First Thoughts on Almaty, Kazakhstan – My First Time In Central Asia

Whenever I land somewhere new, I like to write down my first thoughts of the place.

You only get a first impression once and something that I may find strange now, might feel normal in a few days, weeks, months or on a future visit. It is also a way just to jot down my thoughts and see if these change over time or if I still think the same when I leave.

Having never been to Central Asia before, landing in Almaty in Kazakhstan wasn’t quite the culture shock I was expecting.

Arrivals problems

After arriving at the airport and getting a sim card, I then tried to find a bus to take me to the city centre and where I was staying. I have no idea where the bus stop was and anyone I tried to ask pointed me to local taxis. For some reason my Yandex app (the equivalent to Uber to order taxis) wasn’t working.

After finding an obscure YouTube channel showing me that I had to walk 5 minutes to a bus stop outside the airport area, I waited a few minutes and jumped on the big green bus.

The streets are wide and busy. The city, with it’s grid like system, seemed easy to navigate. Crossing the main roads is easy as everybody obeys the red and green man and every junction has a crossing that makes it easy to walk everywhere.

Like most of these former Soviet countries, my apartment isn’t the most appealing from the outside. The grey concrete blocks and solid metal doors don’t look inviting, but once inside the apartment was clean, spacious and had everything I would need.

There are small shops on the bottom floor of the apartment blocks facing the road. Small businesses, coffee shops, minimarts and everything in between. A place for people to live and for them to work underneath. It dates back to Soviet times but still works in todays society.

The concrete, Soviet style residential blocks just outside the city centre are juxtaposed with modern high rise buildings made of steel and glass rising above the traditional statues of horses and the mayors office, an imposing block of concrete in the middle of Republic Square. It is a nod to the future growing out of the past.

The rush hour traffic is crazy. Police come onto the roads to direct traffic, making the traffic lights redundant for a short while. But despite that, people are still walking everywhere. The wide pavements make it easy and the regular crossings, where cars will happily stop as you approach, mean strolling around the city is a breeze. Electric scooters race past me. As do electric bikes delivering food. The scooters are often left all over the pavement when the user has finished with them.

I suppose that’s the same all over the world now.

The people

My first thoughts are how the people seem friendly. There isn’t much English spoken but the few I’ve interacted with have made an effort. My one regret is that I should have learnt more Russian (which I already know a few words of) instead of trying to learn Kazakh (which is like nothing I’ve ever learnt before). Russian would also come in handy in other countries.

Kazakh, not so much.

The only person who hasn’t been friendly was at the supermarket who shouted at me for putting my shopping at the top of the belt instead of close to her. Maybe that’s a cultural faux pas that I’ve just offended her with? Or maybe she’s just lazy and didn’t want to stretch too much?

The people aren’t what I was expecting either. I wasn’t sure what to expect but there is a mix of white slavic Russians with ethnic Kazakhs that look similar to what you would expect in East Asia. Or they could be any one of the more than 20 ethic groups that make up this fascinating country.

It’s one reason why I don’t do too much research before heading to a new destination. I like the surprise of when I get there.

If I had watched hundreds of hours of YouTube videos on Kazakhstan, I may not have been surprised by anything I would have seen. That’s the fine balance of social media, use it enough for inspiration but not enough to ruin any surprises.

Work and play

I joined a coworking space as I’ll be working during my time here. It is genuinely one of the best coworking spaces I’ve ever been to. I’ll have a guide to being a digital nomad here up after I leave.

I then booked a tour into the mountains for the weekend. The nature is where Kazakhstan really stands out.

First impressions of a destination are so important. Especially when it is my first time in this region of the world, those impressions are heightened. My senses eagerly looking for differences.

But my first thoughts on Almaty are positive. I think I’ll like it here.

Summing up my first thoughts on Almaty

You only get your first thoughts once, but my initial impressions of Almaty are overwhelmingly positive. It seems like a very good modern city that is trying to escape its Soviet roots.

The people are nice, there is ample things to see and do and where I’m staying and working mean I think I’ll enjoy my time here.

Dan

Dan is an avid traveller from London. His first big adventure was in 2010 living in Malaysia for 3 months. He has been on the road almost constantly since 2015 travelling to destinations that aren’t on the mainstream tourist trail and working full time and travelling since 2021.