Fun things to do in Kazakhstan

The Museum of Kazakh Instruments is well worth a visit. The building itself is charming -a quirky wooden structure with a pagoda-like roof, it was designed by the same architect who designed the Cathedral - Andrei Zenkhov, who obviously had a great affinity for working with wood.
Inside the rooms are well laid out and labelled with displays of wonderful traditional instruments. Song and music is an incredibly important part of Kazakh culture, the repository of much of the folklore, belief systems and history of these nomadic people and the museum is an important link in maintaining these traditions in a modern age.

The museum is open 1000 -1730, closed on Monday

A huge bronze sculpture, known as the Glory Memorial, brutally heroic in scale, is the memorial to the 28 Kazakh soldiers who, it is said, fought off 50 Nazi tanks in 1941 and so saved Moscow from the Nazis.

Their commander was General Panfilov for whom the park where the memorial now stands is named.

An eternal flame burns at the base of the memorial.

it's the most outstanding place here. People coming back again and again to ski- Everybody- from begginers to professionals

In 2013 there will be Olympic Games here!!!!!
Well, though we gotta wait for 7 years...

Observatory - Near "Big Almaty Lake"

Unbeknownst to the majority of people is Almaty's observatory, set on a bluff overlooking the twinkling emerald Big Almaty Lake. Set at an impressive 3,000m, this is the 4th highest observatory in the world. With a bit of digging, its possible to get there (it has its own bus), and for $20 you will be provided with some amazing views of the stars, and your own set of two astronomers for the evening. Its also possible to have a saunaq there - $20 and hour I think.

Almaty means "father of apples". The city was buit in 1854 as a Russian fortress called Verniy. It is still a very Russian city. Even though the capital of Kazakhstan has been recently transferred to unwelcome northern city of Astana, Almaty remains social, cultural and business center of the country.

They were purged and executed when Soviet power became complete in the mid 20's. Then, the remaining nomad Kazaks were forced into collective farms. Hundreds of thousands of them resisted, killed their herds and died of famine and disease.

The religious and cultural differences between the two communities are significant and there is no common national perception or identity. More than a million of the better educated slav have left. Nazarbaiev rules with an iron hand, in 1995 he won a referendum extending his tenure until 2001. The economy has been largely privatized but it is now controlled by seven big holdings with very close ties to the government.

This Gorky Park had all the trimmings, shaded lanes to stroll in, a zoo, rides and games for the children, cafes, bars and shashlick stands.

When the former Soviet Union fell apart, Moscow found itself with its largest cosmodrome in a foreign country. The cosmodrome is indeed large: it’s spread across 7360 square km. The name Baikonur is misleading. In fact, the cosmodrome is located near the village of Tyuratam and the city of Leninsk, about 380 km southwest of the old city of Baikonur. Construction of the first building in the Kazak steppe started 1955. All Russian manned space flights took off at Baiconur, including the legendary Juri Gagarin in April 1961. The foto shows a launch pad built in 1957 - and still in use!