Astounding Astana: Kazakhstan, Georgia & more

[Mattg]

Frankfurt, Germany



It was a wet morning in Frankfurt so I didn't venture too far. Between some last minute shopping I visited Der Römer.







And 2 hours later it was back to the airport...



Getting from FRA to the city is very easy. There are frequent trains that do the trip in just 15 minutes and the fare was around €9 return.

 

[Mattg]

LH646 Frankfurt - Astana - Almaty
Departure time: 13:20
Arrival time: 01:30 (next day)
Airbus A330-300
Business class

Lufthansa operates daily flights from Frankfurt to Almaty. These run via Astana 3x per week, including on the day I took the flight. My flight was completely full for the first sector, but around 100 passengers left in Astana. Lufthansa does not have rights to carry passengers on the domestic leg between Astana and Almaty, so no new passengers joined the flight during the transit.

Lufthansa runs a 4-class configuration on its A330-300. For this flight I was in 4C, an aisle seat at the back of a mini Business cabin situated directly behind First class. The Business seats were almost identical to the A380 with a 2-2-2 layout.

My seat in the recline position:



The 2-row mini-Business cabin (sorry for the poor picture quality):



This was another enjoyable flight. Lunch was served a couple of hours after takeoff. I'm afraid I forgot to take any photos of the menu, but a full three-course meal was offered with 3 choices of starters, mains and desserts.

For the starter I had a chicken salad.



The main course was a tasty prawn dish with rice, vegetables and a side salad.



Dessert was a cheese plate.

 

[Mattg]

The flight attendants looking after my section were fantastic. Super friendly and regularly coming through the cabin to check if anyone wanted anything.

The flight to Astana was not long enough to warrant a second full meal service, so a snack plate was served an hour prior to landing.



It was almost 11pm when we landed in Astana. But as it was the middle of the northern hemisphere summer, the sun was only just setting. We had around an hour on the ground while passengers disembarked, we refuelled and cargo was unloaded. The plane was not cleaned between flights.

As my seat neighbour left the flight in Astana I moved over to the window seat for the 1 hour, 45 minute flight to Almaty.



A small meal was served on this leg, along with a choice of fresh breads.



We arrived in Almaty on time at 1:30am. Our flight landed at the same time as a flight from Urumqi so there was a bit of a queue at immigration. But our bags hadn't appeared yet by the time I got through. The lady at immigration didn't seem to speak English and didn't ask me any questions. I didn't need to show any documents (other than my passport and the "migrational card" I filled out on the plane). Australians do not require a visa to visit Kazakhstan.

LH646 was not listed on any of the baggage carousels. Eventually bags from our flight started appearing on several different carousels.

I had pre-booked an airport transfer to the place I was staying. Unfortunately the guy forgot to show up. Unsure what to do, I headed to the information counter where a very helpful lady tried to contact my hotel. By now it was 2am. I ended up just taking a taxi. I had withdrawn 20,000 tenge from the airport ATM using my Citibank card, which I thought should cover the taxi. Turns out the 18km trip cost only 1,500 tenge (less than $6) and I ended up clearing the driver out of all of his change. I felt bad but there was nothing I could do at that point - he didn't take credit cards.

 

[drron]

Have been waiting for this bit.Great TR so far.

 

[kermatu]

We'll have to meet up and talk about Preservation bay and Sulphur Creek.

Made a point of driving through Sulphur Creek and Preservation Bay a few times when in Tassie in January. With the benefit of age and hindsight, the water quality probably left a lot to be desired, but sure was nice to have the entire beach at Preservation Bay to ourselves most summer days as a kid.

Back on-topic, I too loved exploring Templehof Field. Pretty much had the place to myself one Autumn afternoon a few years' back and traversed all the runways and taxiways. A brilliant initiative of the Berlin authorities for what would surely be highly valued land.

 

[Mattg]

Almaty, Kazakhstan

WOW, what can I say? Kazakhstan was undoubtedly the highlight of this trip. It was so different to anywhere else I've been before.

A lot of people know Kazakhstan because of Borat, but it's so much more than that.

