To begin with: if you are a traveller with no knowledge in either Russian or Kazakh you would be in difficulties
. Russian is widely spoken there so I had no troubles in communication. People are friendly and in some sort the country resembles Russia.
Here are some photos from my mobile phone camera - I wish I had taken one of my compact photo camera.
I flew by Air Astana - national Kazakhstan aircompany - it seems to have most of aircraft in its fleet new. My journey began with flight delay, so I missed my connection at Almaty airport and had to spend a day in the city. We were 8 people, actually and aircompany brought us to a hotel in the city, where we had both breakfast and dinner
, I even managed to ramble through the city. Almaty is flanked by mountains by one side and steppe by three others - a mesmerizing view.
Here is a national museum
When I passed by it first time and stopped to take a photo I was fetched by a police officer, who was standing nearby and interrogated about what I do, I was also demanded to erase that photo and suggested to cross the road and take another photo. I did it on my way back of course, but that was a strange to me.
We set off for Shymkent in the evening, where our airplane arrived at 21pm.
The locals in Shymkent do not seem to have a taste for a good coffee, so in the cafes even in the hotels you are lickely to find an instant coffee only, with no options, it took me a day to find the places with coffee machines.
B727
The rings like this can be found throughout the city
A monument dedicated to Kazakhstan independence gained in 1991 with USSR collaps, but USSR has never left that place
rainbow
B737-700 of a local airline - a victim of our practical course
Yesterday in the evening I took a plane that brought me back to Almaty. I spend a long night at the airport in anticipation of a connecting flight
Mountains
and Kolpino
