edge kazakhstan magazine - spring 2011

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Learn more about Astana’s bid to host EXPO 2017 atwww.expo2017astana.com

How far can a country travel in the first 20 years of its independence? It depends on where it is heading and how fast it is moving.

Kazakhstan, which has seen much hardship in the 20th century, regained its independence in December 1991, and has moved in the right direction—going further than most people thought possible.

Under its President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan has made a remarkable journey going from one of the least known and least developed republics of the former Soviet Union to a dynamic, developing democratic state with a robust market economy. Thanks to wide ranging social, political and economic reforms, today’s Kazakhstan is politically stable and is, in fact, the pillar of stability in Central Asia. A worthy partner of the international community, Kazakhstan has effectively addressed issues from nuclear disarmament and safety to food security, to promoting dialogue and better understanding between cultures, religions and civilisations.

Kazakhstan has achieved substantial success in every arena during the past 20 years, and we celebrate those achievements this year—with the understanding that for all of the promises fulfilled, much more work awaits.

JOIN US AS WE CELEBRATE OUR FIRST 20 YEARS AND LOOK FORWARD TO AN EVEN BRIGHTER FUTURE.

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C E L E B R A T I N GOur 20 t h Ann ive rsa r y o f I n dependence

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KAZAKHSTANPromoting Stronger Dialogue and Better Understanding On June 28, 2011, Kazakhstan will assume the Chairmanship of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of The Islamic Conference, a 57-nation organization representing 20 percent of the world’s population.

During its chairmanship, Kazakhstan will work to improve security for all, address social and economic problems and champion the development of science, technology and environmental protection.

At this critical moment in history, when the world faces unprecedented challenges and remarkable transformations, Kazakhstan will work tirelessly to promote a greater dialogue and better understanding between cultures and civilizations.

Kazakhstan’s experience as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious tolerant society can facilitate this critical dialogue, helping to foster peace, mutual understanding and a safer world.

www.oic2011-2012.kz www.mfa.kz

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www.EdgeKz.com

Published by the International

Information Committee, the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of

Kazakhstan

Contributing writers

Alex Walters

Colin Berlyne

Terri Barner

Joe Watsons

Senior Photographer

Igor Logvin

Contributing Photographer

Alexander Kancedalov

Research and Production

Marzhan Kemelbayeva

Research Assistant

Tatiana Kuzmina

Designed by Addnoise

Dimitra Darioti

Evdokia Stivaktaki

With thanks for assistance

and photography

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Ministry of Tourism and Sport

Office of the Mayor of Almaty

Office of the Mayor of Astana

For additional information

[email protected]

© 2011 Edge Magazine

All rights reserved

Reproduction in whole or in part

without written permission is

strictly prohibited.

CONTENTS

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Exploring the joys of Almaty

Batyr Superstar Musician & humble humanitarian

Astana Celebrates its 13th Year

Apples and the Secret of Paradise: Apples are from Kazakhstan

Former capital comes into its own

An American cowboy’s adventure in Kazakhstan

Kazakh religious tolerance pays dividends

Almaty Bazaars offer the spirit of Silk Road

Almaty: A Gateway To Outdoor Adventure

Fashion: Kenje Autumn-Winter 2011 Collection

A history of converging foods makes Almaty a gourmet’s delight

Scholarship program creates future Kazakh leaders

Muratkhan Tokmadi: Kazakhstan’s Construction-Glass Leader Seeks More Than Better Views

Fashion: Mechanical piano designs

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Restaurants

Nightclubs

Bars

Hotels

Arts & Culture

Cafés

Fitness & Banya

Shopping

Almaty Listings

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Useful Information

Kazakhstan

Almaty

Astana

Astana Map

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102 Astana Listings

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By Joe Watson

Exploringthe joys Almatyof

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Almaty has long been Kazakhstan’s crown jewel of culture, sight-seeing and entertainment, so visi-tors who love discovering a city’s persona will find it a delight to explore.

Kazakhstan’s largest city has an excellent art museum, one of the region’s largest bazaars and a world-class ski resort. It also offers a unique cultural history museum showcasing the country’s iconic gold-plated warrior, whom some describe as Cen-tral Asia’s King Tut.

Those who like green cities will also find Almaty full of parks and fountains. And it has the quality res-taurants, cafes and nightclubs you’d expect in a cos-

mopolitan city of 3.5 million.A good place to start getting a feel for Al-

maty’s soul is Panfilov Park, at the intersec-tion of Dostyk Avenue and Aiteke Bi Street.

Many visitors are stunned by the beauty of the multicolored St. As-cension Cathedral, one of the eight largest wooden structures in the

world made without nails. The Roman Orthodox church’s

exterior consists of splash-es of bright yellow, green,

blue and red that attract parishio-ners and visitors alike. Renowned architect Andrey Zenkov designed the 164-foot-tall building, which

was completed in 1907.Panfilov Park also features the Monument to the

28 Heroes, which salutes a unit of Kazakh troops, armed only with light weapons, who helped prevent Nazi tanks from entering Moscow in 1941. The dis-play drips with patriotic symbolism, with coal-black, rippling-muscled Kazakh troops shielding a map of Soviet territory with their bodies. At the foot of the monument is an eternal flame honoring the dead in the Russian civil war of 1917 to 1920 and World War II.

Also nearby is a monument to Kazakh soldiers who fought in the Soviet war in Afghanistan in the 1980s. It includes the names of all 74 Soviet dead from Almaty, a touch that conjures up memories of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC.

Only three minutes’ walk from the war memori-als is the Museum of National Musical Instruments, one of Almaty’s best. The building at the corner of Pushkin and Mametova Streets features an incred-ible collection of more than 1,000 folk instruments from Kazakhstan and the world. It includes drums, tambourines, accordions, flutes, harps and, of course, the lute-like instruments that are most associated with Kazakh folk music: the dombra and kobyz.

The museum staff give performances several times a day. To enjoy the museum to its fullest, visi-tors should bring a Russian-speaking friend – be-cause there’s no display information in English.

Three blocks from Panfilov Park is the Green Ba-zaar, Kazakhstan’s largest. It offers meat in all cuts imaginable, vegetables, fruit, nuts, spices and other food, plus clothes, shoes, cosmetics, souvenirs and

Instruments and visitors at Almaty’s Museum of National Musical Instruments

Exterior of the Museum of National Musical Instruments

Handicrafts stall at Almaty’s Green Bazaar


Many of alMaty’s tourist attractions are located within walking distance of the war MonuMents and historic church of Panfilov Park

Kazakhstan: Land of Golden Warriors

Archaeologists discovered Kazakhstan’s famed Golden Man – the first of two gold-plated warriors found in the country over the past four decades – in a burial mound near Issyk in the southeastern part of the country in 1969. His warrior’s outfit consisted of more than 4,000 pieces of gold foil stitched together.

The Golden Man is believed to be a young Scyth-ian prince who lived between the third and fourth centuries BC. In addition to gold and silver artifacts, he was buried with an exquisite bow-and-arrow set and other weapons.

Because of his magnificence, he has become a symbol of Kazakhstan statehood. His likeness sits atop the Independence Monument in Almaty’s Republic Square. And in 2006, President Nursultan Nazarbayev dedicated a statue of him outside the Kazakhstan Embassy in Washington.

The Golden Man that both Kazakhs and foreign-ers come to see at the National Museum in Almaty is actually a replica. The real thing is at Almaty’s Mu-seum of Gold.

Archaeologists announced in 2010 that they’d found another gold-clad Scythian warrior in a burial mound in the Karaganda region east of Astana.

His discoverers quickly dubbed him the Sun Lord to differentiate him from the Golden Man.

“The figure of a leader like this was associ-ated with the sun,” which ancient Kazakhs wor-shipped, explained Arman Beysenov, the leader of the expedition.

Like the Golden Man, the Sun Lord “was probably a ruler and a warrior simultaneous-ly,” Beysenov said.

There was evidence that grave rob-bers had looted the mound in ancient times, Beysenov noted, but it still contained an in-credible amount of treasure. It included 130 gold pieces, including a figure of a preda-tory cat, plus pendants and parts of sword belts. Hundreds of gold beads and 14 bronze arrowheads were also in the grave. The Scythians were a fair-haired, blue- and green-eyed people who lived in what are today Central Asia, southern Russia and Ukraine in ancient times. Scythian burial

mounds in Russia and Ukraine have also yielded exquisite gold artifacts but nothing like what was found in the graves of Kazakhstan’s two golden warriors.

sundries. Make sure you haggle with vendors over prices – that’s part of the fun. Visitors will see sheep heads looking mournfully up at them in the meat section. Kazakhs consider the soft flesh on a sheep’s face a delicacy and serve the boiled sheep’s head to the most respected guest at the party. In fact, cut-ting the meat off the head and distributing the meat around the table is an art and time-honored tradition in and of itself.

A 20-minute walk up Dostyk Avenue from Pan-filov Park will take you to Kok-Tobe, a hilltop amuse-ment park you reach by aerial tram. The base of the tram is behind the Hotel Kazakhstan near the inter-section of Dostyk and Abai Avenues. The park offers a panoramic view of Almaty, so bring your camera. A mini-zoo includes birds of prey, deer and smaller wild animals, plus rabbits and sheep for petting. The Kok-Tobe restaurant, which is shaped like a nomad’s tent, or yurt, serves up excellent Kazakh cuisine.

A short cab ride from Kok-Tobe, at 44 Furmanov Street above the Republic Square, is the National Mu-seum, where Kazakhstan displays its most precious archaeological treasures. The biggest draw is a replica of the Golden Man, a Scythian warrior prince who lived between the 4th and 5th centuries BC. Archaeologists

St. Ascension Cathedral in Panfilov Park

Kazakhstan’s famed Golden Man Warrior

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found the warrior in a burial mound north of Almaty. His decorative clothing made of 4,000 pieces of thin gold leaf indicated he was a prince or other noble.

The museum is much more than a salute to a golden warrior, however. Its displays of ancient clothing, household items, weapons and other arti-facts give visitors a comprehensive picture of how Kazakhstan evolved from a farming culture led by women to a nomadic culture. To get the most out of the museum, visitors should hire one of its reason-ably priced English-speaking guides.

The National Art Museum, Kazakhstan’s larg-est collection of art, is near the National Museum at the intersection of Satpaev and Baizakov Streets. It features hundreds of Kazakh, Russian and Western European pieces. Some are by artists banned during Soviet times. Two of Russia’s famed art museums – the Hermitage in St. Petersburg and the Tretiakov Gallery in Moscow – gave Kazakhstan dozens of works during the 1930s that the National Art Muse-um built its collection around. And in 2000, Kazakhs came by the thousands to see an Andy Warhol ex-hibit in the building.

Winter sports fans will also find everything they want in the Almaty area – and the facilities are spar-kling, thanks to Kazakhstan hosting the Asian Win-ter Games earlier this year. The country built new venues for the games – such as ski jumps – and refurbished longstanding ones, such as the Shy-mbulak ski resort and the Medeu ice-skating rink. Asian Games organizers added a couple of miles of ski-able slopes at Shymbulak, making the Tian

Shan Mountain resort even more alluring. They also renovated the Olympic-sized skating rink at Medeu, below Shymbulak. And the new ski jumps are actu-ally in Almaty, so jumping enthusiasts needn’t go far to pursue their pleasure.

After a busy day exploring Almaty, visitors should consider relaxing in a banya, or Russian sauna. The best place to go is the palatial Arasan Banya near the corner of Kunayev Street and Ayteke Bi Street.

The longtime leader of the Kazakh Socialist Re-public, Dinmukhamed Kunayev, built the Arasan with public funds during the 1970s.The Soviet brass in Moscow were furious about the extravagance, in-cluding a dozen saunas, a big swimming pool and a changing room with chandeliers and a bar. But Ka-zakhs loved it.

Patrons stay in steam rooms until they can’t stand it, then cool off in a shower or pool, and return to the banya. To make you even more relaxed, mas-sage services are available. A warning: The wooden benches and floors of some of the banya are so hot you’ll burn yourself without protection. So wear rub-ber beach sandals, and bring towels to sit on.

After a late-afternoon banya session, you might want to take in a show. Almaty has plenty of per-forming arts, from opera to ballet to symphonies.

The main venue is the Abai Opera and Ballet The-ater at 110 Kabanbai Batyr Street, near the intersec-tion of Panfilov Street. (By the way, giving directions to locations in Almaty, a city with perpendicular street planning, by the names of the crossing streets is that typical ‘Almaty thing’ that people in town easily learn and always use. More often than not, people would not even know the exact address but would easily locate the place by the crossing street.) The theatre offers both European operas and ballets and Kazakh originals. If you’re a ballet fan, you may be lucky enough to see world-class performer Leila Alpieva. A couple of years ago the diminutive prima ballerina married a British man, so she’s London-based these days, but she returns to Almaty often for performances.

Classical music enthusiasts will find their fare at Almaty’s Philharmonic Hall and at other concert halls in the city. The philharmonic is at 23 Tole Bi near the intersection of Kaldayakov Street. Almaty also of-fers jazz, pop and folk-music concerts. Kazakh mu-sicians are among the best in the world, so if you go to a concert, you’re in for a treat.

Check with your hotel about what performing arts events are going on at the time of your visit.

Almaty also has top restaurants such as the Ital-ian gem Pomodoro, trendy cafes such as Coffee De-lia and pulsating nightclubs such as Copacabana. Tell your hotel what you’re looking for, and you’re likely to get a fistful of suggestions.

Whatever you want from a big city – culture, en-tertainment, sports, or tree-lined parks – you’ll find it all in Almaty. e

stunning Mountain views can be seen froM Many Parts of alMaty

Traditional Kazakh instruments


A former mayor of Almaty rescued the deteriorat-ing Kok-Tobe recreation area in the hills near Dostyk and Abay Avenues five years ago.

The move not only has restored the park as a tourist attraction, but has also revitalized its re-nowned Kok-Tobe restaurant.

Like other Almaty residents, Mayor Imangali Tas-magambetov watched the recreation area fall into disrepair when Kazakhstan became cash-strapped after independence in 1991. The park that Almaty leaders opened to fanfare in 1967 even became a re-pository for trash during the 1990s, according to cur-rent park director Nurlan Kaziyev, who also heads the restaurant operation.

Tasmagambetov, who has since become mayor of Astana, spent millions of dollars in public money to revitalize Kok-Tobe, which offers a panoramic view of the city. A cornerstone of the work was a ca-nal system to control water running into and out of the park. The system would ensure that the ground remained stable.

Since the initial restoration, park officials have planted 2,000 apple trees and lots of grass to help hold the hillside soil. Kok-Tobe has also added a Western-style roller coaster, which guarantees goosebumps by reaching downhill speeds up to 25 miles an hour.

And the park is working on expanding a mini-zoo consisting of birds and small mammals, and a pet-ting zoo for children.

One addition to the park generated worldwide headlines in 2007: a bronze statue of the Beatles created by Kazakhstan sculptor Eduard Kazaryan. The project was the brainchild of a rabid Beatles fan, Rinat Shayakhmetov.

Almaty Amusement Park Comes Back to Life

The museums and theaters of Almaty offer everything from ballet to ancient artifacts

A stature of the Beatles at the Kok-Tobe amusement park

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BatyrBy Joe Watson

Superstar Musician

& humble humanitarianNot long ago Kazakh friends took an American

who had just arrived in Almaty to a benefit concert that included a dozen top local acts.

They were good – Kazakhs are terrific musi-cians – and the American was in a euphoric mood when the headliner walked on stage. The pleasant-looking man with the captivating smile picked up a saxophone and began pumping out a frenetic-paced jazzy tune that blew the American away.

He turned to a friend and asked, “Who is this guy? He’s incredible. He’s got to be one of Top 10 jazz saxophonists in the world.”

“Batyrkhan Shukenov,” was the reply. “His stage name is Batyr.”

After the captivating act with the sax, Batyr grabbed a clarinet and was equally impressive. “My God,” the stunned American said, “he’s one of the

world’s Top 10 jazz clarinetists, too.”Then Batyr began singing – and his warm,

clear voice left the American shaking his head. “What a talent – and nobody in the

West knows him,” he told his friend.But you can bet the former Soviet

Union knows Batyr. The 48-year-old who sings in Russian and Kazakh is a superstar everywhere, includ-ing in Russia, a hard market for a non-Russian to crack.

It isn’t just the musicianship that endears him to his fans. Batyrkhan

Shukenov, who hails from the arid southwestern Kazakh city of Kyzylor-

da, is a genuinely nice guy. His open-ness and enthusiasm came through in

a recent exclusive interview with Edge Magazine.

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Batyr haS Been influenced

By MuSic froM around

the world

Batyr’s repertoire is wide-ranging – from folk to jazz to pop to rock to Latin to almost-classical. And he’s been influenced by music from around the world. In 1967, when he was 5, he heard a famous Indian crooner in a Bollywood movie. The singing was so enchanting that “it drove me crazy,” he said. “My head started spinning around.”

When he was 10, he bought a Louis Armstrong record – and had the same overwhelming sensation, “as if I were vibrating inside.”

As much as he liked music, in his early childhood he gave no thought to making a career of it. Then fate stepped in. An instructor at a summer camp asked the 12-year-old to enter a singing contest. He did so to humor the instructor, he said – and was flabber-gasted when he won. It was a sign that music would be his calling.

Batyr learned to play guitar, keyboards, clarinet and saxophone. One of his teachers “opened the jazz world to me,” he said. “His horizons were so wide – Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Oscar Peterson and the great Charlie Parker.”

When he heard Parker playing sax, he said, he became so revved up he couldn’t sleep.

