Thinking Allowed: Autumn in Almaty

We have spent two very relaxing weeks in Alamaty in Kazakhstan. I had booked tickets into Western China but that was where our future plans ended, so, two weeks of catching up on schoolwork and planning was just what we needed. I was a bit worried it would be cold at this time of year but we have been pleasantly treated by the weather gods and have had two weeks of brisk air and sunshine. From our airplane Almaty looks like a city on the edge of a vast desert. The reality is far different with the city being surprisingly green and with constant views of the mountains. This is a city that claims the origin of the wild domesticated apple. It is from this claim to fame that Almaty was named - father of apples. November was the prime time to be in the city of apples as the markets were awash with many apple varieties. The city is very walker friendly with its broad tree lined sidewalks. It is also a very large spread out city so on our long long walks we were glad for the pleasant walking corridors. We were also glad for the endless playgrounds dotting the streets. We stayed a little out of the center of town in an apartment complex largely populated with families making for a very convivial property playground scene. Almaty in general seemed to be full of children. Perhaps it is the dual shift public school schedule that meant we were always seeing children around or the neighbourhood we chose to stay in, but, regardless it was nice having kids all around. Unlike Uzbekistan which has been slowly and intentionally drifting from its Russian past, Kazakhstan is still very much aligned with Russia and Russian seemed to be used and spoken as a main language in Almaty. We had the good fortune of going to a circus in town. Circus was an important part of Soviet culture and Almaty thus has its own permanent circus venue in the centre of town. We were wowed by the acrobats and underwhelmed by the seal (except for Levana). Super Silva's netless trapeze act (search for the video) literally had me holding my breath. Levana got to go trick or treating for the first time, and even though it was just door to door within our apartment and involved five candies, she loved it. We visited both the modern and state art museums and both were impressive and even held Tova's attention and imagination. The climbing gym as usual was also very popular. It was a pleasant and quiet two weeks that we have all enjoyed and recharged us for the next step of our journey. Perhaps we will make it back one day to do the endless number of hikes in Almaty's backyard.