Almaty

Fri 7/6/24

Since Kazakhstan didn't have daylight saving, we had to wait a few hours from sunrise at 4.15am until cafes open for breakfast at the earliest at 8am. While waiting, we had tea that we takeaway from yesterday, reheated with the jug kettle that we brought from home. Our room didn't have tea making facilities, as hot water is provided outside via the water dispenser. 

We ventured out at 8am and chose the nearby Vanilla café to have breakfast of latte, cappuccino and pastries for KZT 3300. After breakfast, we walked to the Park of 28 Panfilov Guardsmen. We sat and enjoyed the views of the park, then walked to the Ascension Cathedral, a wooden Russian Orthodox cathedral.

breakfast of latte and pastries

Park of 28 Panfilov Guardsmen

Ascension Orthodox Cathedral

Ascension Orthodox Cathedral

From the cathedral, we then walked to the Almaty Central mosque and performed prayers there. 

Almaty central mosque

inside the mosque

inside the mosque

From the mosque, we walked to Green Bazaar to do some shopping. We bought keychains and fridge magnets as souvenirs for KZT 10000, 4 types of local honey for KZT 5000, 700g of cherry for KZT 1000 (RM15 /kg) very cheap!, local fruit tea for KZT 5000, macadamia nuts for KZT 5000 and 2 types of apricot for KZT 2000 each. It was getting really hot outside and our stuff was getting heavy already, so we decided to walk back to our hotel. On the way back to the hotel, we bought 2 samosas or самса for KZT 350 each.

strawberry and honey in Green bazaar

samosa

We rested in our room for scorching hot sun and ventured out again at 1.30pm to take the metro to Rumi restaurant to have lunch. We walked to the Zhibek Zholy metro station (which means Silk Road). The metro stations in Almaty are beautifully decorated with chandeliers and stained glass windows. It only costs KZT 100 per ride per person, regardless of how many stations. We took the metro from Zhibek Zholy to Almaly (1 station), then walked to Rumi restaurant. For lunch, we had plov and dumplings in tomato soup with a pot of tea for KZT 7337. 

Almaly station

Zhibek Zholy station

plov

dumpling in tomato soup

It was actually just a short distance from the restaurant back to our hotel, so we decided to just walk back. At the hotel, we enjoyed the welcoming drink of hot latte and cappuccino. For the rest of the day, we spent by packing our backpacks with the souvenirs (mostly food). We would be heading out early to the airport tomorrow to catch our flight at 9am. 

welcoming drink

Unfortunately that night, we were rudely awakened by a man who banged on our door in the middle of the night asking strange questions such as who were in the room. We complained this later to the hotel during check out. The hotel did not have security measures such as lift access to only hotel guests.