Welcome to Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan was a completely spontaneous decision. I just hopped on a plane and decided that I will go to Kazakhstan with no prior knowledge of any landmarks or activities or even history of the country. It was one of those at the moment decisions where I was sitting at work and said to myself, ” I need to get the … outta here for a bit.” So why not Kazakhstan?
I finally stayed in a nice hotel! Al Hamdullah!
The hotel receptionist was confused at why I even decided to visit Kazakhstan. He asked me straight out, why would you vacation here? Why didn’t you go to Maldives or somewhere else? This had me a little nervous thinking that I wouldn’t find anything interesting in Almaty at all, but thankfully I was wrong!
Almaty is a city on the rise. New Dubai-like buildings are popping up slowly while the old feel of Almaty is still present. As you can see from the pictures these beautiful mountains are in view just about anywhere you are in the city.
Panfilov Park
Is located in central-east Almaty in the area surrounding Zenkov Cathedral. The park is dedicated and named after the Panfilov Heros. The memorial in the park is in memory of the 28 soldiers of an Almaty infantry unit who died fighting the Nazis outside Moscow.
An eternal flame commemorating the fallen of 1917-20 (the Civil War) and 1941-45 (WWII), burns in front of the giant black monument of soldiers from all 15 Soviet republics.
Zenkov Cathedral
Big Almaty Lake
There are many tour companies in Almaty that will charge you an arm and a leg to see the wonderful nature of Kazakhstan. If you choose to rent your own car and look around yourself, which in some cases can be helpful, it can be very costly. I personally do no prefer to drop big bills on my travels, therefore I took the bus up to Big Almaty lake for 50 cents, 1 dollar roundtrip! However when I got off the bus there was still a 15 km hike straight up to the lake. I was determined to hike it, but Phil was determined to kill me …. therefore we hiked for a bit.. then we hitchhiked…. COMPROMISE 🙂
Unhappy Phil
Finally the Lake
and a very very
Happy Julie
Shymbulak Ski Resort
So after checking out the city for a few days I was really amazed by the beauty of Almaty. However things took a turn from amazement to complete obsession when I found out there was a ski resort only a few minutes away! Yes there is an amazing ski resort in Almaty! Welcome to Shymbulak!
Snowboarding above the clouds!
Gondola ride
The ski resort is actually located on top of the mountains. You must first take a long gondola ride up to the mountains to access the ski lifts. There is also the option of booking resorts that are located on top of the mountain. Once I reached the top it was powder heaven! Music blasting, tons of people, and great restaurants to choose from!
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