Almaty, Kazakhstan

Located in the South of Kazakhstan and near the borders with Kyrgyzstan and China, the location of Almaty is an important and scenic one. My mother and I came down to Almaty to see what’s known to be a bustling city and the gorgeous mountain scenery that surrounds the place.

We arrived at night from Nur-Sultan and fell quickly to bed so we could hit the ground running the next day. We got a car to take us out to the Big Almaty Lake, which for good reason is the #1 recommendation for the city on TripAdvisor. If you want to drive up, you’ll need to get a car with the necessary permissions, so we used the hotel's recommended guide. This outing was the highlight of our stay— what a serene place.

Afterwards, we headed downtown to see an Orthodox Church. For dinner, we ate a Kyrgyz restaurant (you don’t see those every day) for some awesome plov (rice with carrots and meat) and manti (dumplings).

The following day, my mom and I walked around the downtown a bit more, as well as the mall by our hotel.

While our stay in Almaty was short, it has convinced me I need to return to Kazakhstan sometime soon. I look forward to incorporating it into an extensive trip to Central Asia because I’d ideally go overland on the Tajik Pamir Highway.

Now it’s off to Istanbul, where I’ll wait for my connection to Mogadishu, Somalia (which is certainly the craziest place I’ve ever been).