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Back in the City
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Our last day of sightseeing in Almaty involved Central Park, Museums, and a couple more monuments that the Kazakh's allowed to remain in their country. This is also very different from the atmosphere in Uzbekistan where anything related to the Soviet 'occupation' has been destroyed and often replaced by even worse people... like Tammerlane.
Central Park, still known by its Soviet name of "Gorky Park" contained a modern movie theatre, boating lakes, restaurants, rides and a zoo! Being the off-season we were a good portion of the handful of attendees for the day. We also trekked to "Respublika Alangy" also only known to the locals by its old Soviet name "new square." The high ceremonial square overlooks the city and contains the city's neo-classical administrative building. Next to it is an ugly modern "Presidential palace" or known to some as the 'white house.' And just past that is the Central State Museum giving a patchy, but worthwhile view of Kazakhstan's history. It starts with archaeological finds, progresses through their nomadic roots, and includes things from the USSR Cosmodrome, Nuclear Weapons testing, and of course Independence.
By this point I was tiring of Soviet things, and ventured through downtown to admire some of the monuments erected to their pre-Soviet national heros. Also unlike Uzbekistan, I was able to use my Visa card in most restaurants and private businesses had the appearance of prosperity. Even the trolleybuses had flatscreen televisions in them so that you could watch a bit of a film as you rode across town. I could exchange money on almost every corner, buy normal foods in every supermarket, and not worry about getting searched every few hours. Freedom! Liberty! It looked like (and felt like) any western city. More thumbnails ...
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