If you ever attend an event with mixed expat and local company, people inevitably ask you which of Almaty's attractions you have been to see. Have you been to Medeu? Have you been to the Green Bazaar and Panfilov Park? The one place I had not been (until today) was Kok Tobe.
My reason for delaying my visit to the enormous television tower on the green hill overlooking downtown was purely aesthetic. I really wanted to go up there on a clear day, and we have not had many clear days here since last October. This morning, though, I woke up to a brilliant blue sky and wonderful fresh air that still smelled like last night's rain. So I took the metro down to the end of Abay, bought my 2000 tg round trip ticket for the gondola, and went up to see the view. Here is a short video of the trip. Enjoy.
This is probably my favorite piece of public art in the city. It is located near TSUM (not far from the green bazaar). I have always admired it because it raises so many questions. Every time I walk by I wonder what these people are doing. Are they looking at something? Are they waiting for something? Are they praying? Perhaps they are keeping warm around a fire or discussing the train schedule. Maybe they are straining to hear the outcome of a sports event on the radio. What are they doing?
p.s. I know I haven't posted in a while. I have a couple of stories in the works and am really just waiting on some pictures to go with them. I also have had neither time nor energy to do much romping about town...a circumstance I hope will change in the near future.
Happy Movie Monday on Tuesday! It doesn't happen often, so savor it!
Sunday was Easter as celebrated by the Russian Orthodox churches here in Kazakhstan. If you are wondering why the orthodox church celebrated the resurrection of Christ on a different day than western churches this year, it is explained quite well at factmonster.com (click here).
Since all of the Christian holidays are celebrated best at Zenkov's Cathedral in Panfilov Park, I took a trip down town yesterday morning to see what was going on. I arrived at the church just as the bells were ringing to mark the beginning of the service. Here is a little video to give you an idea of the experience. The sound (except the bells) was all recorded inside.
Happy Easter!
I have heard that the Midnight services on major holidays are not to be missed. Unfortunately, I am still feeling a little under the weather from a mishap I had a couple of weeks ago so I wasn't able to make the midnight service last night. I'll save that for next year.
I found this fantastic monument on my wanderings during spring break. It is about one block west of the last metro stop on Raimbek. The inscription below this truck reads something like: Automobile GAZ-AA, symbolof labor andglory ofthe automobile veterans. I am not entirely sure who these veterans are, but I thought the truck was pretty fantastic so it won a spot on photo Friday.
If you ever attend an event with mixed expat and local company, people inevitably ask you which of Almaty's attractions you have been to see. Have you been to Medeu? Have you been to the Green Bazaar and Panfilov Park? The one place I had not been (until today) was Kok Tobe.
My reason for delaying my visit to the enormous television tower on the green hill overlooking downtown was purely aesthetic. I really wanted to go up there on a clear day, and we have not had many clear days here since last October. This morning, though, I woke up to a brilliant blue sky and wonderful fresh air that still smelled like last night's rain. So I took the metro down to the end of Abay, bought my 2000 tg round trip ticket for the gondola, and went up to see the view. Here is a short video of the trip. Enjoy.
