01
Almaty
6 days
We take the bus from Yinning to Almaty. We have read all kinds of horror stories about crossing the China-Kazakhstan border but we feel excited anyways. Although a little bit sad to leave the comfort of our cheap, ballroomsized hotel room for a similarly prized hostel in Almaty. We arrive at the bus station and are immediately coaxed to the ticket booth by a driver. At 10:30 our bus leaves.
The attendant on the bus guides everything in the right direction and we smoothly cross the Khorgos border. Leaving China is without a doubt easier than entering. A Chinese girl asks me if I’m Russian. I tell her no but we are clearly both very excited to talk the language. She tells me she is from Khorgos but she is returning to Novosibirsk, where she went to university. I can already feel the relief that after a month in China and only being able to communicate using translation apps and excessive smiles, we will finally be able to properly connect with local people. We arrive in Almaty around 17:30.
Almaty’s layout feels familiar and European. It has some architectural Soviet gems that look especially gloomy in the gray weather but also some more colourful neoclassical buildings. With three months of Central Asia ahead we eat mainly Russian, Turkish and Georgian cuisine. Our favourite is the cheap Qaganat chain where we order solyanka and mint tea, almost daily. We go for a day of skiing on the excellent slopes of Shymbulak ski resort. A French friend recommends us a day tour to discover the area around Almaty. We quickly learn that a long day in a minivan with other tourists to stop for pictures is not our cup of tea. The Almaty region deserves at least a couple of days of proper exploring.
Our last day of relaxing is disturbed by pictures I see from a Chinese friend we met on the bus. He visited Bogdanovic glacier near the Shymbulak ski resort. We rebook our train tickets to add another day in Almaty. In the morning we rent crampons and take bus 12 again to Shymbulak. After taking the cable car combi 1 and combi 2 from Medeo, we can easily follow the snow trail from previous hikers. It takes us less than an hour to reach the glacier. We enter the October cave via a slippery ice slope under a row of icicles. It feels surreal and eerie to be inside ice that could be hundreds of years old. As beautiful as the smooth blue ice around us is, we do not stay for longer than ten minutes. We end the day in the beautiful Arasan baths. Steamed and scrubbed, we board the train to Shymkent.