In 1981, Batyr followed his brother Baurzhan to the Leningrad Culture Institute’s music program, where he not only became enmeshed in classical music but also attended as many jazz concerts as he could. When he left after two years for Almaty, his musical-instruments professor, Nikolai Dranitsyn, told him: “I know you’re going to be a famous musician, and the

most important thing you need to remember is not to become too egotistical.”

“I understood that message later,” Batyr said. “Pride is the hardest thing a person has to struggle with when he becomes famous.” A person with talent should always remember that “he has been given a gift,” he said.

Batyr finished his last two years of university at the Almaty Conservatory. At the time he entered, in 1983, the school did not teach saxophone. He audi-tioned on the sax for the conservatory president, the renowned composer Gaziza Zhubanova, who said: “That was great! We’re going to have to open sax classes here just for you.” And she did.

Batyr’s rise to stardom began during his conser-vatory years. He joined the band Aray, which backed up Roza Rymbayeva, a diminutive Kazakh singer whom millions across the Soviet Union adored and who remains hugely popular now. After becoming the conservatory’s first sax graduate in 1985, Batyr formed the band Alma-Ata Studio, which fans would dub A Studio (with “A” pronounced as “Ah”).

In 1989, the band’s smash hit “Julia” catapulted them to fame across the Soviet Union. The rollick-ing pop song is about a girl named Yuliya who would be leaving her homeland, which meant her name would be changing to Julia. The hit prompted the singing sensation Alla Pugacheva to take A Studio under her wing, assuring its long-term success.

A large Russian fan base and Pugacheva’s back-ing prompted the band to move to Moscow, where

American Jazz legend Louis Armstrong was one of Batyrkhan Shukenov’s early influences

Batyr credits much of his success to his longtime friend and music collaborator, the composer Kuat Shildebaev

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Batyr still has a home and often performs, although his base these days is Almaty.

Although A Studio was popular across the entire Soviet Union, it was a “phenom” in the Caucasus countries of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. Fans there screamed and rocked the bus that carried the band into and out of concert halls.

“We were like the Beatles there,” Batyr said.After an 11-year run with A Studio, Batyr decided

in 2000 to go it alone – and to return to his roots by producing an album in Kazakh. The success of the 2002 album’s lead song, “Otan Ana,” or “Motherland,” surprised many because it has a patriotic theme. But the stirring, from-the-heart salute to home struck a chord with listeners around the world.

The album also includes a lullaby, “Uiykta Bopem,” that mothers across the globe, including the United States, have told Batyr they use to help their babies fall asleep.

“Friends have told me many times that ‘our child listens only to this song when he goes to sleep,’” the singer said with a smile.

Jazz fans also love Batyr’s 2006 album, which is simply titled “Batyr.” It features mostly up-tempo songs, with generous splashes of saxophone and clar-inet. The Latin-beat songs – of which there are several – make you want to get up and dance the bossa nova, samba or merengue. Many expats living in Kazakh-stan have sent the album to friends back home.

Batyr also is a great ballad singer. The emotion he pours into slow songs is guaranteed to stir the soul.

Beyond performing, Batyr has long loved and

been a mentor to children. And in 2009, that led to his becoming the first Kazakh to be named a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Children’s Fund. He is in good company there. Other UNICEF goodwill ambassadors include Angelina Jolie and Sir Roger Moore, the star of several of the James Bond films.

What’s next for this megastar musician who can play multiple instruments, sing in different languag-es – and do it all with a style few can match?

He and his close friend, the leading Kazakh com-poser Kuat Shildebaev, are working on a sound track for a television serial.

And Batyr hinted in his interview with Edge that he would like to take his music to the West.

“I have a dream of doing a project with David Fos-ter,” the Canadian composer, arranger and producer, the singer said. Foster has worked with Michael Jackson, Madonna, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Andrea Bocelli and other stars.

Batyr said Foster and America’s Quincy Jones are the Western contemporary-music composers and arrangers he admires most.

He also told Edge that he realizes he’d have to learn English to win over Western audiences. The glow in his eyes when he discussed the possibility of perform-ing in the United States indicated that learning another language would be a price he’d be willing to pay.

The big winners if Batyr takes his act to Europe and North America will be music lovers there. Ex-pats who know music have no doubt that those two continents would quickly join the former Soviet Union in recognizing a true musical talent. e

in 2009, Batyr joined angelina jolie and Sir roger Moore in Being naMed a good will aMBaSSador for the united nation’S children fund

Saxophone is Baytr’s primary instrument and one of many he plays during his shows

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KAZAKHSTANHow far can a country travel in the first 20 years of its independence? It depends on where it is heading and how fast it is moving.



Kazakhstan has renounced the world’s fourth largest nuclear and missile arsenal, has built peace and harmony in a society of more than 130 ethnic groups and 40 religions, has improved the lives of its people and has developed peaceful and mutually beneficial relations with all countries. Kazakhstan has been the chair of several major international organizations, such as the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe in 2010 and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference in 2011-2012. This trust is further evidence of the country’s growing recognition and meaningful international involvement.



www.mfa.kz

CelebratingTHE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF

INDEPENDENCE

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Astana Celebrates

its 13th YearBy Terri Barner

Fireworks at Astana’s Baiterek Tower

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The biggest party in Kazakhstan the past few years has been Astana’s birthday celebration – and the 2011 extravaganza promises to carry on that tra-dition. So if you’re in town on July 6, make sure to check it out.

This December will mark Kazakhstan’s 20th year of independence so Astana Day will include lots of events relating to the nation’s birth. There will also be a separate, larger celebration of the 20th anniversary on December 16.

Astana Mayor Imangali Tasmagambetov has at-tracted top talent to celebrate the significance of this year’s anniversary.

This year’s feature acts will include Sarah Bright-

man, Lara Fabian and Sting. Brightman is a British superstar whose mainstays are classical numbers, Broadway-musical tunes and pop. The soprano’s 1995 duet with Bocelli, “Time to Say Goodbye,” be-came a smash hit, selling 12 million copies world-wide. It established her as a musical giant. Bright-man is also an actress and dancer.

Lara Fabian is a pop, pop-rock and ballads star who sings in French, English and Italian. The na-tive of Belgium, who is now a Canadian citizen, has sold 18 million records. Her breakthrough album, the French-language “Carpe Diem,” went gold less than three weeks after its release in 1994. It spawned three hit singles, “Tu t’en vas”, “Si tu m’aimes” and

In addItIon to Western stars, the 13th astana day celebratIon WIll feature top acts from russIa, KazaKhstan and elseWhere In the former sovIet unIon

Internationally renowned musician Sting will perform at Astana’s 13th anniversary celebration

Astana’s iconic Baiterek Tower was designed by renowned international architect Norman Foster


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“Leïla”. The singer’s first album in English, “Lara Fa-bian,” debuted in 1999. Its pop dance song, “I Will Love Again,” reached number one on U.S. charts.

Sting is a British performer who is as widely ad-mired for his philanthropy as for his music. He was the lead singer and bass guitar player for the popular rock band The Police before starting a solo career. He’s also a leading contemporary song writer. The hit that many still associate with Sting is the Police’s “Every Breath You Take.” He’s won 16 Grammy Awards and is a member of both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

In addition to stars from the West, the 13th Astana Day celebrations will feature top bands and solo acts from Russia, Kazakhstan and elsewhere in the for-mer Soviet Union.

Altogether, the Astana Day program will boast 98 entertainment, cultural, sports and political events. They will include children’s-group performances, art and culinary exhibitions, and folk festivals.

This year’s big entertainment names will be part of a “Strive Higher, Astana!” concert. Another major

attraction will be an “Echoes of Asia” international cir-cus festival. And still another will be a “Millennium Around Astana” celebration of nomad civilization.

Organizers of an “Astana Arkan” Turkic music fes-tival will bestow a gift on the capital this year: a new song dedicated to the city. Kazakh and international performers will sing the number together.

The capital will also hold its 2nd Astana Interna-tional Action Film Festival in conjunction with the 13th anniversary celebration. Last year’s festival attracted Hollywood movie star Dolph Lundgren, Hong Kong director Yuen Woo-Ping and former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson.

The 13th anniversary celebration comes as Asta-na continues to grow and progress as a livable city of 750,000 as much as government center. Many of the entertainers and big-name guests who visit Astana express awe at the capital’s futuristic skyline. And that skyline will continue to expand over the next de-cade as the city adds a number of buildings designed by internationally renowned architects, such as Lord Norman Foster, to complement Astana’s already

Above:Khan Shatyr trade and entertainment complex


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Kazakhstan’s Golden Man atop a mighty tiger is a symbol displayed in numerous Kazakh cities


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iconic structures such as the Kazakh Yeli statehood memorial, the Pyramid of Peace and the tent-shaped Khan Shatyr shopping complex.

This year alone, Astana will commission a new opera and ballet theatre, a Students’ Creativity Palace, a world-class medical center, and a mosque that can accommodate 5,000 worshippers.

The new National Library, the centerpiece of whose design is a Mobius strip, is scheduled to be finished next year.

The 45,000-square-meter Student’s Palace will consist of a Kazakh History Museum, a planetarium, libraries, sports facilities and dancing halls.

Two major infrastructure projects that Astana plans in the near future are a larger airport and a larger central train station.

The new airport, which will be about 20 miles from the city, will be dedicated to international travel. The current airport will handle domestic flights.

The new Chrystal Rainbow train station will be near the intersection of Akzhol and Musrepov Streets.

In 2014, Astana will start building a 42-mile light rail line with 42 stations. Airline passengers will be happy to learn that it will link the existing central train section with the existing airport.

So if you’re in Astana on July 6, the locals will be throwing a party you won’t want to miss. e

Images of previous Astana Day celebrations, including President Nursultan Nazarbayev (middle right) greeting residents


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Apples and the Secret of Paradise:

Apples are from Kazakhstan

By Alex Walters

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When noted travel author Christopher Robbins told Kazakh friends he wanted to visit wild apple or-chards in their country, he writes that they thought him slightly mad. With all the scenic wonders of their vast nation, why bother chasing a few fruit?

But Robbins knew what he was doing. For as he acknowledged in the title of his already classic travel memoir “Apples Are from Kazakhstan,” that far from humble fruit does come from this country – and it carries in its humble body deep secrets of human origins and destiny.

And that’s because the great Tien Shan Mountains in southern Kazakhstan are the location of the leg-endary Buddhist paradise of Shangri-la, or Shamb-hala, the land of lost content and eternal youth. And apples rate prominently in the mythology of the great civilizations as the definitive fruit of paradise that hold the secret to immortality and eternal life. And modern research has verified that they did indeed originate in the Tien Shan region of southeastern Kazakhstan.

It is therefore no coincidence that Kazakhstan’s greatest, most populous city, leafy Almaty, the city of orchards at the foothills of the Tien Shan, used to be called Alma-Ata which literally means “The Father of Apples” in the Kazakh language.

And that is literally true. The wild apples of the Almaty / Tien-Shan region have been traced back to the Neolithic era 10,000 years ago. Today’s wild apple

of the genus Malus sieversii, still found in the moun-tain hills near Almaty, is regarded as the most likely ancestor of all the apple trees in the world today.

The humble apple is a genetic marvel. It has 57,000 genes, the highest number of any plant ge-nome yet studied. Human beings have only 30,000. It is rich in Vitamin C and taken in sufficient quantities by itself protects the human body against the age-old scourge of scurvy.

As American scholar Mitch Lynd wrote on the Midwest Apple Improvement Association web page, whether one is discussing the Judaeo-Christian Adam and Eve in their Garden of Eden in the book of Genesis, or Iduna, the early goddess of Viking and Teutonic legend, the apples of the Hesperides in the Greek Myths, or Avalon, the fabled lost is-land paradise of the Celts, “Man’s idea of para-dise centers on an abundance of cultivated fruit, its sensual irresistibility and the conse-quential calamity of its seduction.”

All these legends agree that the fruit in question is an apple. And as Christopher Rob-bins says, “Apples Are from Kazakhstan.” e

Modern research indicates alMaty’s apples are the generic parents of all the world’s apples

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Former capitalcomes into

its ownBy Colin Berlyne

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Almaty has long been the business center of Kazakhstan. But it is now also establishing itself as Central Asia’s business, tourism and transportation hub.

Such a role for Kazakhstan’s former capital may come as a surprise to the outside world. But not to those familiar with the policies the Kazakh gov-ernment has implemented since independence 20 years ago.

In the two decades since, Kazakhstan’s unilateral nuclear disarmament, free market policies and suc-cessful development of domestic energy resources have attracted more than $122 billion in foreign direct investment.

“Kazakhstan has today a thriving economy, gov-erned by consumers not plans. With material im-provements has come well-deserved pride and self-confidence,” said Thomas Mirow, the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development at the EBRD Annual meeting in Kazakhstan in May.

As the largest city in the country and the nation’s first capital, it was inevitable that the success of those policies would transform Almaty into a

major transportation hub and regional center for vis-iting foreign businessmen and investors.

President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s decision to move the national capital to the previously small communications center of Astana in the center of the country was, at first, not popular in Almaty. It resulted in hundreds of thousands of people – government officials and their families followed by government service industries – relocating to the new city rising in the Asian steppe.

But today, it’s clear that this decision proved to be a boon for Almaty’s development. The old capital has continued to boom and earlier this year established itself on the global sporting map by hosting the Asian Winter Games – the first time that such a major sporting event has been held in Central Asia.

Almaty’s population and economy have con-tinued to grow at remarkable speed and the city

government consequently has had to deal with the social and environmental prob-

lems associated with rapid economic success. But these issues – especial-

ly winter air pollution from nearby

Former capital The ciTy’s emerging role as a TransporTaTion cenTer will make iT an obvious choice for exporT-relianT indusTrial enTerprises.

Almaty has successfully merged the traditional and the modern in its role as the region’s business capital


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coal-burning power stations and from the city’s high concentration of cars and trucks – would have been far worse if the nation’s capital with all its functions and worker requirements had not moved to Astana.

Most of all, by moving prime national political functions and administrative affairs to Astana more than 1,000 kilometers to the north, Nazarbayev’s de-cision cleared the way for Almaty to clarify its vision and focus on its true expertise and destiny.

“Kazakhstan wants to become an active player in the global economy. Therefore, the task has been set before the nation and government to turn the coun-try into a world trade, logistics and business hub,” Nazarbayev told a meeting of the Council of Foreign Investors recently.

“We are developing our transit capabilities, en-couraging flows of workforce and cargoes, and cre-ating a well-developed logistics and transportation infrastructure,” he said. “We have been developing Almaty, a large business and financial center, pro-moting tourism and services.”

Just as Astana has successfully emerged as Kazakhstan’s Washington, DC, faster and more suc-cessfully than anyone expected, Almaty has emerged more as the nation’s New York City – the business, tourism, communications and entertainment center

of the country.This might have happened eventually. But the

speed with which Almaty has developed its new identity has given it a head-start on any other major city in Central Asia.

Most important to Almaty’s emerging new role is the Kazakh Stock Exchange (KASE). This year, KASE is in the throes of one of its most extensive expansion periods. The government is pushing ahead with a pro-gram to launch initial public offerings (IPOs) in many major state-owned companies with shares to be pur-chased by Kazakh citizens by the end of the year.

This program will increase the participation of or-dinary Kazakhs in the activities and profits of major corporations. It will also greatly expand the volume of capitalization of the Kazakh Stock Exchange con-firming its dominant position in Central Asia.

And since the hydrocarbon oil and natural gas reserves of the Caspian Basin now promise to be comparable in scale to those of the Arabian/Persian Gulf region a century ago, the value of Almaty estab-lishing itself as the business and investment center for the region cannot be over-estimated.

The expansion of Kazakhstan’s road and rail in-frastructure is also solidifying Almaty’s position as the main transportation hub of the Asian heartland.

The kazakh sTock exchange (kase) is undergoing a period of exTensive expansion

Above: Almaty at night.

Near right: Almaty regularly hosts international business conferences

Far right: Many of Almaty’s older buildings are being replaced by modern office and apartment towers


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On June 15, 2009, Kazakh and Chinese officials confirmed that Kazakhstan’s new network of super highways, and the super highway systems of north-western China would meet just inside China at the town of Horgos, which is the Chinese terminal for the Turkmenistan-to-China natural gas pipeline.

Since Almaty is located close to the Kazakh-China border and is also the largest city relatively close to Horgos, that agreement confirmed Almaty’s identity as the future “Chicago” of Central Asia – a great busi-ness, transportation and trading city in the heart of a resource-rich continent.

The expansion of regular airline services to and from Almaty also confirms this growing role.

The government of Kazakhstan’s national devel-opment strategy to 2030 has also had an impact in solidifying Almaty’s position.

The strategy, boosted by Kazakhstan’s member-ship in a new customs union with Russia and Belar-us, is to encourage the development of light industry and more advanced industries across the country. While many of the more advanced industrial devel-opments such as oil refineries and petrochemical plants will be located in and around the Caspian Ba-sin, or at the mining centers for other precious min-erals, much light industrial development, especially in the food processing sector, is likely to be attracted to the large population and rapidly growing market of Almaty.

The city’s emerging role as a transportation cen-ter will also make it an obvious choice for export-reliant industrial enterprises.

“I find Almaty’s location and developing transpor-tation access to the Chinese market to be key attrac-tors in our consideration to invest here,” the CEO of a large multinational said during a recent scouting trip to the city.

Almaty’s geographical location at the foot of the

Tien-Shan mountain range and its famous cable-car tramway ride into the mountains where world-class skiing can be found also confirm the city’s potential as a growing tourism center. The mountain vistas, alpine-style lakes, winter sports facilities and incom-parable wild life offer an array of outdoor activities.

