
presidential palace, then cross the river and slowly walk to the Kepyeh
mall for lunch.
Basically Astana at the moment is very,
very photogenic. Pretty
special
and unconventional buildings and
monuments and nice parks
everywhere.
Around noon time (12-1pm) the streets are full of people
(probably
taking their lunch breaks).
I walk to the Kepyeh mall
where, shortly
after 2pm, I have some lunch. Then, at 2:40pm I take a taxi back to the
hotel.
This taxi apparently is not a taxi. It's just a car with a
detachable taxi sign on top (magnetic fix). I have no problem with
other drivers, but this driver initially requests 1500 Tenge and only
later agrees to lower the price to 1000 Tenge.
In the hotel I take a rest for a while. Then at 6pm I check with the
reception if it is possible to book a car + driver for tomorrow, to go
to the Korgalzhyn nature reserve. A couple of phone calls later
it
turns out that it's 12000 Tenge (one way only) and 16000 tenge for a
six hours return trip.
At 6:40pm I get out of the hotel and slowly walk into town. I discover
a beautiful park along the river, with a fun fair for kids and lots of
people. Then I walk into town until the big round square near Khan
Shetir where I do some blue hour photography. After a brief stop
in the supermarket, I take a taxi (1000 Tenge) back to the hotel.
21.8: Astana and Malinovka
Business Hotel, Astana
Weather: overcast and rainy in the morning. Cold
(< 20°C) and windy the whole day (need to wear a windbreaker jacket
for most of the day). The sky opens up starting from noon onwards for a
few
hours.
Due to the bad weather I only
leave the hotel after 12pm. I take a taxi
to the Atameken theme park ("Atameken - Map of Kazachstan"), where
there are
miniaturised versions of the attractions of Kazachstan: famous
buildings, monasteries, mausoleums, mosques etc.
It's actually not far from the hotel, but the taxi driver does not know
how to get there. Also, I had found a webpage showing this place as
being
several km north of the hotel, while it turns out to be about 2 km
south of the hotel. In any case, it takes almost half an hour to reach
this place, as the driver keeps erring around the streets (and then
wants 1000 Tenge).
The Atameken map of Kazachstan (entry ticket: 400 Tenge) is at first
sight
not that impressive. But then, it turns out to be an interesting source
of information about places in Kazachstan and place names in Astana.
For sure Kazachstan has a good number of interesting places to visit,
but the tourist infrastructure is quite underdeveloped.
Huge distances
between places, which make it difficult to reach the various sights.
By 1:30pm I'm done with the Atameken site, then I initially walk back
to the hotel thinking of having lunch and then resting in the hotel.
Then I realise how close I actually am to the Presidential Cultural
Centre, a place I was planning to visit because of its museum and I
walk there instead.
When I arrive, I see a half-demolished building with broken windows and
scaffodling everywhere. Looks like either they are dismantling this
place or restoring it. In any case it doesn't look very open.
So I just walk back to the hotel and in the lobby ask them to check how
much a
round-trip by taxi to the Malinovka memorial (which should be 37km west
of
Astana) is. This is the Alzhir memorial, dedicated to the victims of
Stalinism: a detention camp for women during the Stalin era. Initially
I'm quoted 8000 Tenge, which later become 10000 Tenge. By the way, lots
of waiting and discussion to get this trip arranged.
And I'm not even sure if this place is really interesting. But I'd like
at least to do one trip out of Astana to get an impression of how the
countryside and the villages near Astana look like.
It's 4pm when I'm finally in
this taxi (by the way, it's actually a
standard car without any taxi markings or labels). Getting to the
memorial takes about 40 minutes, because there is some traffic jam in
Astana. Outside of Astana the scenery is remarkably unimpressive: good
roads, but everything is flat,
steppe-like, no trees,
nothing
particularly interesting to see on either side of the road.
So, around 4:45pm I start exploring the memorial site. There are some
structures (models of barracks), statues outside the actual museum.
Inside the museum (ticket: 200 Tenge; you must deposit your bags in the
storage room) there are exhibits and many photos showing the lives of
women who ended up here. Only some exhibits have explanations with
translations into English, otherwise everything is in Kazakh and
Russian.