The country used to be part of the Soviet Union (officially the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic), where Almaty was the capital. Kazakhstan gained independence in 1991 and the capital was moved to Astana in 1997. Almaty is still the country's largest city with around 2 million people.

There is evidence of the country's Soviet history everywhere. Soviet architecture features heavily. To this day, most Kazakhs speak both Kazakh and Russian. Very few people speak English, though some of the younger people could speak it a little bit. Those that couldn't speak English would still try to help you. Most signs are in Kazakh and Russian, and many are also translated into English - particularly at airports and tourist locations.

Almaty is undoubtedly a historic city, but there were plenty of modern aspects too. The CBD is full of skyscrapers and surprisingly modern. The city also boasts a brand new metro system that opened just 7 years ago.

Around 70% of Kazakhstan's population are Muslims, but the government is officially secular and there don't seem to be any religious tensions.

On my first night in Almaty I slept just 4 hours as I had planned to do the free walking tour at 9am. As soon as I left my hotel, I stopped noticing how tired I was. I was completely immersed by the surroundings.

This was the first "free walking tour" I've ever done that was genuinely free. The guide did not ask for, nor expect, tips. Instead, their business model is that the tour ends at a tour booking office where you can book other excursions. But we were in no way pressured to do so.

After the tour I spent the rest of the afternoon sightseeing around Almaty. Here are a few highlights...

Ascension Cathedral:



Central Mosque:



Republic Square:





Here you can see the Almaty Tower in the background:

 

[Mattg]

Some more photos from around Almaty...

 

[Mattg]

The roads around the city were generally good. Once you got outside the city, the quality deteriorated somewhat. Having said that it was not uncommon to find roads being torn up in the city centre.

Again, meat featured heavily in the local cuisine. Pastries filled with meat were extremely common.

I had a bit of a laugh at this drinks menu..

 

[Mattg]

When I bought this burger, the young man behind the counter was super keen to practice his English. After asking me if I wanted a "pig" or "cow" burger we had a bit of a chat and he asked if I was in Kazakhstan for the Expo. (This was a very common question... I'll get to the Expo shortly.)

Ten minutes later my burger was ready and it came with this little message written on it:



This seemed to be the business district:



I took a ride on the Almaty metro and was very impressed. The stations had an unmistakable Soviet feel about them but the system was new, clean and efficient.

Heading into the metro...



Each station entry had these machines that you could insert coins into. At first I thought they were ticket machines, but no, they were poker/slot machines. To buy a ticket you had to pass through a security checkpoint and go to a ticket window. There they gave you a plastic coin which was inserted into the turnstiles. A ride cost 80 tenge, or around 30 cents. (A bus trip cost the same amount.)



Station artwork:

 

[kamchatsky]

Great TR. Looking forward to see more of Kazakhstan ...

 

[Mattg]

The platforms were a LONG way down!

 

[Mattg]

Almaty is surrounded by mountains. The next day I took the bus to Shymbulak, which is a ski resort on one of these mountains and around 25 minutes from Almaty. As it was summer there was no skiing during my visit.



One thing I noticed during my time in Kazakhstan is that road rules are optional. Even bus drivers would talk on the phone while driving, and cars would not always stop at red lights or pedestrian crossings. It made crossing the road a bit of a challenge. But I digress...

At Shymbulak I took the cable car right up to the top. There were some fantastic views of the mountains from there, and you could look down over Almaty from right at the top.







Shymbulak had an outdoor ice skating rink and lots of restaurants & bars. You could also go hiking.

Although I didn't have enough time, there were also several day trips available out of Almaty to places including Big Almaty Lake, the singing dunes and Charyn canyon. You could even do a 2-day trip to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. (Australians do not need a visa for Kyrgyzstan either.)

 

[Mattg]

The night before I checked out, I asked the reception at my hotel if they could book me a taxi for 7am the next morning. I was told that this wasn't necessary as the reception was staffed 24/7 and they could order one in the morning. Well, that wasn't the case and when I headed down to reception at 7am the next morning there was nobody to be seen! I couldn't order a taxi for myself as I don't speak Kazakh, and the hotel was on a quiet back street so I couldn't just go outside a hail a cab. I didn't have much time before my flight left so I opened up the Uber app in the hope that Uber's world domination had reached Almaty. Sure enough, it had and a car turned up for me about 15 minutes later!