The ancient Scythian warriors, courageous Ka-zakh traders and explorers, and Russian colonizers who founded the modern city in the mid-19th century could never have dreamed of how far and how fast Almaty would grow. But the city is now poised for a new era of prominence in the 21st century. e

Above: Almaty has modernized its transportation systems

Below:Almaty early morning


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By Joe Watson

An American cowboy’s adventure in Kazakhstan

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Mike Slattery had been traveling for 24 hours when the big cargo plane he was riding in touched down at Astana International Airport.

The 23-year-old Nebraskan was tired, but there was no time to rest. He needed to help transfer 170 cows from the 747 to trucks heading for the ranch in northern Kazakhstan that he would be managing.

His first shock was the press. Kazakhstan’s pur-chase of hundreds of cattle from the United States to restart its beef industry had generated international headlines in the summer of 2010, including stories in the New York Times.

So Kazakhstan and foreign journalists were wait-ing in the capital Astana to swarm aboard the 747, ask questions and take photos. “At that point, I had no idea what I’d gotten myself into,” Slattery said.

It was almost an hour before the journalists left. Then there was another jolt. “As we loaded our bags onto a Jeep,” Slattery said, “one of the heifers broke out of her crate and took off running down the run-way.”

Slattery, Nebraska veterinarian Joe Skavdahl, the crate-unloading crew and airport staff rushed to cor-ral her. Footing was treacherous for the pursuers because, although it was early October, “it was rain-ing and snowing that night,” Slattery said.

A Kazakh tried to lasso the heifer with a cargo-securing strap. He missed, and she mowed him down. She stumbled during the collision, however, giving the other pursuers an opportunity to pounce on her.

“We tied her down on the edge of the runway as planes were coming in,” Slattery said.

That was the start of Mike Slattery’s Great Ka-zakhstan Adventure, and it’s been almost as invigo-

rating ever since.Slattery was fresh out of the Nebraska College

of Technical Agriculture in Curtis when his rancher friend Heath Lapp called in August of 2010 to let him know about the ranch-manager job in Kazakhstan. Lapp would end up sending some of the Hereford cattle to Kazakhstan that Slattery would manage.

“I thought I’d never have another opportunity to do something like this,” Slattery said of the job in the exotic location.

He drove to North Dakota to interview with Dan Price of Global Beef, the American partner in the Ka-zakhstan operation. “I did the interview in the middle of a wheat field,” Slattery said. It was harvest time, “and they were cutting wheat then.”

Price liked Slattery’s credentials and personal-ity, and signed him to a year’s contract to manage the 100,000-acre ranch at Mamai, four hours north of Astana.

The native of Indianola, Nebraska, and his vet-erinarian friend Skavdahl, of Harrison, Nebraska, arrived in Astana in early October with the first load of 1,300 pregnant Angus and Hereford cattle. The re-mainder of the first-time mothers that would make up Global Beef’s joint venture with KazBeef arrived in 747s for weeks afterward.

“I got my last load in the beginning of December,” Slattery said.

The calves began arriving within days of the last planeload of heifers. Astana is the second-coldest capital city in the world behind Ulan Baatar, Mongolia, and Slattery said the day the calving began – Decem-ber 17 – it was 40 below zero.

The 32 million cattle that Kazakhstan had had during Soviet times had dwindled to 2 million in the

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20 years since independence in 1991, so Slattery’s ranch hands had no experience delivering calves. “In the beginning, I was pulling every calf,” he said, referring to grabbing a newborn’s head to help the mother get it out of her womb.

He also had to show the ranch hands how to de-liver breech babies – those coming out of the womb feet-first instead of head-first. Not only did Slattery have to deliver all the calves for weeks, but he and Skavdahl had to train the Kazakhs in how to take care of the newborns and the moms. “We spent a lot of sleepless nights” in those days, Slattery said.

The ranch hands learned their lessons so well that within a few weeks they were handling the birth-ing, waking the Nebraskans at night only in unusual situations. When the mothers and babies were past the danger point, Slattery said, he and Skavdahl had the ranch hands put them outdoors.

“I had a lot of people skeptical that they would sur-vive” the brutal northern-Kazakhstan winter without being in a barn, he said. But he assured them that if the cattle got enough quality feed to meet their nutri-tional requirements, they would be fine.

A diet of grass hay, alfalfa, barley and corn si-lage – all of it grown in Kazakhstan – plus protein and mineral supplements saw the herd through the winter with few deaths and little weight loss, Slat-tery said. The supplements came from a company in Stepnogorsk, an hour away from the ranch.

Provisioning the animals was back-breaking at first because there was no stationery water tank and no tractors with which to dole out feed. Slat-tery’s crew used tanker trucks to bring in water and borrowed wagons to haul in feed. The ranch hands tossed the feed off the wagons with pitchforks.

Besides no water tank and tractors, the ranch had no horses for the crew between Slattery’s arrival in October 2010 and the end of April 2011 – seven months. When they needed to rope a cow, they did it on foot, which can be a dangerous proposition.

Slattery said the two-dozen ranch hands have been a great resource – bright, hard-

working and eager to learn.“They have listened to me very well,” he said. “I

get questions not only from our guys, but also from others trying to start operations. And a lot of (Kazakh) veterinarians ask questions.”

Kazakhstan’s veterinary schools teach methods from Soviet times, Slattery said, so the ranch’s two Kazakh vets had to learn modern animal-husbandry techniques and the use of new medicines. Slattery said he’s found Kazakhs friendly and eager to learn about the United States. Both on and off the ranch, “everywhere I go, I’ve been met with nothing but re-spect.”

To underscore the hospitality he’s encountered, he noted that “when I first landed in Kazakhstan, I was greeted by a bunch of guys with bread, a meat of some kind and vodka.”

Slattery said Kazakhstan can be a major force in the global beef industry. The ninth-largest country in the world, it has great swaths of steppe – or prairie – for raising cattle. There’s so much land “that’s able to be used for livestock that’s not being used,” he said.

The calves his ranch produces will be used to start other herds in Kazakhstan at first, Slattery said. But Kazakhstan has ambitious beef export plans. It hopes to be selling 80,000 tons a year within a de-cade. Neighboring China and Russia are huge mar-kets, with a combined 1.5 billion people.

Slattery’s veterinary friend Skavdahl returned to Nebraska this spring after six months, with the calv-ing only half finished.

Still working the cattle, Slattery has also turned his attention to designing pasture layouts for the 100,000-acre ranch. When he first arrived in Kazakh-stan, he started a diary. But the on-set of calving left no time for that.

Friends have urged him to begin recording his experiences again. After all, there’s no telling what will happen in the second half of the American cowboy’s Great Kazakhstan Adventure. e

The naTive of indianola,

nebraska, and his

veTerinarian friend

skavdahl, of harrison,

nebraska, arrived

in asTana in early

ocTober wiTh The firsT

load of 1,300 pregnanT

angus and hereford

caTTle

An American cowboy faces the challenges of managing a Kazakh cattle operation

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By Alex Walters

Kazakhreligioustolerancepaysdividends

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Kazakhstan will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its independence this year while chairing the Organi-zation of the Islamic Conference.

It’s fitting that Kazakhstan should lead the orga-nization that serves as the voice of the Muslim world because in the last two decades the country has em-braced its traditional Muslim heritage while also en-couraging globalism and modernization.

Embracing both has been key to Kazakhstan’s post-Soviet economic success and social stability.

The country’s inclination to embrace its traditional heritage while integrating into the larger world is rooted in the history of the Kazakh people as suc-cessful shepherds and merchants across the “green ocean” of the vast Eurasian steppe.

For half a millennium, the Kazakhs were the principal missionaries and conduits to spread the teachings of the Prophet across the heartland of Continental Asia. And they did so peacefully.

Their Hanafi tradition embodied their experience of interacting constructively with a myriad of reli-gions from Orthodox Christianity to the west, to the teachings of Daoism, Confucius and Buddhism to the east.

Since independence, the country has re-embraced this heritage. The Kazakh people have become more devoutly Muslim at the same time that they have be-come more cosmopolitan and sophisticated in the ways of the industrialized nations of North America, Europe and Northeast Asia.

“The traditional Islam came from our parents. So

we must respect them. But time is getting on and ev-erything is changing. We are living in more advanced time,” said Janbota Aidarova, a 26-year-old recent graduate with a master’s degree in public adminis-tration. “So we have to mix cosmopolitan with our traditional Islam. Actually it is not so bad. We can do that very well.”

Kazakhstan is almost 75 percent Muslim with a significant 25 percent minority that is primarily Orthodox Christian. It also includes other religious minorities. Social tolerance is therefore essential to national peace, cohesion and economic success.

Yeraly Togzhanov, deputy chairman of the As-sembly of the People of Kazakhstan (APK), recently emphasised the central role that tolerance and har-mony play in attracting foreign investment and en-couraging economic growth.

“Kazakhstan has succeeded in developing an effective model of inter-ethnic tolerance that fits its historic circumstances and socio-political conditions. This allows the nation to confidently build its future, while cherishing the multicultural society as a stra-tegic resource in its progress toward democracy and public well-being,” he wrote in April in The Astana Times newspaper.

Major government institutions, primarily the As-sembly of the People of Kazakhstan, were set up fol-lowing independence to promote the goals of tolera-tion, mutual respect and harmony.

In effect, Kazakhstan did the opposite of what the rulers of Serbia did during the disintegration of Yu-

In the last two decades the country has embraced Its tradItIonal muslIm herItage whIle also encouragIng globalIsm and modernIzatIon

The tomb-mosque of ancient holy man Arystan Bab in southern Kazakhstan


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Kazakhstan has established an ambi-tious agenda for its upcoming chairman-ship of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference and will base its year in office on the concepts of “Peace, Cooperation and De-velopment.”

The Organization of the Islamic Confer-ence (OIC) is a 57-na-tion institution based in Saudi Arabia that serves as the insti-tutional voice for the

Ummah, or Muslim world, of 1.2 billion people. The organization will hold a foreign ministers’ meeting June 28-30 in Astana, after which Kazakhstan will assume the chair.

Kazakhstan will lead the organization during a time of great change within the Islamic world. Cop-ing with this change will be one of the main chal-lenges of Kazakhstan’s chairmanship.

Kazakhstan itself has had to cope with extraordi-nary changes in the last two decades – moving from a Soviet republic to an independent nation while promoting harmony among its Islamic community and other religious minorities. The country hopes to apply its successes in that process to its OIC chair-manship.

Kazakhstan’s primary goals for its year in office include serving as a bridge between Islamic nations and the West, raising the OIC’s international profile, implementing the OIC’s ten-year action plan, help-ing Muslim nations manage the changes that have been taking place, promoting economic and cultural cooperation, supporting nuclear non-proliferation, and strengthening international and regional security with an emphasis on Central Asia.

The motto “Peace, Cooperation and Develop-ment” is fitting for Kazakhstan’s chairmanship as the coinciding stability and economic success the coun-try has enjoyed over the last 20 years demonstrates that development and economic progress depend on the promotion of peace and cooperation. This is reflected in an old Kazakh proverb: “Unity lives along with progress.”

In line with Kazakhstan’s view that progress is

Peace, Cooperation and Development To Define Kazakhstan’s OIC Chairmanship

From top to bottom St. Ascension Cathedral in Panilov Park.Candle ceremonyOrthodox priest

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Yerzhan Kazykhanov


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goslavia at the time that the Soviet Union was falling apart.

Where Orthodox Christian Slobodan Milosevic tried to condition the Serbian people to an ethnic hatred of Muslim Bosnians and Catholic Christian Croats in the years before independence, the Kazakh government chose the opposite path – to reconcile the peoples of Kazakhstan and teach them to appre-ciate and understand each other.

The heritage of the Muslim peoples of Central Asia and their 20th century experience is also differ-ent from those of the peoples of the Middle East.

In the Middle East, the Arab civilizations of the half millennium after the time of the Prophet were shat-tered by the Crusades from Catholic Christian West-ern Europe.

In Central Asia, the region was swept by the Mon-gol followers and heirs of Genghis Khan who buried the rising Orthodox Christian civilization of Kievan Rus to the west. Christians and Muslims, therefore, did not primarily have a history of conflict in earlier centuries. They were the common victims of a dev-astating external invasion from the east.

Centuries of rule in Central Asia by Tsarist Rus-sia were then followed by the 74 years of the com-munist era from 1917 to 1991 through most of which Christian churches and the Muslim faith alike were persecuted and suppressed.

By contrast, the brief period of Western coloniza-tion in the Middle East from 1917-18 to the expulsion of the British from Iraq in 1958 was seen as a clear-cut invasion or incursion of the region by alien West-ern empires seeking to impose alien traditions and cultures on the region. The Muslim nations of the Middle East are still wrestling with the chaotic and catastrophic heritage of those decades to this day.

Kazakhstan, on the other hand, has fostered a modern day unity between Muslims and Christians, as well as dozens of other faiths. And that has creat-

ed an environment stable enough for economic growth and the attraction of $122 bil-

lion in foreign investment since independence.

It has also allowed the emergence of an entrepre-

neurial class after three quarters of a century under a totalitarian ide-

ology that repressed private enterprise with as much zeal as it repressed Islam and other great religions.

“Kazakhstan is a very young country. And it is developing. During the short time the country has realized so many big projects. An absolutely new city was built from scratch in Astana, for example,” said Aidarova. “We (the youth) are the future of Ka-zakhstan, and we positively can say we have a big future.”

Periods of rapid transformation and economic growth, however, can also destabilize populations. But Kazakhstan has achieved its unique stability by encouraging the people in Kazakhstan of all ethnic groups and religions to take comfort in their individ-ual religions during this time of transition.

As a result, the Muslim religion has flourished. There were only a dozen mosques in Kazakhstan a quarter century ago. Today, there are 2,400 for 16 mil-lion people. The capital’s iconic Nur-Astana Mosque was built to house almost 7,000 worshippers at reg-ular Friday services. More than twice that number now arrives for services each week.

Kazakhstan also recognized following indepen-dence that achieving tolerance and mutual respect among its religious and ethnic communities could not be achieved by adopting isolationist policies.

So the country has maximized contacts with the broader Muslim world and other faiths.

As a result, Kazakhstan serves as an example to other Muslim nations of a country placed between east and west that has prospered, not by denying its traditional faith or walling itself off from the outside world, but by incorporating the best that the East and the West have to offer.

As a result of these developments, Kazakhstan has come to be known as “Europe in Asia” and “Asia in Europe”, combining the various characteristics of the two.

The Kazakh conception of a tolerant and forward thinking Islam coexisting with modern change and other religions is rooted in the country’s best tradi-tions that go back centuries and that has forged the psyche of the Kazakh people.

And, this has been the secret of Kazakhstan’s post-Soviet stability and success over the last two decades. The Kazakh people have re-embraced their ancient Islamic faith and are demonstrating what that can mean to the modern world. e

KazaKhstan has achIeved Its unIque stabIlIty by encouragIng all people to taKe comfort In theIr IndIvIdual relIgIons

Both pagesReligious buildings

Immediate rightWomen at prayer


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achieved through attention to both social and eco-nomic needs, Astana has submitted a proposal within the framework of its OIC chairmanship to adopt a long-term program of economic and finan-cial assistance by the OIC to the Islamic world’s least developed countries.

Kazakhstan will also use its chairmanship to im-prove the rights of women within the Islamic com-munity and is organizing an OIC International Confer-ence on Women Affairs to be held in Astana.

The Kazakhstan Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also encouraging other OIC member states to increase the roles of women in the economic, cultural, and political arenas, and to increase protection from vio-lence and discrimination in line with the UN Conven-tion on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination and Islamic values of justice and equality.

In the run-up to its chairmanship, Kazakhstan will host the 7th session of the World Islamic Eco-nomic Forum and during the chairmanship, it will convene the 3rd conference of health ministers from OIC member states. These and other meetings will be designed to address critical issues facing the Muslim world.

The country also hopes to work closely with the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organiza-tion (ISESCO) to promote cultural heritage preserva-tion and improve the teaching of the languages, his-tories and cultures of Islamic countries.

So far, Kazakhstan’s goals for the coming year have been well received by the organization.

“We are all bound to benefit from Kazakhstan’s dynamic political weight and from its well-known energetic activities at the international and diplomatic levels such as to consolidate our Joint Islamic Ac-tion,” OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu told a press conference in the Saudi city of Jeddah on May 26 after Kazakhstan chaired an OIC senior of-ficials meeting there.

The changes taking place across much of the Islamic world would be a challenge for any country taking the lead of the world’s primary Islamic orga-nization.

However, Kazakhstan hopes its success over the last two decades promoting “Peace, Cooperation and Development” at home will translate into an effec-tive road map for progress among its partners in the Muslim world.


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By Colin Berlyne

offer spirit Silk Road

Almaty Bazaars

the

of the

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Almaty’s location at the hub of Eurasia has long led to the city serving as a center of trade and culture. And today, the city’s traditional bazaars continue to offer a unique fusion of culinary tastes and random treasures for the adventurous visitor.

The bazaars of Central Asia were legendary in the medieval era of the fabled Silk Road. Ironically, they enjoyed their modern revival in the Soviet era. Even as hundreds of thousands of people were dying from famine across Central Asia during the farm collectiv-ization of the early Soviet era, the bazaars of Almaty and other regional centers were becoming famous for the vast range of goods they offered.

As living conditions slowly improved in the de-cades after World War II, the fame and range of goods of the Almaty bazaars also grew. In the last decades of Soviet rule, much that was officially unavailable could be found at the city’s markets.

The flood of immigrants forcibly deported from other regions during the dictatorship of Soviet leader Josef Stalin also brought a diversification of goods and services to Almaty’s bazaars that endures to this day.

Over the past 10 years, the development of en-ergy wealth and foreign investment in Kazakhstan have also allowed state-of-the-art goods such as

iPods and smart phones to be found alongside traditional items such as Kazakh musical instruments

and textiles.Almaty boasts of 80 bazaars. By far the most famous is the

Zelyoni, or Green Bazaar. There you can buy every

form of food and drink that Kazakhstan and Central Asia are famous for.