It's a pretty sad place,
with kind of a solemn, serious atmosphere.
Makes you wonder how terrible life was in the past was for people who
happened to be interned in such camps. Sad stories of women separated
from their chidren, children not surviving in these camps etc.
At 5:25pm I drive back to Astana, arriving at the hotel by 6pm. Then I
walk to a nearby cafe where I have some dinner. After that I look for a
supermarket where to buy some food and drinks. I walk around a lot, but
on these streets there are mainly shops selling clothes, cafes, fast
food places, banks, but no shops selling food. No 24h convenience
stores, which in some other cities are at almost every corner. It seems
that the area around the hotel is a high-end one, with rich,
sophisticated people.
Finally when I am almost about to give up I see a supermarket in one
side street behind the Business Hotel. So close to the hotel but I
never saw it.
The plan for tomorrow is to catch the 11:30am flight to Almaty,
arriving at 1:10pm and spending the rest of the day visiting Almaty.
22.8: Astana -> Almaty
Golden
Palace hotel, Almaty. 17900 KZT (63€ at today's exchange rate) for a
nice room with A/C, modern infrastructure, (small) LCD TV, phone,
table+chair, fridge, cupboard, electronic safe, toilet with shower and
hairdryer. Breakfast included in the price. The only issue is that the
tap water has a strange smell (which goes away if you let it run a
bit). About 3-4 km from the national museum and 3 km from Panfilov park.
Weather:
some clouds but otherwise good weather (a bit cool) in Astana. Overcast
and rainy in Almaty: with some interruptions it rains non-stop until
the evening. Quite cold in Almaty.
After breakfast I check out and by 9:30am I'm in a taxi to the airport
(2000 KZT). At 10am we reach the airport. I check in (again some people
jumping the queue but nowhere near as messy as in Bishkek. I must say
that at this time of the day the check-in counters are pretty empty.
Indian-looking lady with kids in front of me flying to London: what has
she been doing in Astana?
I go through security and proceed to the gate. The 11:30am Air Astana
flight to Almaty takes off at 11:44am and touches down in Almaty at
1:10pm. Then things proceed smoothly: by 1:30pm I have the luggage and
fetch a taxi (airport to Almaty 3000 KZT fixed price) and at 2pm I
check in in the hotel.
After settling down, at 2:50pm I ask the reception to call a taxi. Will
be here in 15 minutes I'm told. So I buy some groceries in the meantime
and then take the taxi.
At 3:15pm
I'm at the Central State Museum (ticket is 300 KZT), which is
supposed to be one of the highlights of Almaty. It contains a number of
collections about the history of Kazachstan, from prehistoric times
until now. Some sections require additional tickets (1000-1300 KZT).
There is a big section on World War II. Overall the museum is a bit
disappointing, because the exhibits are quite unimpressive and fail to
give a good insight into the history of Kazachstan. The National Musum
of Mongolian history in Ulan Bator and even the Kyrgyz museum in
Cholpon-Ata were better.
Around 4pm I leave the museum and by now it has started to rain. The
most logical thing now would be to find a shopping mall (or another
museum) and stay there until the rain ends. The problem is that I don't
know where the nearest mall is and also it seems complicated to get a
taxi (not so many of them on the streets).
So I walk around a bit, getting wet pretty quickly and by luck and
coincidence by 4:30pm I find an underground mall near the museum. And
this mall even has a cafe and a small food court. It was about time,
because my shoes are all wet. This mall seems to sell fashion items and
clothes and souvenirs, and seems to be on the elegant side. Several
wedding parties doing photo shoots in this mall.
I have some meal (tuna pizza) around 5pm in the cafe, then at 5:45pm
get out again. Now it has stopped raining. I check my guidebook and
decide to walk to the Panfilov park, to have a look at the Zenkov
cathedral. So I walk along Furmanov street for a while.
This seems to be an elegant shopping street, sort of the Champs-Élysées
of Almaty. Many high end shops and cafés, tree line on both side of the
road, every now and then some small park or green area. Overall, pretty
fashionable street.
