Almaty Off The Beaten Path

Museums;
Archeological Museum
Dostyk 44,at zhambyt,behind the statue of Zhambyt
above the iskra cinema
ph;61-86-63

Auezov House Museum
Tulebayeva 185
ph;62-92-74

Book Museum
Kabanbai batyra 94,at Kunayeva
ph;62-22-13

Geological museum
Dostyk 85,between Kurmangazy and Abaya,in the Kazakh Business centre
ph;63-52-83

Central State Museum
Furmanova 44,south of Satpayeva,north of Ramstore
Ph;64-07-33

Kasteyev State Museum of fine Arts
Satpayeva 30A,between Baitursynuly and Baizakova,just east of the Hyatt Regency Almaty
ph;47-83-56

Museum of Kazakh Folk Musical Instruments
Zenkova 24,at Gogolya,at the east end of Panfilov Park
ph;61-63-16

Nature Museum
Shevchenko 28,east of Kunayeva,in the Academy of Science,first floor,east side
ph;49-13-75

Retro Car Museum
Zhandosova 23
ph;45-71-14

This museum was a very pleasant surprise. It's located in a rustic building in Panikov park near the city center. Inside is an incredible collection of musical instruments from Kazakhstan and virtually every other country in central Asia. Unfortunately there is no information in English, but the exhibits are fascinating nonetheless. The most interesting feature of my visit, however, was a concert played for me by one of the guides. An accomplished musician, she played and sang for almost a half hour on a variety of instruments for a modest fee of about $10. Unfortunately she had only a few words of English or German and narrated her concert in Russian, but it was a wonderful and uplifting experience all the same.

The only drawback was that I purchased a CD that I thought would be the instruments she played but turned out to be a rather old recording of a folk orchestra., but this is more the fault of my lack of Russian than deliberate deception. In any case, I'd recommend skipping the CD, but the mini-concert was really a highlight of my visit .

I arrived into Almaty on April 2, 2008 which was also the same day that the Olympic torch, for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, started its way around the globe. This was a great day for Almaty and Kazakhstan because for the first time in history Almaty had the honor to be the initial city on the schedule for the Olympic Torch Relay.

Although I did not get to see it, everyone in town was talking about it. In fact our taxi ride from the airport to the hotel encountered less than normal traffic because thousands of people went to see the Olympic Torch carried down the streets of Almaty.

The start of this relay began in the Medeu Valley at the famous Medeu Skating Rink.

The next day as I was driven up to see the skating rink and the dam we could see all of the signs and the safeguards that had greeted the spectators and the torch bearers alike.

It was a very joyous time in Almaty.

Almaty made a bid for the 2014 Olympic Games but came up short. However, they will be hosting the 2011 Asian Winter Games. So Almaty is gaining experience and probably one day will be host for an Olympic Games.

2 more images

About four hours drving east of Almaty, alongside the Altau Range on your right, you can get to Kegen and the Karkara valley that marks the border with Kyrgyzstan.
North of Kegen it is possible to visit the Charin Canyon, (€10), which is a quite spectacular geological surprise, a canyon, similar to those of Nevada, in the middle of Central Asia!
We headed south towards the Kyrgyz border on our way to Karakol, but I know that many Amaty based companies organize tours to Charin.

This is the place to come to enjoy some of the shows available almost all year round inside the "tent" or if you want to just hang around, practice some shooting, walk along the trees or enjoy an exciting ride on a camel or circus horses whose traineers can teach you a few tricks, just ask for Ramiz, Chinguiz or "Jackie Chan" :)

Did you ever wonder where was the original location of Snow White's seven dwarfs? Well, I am sure this won't settle the issue but I found another candidate among Kaz mountains :-)