You can also search for exotic fare ranging from Persian, to Siberia (pelmeni dumpings) to the famed Vernenskoe beer with shark fins from the Japanese islands.

The richest finds can be found by rummaging at leisure through the inner stalls of the longest-estab-lished shops buried deep in the heart of the bazaar.

If the Zelyoni is too upmarket or tourist for you, seek out the Barakholka bazaar. Barakholka, which can roughly be translated from Russian as a com-bination of flee market and stuff just heaped on stalls, is 2.5 miles long, 20 rows wide and buzzing with life. It’s the kind of market where you can find literally anything. And if the price doesn’t suit you, the market’s merchants relish an old-fashioned Central Asian negotiation to bring it down. A $300 winter coat can be had for less than $50 – but you’ll have to argue over it with the stall owner first.

And one Saturday every month, the Ablai Khan Market sets up shop across the road from Tsum – the Centralniy Universalniy Magazin, otherwise known as the Central General Department Store on what is unofficially known as Arbat Street. This is the place to find exquisite Kazakh handicrafts created by individual expert artisans.

Whether you are searching for exotic food, a to-ken of tradition or modern day electronics, the spirits of the wheeling-dealing and enterprising merchants who opened up the Silk Road and defied the com-munist secret police to sell their wares can be found in the modern-day bazaars of Almaty. e

WHETHER YOU ARE SEARCHING FOR EXOTIC FOOD, A TOKEN OF TRADITION OR MODERN ELECTRONICS, YOU CAN FIND THEM IN THE MODERN-DAY BAZAARS OF ALMATY

Scenes from Almaty’s Green Bazaar

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A Gateway To Outdoor Adventure

AlmatyBy Alex Walters


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Almaty may be best known as Kazakhstan’s larg-est city and business hub. But its location at the base of the majestic Tien Shan mountain range with its snow-covered peaks and shimmering waters also make the city a unique playground for adventure seekers.

In fact, the former capital of 1.5 million has often been compared to Zurich in Switzerland and Denver, Colorado, in the United States for its combination of outdoor adventure and mountain charm.

Adrenaline seekers visiting Almaty should first head 90 kilometers east to the Turgen Gorge in the Ili-Alatau National Park for adrenaline pumping whitewater rafting.

You can set up a whitewater rafting trip by calling

the Almaty-based Indra-Tour company at +7 (727) 225 45 11 or by visiting their English language web-site www.indratour.net/1cat?en.

The gorge also boasts seven waterfalls including the Medvezhiy (Bear) Falls, which drops 30 meters between overhanging cliffs and fir trees, and the Bozgul Falls, which are so powerful they have worn a tunnel into the rock. The surrounding mountains provide excellent day hikes to view the falls.

Day hikes and short horseback riding excursions can be arranged by the Wild West-themed Stetson Rancho, a 28-bedroom resort about 15 kilometers before the gorge. The resort also offers a swimming pool, sauna, billiards room, cinema and restaurant.

The surrounding mounTains provide excellenT day hikes To view The falls.

Top The Turgen Gorge provides whitewater adventure less than 90 kilometers from the city.

Right The mountains surrounding Almaty provide excellent mountain biking opportunities


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First rate skiing within a half-hour’s drive

Skiers and snowboarders visiting Almaty will definitely want to check out the Shymbulak ski resort in the Tian Shan Mountains outside the city.

Shymbulak is the region’s primary ski resort and was a venue for the 2011 Asian Winter Games.

The resort, a 30-minute drive from Almaty, is open for skiing from mid-November to mid-April and offers 7.2 miles of ski runs ranging in difficulty from beginner to expert. Special snowboard runs are also available where boarders can try out the latest tricks. The resort’s base camp is at an altitude of 6,600-feet with the top ski-run starting at 9,150 feet.

A typical run takes five to 10 minutes, depending on snow cover and a skier’s level of expertise.

Shymbulak features three chair lifts and three tow ropes. A modern artificial snow system also helps ensure proper cover throughout the season.

Night skiing and an ice skating rink are also of-fered.

Visitors can rent all the gear they need in the pro shop and instructors will start you off in the right di-rection. Single and multi-day lift tickets are available.

Another unique attraction at the resort is a three-mile aerial tram which was built for the Asian Winter Games and which connects the main resort with the Medeu ice skating rink below. The view itself is worth the ride.

Visitors also have access to a hotel, a luxury cha-let, restaurants, a cafeteria and shops.

The resort is also open before and after the ski season for hiking and other warm weather activities.

Shymbulak’s lifts and other facilities were up-graded for the winter games so you’ll find Shymbulak to be a modern resort in the heart of Central Asia.

For more information, visit www.shymbulak.com/ru/about/shymbulak or call +7 (727) 330 00 51. The website has an English language version and resort staff can provide English language information. You can also email [email protected].

Shymbulak Ski Resort:

Skiing, hiking and camping are just a few of the outdoor activities within a short drive of the city


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Arrangements to stay at the resort can be made by contacting the Stetson Bar in Almaty at +7 (727) 261 25 01 or +7 (727) 272 68 63. You can also visit their website at www.stetson.kz or drop by the bar at 128/2 Furmanov Street.

For a more unique adventure, Almaty visitors can head 150 kilometers north of the city to the Al-tyn Emel National Park where they can sand-board down sweeping 80-meter-tall sand dunes.

The park is just northeast of Lake Kapchagai and stretches 90 square kilometers between the Ili River and the Ak Tau mountain range. The area is refuge for a rich variety of wildlife including steppe antelope and is famous for its soaring Singing Sand Dunes. The Singing Dunes are located at the eastern end of the park and gained their name because they hum in the wind.

To surf the dunes, call Blust Tours at +7 (727) 250 15 12 or +7 (727) 250 61 14. They can also be reached at +7 (727) 250 61 15 or by visiting their office at 69 Abay Avenue, on the corner of Masanchi Street, office

14 in Almaty.The park was also a dwelling place for ancient

inhabitants of the land almost three millennia ago. It contains ancient Scythian burial mounds erected be-tween the 8th and 2nd centuries BC and Bronze Age petroglyphs in some of its valleys.

The Almaty region also offers a wealth of oppor-tunities for fishermen. The Ili River Delta is a Mecca for big game freshwater fishing. An 80 kilometer trip north from Almaty takes visitors to regions of the riv-er delta rich in catfish and other species. Day, as well as multi-day fishing trips, can be easily arranged. Call Blust Tours at the numbers mentioned above.

It’s also worth driving 120 kilometers north of the city to the Ili River to view the rock drawings of the Buddha at Tamgaly Tas. Blust Tours can arrange boat tours up the river.

In the spring from April to June, the steppe in that region is also ablaze with color from the hundreds of thousands of wild tulips and poppies that cover the area.

The almaTy region also offers a wealTh of opporTuniTies for fishermen.

AboveThe nearby Ili River Delta is a favorite of big game freshwater fishermen

RightThe deep gorges and rock walls near Almaty provide ample opportunities for rock climbers


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The Kazakh people have lived life in the saddle for thousands of years, so it’s no wonder that that history survives today in the horse racing venues of Almaty and Astana.

Horse racing is still in the early stages of development in Kazakhstan. It was frowned upon during the 74 years of the Soviet era. But the popular passion for horses has deep roots. Without the horse, the steppes of Asia could not have been explored and settled.

Kazakh nomadic tribes for thousands of years relied on their small, hardy steppe horses to raise and herd their cattle and sheep, transport their families and carry on trade across the Heartland of Eurasia. The Kazakh people since independence have enthusiastically restored the horse as the symbol of their culture.

Use of the horse in sport has a long history as well. Whenever small groups or larger tribes of Kazakh nomads would gather for trade fairs and festivals, they would hold informal horse races with contests and displays of equestrian skill.

Recent archaeological research also suggests that the ancient equestrian culture of the Kazakh people may be the oldest in the world. They may well have been the first to tame and domesticate the horse.

With this incomparably rich background, it’s no wonder that the new hip-podromes of Astana and Almaty are filled with passionate connoisseurs of equestrian skill.

The Almaty Hippodrome is located in the quiet Zhansugirov neighborhood to the north of the city. It is the premier horse racing venue in Central Asia. It also features facilities for other equestrian sports and horseback riding for the general public.

The racing seasons runs from mid-May to mid-October with races primarily on Sundays. The hippodrome is located a few kilometers from the city center at Almaty, 10A Omarova (Forest) Street. For more information call +77272948602.

The hippodrome in the new capital Astana was opened in 2007 and holds 2,600 spectators. It is located a few kilometers away towards the airport from

the gleaming buildings of the new government center of the city on the left bank of the Ishim River. For several years, President Nursultan Nazarbayev attended the Capital Day races there.

So if you have a passion for the horses and a few tenge to put down on your favorite horse, you’ll no doubt enjoy your day at the races.

A Day at the Races


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The soaring dunes of the nearby Altyn Emel National Park are known as the Singing Sand Dunes because they hum in the wind


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Lake Almaty in the Ili Alatau National Park 25 ki-lometers east of the city is also a great spot for fish-ing and swimming. The lake sits in the Alma Arasan Gorge at an altitude of 2,510 meters with its vivid tur-quoise waters stretching 1.5 kilometers long and 25 meters deep.

The lake is also the starting point for numerous day hikes which can be arranged by Blust Tours. Nearby, is also the Tien Shan Astronomical Observa-tory where visitors have access to the observatory’s high-powered telescope.

And, for the ultimate adventure for water lovers and fishermen, visitors can rent a 35-foot French sailing yacht docked 70 kilometers north of the city at Lake Kapchagai. The yacht Calista can be rented for the day or the weekend and offers the chance to swim, fish or sail to an island in the large, man-made lake.

The yacht carries up to eight guests or six over-night and can be rented April to November with a few days advanced booking. Rental prices start at $200 per hour. With the mountains as a majestic back-drop, the experience is worth the price. To rent the yacht, call Dos Travel at +7 (727) 272 58 08 or +7 (727) 272 58 57 or visit their website at www.dostravel.kz.

And though it is now the off season, skiing is a huge part of the Almaty adventure experience. So make sure to check the separate skiing story which accompanies this article.

The region’s mountainous terrain is also a wonder-land for serious mountaineers and advanced skiers.

Kan Tengri Expeditions operates the Karkara base camp at Khan Tengri, Kazakhstan’s highest (and the Tien Shan’s second highest) and most revered mountain with a 6,995-meter peak. Their president and founder is the legendary climber Dr. Kazbek Val-iyev, the first Kazakh to climb Everest and president of the Kazakhstan Mountaineering Foundation. Call

+7 (727) 291 02 00 for more information about Kan Tengri’s advanced mountaineering and heli-skiing adventure tours.

And a bit further from the city is the magnificent 300-meter deep Charyn Canyon. The canyon lies 200 kilometers east of the city but is worth the drive. The Charyn River winds through the valley with Charyn’s trademark red rock formations rising on each side. The formations are reminiscent of the Grand Canyon and have earned parts of Charyn the name “Valley of Castles.”

The best times to view the canyon are in the spring months of April and May or in the autumn from September to October. At those times, the play of light on the rock formations of the canyon is in-credibly beautiful. Camping facilities are available. For tours of the canyon, call Oxiana Travel at +7 (727) 244 92 56 or +7 (727) 317 79 27. You can also visit their website at www.oxiana.kz.

And finally, one of the most iconic adventures visitors to Almaty can experience is a traditional hunt with trained eagles.

Hunting with eagles is an ancient tradition in Ka-zakhstan that may go back all the way to the Scyth-ians 2,500 years ago. For at least half a millennia, Kazakh tribes practiced it with their beautiful and unique golden eagles. The hunting season begins in November and is over by the middle of February. Fal-coners hunt on horseback and hunt for foxes, hares, rabbits and small mountain antelopes.

Those visiting Almaty during hunting season can arrange a hunt by contacting the Silk Road Adventure company at +7 (727) 269 88 66 or visiting www.silk-roadadventures.net.

Though Almaty remains best known as one of Central Asia’s primary business centers, its mountain charms and easily-accessed adventures are also at-tracting those who want to play as well as work. e

for a more unique advenTure, almaTy visiTors can sand-board down sweeping 80-meTer-Tall sand dunes

Hiking the Singing Sand Dunes


Kenje Fashion 2011

Designer Devyatko Kenje has created a unique “Requiem” collection for Autumn-Winter 2011-12 inspired by “biodata con-ceptualization.”

The collection is unique as it removes the stereotypes of traditional fashion to focus on designs with only one seam. Among the fabrics used were silk, taffeta and velvet.

Kenje’s 2010 collection was presented during Kazakhstan’s year in South Korea event and Kenje is an annual participant in Kazakhstan’s Fashion Week. Kenje was also the only de-signer in 2007-08 in Central Asia who received the approval of the Haute Couture Syndicate in France to participate in Fash-ion Week in Paris with such fashion houses as Dior, Armani, Chanel and Versace.

Devyatko KenjeAddress: The corner of Al-Farabi and Gagarin StreetsPhone: 8 (702) 646 02 36, 8 (705) 187 70 70

Autumn-Winter 2011 Collection

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Fashion 2011

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AlmatyA history

of converging foods makes

a gourmet’s delightBy Terri Barner


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Almaty’s centuries-old position as an east-west and north-south crossroads has made it a place where lots of cultural symbols have fused, including clothes, household items, musical instruments and even weapons.

Nowhere has the fusion been more apparent than in food. Almaty is a city where you’ll find not only Kazakh cuisine but food from neighboring lands as well. The major import from the south is Uzbek cui-sine, from the north Russian, from the west Turkish, and from the east spicy Uyghur and Dungan from China, as well as Korean.

A trip around Almaty will reveal a lot of other eth-nic cuisine, however, including the longtime Cauca-sus staples Georgian, Armenian and Azeri and the more recent imports French, Italian, German, main-stream Chinese, Indian and Thai.

The fusion of all these cuisines makes Almaty a gourmet’s delight. Like any city, Almaty has restau-rants with fare ranging from fantastic to mediocre to awful. So ask your hotel, tourist agency or friends where to dine.

The three cuisine categories you’ll find most often in Almaty are Kazakh, Russian and Uzbek.

Kazakh food is heavy on meat, with mutton and horse the mainstays. The fare also includes chicken,

and, increasingly, fish. Some restaurants even of-fer pork. That surprises visitors who are aware that Kazakhstan is a predominantly Muslim-populated country, albeit a secular one.

Besbarmak, which literally means “taken with five fingers”, is the dish that Kazakhs and outsiders alike most associate with Kazakh culture. It consists of boiled mutton or horse with flat pastry and broth, and was traditionally eaten with… well, five fingers. Other popular meat dishes are kazy and shuzhuk, which are horsemeat sausages, and kauyrdak, which is a stew made from internal organs such as heart, liver and kidneys along with potatoes and onions. Kazakh cuisine also boasts a number of pasta dishes. The most popular is manty, a steamed dumpling filled with minced meat, onions and, sometimes, also pumpkin.

Kazakh dishes have few vegetables beyond po-tatoes and peppers, but the salads are great – and varied. You can find combinations of lettuce, radish-es, tomatoes, beets, cucumbers and small pieces of meat, including fish and chicken.

In addition to tea, popular traditional Kazakh drinks include kumys, or fermented horse milk, and shubat, or fermented camel’s milk.

One of Almaty’s best-known Kazakh restaurants,

KazaKh dishes have few vegetables beyond potatoes and peppers, but the salads are great – and varied.


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Kok-Tobe, sits atop a hill with a commanding view of the city. Visitors catch an aerial tram not far from the Hotel Kazakhstan on Dostyk Avenue to get to the park that contains the restaurant, whose two wings are shaped like nomad tents, or yurts.

Kok-Tobe is huge – it can accommodate 120 – and full of interesting decorations, including beautiful Oriental rugs, wolf skins and even a snow-leopard skin. (Shooting a leopard would be prohibited today, given that the animal is close to extinction.)

On a recent day, restaurant director Nurlan Kazi-yev served out-of-town visitors an array of shashlyk, or shiskabob, including grilled mutton, mutton pat-ties and quail. Most restaurants serve shashlyk that is half meat and half fat, but Kok-Tobe uses lamb in-stead of adult sheep to make servings lean. All the shashlyk that the visitors tried was savory and – in the case of the quail – crunchy. A large Greek salad topped off the meal.

Kaziyev said Kok-Tobe is particularly proud of its besbarmak. “We use really old recipes,” he said. “We put several types of meat in them, including horse-meat and smoked lamb. The smoking makes it a little salty, which people like.”

Uzbek food has similarities with Kazakh food, es-pecially a proclivity for mutton, but also has touches

that Kazakh fare lacks. One difference is more vege-tables and fruit, which thrive in Uzbekistan’s warmer climate.

The signature Uzbek dish is plov, which consists of chunks of meat cooked in yellow rice, with raisins, carrots, other vegetables and fruit, and spices. In ad-dition to plov, many foreigners like somsa, round pieces of bread stuffed with spiced meat, best when baked in the traditional tandyr oven.

Almaty’s best-known Uzbek restaurant is Alasha, which looks like something out of “1,001 Arabian Nights.” Visitors enter a gate surrounding the res-taurant through a 12-foot archway under three mosque-like green domes. The Alasha grounds are spectacular, with visitors reaching some outdoor seating areas by walking across wooden bridges that cross water spilling from a gurgling fountain.

Manager Timur Danakhunov said all of Alasha’s food ingredients come from Uzbekistan, including rice, carrots and spices for plov. When the restaurant opened in 2002, the cooks were from Uzbekistan as well, but it has since trained locals to recreate that distinctive Uzbek taste.

