If I remember correctly, our guide claimed to be of Mongolian descent. Be that as it may, she did explain the breakdown of the population. There are three tribal regions each with many sub-tribes and they are not allowed to intermarry. The population of Kazakhstan is made up predominantly of Kazakhs (~70%), 15 % Russian and a number of other small ethnic groups including Uzbeks and Ukrainians. The country, and its history, is vast so this is just a tiny snippet.
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| Ascension Cathedral |
Today we embarked on a whirl-wind walking tour of Almay. First stop Panfilov Park which was cool and shaded by a variety of trees - elm, chestnut, spruce, mulberry and oak to name a few. The park is home to the spectacular Ascension Cathedral (locally called Zenkov), one of the world’s tallest wooden buildings. It was built with wood using some pretty amazing engineering technology to protect it from earthquakes – a huge earthquake occurred in 1910 destroyed most of Almaty’s buildings. The cathedral is crowned by four golden ‘onion domes’ and inside it glitters and gleams – quite glorious.
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| Monument of the national hero Bauyrzhan Momyshuly |
From the sublime to the darkness of war memorialised in the ‘Park of 28 Panfilov Guardsmen’. The park honours not only these 28 men who defended Moscow in WWII but soldiers who fought in other wars. It was very sobering and was topped off by a special visit to the war museum (closed to the public) before we were taken to inspect a line of historic war machines - cars, trucks, tanks, cannon-carriers and rocket launchers. We breathed a sigh of incomprehension at the suffering experienced by the Kazakh people over too many decades (and usually fighting someone else’s wars). It is worth remembering that for seven decades or more Kazakhstan was part of the USSR.
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| This monument honors Kazakh soldiers who died in Afghanistan and other conflicts |
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| Glory Memorial depicting the heroic defense of the city during World War II |
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| Honouring the soldiers of the Guards Rifle Regiment who died in the Battle of Stalingrad in WW II |
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| The defence building |
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| A monument to the 'Golden Man" |
After lunch we had a fleeting visit to the National Museum. We had visited this in 2016 but today we saw new exhibits. It houses wonderful displays showing the life of the nomadic people as well as the Golden Man (or ‘Golden Warrior’). He was an ancient Scythian nomad who lived around 400 to 300 BCE. He and a load of golden treasure were found in burial mounds 30-odd km east of Almaty.
Not ready to rest – huh! we boarded a cable car which took us up Kok Tobe, the highest hill in Almaty, with a recreation park on top which allowed panoramic views over the city and out to the surrounding Alatau mountains. The park had expanded considerably since our visit nine years earlier.
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| Part of the cable car superstructure - I love cable cars! |
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| A view over Almaty from Kok Tobe |
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| April, one of our group, holding a Golden Eagle - very big birds |
That evening we were to board a train which would take us west overnight to Turkistan both a city and region of Kazakhstan. The evening started with another large meal and then a mad dash to the train station. It was raining heavily so the traffic was horrendous. We finally got to the station, tumbled out of the bus, grabbed our luggage and made a mad dash to the train through ankle-deep water and pelting rain. No one knew what carriage we were supposed to be in, but the train was waiting to leave so we all piled in with our luggage and then had to drag our stuff through six carriages under the scowing looks of passengers already on board. We were the cause of the delay it seems - they had held the train for us. In the end, we sat for another half hour or so before the train left the station. We were rather sodden and had to lay our clothes out to dry. But in the end, we were finally enroute to Turkestan on a very bumpy overnight train ride.
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| We were treated to the best Kazakhstan could offer |
The sun finally dawned after a dreadfully rough night. On the positive side, our clothes and shoes were pretty much dry and the sun was shining. We breakfasted on an egg and bacon sandwich which I’d cobbled together from the breakfast table the morning before, plus yogurt and some wasabi broad beans - self-catering on the road can produce some interesting combinations (fortunately most of our meals were provided and usually we only had to cover one, or just occasionally two, meals ourselves). Along the way we would just get our head around interpreting what the food items were in the shops before we are whisked off to another country and new food ID challenges. All part of the adventure.
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| We rushed through a deluge |
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| Horse meat pate which I longed to taste but didn't but the shelves were quite an adventure |
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