Almaty
Almaty is a relatively new city for this region. It was developed by the Russians in the early 19th C from a small village; only after Tsarist Russia took control of the region did it became the capital of Kazakhstan. It remained the capital until 1997 when the President had the government move to Astana, which is closer to the middle of the country rather than the in far South East as Almaty lies.
The name of the city was first mentioned in a Chinese document in the 13th C that spoke of a stop on the Silk Road that had to do with apples, Alma means apples in Kazakh and this area considered by some scholars to be the origin of that fruit. They have their own Johnny Appleseed story, and the apple is the city’s symbol. During the Soviet period the “ata” was added, so that the city became “the Father of Apples”. Legend has it that the Kazakh nation was founded near where the city currently sits. The Kazakhs are often described as three main tribes/ethnic groups (hordes) that each took separate territories in what is now Kazakhstan and part of NW Uzbekistan. Part of their nomadic tribal culture was that they would follow a particular leader when it suited them, and when it didn’t clans could leave and join another tribe with a leader more suited to their tastes. This wasn’t necessarily considered disloyal, but was more about what was practical for the tribe. So when the Kokand Khanate took over the Almaty region and began to bleed the people dry with excessive taxes. the local clans decided to switch rulers and asked Tsarist Russia for help overthrowing the Khanate. They came, the Kokands left, then the Russians promptly took over in 1854, and didn’t officially leave until Independence in 1991. Kazakhstan, according to one article I looked at in the hotel, was the last country to declare independence. They had done fairly well under the Soviets, if one can overlook all the nuclear testing that was done on the Steppes, but it seems that the local population was blissfully unaware of that activity, so couldn’t become upset about it. Today, even though the President has stated that Kazakhstan will be a tri-lingual nation, Kazakh, Russian and English, the signs are all in Cyrillic rather than in Latin script and are designated in only the first two languages. English is not a language to rely on here.
Like some of the other cities we visited in Central Asia, Almaty still shows the remnants of Soviet architecture, but they are doing more to replace it quickly than the others. And contrary to what has been done in Ashgabat, Almaty blends the old and new quite nicely. We didn’t get to Astana, the architecturally futuristic capital, but it is supposed to be as impressive as the Turkmenistan cityscape. This is yet another instance where the leaders of these countries compete with one another.
I’ve taken to calling it ‘The Boys Club’ as, with the exception of Kyrgyzstan which had had a few leaders -who were replaced for their corrupt practices-, the others have the same ruler as they did in the Soviet times. The only other exception is Turkmenistan, where the current President was the protégé of the first, who died. Sometimes they take good ideas from one another, like planting trees, but then in order to outdo the others go hog wild, which leads to unintended negative consequences, like not having enough water for the people as too many trees were planted in the desert.
There is virtually nothing architecturally left from before the Russian period, but there are some very nice wooden buildings still from the Tsarist era. Perhaps the best known of this kind is the Zenkov Cathedral. It is supposed to be the second tallest wooden building in the world, even the pegs that were used instead of nails are wooden. As they were concerned with the possibility of fires, they have since covered the inside frame with concrete. The building is quite impressive on the outside with its vibrant tangerine façade with white highlights, blue window frames and glistening gold onion domes. Inside there are a number of beautiful icons on the pillars and large panels of images for the main and side altars. I was amazed to see so many people going in to the Church to pray, and there was one particular icon of Mary that seemed to attract the most attention and ritual.
When I asked I was told that a little over a quarter of the population in Kazakhstan is Russian Orthodox and a considerably ‘higher number’ in Almaty are, although I wasn’t able to find out what the ‘higher number’ might be. The Cathedral is set within one of the major parks just down the walkway from the memorial to fallen soldiers, which is an absolutely bombastic piece of Soviet sculpture. The 28 Panfilov Heroes Memorial Park is lined with (what we call) Colorado Blue Spruces, each of the 28 trees were planted by a president from either a former Soviet Republic or another country, e.g., Spain or Turkey. Behind the Memorial is another wonderful wooden building, this one holding the Museum of Folk Instruments. It is a small gem. Some of the instruments are beautifully made, but others show their wear and tear, which is great as it shows they were played until they were worn out. Some, like the double necked guitar or the bow harp are simply bizarre, but in a good way; I have no idea how one would even hold them to play. While we were going through the museum there was a folk felt and textile competition going on in the back rooms and we caught the judges evaluating a couple of the pieces. In the next room was an exhibition from a Hungarian dressmaker of felt clothes. The picture didn’t come out particularly well, so trust me when I say that she created stunning pieces.
The National Museum was a bit of a disappointment as I had thought the famous “Golden Man” from Issyk Kurgan was there, but it had been relocated to Astana. They had a replica of the Scythian Prince, but it wasn’t like seeing the real 5th C BCE Golden Armour. I was also not allowed to take pictures.
The cosmopolitan modern nature of Almaty stands in sharp contrast to the other Central Asian capitals we have visited. The roads are wide enough for traffic, the shops are clean and large, the grocery store had European bottled waters, even the Vöslauer from Austria that I like (although they are charging $7 for what should be $1.5, so I didn’t buy it), and the cars look new and fancy. Mercedes Benz does a good business here, and there is even a Bentley dealer. The country’s oil has made life easier for the people it seems, not just for President Nazarbeyev and his family.
The city hosted the Asian Winter Games not too long ago and the ski jumps are right in town as is the bobsled path. The Skating Rink (the world’s highest in altitude) is a little ways outside of town behind Koek Toebe (Green Hill) which is a cable car ride from downtown. The hill is the gateway to the Zailiysky Alatau Mountains on the south side of the city & on the north of Bishkek. The cities aren’t too far from one another as the crow flies, but given the mountains, & border procedures, it does take awhile to get between the two. Green Hill is a wonderful park for the city residents complete with a small amusement park and sort of sad zoo for the kids. There are some nice cafes with great views of the city for those a bit too old for the rides. In one of the cafes they had a cage with two birds and I had to do a double take, because it was a very scruffy and tattered Matty, my Australian Rosella. The other one was a paler more pastel version of my bird. I trust my Matty is doing much better than the one on Green Hill. (fyi. The name comes from the Aussie song, “Dancing Mathilde”.)
As we had been to the bazaars in all the other cities, we had to go see this one as well. It was very different from the others. It was relatively clean, there were individual shops outside of the fruit & vegetable dealers, which were neatly lined up on tables inside. It was difficult to say where the bazaar ended and the regular shops began as they flowed smoothly into one another. I guess the real bazaar is just the section underneath an office building, but the paths led me to other sections as well. Paul bought a couple of peaches, one of which he ate on the side of the street. He’d just finished it and was about to throw the pit away when he saw a tiny worm crawling on his finger. My desire for a juicy piece of fruit disappeared.
Almaty was our last city in Central Asia. Paul flew back to the States & I flew on to Jammu via Delhi. My anxiety about what to expect in Central Asia proved to be needless. It is a very safe area to travel in, and it is incredibly rich in history and culture. Each of the five countries we visited was dramatically different from the other. The distinctive ethnic groups that make up the majority of the population in each of the countries have long histories of getting along and not getting along. This may still cause problems in the not too distant future as water, not oil, becomes the most valued natural resource.