A group of out-of-town visitors recently sampled Alasha’s kazankebob, or skewered ribs and pota-toes, plus plov and somsa. The kazankebob had a

Kazakh feast

RightAlmaty food vendors


delicious, tangy barbecue taste, which was comple-mented by the potatoes. The plov was the best the long-time visitors to Central Asia had ever had, they said. A testament, perhaps, to the ingredients’ fresh-ness. And the somsa was excellent, with the spices creating an almost-sweet taste.

Like Uzbek food, Russian cuisine has been part of Kazakh diets for decades. The Russians brought their food with them when they colonized the steppe two centuries ago, and the fare became even more prevalent when Russians flooded into Kazakhstan during Soviet times.

Russian food is hard to characterize because it’s so diverse. It consists of all manner of meat, in-cluding beef, lamb, pork, poultry and fish. Russians use a variety of grains to make breads, pancakes, dumplings, cereals and drinks such as beer, kvass and vodka. And perhaps no other ethnic group in the world has as many soups as the Russians, starting with borscht, which is served steaming, and okrosh-ka, which is served cold.

The Namedni restaurant at 44 Furmanov Street, near the corner of Makataev Street, attracts Rus-sians, Kazakhs and expats alike with its large menu, excellent fare and interesting decor.

Owner Andrey Pyrlikov, who started in the restau-rant business as a waiter two decades ago, “wanted ethnic Russians in Kazakhstan not to forget their rich history and their rich national cuisine,” he said.

So in 2003, he opened a restaurant that would provide good food and remind people of the old days. The décor, which might be called Soviet retro, in-cludes artifacts from the 1930s through 1980s.

Three dishes that many customers order are pelmeni, varenniki and borscht. Pelmeni is a boiled dumpling filled with several kinds of minced meat – often a combination of beef, lamb and pork. Pep-per, onion, garlic and spices provide the flavoring. Varenniki is a Ukrainian dumpling whose filling can include all manner of items, including mashed po-tatoes, cheese and cherries. Borscht is the Russian beet soup that gourmets around the world love. Pyr-likov guarantees his version will be one of the best you’ve tried.

Whether it’s Russian food like Namedni’s that you’re looking for – or Kazakh, Uzbek or something even more exotic – you’ll find it close to where you’re staying in Almaty. The city’s food-fusion culture goes back centuries, and those who know it say it just gets better and better. e

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By Terri Barner

Scholarship program creates futureKazakh leaders

Kazakhstan has lots of national treasures – from the crop- and livestock-producing steppes to snow-covered mountains to the Golden Man warrior on display in Almaty.

As important as these geological and historical treasures have been in shaping the country’s char-acter, a unique government initiative has also played a huge role the past two decades. It’s the Bolashak Program, which has provided full scholarships for thousands of Kazakhstan’s brightest students to obtain undergraduate and graduate degrees abroad each year.

In addition to paying for the students’ education, the Bolashak program covers all additional costs, including travel and living expenses. That makes it one of the world’s most comprehensive scholarship deals.

The program’s intent is to create a sophisticated new generation of Kazakhstan leaders, and all signs are that it’s working. Students return with new ideas and a passion for moving their country ahead. De-spite being in their 20s, many almost immediately assume leadership roles in government, business, education, arts, the non-profit world and other fields.

The Bolashak program “gave me an opportunity to think wider, to think glob-ally,” said Danat Zhumin, who returned to Kazakhstan after studying in the United States to start a successful business-to-business consulting company. The experience “also made me feel like I could make a dif-ference in the world and in this country.”

Bolashak Program Director Sayasat Nurbek

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President Nursultan Nazarbayev started the Bo-lashak program only two years after Kazakhstan became independent in 1991. It was a gutsy call back then, said the program’s director since last fall, Sayasat Nurbek.

“Imagine what was going on at the time,” he said. The Soviet Union had collapsed, cutting off all of Ka-zakhstan’s funding for economic, educational and social-services programs. “The country was in ruins, the economy in pieces” as Kazakhstan began tran-sitioning from a planned to a free-market economy, Nurbek said.

Against that backdrop, “a lot of people questioned whether we should have used scarce resources to send young people abroad,” he said.

The results show the gamble paid off.Although the Bolashak program has cost consid-

erably since its founding, it has drawn praise from Kazakhs, non-Kazakhs and even international heads of state for helping create a new generation of lead-ers with cutting-edge skills and an international out-look.

Like any successful program, the Bolashak – which means “future” – has changed with the times, said Nurbek.

It went through a major expansion in 2005, with the number of students jumping from about a hun-dred a year to 3,000, he said.

It’s now in the midst of its second revision. In the past, Bolashak recipients were an equal mix of un-dergraduate and graduate students. From this year on, the program will fund only master’s and Ph.D. degrees and post-doctorate fellowships.

One reason for the change, Nurbek said, is to help strengthen Kazakhstan’s own universities.

“If you’re depending on a foreign education (at the undergraduate level) all the time, you will not be able to build your own centers of excellence,” he said.

In addition to the shift to graduate-degree-only funding, the Bolashak program will narrow the choice of majors that the scholarship recipients will be able to pursue. Bolashak students have majored in more than 100 fields since the program began in 1993, Almashov said.

Because most of the new crop of Bolashak stu-dents will pursue master’s degrees, which they can obtain in half the time of a bachelor’s degree, the number of those selected each year will also drop by about half, Nurbek said.

Now the program will take what he calls a “tar-geted approach” by paying only for degrees that ad-dress critical manpower shortages in Kazakhstan.

He said the four key areas that Kazakhstan has selected for the new targeted Bolashak approach are:

• Specialty engineering – The country needs more industrial, heavy-machinery and agricultural engineers. The goal of Kazakhstan’s new industrial and innovation strategy is to rev up the economy and make it more sophisticated by 2020. Moving it away from natural resources will require additional inno-vative industrial engineers.

Heavy-machinery engineers will help the coun-try make expensive machinery at home rather than importing it.

And agricultural engineers will help Kazakhstan reach its ambitious objectives of becoming a world force in crop and livestock production and exports.

• Educational experts – Kazakhstan is making a sweeping overhaul of its educational system that will require specialists steeped in international best prac-tices and the knowledge to implement them. The country is one of the first in the former Soviet Union to adopt a decentralized educational model that will give universities and colleges more academic free-dom, Nurbek said.

Kazakhstan also is planning to introduce, be-fore 2020, a Western-style 12-year school program, adding a year to the 11-year Soviet model. And it’s embracing a European university-education reform movement known as the Bologna Process. Such changes will require educational-management, ed-ucational-integration and other specialists, Nurbek said.

• Health-care administrators – Kazakhstan is spending billions of dollars to improve its health-care system and make it more responsive. The country has long appointed doctors to run hospitals and other

The Thousands of sTudenTs who have compleTed The program have made conTribuTions To KazaKhsTan’s advancemenT in all walKs of life.

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Bolashak graduates obtain new ideas to shape Kazakhstan’s future

Bolashak scholarship winners say their study abroad gives them new ideas to help Kazakhstan develop and the confidence that they could play an impor-tant role in shaping their country’s future. They also say the program’s compre-hensiveness – it covers all educational, travel and living expenses – made them the envy of their overseas classmates.

Danat Zhumin obtained seasoning in government ministries dealing with education and training after returning from the University of Montana. He then started the Apex business-to-business consulting company in Astana.

Zhumin said what he learned while obtaining a master’s degree in public administration “gave me an opportunity to think wider, to think globally.” The experience “also made me feel like I could make a difference in the world and in this country.”

One of Apex’s key objectives is getting Kazakhstan businesses and institu-tions to adopt a more international focus. That means helping them develop such skills as human resources training, strategic thinking, corporate branding and an understanding of what an all-encompassing public relations program can offer.

Apex’s clients have included some big names: Nazarbayev University, the Astana Economic Forum, the Hotel Kazakhstan and the Chevron-led interna-tional petroleum consortium Tengizchevroil.

Dilyara Zhumagulova is a public relations expert working with Zhumin – and another Bolashak alumnus. Zhumagulova, who obtained a master’s in public relations at Westminster University in London, said many Kazakh enterprises know they need public relations (PR) but don’t understand “what it really is and how it should be done.” Part of her job is helping to convey that understanding.

Zhumagulova said she’s pleased to see public relations’ stature beginning to rise in Kazakhstan. Many operations have seen PR people as low- to middle-ranking image-policy implementers and not strategic thinkers. That was long the policy in the West as well, but it has changed to the point that many com-panies there have vice presidents of PR who are part of the enterprise’s brain trust.

Zhumagulova recalls Westminster students from Britain and other coun-tries being stunned that the Bolashak program took care of all of her university expenses and living needs. “We’re very lucky to have a magic scholarship,” she said.

Bolashak graduates such as Zhumin and Zhumagulova are not only bring-ing new ideas and approaches to Kazakhstan’s business world, but also to its non-profit, government and academic worlds.

Two other Bolashak alumni are working together to help improve Kazakh-stan’s non-profit arena. They are Alina Khamatdinova, chief executive of the Astana-based Civil Alliance of Kazakhstan, and Sabina Dyussekeyeva, head of the alliance’s Civil Participation Program.

Khamatdinova turned down a seat in Parliament to pursue a master’s de-gree in public administration at the University of Montana. She was one of the Nur Otan Party’s 100 candidates for Parliament that year. The party’s election victory meant she was assured of a seat. But she thought she might be able to do more for her country over the long term if she studied abroad.

Montana was a great place to land, she said, because it has more non-profits per capita than any other American state. “In Montana, I saw how NGOs should be – how they could be effective and how they could be a change agent,” she said. “I decided that in our country NGOs should be the same way.”

Khamatdinova and others at the Civil Alliance, an umbrella group of 500 NGOs, have been making headway in educating government officials and long-time leaders of Kazakhstan’s NGOs about the new roles that non-profits should play, Khamatdinova said.

Khamatdinova found a kindred spirit in Dyussekeyeva, who obtained a master’s degree at California’s Monterey Institute of International Studies. Dy-

ussekeyeva said her two years as a Bolashak student opened her eyes to the important role non-governmental organizations could play in Kazakh-stan’s development.

The Kazakh government has long taken the lead in providing social services, Dyussekeyeva noted. She’s been helping Khamatdinova spread the word that NGOs can deliver a lot of services better than government – and some officials are listening and begin-ning to ask non-profits to deliver those services, she said.

Dyussekeyeva said that when her classmates gasped about her Bolas-hak scholarship covering all of her educational and living expenses, she replied that Kazakhstan viewed the ex-pense as an investment in its future.

Yerbol Moldakassimov, head of ex-ternal relations at the Academy of Public Administration in Astana, said his edu-cational experience as a Bolashak student at the University of York in England came both in and out of class.

“A Western education helps you to synthesize critical thinking” – to do a bet-ter job of evaluating, said Moldakassimov, who obtained a master’s in public ad-ministration at York. “We had to support our position (in class) with a compelling argument” that required careful consideration of all facts, Moldakassimov said.

He said his experience outside the classroom helped change his values and contradict some of his preconceptions. “When you’re in a multicultural environ-ment, you eliminate stereotypes and psychological blocks,” he said.

All of his educational experiences taken together, he suggested, have made him more open to implementing changes to improve his country.

A desire to make changes that can move Kazakhstan forward is a common theme among Bolashak graduates – and it’s exactly what those who started the program had in mind. It is the new ideas coming from the minds of the Bolashak graduates, as much as the graduates themselves, which will help shape Kazakhstan’s future.

Above: Bolashak Program graduates

Below: Bolashak students in England

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bolashaK graduaTes bring inTernaTional ideas To KazaKhsTan

medical facilities. But doctors aren’t necessarily the best health-care facility and program managers, Nurbek noted.

“So we’ll need a lot of good doctors (in the future), but in addition to good doctors, we’ll need good public health-care managers,” he said.

• Language specialists – Government officials want Kazakhstan to become a trilingual country within two decades, with citizens speaking Kazakh, Russian and English. Kazakh and Russian are Ka-zakhstan’s traditional languages. English is impor-tant because it’s the language of global business, finance, technology and other fields. In addition to Kazakh, Russian and English, other languages are becoming important in Kazakhstan – Chinese, for example. So the country will need thousands of new language specialists in coming years.

The program’s director, Nurbek, is a prime ex-ample of the new generation of leaders and the suc-cess of the program. At only 30 years of age, he is in charge of one of the country’s most important educa-tion- and development-related efforts.

His international seasoning includes degrees from three areas of the world. He graduated from Marshalltown Community College in the U.S. state of Iowa, obtained a bachelor’s in international law at Eurasian National University in Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana and a master’s in geopolitics and global security at the University of Rome. He’s taken ad-ditional university-level training in Japan, Italy, the Netherlands and the United States, becoming fluent in several languages along the way.

In its early days, the Bolashak program sent 50 to 60 students abroad each year, Nurbek said. Most went to a few dozen elite universities in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany and Switzerland, including Harvard, Warwick in England and the Sorbonne in Paris.

When the program was expanded to 3,000 stu-dents a year, the pool of universities also exploded to about 500 in 27 countries, including Russia, China, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia.

Since Kazakhstan needed “talented people every-where,” Nurbek said, the program allowed students not only to study engineering, management, diplo-macy and other mainstream fields, but also art, mu-sic and even film directing.

The 4,000 students who have completed the pro-gram have already made contributions to Kazakh-stan’s advancement in all walks of life, he said. Cur-rently, there are on average 3,000 students studying abroad under the Bolashak program.

“In (the U.S. state of) Montana, I saw how NGOs should be – how they could be effective and how they could be a change agent,” said Bolashak graduate and non-profit leader Alina Khamatdinova. “I decided that in our country NGOs should be the same way.”

Graduates such as Khamatdinova are helping en-sure Kazakhstan’s development moves forward on multiple fronts.

Given that the Bolashak program has played such an important role in Kazakhstan’s development, and the fact that it’s become a source of national pride, it’s likely to continue creating the country’s future lead-ers for years to come. e

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66 INTERVIEW

Muratkhan Tokmadi was stunned when he visited the United States in 1996 to see the major role that glass played in the construction of skyscrapers.

The successful Almaty construction engineer had never seen glass used in a building’s walls or roof.

“I began asking myself many questions,” he said during a recent exclusive interview with Edge. “How can you make tall buildings of glass – aren’t they dangerous? How do you keep the heat inside? How do you keep the sunlight out?”

The sight of the skyscrapers in Atlanta and New York left such an indelible impression on the then-30-year-old that it’s perhaps not surprising that he’s now become Kazakhstan’s construction-glass leader.

After 18 years of success as a builder, the native of Semipalatinsk in east Kazakhstan decided a dozen years ago that he wanted to do more with his life. “I wanted to produce something,” Tokmadi said.

The question was what. Given his background, it would make sense to produce building materials, he thought. His memories of the American skyscrapers prompted him to decide to make construction glass.

Tokmadi opened a factory in Almaty in 2004 that has not only become the major player in glass construc-tion materials in Kazakhstan, but that also exports to Russia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Eighty percent of the output is for construction. The rest goes into glass furniture and other products.

From day one, Tokmadi was determined to make

the factory a cutting-edge operation – and to con-stantly increase its efficiency. That drive has led to his winning many awards for quality, including Ka-zakhstan’s top honor in that category, the Altyn Sapa Prize.

To ensure that his operation becomes better and better, Tokmadi has become a student of some of the great management minds of the past half cen-tury. They include America’s Edward Deming, whose ideas about quality were an underpinning of the Jap-anese economic miracle of the 1960s and 1970s, and Jack Welch, the retired General Electric chief execu-tive who is revered for his ability to get the most out of his people.

By Joe Watson

Seeks More Than Better Views

Construction-Glass Leader

Kazakhstan’s

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67INTERVIEW

Many Kazakhstan business leaders, including Tokmadi, read Welch’s management books closely. Welch is so widely admired in the country that Tok-madi will lead an effort to invite the American to Ka-zakhstan this fall.

Tokmadi’s factory is a precision operation. He uses the just-in-time approach that Japanese indus-try pioneered to have materials arrive when needed. Yellow paint on the floors indicates where materials-holding carts should be placed for maximum effi-ciency in feeding a production line.

The factory’s German- and Austrian-made equip-ment is top-notch. Every step in the manufacturing process that can be automated is automated. This

includes hoisting devices that prevent workers from having to lift materials by hand. Tokmadi’s team studies the operation daily to see if it can be further streamlined by eliminating steps.

Although Tokmadi uses modern equipment and has made his production lines as efficient as pos-sible, he borrows a page from General Electric’s Welch in saying that his most important resource is his employees.

Like Welch, he finds the best people he can, gives them incentives to meet their goals, then let’s them do the job. Borrowing another page from some of the world’s top managers, “I don’t punish them for mis-takes,” Tokmadi said. That would leave employees

Muratkhan tokMadi is kazakhstan’s leading construction glass Manufacturer

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68

afraid to try something new.To get to know his 120 employees’ hopes, dreams

and concerns, Tokmadi eats with them in the com-pany cafeteria, listening to what’s on their minds.

He noted that another management guru he ad-mires, Tim Collins, who wrote “From Good to Great,” asserts that the companies that become outstanding are the ones that “pay attention to human resources.”

Tokmadi’s factory produces an amazing array of special construction glass that is strong, safe and saves energy. He could have produced ordinary con-struction glass, and made a good profit, but that’s not what he’s about. He was determined to make glass that not only serves a purpose, but also helps society.

He manufactures windows that reduce a build-ing’s heat loss by 50 percent during winter, for ex-ample. The glass “produces the same effect in sum-mer,” saving on air-conditioning. “If a building loses less heat, then we’re burning less energy,” he said. “That means fewer C02 emissions which is better for the environment.”

