That one day (really soon) we'll be buying Rick Steve’s Guide to Almaty, Kazakhstan? According to a recent NY Times article, the former Kazakh capital is becoming an emerging travel destination. The city where we take our children to become U.S. citizens has become quite the “in” spot, thanks to all the new oil money flowing in. Supposedly, the main boulevards have signs in English. You can purchase fancy-schmancy coffee drinks, Armani suits, gem-encrusted Vertu cell phones and more. Soon there will be sightings of Britney, Lindsay and Paris, among the Luba's, Natalya's and Ecatarina's.
With the euro rising by the minute, pray we can get over there before the price of a hotel room is well beyond reach. Can anyone say Dubai?
5 comments:
LOL! It is definitely all that and more! My first view of Almaty coming off the plane was of a Porche dealership. And I was riding in a big SUV at the time on a three lane highway! Hmm... Not the third world country I was led to believe.
As for the Britney, Lindsey, and Paris... yeah. Already there. Techno is on it's way out, and rap is solidly part of the musical adventure. American Rap. Made me wonder how many people actually understood what was being said. Maybe more than I would imagine!
For all that, Almaty is a prety cool city. I can see why it's gaining in popularity. One couple likened it to San Francisco. Very trendy in the areas we saw and were in.
I can't wait for you guys to see it!
Well at least you shouldn't have much trouble find your way around.
Almaty..who knew
My first glimpse of Almaty was of some of the less desirable areas. On that first day there I thought it was an awful place. When we got to Ust we actuall thought IT was better than Almaty. We learned differently on the way back through going home.
It really is an amazing city with so much to see and do. The mountains are beautiful. The city itself is very modern and stylish. Malls, stores, restaurants, parks and so much more. Enjoy your days there.
So true, So true. It was a very upwardly mobile city. We spent 2 and a half long and expensive weeks there waiting for our son's passport. We preferred the smaller town where our son was born. I likened it more to Paris. We experienced some very rude grocery ladies and the food prices were unbelievable. The mountains were beautiful and had we been located closer to the Green Bizarre and artsy district, I think we would have shopped more but our apartment was in the business district...closer to the US consulate. I think the hotels are already quite pricey for what you get which is why we were happy that our longer than normal time there was in an 80 dollar a night apartment. The lonely planet guide also has maps and lots of info on Almaty for first time visitors. We had the book but at the end of our 10 week journey, we forgot that we had it and just wanted to kick ourselves when we got back and realized we could have used it to navigate the big city of Almaty and maybe visit more than the mean grocery ladies! ;) Karen K.
Well, compared to Semey we feel like we are in the Emerald City, that is for sure! Yes, it can be very expensive and there are quite chi-chi coffee shops etc. - and hotels - but the candy, juice and soda all cost less here than at home - but we cannot figure out why!!!
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