I hadn't allowed much time spare time anyway, so by this point I was in grave danger of missing my flight. I wasn't able to explain this to the driver, but it didn't seem to matter as he drove like a maniac anyway, swerving in and out of lanes etc. He smoked the whole way to the airport while listening to Eminem at full volume... but I did (just) make it to the airport on time and, hey, it was kinda fun.

That morning I was flying back to Astana with Kazakhstan's flag carrier, Air Astana.

You had to pass through a security checkpoint just to enter the terminal. Once inside, the terminal was tiny. Announcements were made only in Kazakh and Russian, though most of the staff could speak English.

The domestic departures area:



KC851 Almaty - Astana
Departure time: 08:45
Arrival time: 10:30
Boeing 757
Economy class

On the whole, I was impressed with Air Astana. The Boeing 757 was a little old-school but it was clean, the seats were comfortable and it seemed to be well-maintained.

Quick legroom shot:



Announcements were made in Kazakh, Russian and then English. Overhead screens played some TV shows during the flight and wifi streaming entertainment was also available.



A hot pastry filled with spinach & feta was served on the flight, along with drinks. Boiled lollies were also handed out at the start and end of the flight.

 

[Mattg]

Some of the scenery out the window...





Approaching Astana





The lady sitting next to me was a fairly obvious first-time flyer. Among other things she started making phone calls 10 minutes before we landed, and stood up to get her bag from the overhead locker while we were still on the runway!

We arrived 10 minutes early.

 

[Major]

It certainly looks like an astounding part of the World

 

[RooFlyer]

This is one of those damn trip reports that keeps me poor. I've already lined up a couple of Air Serbia flights.

I know you didn't do it, but did you do any investigations into getting to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan from Almaty? That's my tentative plan if I get there.

 

[tgh]

Great tr, do you have any language skills or did you just wing it ?

 

[Mattg]

This is one of those damn trip reports that keeps me poor. I've already lined up a couple of Air Serbia flights.

I know you didn't do it, but did you do any investigations into getting to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan from Almaty? That's my tentative plan if I get there.

You should be able to book a 2 or 4 day trip to Bishkek through pretty much any travel agency in Almaty. My hotel could arrange a private 2-day tour for USD600 per car, or USD800 for 4 days. Obviously the price per person came down if you had more than one person. That included all meals, accommodation, entrance fees etc. Apparently the road from Almaty to Bishkek is only 220km but they allow 4 hours, including for the border crossing. Air Astana also has daily flights from ALA to FRU, and they're reasonably priced, so you could do-it-yourself.

Great tr, do you have any language skills or did you just wing it ?

I speak a few languages, including German. I don't speak Russian, but I did learn a few basic words and I learned to read the Cyrillic alphabet before this trip. That helped a lot with things like street signs.

Mostly in countries like these I just wing it. Where possible I try to stay in hostels and do English-speaking tours etc. in the hope of meeting other English speakers. But there was inevitably a lot of pointing, gesturing etc.

 

[Mattg]

Astana, Kazakhstan

While Almaty was full of history, Astana was almost the polar opposite. The city is brand new and architecturally stunning.

Prior to becoming the capital city in 1997 there had been a small town here with various different names, including Tselinograd and Akmola. It was renamed (again) to Astana in 1998.

Astana was purpose-built in the 1990s, almost from scratch, to replace Almaty as the capital. It's a planned city, similar to Canberra or Brasilia. The vast majority of the buildings were built in the last 25 years.

From the airport, it was an easy trip into the city on the number 10 bus. The bus went straight into the city in 20 minutes and the fare was 90 tenge (around 35 cents). You paid the conductor after getting on board. Unlike in Almaty, the bus conductors in Astana wore a uniform and were easily identifiable. (This avoided the embarrassing situation I had in Almaty where I didn't realise the guy asking me for money was a conductor - I thought he was a beggar. )

From the moment I arrived in Astana I was hit by a "wow-factor". The city's architecture is seriously impressive! Here are some photos from around the city centre...

 

[Mattg]