The factory also produces glass that’s sound-proof. To show customers how important that is, Tokmadi built a demonstration device. Inside a glass box a sound generator replicates the buzz of traf-fic on a busy city street. If you open the door of the box, you hear the grating noise. If you close the door, you hear nothing. The message: Use this glass, and you’ll have a quiet workplace.

Another product that Tokmadi plans to manufac-ture is electrified glass for rooftops. It melts snow and ice, preventing a buildup that could damage a roof – or even cause it to collapse.

To ensure that nothing is wasted, Tokmadi is planning to make lightweight construction materials out of glass left over from the manufacturing pro-

cess. The foam glass, which won’t burn and is light enough to float in water, will be used to build struc-tures and roads, he said.

At the moment, the raw material for Tokmadi’s operation is American glass. That’s because Ka-zakhstan has no factory that makes construction glass from scratch. Tokmadi wants to be the first to build such a plant, which he said would mesh with Kazakhstan’s goal of “reducing dependence on imports.”Currently, he is looking for the capital to create the first Kazakhstan glass cluster – a fac-tory preparing quartz sand with sodium carbonate. All the exports are focused on high profitability and attracting investment.”

Tokmadi noted that when Kazakh officials began discussing the formation of a free-trade zone with Russia and Belarus a few years ago, “many busi-ness people were afraid of the idea.” They feared their operations would be unable to compete with customs-duty-free products from the other partners, especially Russia.

Tokmadi is a fan of the arrangement. Most of the American glass he buys comes through Russia, he said. He’s saving money by no longer having to pay a customs duty when it crosses the Russian border.

Tokmadi also said that the customs union will force Kazakh businesses to produce better, more cost-efficient and more innovative products. “We be-long to a world economy,” he said. “Our quality must meet world standards. We must be able to compete with the world.”

He agrees with Deming’s philosophy that an in-evitable consequence of good management is qual-ity and a strong competitive position.

The customs union is the first step in Kazakhstan having to face world competition head-on. The next – and biggest – step will be the country joining the World Trade Organization, which requires the elimi-nation of both tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade. WTO membership is expected in the next few years.

In addition to working hard, Tokmadi plays hard. The former boxer, who has always believed physical fitness helps generate the best ideas, gets up to ride a bicycle at 6 a.m. He also is an accomplished guitar player and singer and studies religion.

His approach to using all of his abilities both in and out of the factory, he said, is that “if you don’t use it, you will lose it.” e

our quality Must Meet world standards. we Must be able to coMpete with the world

066-068_Glassman.indd 68 6/6/11 6:00:31 PM

National Atomic Company “Kazatomprom” JSC Republic of Kazakhstan

168, Bogenbay Batyr StAlmaty 050012

,.,

Ò: F:

The main activitiesof the company are:

Geological exploration

Uranium production

The electric energy sector

Production of construction materials

Scientific support of production

Reactor construction, nuclear power plants

Manufacture of nuclear fuel cycle products

Social welfare Training of personnel

ENERGY of CREATION

069_AD_KAZATOM.indd 1 6/6/11 6:03:28 PM

Mechanical piano designsby Aigul Kuandykova

Mechanical piano designer Aigul Kuandykova

The fashion designs of the firm Mechanical piano transcend geographic and cultural boundaries to dress intelligent, confident and worldly young women regardless of national origin.The firm focuses on softly colored, unrestricted clothes that are asymmetrical and deconstructed but at the same time well tailored. They are concep-tual yet seductive designs using luxurious textures meant to frame the personality rather than scream fashion.Mechanical piano was founded in 1999 by Aigul Kuandykova, a former architect. And her workcontinues to reflect the art and architecture of thebroader world.

Ritz-Palace 2291 Al-Farabi Avenue, Almaty 050051Phone: 8 (727) 319 27 97

Business Centre ''Nurly-Tau'' 4b, office 120219 Al-Farabi Avenue, Almaty 050059Phone: 8 (727) 311 09 62

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Mechanical piano designs

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prime.indd 72 6/8/11 11:12:42 AM

A L

YT

AM

GUIDE

Restaurants Arts & Culture Hotels Fitness &

Banya

Nightclubs Shopping BarsCafés

& Coffee Houses

CITY

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Namedni Restaurant

One of the joys of visiting Almaty is sampling its growing, di-verse and well-established restaurant scene. Almaty is Ka-zakhstan’s business capital which means it attracts visitors

from all over the world looking to capitalize on the country’s relatively new-found freedom and growing energy wealth.

As a result, Almaty’s restaurant scene has kept pace with a slew of new establishments designed to meet the ethnic, traditional, fusion and casual dining preferences of it visitors. You can find great Italian, Korean and Chinese food in Almaty along with a strong selection of Indian and traditional Central Asian cuisine. The restaurants also vary greatly in price with everything for Sushi for a few dollars to exquisite French cui-sine served on silver platters beneath elaborate chandeliers.

Among our must-try recommendations is the Uzbek-styled Alasha. It serves some of the best traditional plov in the city and imports from Uzbekistan the ingredients for the dish. It’s also decorated with exqui-sitely colored tile, elaborately carved wooden doors, streams and foun-tains. And they put on a show while you eat featuring tightrope walkers, acrobats and dances.

You’ll also want to check out Bellagio – reputed to be the choice of Bill Clinton, Vladimir Putin and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Its location is spectacular, facing the Malaya Almatinka River in the foothills of the Tien Shan mountains and it offers a diverse Italian menu.

More and more restaurants – particularly the more upscale places – are beginning to offer English language menus. But even those that don’t

RestaurantsAlmaty

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TeatralnoyeLocated immediately west of the Abai Opera and Ballet Theater, you can dine in the restaurant’s terrace garden during the warm months to the sounds of operatic rehearsals. The elegance of opera is carried into Teatralnoye’s dining room where you’ll find stately columns, silver serving trays and ornate chan-deliers. A frieze of an opera also lines one wall. The menu is largely international with a French focus.Address: 51A Zhambyl StreetPhone: +7 (727) 272 87 77Hours: Daily noon-12 am$$$

Schwabsky DomikIf you’re a fan of kitschy theme-style restaurants you’ll love Schwabsky Domik. This place is designed to look like a European village with little pitched roofs everywhere, lederhosen-clad staff who greet you with a smiling “guten tag”, and plenty of German beer on tap. And they have plenty of sausages and meat dishes with which to wash down all those draughts. An exten-sive wine menu is also available for those who aren’t quite in the kitschy spirit.Address: 121 Abylai Khan AvenuePhone: +7 (727) 261 05 14Hours: Daily noon-midnight $$$

NaoroNaoro is one of the jewels of the dining circuit. Chef Julian Sperondio studied under legendary Pierre Gag-naire, a great pioneer in the fusion cuisine movement, and it shows. With director Sam Sedecias (for-merly of Nobu London) Sperondio focuses on delivering a main ingre-dient, a complementary garnish and exotic sauces; his lamb with coffee chickpea puree and bok choy with cardamon sauce are outstanding.

Naoro loosely means “On Gold” and the décor reflects this theme. Reservations are essential, but try a cocktail with tapas-style canapes while your table is prepared.Address: 17 Abai Avenue (corner of Pushkin Street), Medeu DistrictPhone: +7 (727) 291 11 45Hours: Tues-Sat 7 pm-11 pm $$$

The Grill RestaurantIt has a deserved reputation for grill-ing some of the best steaks in the city. Located on the ground floor of the Hyatt Regency Hotel, this bistro style restaurant with wood-paneled walls prepares prime Black Angus steaks, T-bone steaks, strip loin, tenderloin, rib eye, not to mention lamb, pork and seafood – all ready to sizzle on the grill. Every day, one type of steak is offered at a reason-able price for the business lunch from noon to 3pm.Address: Hyatt Regency Hotel, 29/6 Satpaev Street, Bostandyk DistrictPhone: +7 (727) 250 26 63Hours: Daily noon-3 pm and 6 pm-midnight$$$

BellagioBellagio has a presidential reputa-tion – quite literally. Bill Clinton of the United States and Vladimir Putin of Russia have both dined there and it’s also said to be a favorite of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev when he dines out in Almaty. The location is spectacular, facing the Malaya Almatinka River as it cascades down the foothills of the Tien Shan mountains and at the entrance of Ili-Alatau National Park. The restaurant is famous for its Italian menu and a regular haunt of Almaty’s elite. Reservations are recommended.Address: 197 Gornaya Street, Road to Medeo

(Please note: the telephone numbers listed here are for dialing in Astana from a cell phone. For more information on making telephone calls, please see the “Practical Information When in Kazakhstan” section.)

75

Almaty boasts one of the best Japanese res-taurants in the former Soviet Union – the legend-ary Sumo-san.

There’s a simple reason it stands above all oth-ers: Owner Nailya Orunkhanova goes to Japan five to six times a year to obtain recipes and watch top cooks in action. Then she returns to Kazakhstan to train her chefs in the latest trends in Japanese cui-sine.

Japanese expats are the most discriminating ap-praisers of their homeland’s food, of course – and they swarm into Sumo-san, located at 159 Baitursynov Street near the intersection of Temiryazev Street.

The ultimate compliment the expats give Orunkha-nova is calling her “Mama-san,” as they would the val-ued proprietor of a restaurant back home. “They will say to me, ‘Mama-san, please learn such-and-such a new dish and cook it for me,’” Orunkhanova said. “And I make sure that I do learn that dish for them.”

All of the restaurant’s offerings are outstanding – from sushi to sashimi to miso soup to tempura to udon and beyond. And the menu is huge, guaranteeing you’ll find whatever Japanese fare you’re looking for.

Sumo-san creates an atmosphere of old Japan by being chockfull of au-thentic decorations and artifacts. They include a gorgeous kimono from the 1940s that a 94-year-old retired geisha, Yoshiko Hirono, presented Orunk-hanova. The two have been friends for almost two decades.

Orunkhanova also brings back decorations and artifacts on every trip to Japan, making Sumo-san a repository of Japanese culture. There’s even a large circular wooden staircase connecting the top and bottom dining areas – a fixture all over Japan that is rarely seen elsewhere.

Orunkhanova, who studied hospitality, food and catering at a university in St. Petersburg before starting a culinary career, became intrigued with Japan as a teenager. She noticed in movies made there how quaint, ro-mantic and colorful the country was.

She began traveling there in 1994, only three years after the break-up of the Soviet Union. The warmth the Japanese showed her – and the tasty and healthy food – prompted her to begin dreaming about opening a Japa-nese restaurant in Almaty. Four years later, in 1998, she was able to make it happen.

And Sumo-san has since become Almaty’s home for the tastes of the Land of the Rising Sun.

usually feature friendly staff willing to help you out with a combination of pointing, simple phrases and a few descriptive hand gestures. And re-member that tipping in Almaty usually runs about 10 percent of the bill.

So don’t let the language barrier keep you in your hotel. Almaty’s res-taurant owners are more than happy to see visiting faces and to give you the help you need to enjoy a great meal.

Price Key (per person):$ = 3000 tenge-6500 tenge$$ = 6500 tenge-9500 tenge$$$ = 9500 tenge-13,000 tenge

Sumo-san Offers Taste and Culture of Japan

Photos: Yuri Bibikov


Phone: +7 (727) 250 24 09Hours: Daily noon-midnightwww.bellagio.kz$$$

Dali RestaurantDo golf, the art of Salvador Dali and a breathtaking vista of the majestic Tien-Shan mountains go together with fine Mediterranean cuisine? Here they do. So check out this unique place in the clubhouse of the Zhailyau Golf Course. Its walls are lined with Dali’s wild masterpieces and even the ceiling is covered with a gigantic reproduction of one of his legendary Melting Clocks.Address: Zhailyau Golf Resort, Kargaly DistrictPhone: +7 (727) 277 76 21

Hours: Daily 10 am-midnightwww.zgr.kz$$$

Kok-TobeKok-Tobe offers one of Almaty’s most unique dining experiences. To get there you can take a tram up the mountain and catch amazing views of the city. Kok-Tobe is divided into three restaurants with its main eat-ery named Yurt because its sections are shaped like a traditional Kazakh yurt. Yurt serves up Kazakh staples such as beshbarmak, lagman and manty as well as any place in town. And, in a nod to its growing inter-national clientele, the restaurant has added non-Kazakh cuisine to its menu. A trip to Kok-Tobe offers

a unique combination of good food and great atmosphere.Phone: +7 (727) 295 44 44Hours: Daily noon-midnight$$$

ThaiHorsemeat wrapped in pandan leaves is an unlikely but widely popular favorite here. It’s one of the best Thai restaurants in town offering first class Tom Yam Goong (spicy prawn & lemongrass soup) and Tom Kha Gai (chicken & coconut milk soup). The chefs come from Thailand and many of the delica-cies are flown in every day from all over the world, delivering reliable authentic flavor and freshness. The restaurant also includes ‘Zen’ - a

minimalist Japanese sushi and sashimi bar, offering popular maki and sushi.Address: 50 Dostyk Avenue (corner of Kurmangazy Street), Medeu DistrictPhone: +7 (727) 291 01 90Hours: Daily noon-11 pm$$$

BoudoirBoudoir is a stand-out and the ultimate experience in global fusion dining. We’re confident in saying it is unlikely any other restaurant in Kazakhstan serves live mud crab from the creeks of Australia. Chef Shane Brierly from Australia and his Thai wife previously starred at Lotus One in Dubai and their creative range and quality is extraordinary. Even the cocktails are mixed by a maestro flown in from London and utilize local ingredients like Almaty’s classic apple. (The Almaty region is believed to be the genetic homeland of all the apples in the world). Address: 134 Bogenbai Batyr Avenue (corner of Abylai Khan Avenue), Almaly DistrictPhone: +7 (727) 272 55 55Hours: Daily noon-2 am$$$

AlashaThis Uzbek-styled restaurant is great fun and a wonderful experi-ence. Located on a side street on Dostyk Avenue, its entrance resembles a traditional tiled mud brick mosque. Diners can eat Cen-tral Asian style on raised platforms or tapchans. The cuisine, like the décor, is classic Uzbek. Spectacular entertainment every night starts at 9 pm and includes music, danc-ers and acrobats. If you can’t visit Uzbekistan on your trip, this is the next best thing. Address: 20 Ospanov Street, Medeu DistrictPhone: +7 (727) 254 07 00Hours: Daily noon-midnightwww.alasha.kz$$

Sadu Concept StoreThis restaurant/boutique offers the convenience of following lunch or dinner with boutique shopping on the same premises. With its green- and brown-striped chairs and menus, olive sofas and sooth-ing earth tones, the cool interior of this sunlit restaurant offers a refuge from the noise, crowds and heat of an Almaty summer. Secure in his older, elite clientele Sadu’s Italian

Namedni Restaurant

76


chef Simone specializes in simple Mediterranean dishes, including a variety of hand-made pastas and sauces and his original limoncello. Address: Mercur Town, 3/25 Samal (Furmanov Street), Samal MicrodistrictPhone: +7 (727) 271 68 65Hours: Daily noon-midnight$$

NamedniNamedni attracts Kazakhs, Rus-sians and a diverse mix of expats alike with its large menu and signa-ture dishes. Among its most popu-lar are Namedni’s Russian beet soup and Pelmeni – a dumpling filled with a combination of meats, pepper, onion, garlic and spices. The decor is also interesting and could be defined as Soviet retro with artifacts from the 1930s through 1980s. Among the owners’ favorites are several transistor radios from the 1950s and 1960s. Address: 44 Furmanova Street (corner of Makatayev Street)Phone: +7 (727) 273 84 94Hours: Daily noon-midnight$$

Borgo AnticoEven Marco Polo from Venice would feel at home here. Borgo Antico boasts vaulted red brick ceilings, warm tiles and a rustic Tuscan atmosphere that has made it a fa-vorite gathering place of the Almaty elite. We recommend the prawn and salad steeped in balsamic vin-egar. Its salmon, sea bass, lobster, red snapper and calamari are also all flown in fresh twice a week from Dubai. Address: 11/6 Iskendirov Street, Gornyi GigantPhone: +7 (727) 293 51 51Hours: Daily noon-midnight$$

Asian WokAsian Wok offers superb Chinese and Indian cuisine. Executive Chef Bappi Sharma honed his craft to world-class standards in Moscow for many years and it shows. Bappi has created showcase sauces that are his trademark: ginger and spring onion, black bean and hot Szechuan bean. All three are excel-lent for the wide of variety of fresh seafood and meats on the menu.

Bappi is a high profile fixture in his own restaurant and thrives on interacting with his clientele. Take advantage of his passion for excel-lence.Address: 248 Dostyk Avenue (corner of Kazhymukan Street), Medeu DistrictPhone: +7 (727) 264 4812Hours: Daily noon-11 pm$$

Porto MalteseAnother first class fish restaurant in the Mediterranean tradition, Porto

Maltese offers its clientele their choice of fish from a display at its entrance and a variety of preparation styles including “grilled”, “salted”, “in bergamot pepper”, or “steamed.” The regular available selection includes mullet, sole, dorado, sea bass, john dory and turbot. The waiters wear long blue aprons, as if they’ve just come fresh from a seafood market, and will fillet your fish dish at the table.Address: 109 Panfilov Street (corner of

77

Alasha: A Feast for all Your SensesAsk 10 locals for the best Uzbek restaurant in Almaty, and at least nine will

say Alasha.That’s because the nine-year-old establishment has it all – delicious food,

interesting decor and a unique entertainment lineup.Alasha derives its name from a type of hand-woven carpet of such high

quality that it’s the one traditionally laid out for guests. It’s a fitting name because Alasha is often the place locals choose to which to take their valued business

associates and friends.The dish that everyone associates with Uzbekistan is plov,

and Alasha’s is among the best in Almaty. The restaurant en-sures that high quality by importing from Uzbekistan the yellow

rice, carrots, raisins and spices that go into the meat-and-veg-etables concoction.

