Bishkek back to Almaty

Bus #10, Distance travelled from Shanghai 10,530 km, Almaty's Golden Square, a comparative study of Central Asian English breakfasts

After the terrible drive back to Bishkek, I take it easy. I have a plan - check into the very nice hostel near the railway station I’d been in before, explore the cafes along the street from it (there are five in one block), go to the No Name Bar the other side of the hostel and then retire with a drink from the market downstairs. There is no response when I ring the bell for the hostel, except for a recorded message in Russian. Hmm. Thankfully the owner turns up shortly. I only go as far as the first cafe, directly across the street, called Avenue, and have perhaps the best dish of the entire journey. It’s claimed to be trout in spicy sauce with beans and tomatoes - there are substitutions: I get broccoli and I’m pretty sure the fish is salmon, but it’s very good.

It’s just a pity the service was not at the same standard - despite them having a call button, and me catching the waiter’s eye, he didn’t think to come and take my order until another customer alerts him that I am waiting. I take a post-dinner walk - there is an extended, although quite narrow, park that runs several blocks from the railway station - it’s a peaceful place to wander. One corner is set up for people to play various games - it’s quite busy.

The no name bar is not open, so scratch that, I just get two drinks from the market and set up with my laptop in the kitchen (my room mate has spread all her things over the desk), where I have a run in with a young woman: she quite insistently demand that I leave so she can cook. Thinking I might not have understood, she uses translate on my phone - so her rudeness wasn’t a language thing. The owner happens to wander past and calms her down - I stay and enjoy my drink.

In the morning, I try a different cafe - the Bellagio - for their version of an English breakfast. It’s not bad, and sets me up for my bus trip.

There’s a bus to Almaty at noon I plan to catch. An app shows me a local bus that will get me to the station and claims there’s one every five minutes. There isn’t, and the bus turns off well before the bus station, so I have to scurry, in the light rain. Then the ticket seller doesn’t take cards, so its back in the rain to an ATM. I get my bus ticket at about 5 to 12. It’s for seat 51. There is no seat 51, so I sit where I like and hope not to be disturbed. Then there’s lots of revving of the engine, and clanking of heavy spanners under the bus: they decide its not going anywhere, and we change buses. Still no seat 51, so I just grab the front seat - I can actually get a wee video of the landscape: the colours are muted because the upper part of the windscreen is tinted.

The border crossing back into Kazakhstan is very quick - a few old women, but they don’t seem to want to disrupt the queues. To speed things up, they actually have another bus waiting for us on the other side - it’s then a smooth ride back to the Almaty bus station.

I stay in Almaly, the central area known as Golden Square I mentioned in my previous missive from Almaty. One landmark is the Kazakhstan Hotel - obviously from the Soviet days. It’s right next to the Caspian University, which has a somewhat different architectural style.

Astana had been the capital of Kazakhstan - when it gained independence, the capital was moved to Astana: one claim is that the President did this to leave all the bureaucrats behind in Almaty. So there’s a Parliament building in Almaty, not used for much.

It’s also an important hospitality area - people are out enjoying themselves (I assume - I don’t actually ask anyone).

These two buildings are opposite my hostel - the one with pillars is the Kazakhstan-British Technical University, but I don’t know what the other is (looking it up as I write this reveals there is a Munich pub inside).

Since I don’t know there’s a pub so close, I go round the corner to the Irish pub, where I develop an interest in having some sausages with my beer.

I mentioned in an earlier post that Almaty has a great urban design feature - between its major streets, it has secondary streets which are as much park and communal space as they are street. Here’s a better example than the one I had earlier.

With so many cafes around, it is a tough choice picking one for breakfast. I walk around a bit before I decide on Fika - it’s a great looking building and has more signs of life than many of the others. It turns out to be a great choice: I try their version of an English breakfast. The circular thing is a hash brown - beautifully crunchy. The bread is another highlight. Best of all is the staff here - they obviously enjoy working with each other.

Cheers!