Touchdown in Almaty

We awoke Saturday morning to find that we still had no hot water (it had gone out Thursday evening). Yikes, that's a cold shower that Jenny took this morning. Being a disgusting male, I decided to opt for smelling until we got home (I fit in better with the pungent aroma of many of the Kazakh males we have been on elevators with). Speaking of elevators, the elevator didn't work this morning, so we had to lug three large suitcases down 12 flights (thank goodness Tolgat took two bags and left me with one and a backpack....Jenny had our carry-on). Then Tolgat's car overheated in the parking lot when he turned the A/C on. Thankfully, he got it running again quickly and we were on our way.

Our bags were overweight again. (Frickin' Air Astana only allows 44 pounds per person no matter how many bags you have!) So we were already running a little late and we had to cross the terminal to pay the 7000 tenge (about $47) for the luggage. Ouch...they don't take credit and I had only 3600 tenge left after buying our plane tickets! Natasha and Natasha covered it for us (and then refused to take the $50 I tried to give them....their thank-you-gifts just got a whole lot nicer) and we finished our check-in. We got to the gate just before the plane doors closed because Jenny had to use the restroom.

The flight to Almaty was two and a half hours and was uneventful (although the food left something to be desired). We were met at the airport by Marina and her driver, who delivered us to the Hotel Alma-Ata (or Hotel Almaty). We relaxed for a little while and then ventured out to get some food at a nearby cafe that offers wi-fi. Our two paninis and two waters came out to 4600 tenge (or $36), so we were happy we weren't paying these prices for the last two and a half weeks!

Our hotel is located across the street from a really nice park (two different wedding parties were doing pictures as we walked through). Here's a monument in the park of Jambyl Jabayev, a famous Kazakh folksinger. We just thought it looked cool.



The park is located right next to the Abay Opera House, named after Kazakh poet, composer, and philosopher Abay Qunanbayuli, which is a pretty cool looking building itself.


It is now a little past 5pm here, so we are going to head back to the hotel to relax (nap?) before getting picked up at midnight for the ride back to the airport for our 3:15am flight to Frankfurt. We'll be home on Sunday afternoon.