Kebabs are also an important part of Uzbek cuisine, and Alasha has 20 varieties.

Another dish not to be missed is tandyr-roasted mutton – tandyr being a traditional Uzbek clay oven.

A much-ordered dessert is baklava, a pastry made of many layers of paper-thin dough with a filling of ground nuts and drenched in honey.

Every time you go to Alasha, you’ll also see a feature of the décor you never

noticed before. Colorful tile is everywhere – on columns and walls, and both inside and

outside. The wooden doors have exquisite

carvings. The displays of artifacts include large brass and ceramic vases.And outdoors you relax to the sounds of fountains and streams.And few restaurants put on as entertaining a show as Alasha. The most

unusual attraction is a troupe of acrobats and tightrope walkers. They do flips, form human pyramids and perform other acrobatic routines in the outdoor din-ing area. Alasha also has a band that plays Uzbek music and a 12-person folk-dancing troupe. All perform as patrons are eating.

When you walk away from Alasha after a great meal, you’ll feel that not only have your taste buds been stimulated, but your entire range of senses.


The world’s most discriminating gourmets say the crème de la crème cui-sine is French – and Almaty’s Rixos Hotel is the only fine-dining venue in Ka-zakhstan to boast not just one but two French chefs.

The Rixos’ executive chef, Laurent Guesdon, became hooked on cooking when, as a child, he ran the kitchen at his grandmother’s bistro in Angers, near Paris. So sure was he that cooking would be his life that he enrolled in a culi-nary school at 13.

Guesdon, who presides over the cuisine served at the Rixos’ Brasserie French restaurant, its French pastry lounge and the rest of the hotel’s dining operations, arrived in Almaty in the fall of 2010. He’s worked hard since then to mold a culinary staff that thrives on teamwork and whose ultimate goal is to produce an unforgettable meal for every guest.

“Now I have maybe the best kitchen team in Almaty,” he said.Alexandre Crocher is the Rixos’ French pastry chef. The hotel decided that

incomparable pastry was such an important part of a top dining experience that it hired a maestro for that task alone.

Guesdon revamps every Rixos menu every six months. His ultimate goal is a once-in-three-months revamp.

He said the meat he’s fondest of cooking is fish – “it’s more interesting.” But his hands-on management style ensures that his team of 40 cooks and 25 stewards prepares all meats, vegetables and other fare with the same attention to detail.

As for the pastries, two recent visitors said the chocolate cake with ice cream was a dessert to die for. When the guests pricked the exterior of the cake with their forks, a mousse-like rich chocolate syrup poured out. The combination of the cake, the syrup and the ice cream was indescribable, the visitors said.

Guesdon said he reminds his team constantly that “it’s difficult to build a good reputation” with food, and “it’s easy to lose it.” That means every meal must be perfect. “Every day it’s a championship. Every day we have to be good,” he said.

That work has paid off, he said. “We’ve started to become famous in Al-maty.”

Laurent graduated from the Etienne Lenoir restaurant and hotel school in Chateaubriant. He honed his skills at some of the most famous hotels in the world, including La Samana on the Caribbean island of St. Martin, the Grand Hotel Regina in Grindelwald, Switzerland, and the Noga Hilton Hotel in Geneva.

He also traveled the world as the personal chef of Canadian business tycoon David Graham.

While he’s satisfied with what he’s accomplished at the Rixos, there is more to be done, he said.

This includes opening a Thai restaurant, starting a barbecue operation on the hotel’s outdoor terrace and acquiring a world-class machine to make homemade ice cream.

78

Two French Chefs Give the Rixos a Special Cuisine Quality

Rixos Pastry Chef Alexandre Croche Rixos Executive Chef Laurent Guesdon


79

Gogol Street), Almaly DistrictPhone: +7 (727) 273 21 78Hours: Daily noon-11 pm$$

PrimaveraLocated in a giant glass globe on the 13th floor of the Koktem (Kazakh for spring) Business Center, Primavera presents one of the most stunning views in the city. We recommend the panorama at sunset (The view is also worth seeing at night when the city is lit up.) Primavera also offers views of the Tien Shan mountains to the south and the steppes to the north. The over-the-top décor includes crocodile-skin wall cover-ings and velvet chairs. Primavera features European and Japanese-fusion cuisine and an impressive wine list chosen by the restaurant’s own wine club.Address: Koktem Business Centre, 180 Dostyk Avenue (corner of Zholdasbekov Street), Medeu DistrictPhone: +7 (727) 237 5087Hours: Daily noon-midnight$$

AvlabarNamed after an Armenian district in Tbilisi, Avlabar is known for its Georgian hospitality. Located at Tau Dastarkhan in the Alma Arasan Valley, Avlabar is one of six restaurants in this complex that sits in the foothills of the Zhailiskii Alatau mountains. Avlabar’s Georgian kitchen has people from Almaty raving. The restaurant offers all the traditional classics - from fresh khachapuri (cheese-filled flat bread) to lobio (kidney bean salad) and pkhali (beets in a garlic and walnut sauce). Finally, no Georgian meal is complete without a few toasts, so try a bottle (or two) of Georgian wine from their wide selection. Address: Tau Dastarkhan Family Resort, Ili Alatau National Park, Alma Arasan Gorge.

Phone: +7 (727) 270 57 29Hours: Daily 11 am-2 amwww.tau-dastarkhan.kz$$

Di WangOutside appearances can be deceiving: Di Wang is located on a quiet, easily overlooked side-street but inside it is cutting edge trendy. Designed by the leading designer of the French modern furniture com-pany Ligne Roset, Di Wang boasts images of Chinese and Japanese emperors on its walls, white leather chairs and a glass aquarium full of exotic fish. Singaporean chefs produce fine Japanese and Chinese dishes. Di Wang also provides a full sushi menu, a reasonably priced lunch and you don’t want to miss its traditional tea ceremony.Address: 75 Zhambyl Street (corner of Tchaikovskovo Street)Phone: +7 (727) 272 38 10Hours: Daily noon-midnightwww.diwang.kz$$

BibliothequeBibliotheque provides European cuisine in a classic high culture décor that alone is worth the visit. The entrance sets the tone: It is dedicated with carved quotes about the joys and wisdom of wine. The clientele dines to a background of classical music surrounded by impressionist art. The restaurant is illuminated by electric chandeliers and the fireplace would do justice to any 17th century French chateau. Omar Khayyam and Beethoven would both love it here.Address: 116 Dostyk Avenue (corner of Satpaev Street), Medeu DistrictPhone: +7 (727) 262 61 22$$

SafranAt night, this Middle Eastern style restaurant displays an illuminated

white façade with Arabic script. It offers Moroccan, Turkish and Georgian cuisines. Specialties include lamb served in a tagine with dried fruits and chestnuts on saffron rice, salmon-spinach falafel rolls served with wasabi and tahini sauce and the famous Turkish dish, Imam Bayildi. Its Arab-style coffee is brewed from a special recipe blended with cardamon and harissa and served with a pitcher of mint-flavored water. Address: 36 Dostyk Avenue (corner of Bogenbai Batyr Avenue), Medeu DistrictPhone: +7 (727) 293 86 67 Hours: Mon-Sat noon-midnight, Sun 1 pm-midnight$$

Zhety KazynaThis remarkable restaurant offers a choice of Central Asian, European, Russian and East Asian cuisine with different dining areas and decors for each. Zhety Kazyna means Seven Treasures and it lives up to its name. A Kazakh apa or grand-mother directs guests to the rooms of their choice. The main restau-rant has an Uzbek theme with an open, tiled kitchen on one side with beautifully carved Uzbek columns, painted ceilings, marble fountains and arched windows with paranjas (latticed screens with a geometric designs). It offers Kazakh, Uzbek, Uighur and Dungan dishes of the highest quality. We recommend the

Namedni Restaurant

Alasha Restaurant


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besparmak, which is the Kazakh national dish made with meat and ribbons of home-made pasta. Zhety Kazyna also features the Zi oriental emporium which serves Japanese and Chinese dishes. A purple cor-ridor with oriental clouds painted on the red ceiling and a dragon looping its way over the doors guides guests to private, oriental style rooms where guests squat on the floor and waitresses enter on their knees. Address: 58a Abylai Khan Avenue (entrance on Makatayev Street), Zhetisu DistrictPhone: +7 (727) 273 25 87Hours: Daily noon-midnight$$

KishlakThis conveniently located restaurant is designed to make you feel like you are in a Central Asian village. You enter through a brick gate, into a courtyard and into the restaurant where you’ll find a little foot bridge over a man-made stream with fish, as well as fake greenery and ex-posed Uzbek pots and pans on the walls. It all gives the quant feeling of visiting a neighbor’s home. As for the food, you’ll find hearty standards at reasonable prices.

Address: Seifullin StreetPhone: +7 (727) 261 56 01Hours: Daily noon-1 am$

Sumo SanLocated just round the corner from the InterContinental Hotel, Sumo San is popular with Japanese expatriates living in Almaty. The

extensive menu offers sushi and teppyanaki among other dishes. The restaurant is also adorned with pho-tos of sumo wrestlers. Its inviting maze of dining rooms offer a tasty bento lunch with a delicious miso. And in the summer, Sumo San of-fers a great outdoor seating area.Address: 159 Baitursynuly Street, Bostandyk DistrictPhone: +7 (727) 292 87 38 Hours: Daily noon-midnight$

PomodorPomodor offers a breath of Italy and serves some of the best Italian comfort food in town. Small-scale, it’s still a family-run restaurant that delivers superlative quality. Chef Patron Giorgio Palazzi knows his regulars by their names and favorite wines. Palazzi also travels each year to his native Le Marche, Italy to bring back cargoes of fresh, highly prized white truffles. Pomodor uses local ingredients and its mozzarella is made by Italians living in Almaty. The restaurant is also known for its great desserts.Address: 108 Panfilov Street (corner of Bogenbai Batyr Avenue), Almaly DistrictPhone: +7 (727) 261 83 26Hours: Mon-Sat noon-11:30 pm$

Korea HouseKorean restaurants in Almaty go back to 1937 after Josef Stalin forc-ibly transported more than 200,000 Korean settlers from Russia’s Far East to Central Asia because he feared they could become spies for Japan. Today, more than 400,000

Koreans live in Central Asia, includ-ing 70,000 in Kazakhstan, and the Korea House’s chef is one of them. He produces all the traditionally spicy dishes and the restaurants’ decor resembles an indoor East Asian garden with lots of green and bamboo plants placed on its dark Asian-style furniture. Waiters bow to their guests and deliver their dishes with both hands to display respect. Address: 2 Gogol Street, Medeu DistrictPhone: +7 (727) 293 96 87 Hours: Daily, noon-midnight$

Piano Bar Mardi GrasPalladium’s Piano Bar Mardi Gras proudly displays Kazakhstan’s transparent Schimmel grand piano. Operating in the centre of Almaty’s Business District, the Piano Bar is a popular lunch attraction for embassy employees, business-men and international executives. Palladium offers an extensive wine list, a full bar and a first-rate selec-tion of cigars making it an attractive afternoon gathering spot. Address: Palladium Restaurant Com-plex, 275 Furmanov Street (corner of Al-Farabi Avenue), Medeu DistrictPhone: +7 (727) 260 89 00Hours: Mon-Fri noon-3 pm www.palladium.kz$

NamasteConveniently close to the Hyatt, Aiser and Astana International Ho-tels, Namaste’s Thai-trained Indian chefs deliver tandoori dishes cooked in a clay oven and a wide range of first-class vegetarian dishes. The

Sumo-san Restaurant Photo: Yuri Bibikov

Alasha Restaurant

Alasha Restaurant


atmosphere is loud and chaotic with Indian music videos and Bollywood movies being played but don’t be deceived, the cuisine is first class.Address: Baitursynov Street (corner of Satpaev Street), Bostandyk DistrictPhone: +7 (727) 292 24 84Hours: Daily 11 am-midnight$

ZontikiZontiki means parasol, or umbrella and that theme is honored in the dé-cor, with cream and orange parasol lampshades dangling from the pale wooden walls surrounding a mini-malist decor. The fresh, light interior generates an optimistic atmosphere enhanced by the background music of classic pop songs. Zontiki’s Ko-rean chef prepares a wide selection of Japanese and Korean dishes. The sushi is served on a wooden boat and, as at Korea House, if you order Korean food you’ll be treated to Korean kimchi (or starters) for free. Kadury - a sweet Korean rice cake with toasted sesame seeds and honey – is available with tea as is the eponymous Umbrella Cake. Reservations are recommended.Address: 44 Kurmangazy Street (corner of Tulebaev Street), Medeu DistrictPhone: +7 (727) 272 6759 Hours: Daily 11 am-midnight$

Cooshy SushiSushi cuisine came late to the larg-est land-locked country in the world but the Kazakhs have been making up for lost time ever since. Cooshy Sushi was Almaty’s first kaiten sushi bar and continues to deliver fresh nigiri, maki and temaki from a conveyer belt that winds through the restaurant’s loft-style interior. The décor echoes New York’s Soho and London’s hip mock-industrial hang-outs with exposed brick and industrial accents. Genuine Japa-nese chefs prepare the dishes on color-coded plates with each color indicating the cost. Diners grab their choices as the belt moves along. Crowded for lunch and dinner, it also offers a full menu of Japanese-prepared meals. Downstairs is the teppanyaki room where the chefs will prepare your meal right in front of you.Address: 41/15 Gogol Street (corner of Zenkov Street), Medeu DistrictPhone: +7 (727) 273 84 62 Hours: Daily noon-midnight$

Kok-Tobe: Great Food and a Great ViewAlmaty’s Kok-Tobe restaurant offers visitors a one-of-a-kind Kazakh-food experience – including a unique

trip to the front door.To get to the restaurant on a hill several hundred feet above the city you can catch an aerial tram near the

intersection of Dostyk and Abay Streets. The tram provides a panoramic vista of Almaty, including a bird’s-eye view of some of the city’s largest and ritziest homes. (For those afraid of heights, there is also a less romantic way to get to the top of the mountain – by car.)

Kok-Tobe actually is three restaurants. The main venue is called Yurt, because its two wings are shaped like the round tents nomads used. Another is the Grill Bar, where the standard fare is barbecue and beer.

There’s also a huge inflatable tent for birthdays, weddings and other special events. It may be a tent, but it’s luxurious – and has the feel of a structure with stan-dard walls. It’s also heated during winter.

Yurt is the facility that attracts the most international diners. It has a sumptuous atmosphere with Oriental carpets and pillow-sized cushions everywhere, conjur-ing up a sultan’s harem room. In fact, the restaurant’s entertainment lineup includes a troupe of female danc-ers. Adding to Yurt’s exotic atmosphere are paintings of nomad life, brass works and other artifacts.

Yurt prepares the mainstays of Kazakh food – dishes such as beshbarmak, lagman and manty – better than just about any restaurant in Almaty. Knowing that many international guests shy away from fat, it makes its meat dishes as lean as possible.

Restaurant director Nurlan Kaziyev has also added tempting non-Kazakh fare to Yurt’s menu. Quail has be-come popular, for example. Kaziyev said Yurt also has a French chef for those who want the best in Continental cuisine.

Yurt’s two indoor seating areas can accommodate 120 guests. In summer, it opens an outdoor terrace that seats 100. The terrace is a delight because Yurt sits in the middle of a hilltop park. So trees and other greenery are everywhere.

The Grill Bar also is outdoors. It features the Central-Asian- and Caucasus-style barbecue known as shashlyk. Chefs from Azerbaijan are reputed to be the best shashlyk makers in the world – and the Grill Bar boasts one.

At a whopping 750 square yards, the park’s party tent can accommodate several hundred people. It includes banquet tables and a stage big enough for an orchestra.

An experienced catering staff prepares exquisite dishes for special events, starting with salmon, shrimp and quail’s-egg hors d’oeuvres.

And once your evening meal is over, you get to see the lights of the city as you head back down the moun-tain.

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Whether you’re a pretty young thing or a businessman celebrat-ing a deal, Almaty’s nightclub scene has something to offer.Larger and more established than the scene in Astana, Almaty

has already learned how to get its groove on and welcomes you to join.So if your Ipod includes a rotating mix of international DJs, head over

to Da Freak nightclub which attracts top talent from the UK, Germany and Russia. Looking for a warehouse party? Try Gas where you’ll find a Lon-don-style industrial steel and brick space pulsing with progressive house until early morning.

If you prefer your clubs a bit more laid back, Almaty offers Cuba where the live Cuban music is as tasty as the mojitos.

Another unique part of the nightclub scene is long legs. Go-Go dancers

are part of the landscape here and clubs will include a show at some point in the night. So if you walk in and see scantily clad women dancing on the bar, just tell your girlfriend it’s part of the culture.

Another thing to keep in mind is that like any major city – the top night-clubs discriminate based on age and appearance. The posher the nightclub, the more difficult it is to get past the velvet rope. So if you’re not a pretty young thing, bring one.

And be prepared to pay a cover comparable to other major cities -- $20 plus.

But once inside, it’s definitely a good time. World class cocktails, top DJ talent, private VIP rooms and dance floors full of locals happy to be young and free.

NightclubsAlmaty

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Da FreakCheck the DJ list as this place attracts top talent from the UK, Russia and Germany. The main hall features techno with a smaller, up-stairs red room offering mellower electro house. There’s no harsh dress code, but you won’t make the cut in sports clothes.Address: 40 Gogol Street, Panfilov Park, Medeu DistrictPhone: 8 (727) 273 1337 8 (727) 273 1337 Hours: Fri & Sat Midnight-6 am

GasProgressive house music pulses into the early morning at this well-known industrial-style nightclub. Its unique steel-clad, exposed brick interior as well as its regular roster of go-go dancers will give you something to look at while scanning for new friends.Address: 100 Seifullin Avenue (corner of Shevchenko), Almaly DistrictPhone: 8 (727) 272 7474, 8 (727) 272 7474 Hours: Mon & Tues 10 pm-6 am, Wed-Fri 10 pm-7 am, Sat 10 pm – 9 am. Closed Tuesdays.