At 6:45pm I'm at the Zenkov cathedral. Quite cute building and would
look even better if the sun was shining, but just now it's still
raining. Inside there is a function going on, so I can't walk in and
take pictures. So I decide to walk back to the hotel and return
tomorrow when - hopefully - the weather will be better.
Walking back slowly with a number of stops I reach the hotel one hour
later at 7:45pm. My shoes are really wet. Maybe I should have taken a
taxi, but I wanted to get a feeling of Almaty. In the evening I
discover that yesterday the Tenge fell by 25% compared to the Euro
(from a rate of 210 Tenge for one Euro to 280 Tenge for one Euro). This
pretty sharp drop makes my stay cheaper.
23.8: Almaty -> Beijing
My apartment in Beijing
Weather: despite a rain forecast, sunny with some
clouds and no rain the whole day in Almaty. Relatively fresh (peak
temperatures probably not higher than 25°C).
After breakfast I ask for a taxi to the Kok-Tobe cablecar. I'm planning
to go to the panoramic tower and shoot some photos of Almaty from
there.
The taxi driver drops me off in a place about 500-800m from the
base station of the cablecar. So I walk
to the cablecar base station
and there I see that the cablecar is closed, because some works are
ongoing on the building of the base station. In more concrete terms,
there is just the frame of a building, but no ready building.
I walk slowly from there
to the Respublika Alany square. On the way
I discover a metro station. Interesting
- so Almaty has an underground
line or network. Then, from there I slowly walk along Furmanov street
towards the Panfilov park. There are lots of Italian restaurants and
cafes in Almaty, also a number of shops with Italian names. Either
there is some kind of Italian connection or
people here consider
Italian food and brands to be very sophisticated.
At 11:30am I reach the Zenkov cathedral. A function is going on
right now and in any case photography is not allowed inside the church.
And I must say that the church interior is not terribly impressive
either.
So I rest outside for a moment, then walk towards the east where I
discover some pretty cool bronze statue groups of the Soviet era,
apparently commemorating the great patriotic war. Further on there is
the
museum of Kazach musical instruments (ticket: 300 KZT), which I visit.
The exhibits give an idea of what traditional instruments Kazach people
have used in the past to make music.
Then I walk to the nearby Green Market, which is listed in the LP
guide as one of the places to visit. It's a relatively modern building,
where
mainly food (fruits, dried fruits etc.)
is sold. Around it there is
sort of a bazaar
with souvenir shops, shops selling nonsense and useful
things, clothes etc. Next to the Green Market there is an a bit
old-fashioned shopping mall with many small shops.
I buy some freshlly squeezed orange juice (a 0.5l bottle for 500 KZT;
freshy squeezed pomegranate juice would have cost 1500 KZT for a
bottle) and some round flat bread which turns out to be uneatable,
because it is probably several days old.
Because it's now 1:20pm I have
some lunch in a Burger King restaurant
on the other side of the street. The sandwich they serve (grilled
chicken) is actually quite good.
At 2pm I walk to the Central Mosque, which according to the LP
guide is one of the largest in Kazachstan. Well, compared to the
mosques
in the Middle East this mosque is very small and unimpressive. No huge
prayer hall with impressive decorations.
It's now 2:15pm and I wouldn't mind taking a taxi back to the hotel.
The problem is that there are no taxis, and those few ones which pass
by are all full. Apparently you have to wave down normal cars as if you
were hitchhiking. Then cars will stop and offer you to bring you where
you want to go.
In any case after some waiting I walk back to the hotel, arriving
shortly before 4pm after many stops
along the way. In the hotel I
take
a rest. In the evening I take a shower, pack my bags and check out.
I'm at the airport at 8:35pm. There I check in and have some dinner.
Then I get quickly through passport control and the security check and
proceed to the gate. Again Air Astana have given me an emergency exit
seat, very good because I can stretch my legs.
Boarding starts on time and the plane (a Boeing 757) takes off with
five minutes of delay. After a short night the plane lands in Beijing
shortly before 5am local time.
Copyright 2015 Alfred
Molon