PetroleumYou can’t miss with Petroleum. It’s the oldest and best known club in the city and offers a reliable mix of pop, disco and techno. It’s in the same complex as the Gas nightclub. Address: 100 Seifullin Avenue (corner of Shevchenko), Almaly DistrictPhone: 8(727) 272 7474, 8 (727) 272 7474 Hours: Daily 10 pm-6 am

CubaThis club’s dark wood and rattan motif, iconic black and white photos and live Cuban music will place you squarely in the center of Castro’s island. Give it a few minutes and you’ll be itching for a shot of rum and a quality Cubano.Address: 102 Bogenbai Batyr Avenue

(corner of Dostyk Avenue), Almaly DistrictPhone: 8(727) 291 2932, 8 (727) 291 2932, 8 (727)291 4310Hours: 24 hours daily, live music Thurs-Sat at 10 pm

MostWhen the other nightclubs have shut down, this place keeps pulsing. Most is open until 9 a.m. on week-ends and offers retro music from the 1980s and 1990s. You can also shoot pool if you tire of grooving to George Michael.Address: 12 Kommunalnaya Street (cor-ner of Seifullin Street), Zhetisu DistrictPhone: 7(727) 233 0457, 8(727) 233 0457Hours: Fri & Sat Midnight-9 amwww.most-club.kz

RaiRai is generally considered Almaty’s most popular nightclub. Reliable

house music fills its unique mir-rored and black-and-white-walled interior. VIP cabins are also available for those who are just so over the crowd.Address: Tselini Cinema, Kabanbai Batyr Avenue (corner of Masanchi Street), Almaly DisctrictPhone: 8 701 687 9587 , 8 701 687 9587 Hours: Lounge Thurs-Sat 8 pm-6 am. Nightclub Thurs & Fri 11 pm-6 am

EsperanzaEsperanza is another of Almaty’s top nightclubs. House, dance, rap, rock and R&B are regularly on offer. Plus the place cuts down on rowdi-ness by requiring men to be at least 25 years old to enter. Women must be at least 18.Address: 481 Seifullin Street (corner of Raiymbek Avenue), Zhetisu District Phone: 8(727) 299 6699, 8 (727) 299 6699 Hours: Daily 10 pm-6 am

TornadoYou get your drinks at a central bar and chill on couches edging the room as Tornado alternates between pop, hip-hop and R&B. Tornado is part of the Assorti restau-rant chain. Address: Assorti Restaurant, 106G Dostyk Avenue (corner of Abai Avenue), Medeu DistrictPhone: 8 (727) 263 3266, 8 (727) 263 3266 Hours: Fri & Sat 11 am-5 pm

MetroIt’s not exactly hip, but it is interest-ing. The Metro nightclub is located in a larger entertainment complex and is designed to look like a medieval cavern which you reach by crossing a drawbridge. The rest of the com-plex offers a go-cart track, bowling, billiards and a restaurant.Address: 2b Zhandosov Street (corner of Baizakov Street), Central DistrictPhone: 8 (727) 247 8166, 8 (727) 247 8166 Hours: Daily noon-5 am, Fri & Sat until 7 amwww.metro-club.kz


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A good bar is a valuable thing. And Almaty has lots. You’ll find everything from Irish pubs where you can catch the latest soc-cer match over a game of darts to chic club-like lounges, to

upscale business bars.On the relaxed end of the spectrum, you’ll want to stop in at Line

Brew or Mad Murphy’s. Line Brew offers an excellent selection of Bel-gian beers and will roast your shashlyk over an open fire. Mad Mur-phy’s offers hearty stouts, billiards and a true Irish bar feel.

More upscale is Almaty’s GQ Asia. This upscale bar is out of the pag-es of the iconic men’s magazine and is the best place to close or toast a new business deal. You might also want to try Nirvana Bar which has created a Feng-Shui-esque East Asian respite from the noise and

bustle of the city.Among Almaty’s more lounge-like options are Cinzano and Posh

Bar. Cinzano can be tough to get into at night, but during the day you can enjoy a sushi lunch in its trendy red- and white-themed rooms. Posh also lets in only the young and beautiful, but during the day it’s the hub for hip business people using Posh’s free WiFi.

Almaty also offers live music at places like Soho and Members Bar.Though a few of Almaty’s more lounge-like bars discriminate at the

door based on age and appearance, most of Almaty’s bars are just that – bars. Places to enjoy a few drinks and a little conversation. So take your pick and toast your arrival in one of Central Asia’s most dynamic cities.

BarsAlmaty

Posh Bar

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CinzanoCinzano can be hard to get into late at night as the door admits only the young and beautiful. But if you get past the bouncer, Cinzano offers 130 types of cocktails. You can also get in during the day to sample a sushi lunch in its trendy white Bianca or Red Rossa rooms. Address: 109b Dostyk Avenue (corner of Kazhymukan Street), Medeu DistrictPhone: +7 (727) 253 13 45 Hours: Daily, noon-8 am

Di Wang Lounge BarDi Wang is on the lounge end of the bar-lounge spectrum. But if you like your couches low, your hookah sweet and your Ipod includes Thiev-ery Corporation (www.thieverycor-poration.com), this bar-lounge is the right place to chill with friends.Address: ??? Jambyl Street (corner of Tschaikovskovo Street)Phone: 8 (727) 272 38 10 Hours: Sun-Wed 11 am-last customer, Thurs-Sat 9 pm-last customerwww.diwang.kz

Dublin PubDublin is one of Almaty’s well-done Irish bars. It offers an international menu in an intimate wood-paneled space on a quiet street. And in the summer, it offers a pleasant outdoor terrace.Address: 45 Bayseyitova Street Phone: +7 (727) 272 14 75 Hours: Daily 11 am-1 am

EuphoriaIf you have a thing for live music and runway models, this is the place to be. Euphoria is known as one of the main spots for Almaty fashion shows. And when the stage isn’t filled with glamazons in the latest designs, it’s taken up by some of the city’s top musicians. Euphoria is more than just a hotel bar.Address: 29/6 Satpayev Street, Hyatt

Regency HotelPhone: 8 (727) 226 18 08Hours: Mon-Wed 5 pm-2 am, Thurs-Sun 5 pm-5 am

Guinness PubThe name pretty much says it all. Guinness Pub is just what you would expect it: It’s got the famous Irish stout on tap, billiards and the food and live music of the Emerald Isle. Address: 71 E Dostyk Avenue, near Hotel KazakhstanPhone: +7 (727) 291 55 85 Hours: 11 am-2 am

GQ Asia barThis is the bar for off duty busi-nessmen and the women who love them. If your sense of style fits nicely in the pages of the iconic men’s magazine, you’ll feel right at home in this upscale bar. So loosen your silk tie, hang your suit coat on the back of your chair and toast to the deal you came all this way to close.Address: 248 Dostyk AvenuePhone: 8 (727) 387 04 03Hours: Mon-Wed 5 pm-2 am, Thurs-Sat 5 pm-4 am

La FeteYou probably weren’t around to party in Paris in the 1920s. But ap-parently they knew what they were doing. And La Fete carries on that tradition. Paintings of partying 1920s Paris hipsters line the walls of this large basement bar-lounge. Cock-tails are served to the light house music of Le Fete DJs.Address: 44 Kurmangazy Street (corner of Furmanov Street, downstairs in the Hall of Receptions building), Medeu DistrictPhone: +7 (727) 272 78 37 Hours: Daily 6 pm-2 am

Line BrewThink Braveheart before Mel Gibson wasn’t cool and you’ve got the vibe of this UK pub. Its interior is gothic castle, the beer is Belgian and the chef will roast your traditional shashlyk right there over an open fire.Address: 187 Furmanov Street (corner of Abai Avenue), Bostandyk DistrictPhone: 8 (727) 250 79 85 Hours: Daily 12am-last customer

Mad Murphy’sYou go to an Irish bar to find a hearty stout, a game of darts, billiards and a little soccer on the tele. And that’s exactly what you’ll find at Mad Murphy’s. It’s also a popular haunt for expats who like to take in their matches on the bar’s large televisions. Address: 12 Tole Bi AvenuePhone: +7 (727) 291 28 56 Hours: Daily 11:30 am-1 am

Members BarThis is where you go for the sweet sounds of live jazz. The music usu-ally starts around 11 pm. Call to see who is playing and when.

Address: 181 Zheltoksan Street, Inter-Continental AlmatyPhone: +7 (727) 250 50 00 Hours: Mon-Sat 9 pm-2 am

Nice BarNice Bar offers don’t-want-to-get-up, sink-into sofas and velvet-cur-tained private spaces, which can be particularly pleasant if you’re getting along well with a new friend.Address: 29 Volodarskogo StreetPhone: +7 (727) 292 38 25Hours: Daily, 12am-2am

Nirvana BarBy “Nirvana” this place is referring to Asian contentment rather than the 1990s grunge rock band. It uses the four elements of life -- air, fire, water and earth – to create a calm, Feng-Shui-esque respite from Almaty’s business bustle. It’s the place to go for a little peace and Eastern-style quiet with your after work cocktail.Address: Building 2, Dostyk Avenue (Satpaev), Samal MicrodistrictPhone: 8 (727) 264 74 50 Hours: Daily noon-midnight

OXO Lounge BarThis place truly has something for everyone. Its upscale space attracts a professional crowd in their mid-20s to mid-30s who come for different styles of music each night. Wednesday nights are 80s retro, Thursday is R&B night and Fridays offer a rotating roster of house music DJs. And the not-to-be missed striptease show happens on Saturdays. There’s also a down-stairs bar called Dibo which stays open 24 hours so you can chill out for a bit or keep the party going after the striptease dancers have gone home.


Mad Murphy’s

Mad Murphy’sPosh Bar

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Address: 67a Gabdullin St (Auezov), BostandykPhone: +7 (727) 275 62 53 Hours: Daily 6 pm-5 am

Posh BarPosh is a unique bar-nightclub that opens early in the morning and morphs into different style venues over the course of the day. Starting at 9 am, the late club crowd stops by for breakfast. During the day, hip business people use the space’s free WiFi, and from 5 pm to 6 pm you can enjoy a proper tea. And on Friday and Saturday nights you’ll find Almaty’s beautiful people grooving to house and lounge music. This place discriminates on age and clothing, so look young and dress sharp if you expect to get in.Address: Mercur Town, 3/25 Al-Farabi (corner of Furmanov Street), Samal MicrodistrictPhone: 8 (727) 266 39 96Hours: Daily 9 am-last customer

San SiroSan Siro’s draw is simple: Soccer. It’s Almaty’s temple to the green field and the 90 minutes of drama that occur there. Whether you are

Real Madrid for life or sport the Blue and Red of Barcelona, San Siro is likely to have a match you’ll want to catch on one of its numerous TVs. And there’s plenty of comfort food if your team loses.Address: 117 Bogenbay Batyr AvenuePhone: +7 (727) 272 05 94 Hours: Daily 24 hours

ShtabShtab is where you go for beer. It’s a tiny local bar opposite the Hotel Ambassador with just a handful of tables, but an ample selection of local and foreign drafts. Address: Zheltoqsan City Center Phone: 8 (727) 272 24 40 Hours: Daily 10 am-midnight

SohoThis is a live music joint with something from everyone. On any given night you’ll find bands singing everything from 1980s love ballads to Beatles classics. Almaty’s jazz musicians are also known to take the Soho stage. So call to find out about the current music lineup. Address: 65 Kazybek Bi Avenue (corner of Furmanov Street)Phone: 8(727) 267 03 67

Hours: Daily 9 am-3 amwww.soho.kz

Stylish DogThis place screams style: White leather armchairs, bubbling fluores-cent table legs and hip lighting. Your style quotient goes up eight points just by hanging out here.Address: Café Max Internet-Center, 1A Timiryazev Street, Bostandyk DistrictPhone: 8 (727) 260 98 88Hours: Daily noon-midnightwww.cafemax.kz

TinkoffThere aren’t too many places where you’ll find European and Japanese cuisine served up with homemade beer in a glass and steel industrial space. But Tinkoff is that place. Add to it Latin music and a great roof deck, and Tinkoff offers something for everyone.Address: 27a Satpaev Street (corner of Masanchi Street), Bostandyk DistrictPhone: 8 (727) 292 49 00Hours: Daily noon-2 amwww.tinkoff.ru

VitaliaVitalia may have an Italian menu, but

this is no neighborhood pasta place. Vitalia’s modern cuisine is served up amidst an ultra chic interior and moody lighting. Or you can just take in the ambiance while listening to the sounds of R&B and dance music.Address: 63 Tole Bi Avenue (corner of Zheltoksan Street)Phone: 8 (727) 272 74 61Hours: Daily 10 am-last customer

Vogue barSit down at the Vogue Bar and you are in the capable hands of Sasha, voted Kazakhstan’s Champion Bartender. Sasha can do way more than pour you a pint. He’s known for his extensive cocktail repertoire and killer mojitos. He also puts on a glass-spinning, bottle flipping bartending show every Friday that puts Tom Cruise and the 1980s movie “Cocktail” to shame. Vogue’s smaller size, comfy seats and intimate atmosphere also make it a stand out alternative to Almaty’s larger mega bars.Address: 11 Satpaev Street (Furmanov), MedeuPhone: 8 (727) 264 16 99Hours: Daily 11 am-3 am

Posh Bar

Posh BarVogue barVogue bar

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Business and pleasure travelers will find no shortage of quality ho-tels in Almaty as Kazakhstan’s biggest city offers an array of op-tions from luxurious to efficient.

At the top end are the city’s five star listings including the Rixos Almaty and Hyatt Regency Almaty. The Hyatt was the city’s first five-star hotel and continues to offer impeccable service. A 24-yurt cafe in the middle of the hotel reminds its international guests they have arrived in Central Asia.

The Rixos offers a stunning seven-story courtyard-style design with a light-filled glass ceiling. But it may be best known for its luxurious spa and banya. The Rixos spa offers an oversized pool, steam-filled massage rooms and all the papering you could want.

Among Almaty’s four star listings are the Grand Hotel Tien Shan and the quant Ambassador Hotel. The Ambassador bills itself as Almaty’s first boutique hotel. And while it may not match the European definition, it’s

certainly more unique and filled with character than the larger corporate hotels. The Grand Tien Shan is also a great option as it’s located in the center of the city across from Kunaev Park. It’s also housed inside a beau-tiful neo-classically designed building that once served as Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Geology.

The majority of Almaty’s major hotels are located close to the city’s business centers. A number of small resort hotels are also offered in the mountains that ring the city.

Most of the major hotels also offer airport transportation and WiFi-equipped business facilities.

With Almaty serving as a business hub, many of its hotels are often most crowded during the work week rather than the weekend.

But with a large and growing number of hotel options, you should have no problem finding a quality room.

HotelsAlmaty

Rixos Hotel

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Rixos Almaty H H H H H

Address: 506/99 Seifullin Street Phone: 8 (727) 300 33 00 www.rixos.com

InterContinental Hotel H H H H H

Address: 181 Zheltoksan Street Phone: 8 (727) 250 50 00 www.ichotelsgroup.com

Hyatt Regency Almaty H H H H H Address: 29/6 Satpayev Street Phone: 8 (727) 250 12 34 www.hyatt.com

Royal Tulip Almaty H H H H H

Address: 401/2, M. Ospanov Street

Phone: 8 (727) 300 01 00 www.royaltulipalmaty.com

Dostyk Hotel H H H H H

Address: 26 Kurmangazy StreetPhone: +7 (727) 255 82 27 http://www.dostyk.kz/en

Shera Hotel H H H H

Address: 281 Furmanov Street Phone: 8 (727) 313 75 75 www.hotel-shera.kz

Royal Palace Hotel H H H H

Address: 178 Zhansugurov Street Phone: 8 (727) 380 79 12 www.hotelrp.kz

Ambassador Hotel H H H H

Address: 121 Zheltoksan Street Phone: 8 (727) 250 89 89 www.ambassadorhotel.kz

Grand Hotel Tien Shan H H H H

Address: 115 Bogenbay Batyr Avenue Phone: 8 (727) 244 96 00 www.tienshan-hotels.com

Holiday Inn H H H H

Address: 2D Temiryazev Street Phone: 8 (727) 244 02 55 www.holidayinn.com

Kazakhstan Hotel H H H H

Address: 52/2 Dostyk Avenue

Phone: 8 (727) 291 91 01 www.kazakhstanhotel.kz

Kazzhol Hotel H H H H

Address: Gogol Street 127/1, AlmalyPhone: +7 (727) 250 89 44www.hotelkazzhol.kz

Almaty Sapar Hotel H H H H

Address: 177 Zhamakaev StreetPhone: +7 (727) 246 88 66www.saparhotels.com

Uyut Hotel H H H H

Address 127/1 Gogol StreetPhone: +7 (727) 279 55 11www.hotel-uyut.kz

Voyage Hotel H H H H

Address: Furmanov Street, 97aPhone: +7 (727) 272 22 77www.voyage-hotel.kz

Grand Hotel Eurasia H H H H

Address 9a Zholdasbekov StreetPhone: +7 (727) 380 80 80E-mail: [email protected]

Parasat Hotel & Residence H H H H

Address: 10 Elebekov Street, AlmatyPhone: +7 (727) 263 55 88, +7 (727) 263 55 99E-mail: [email protected]

Grand Hotel Aiser H H H H

Address: 1 Pozharskiy StreetPhone: +7 (727) 296 99 99E-mail: [email protected]

Astana Inter Hotel H H H H

Address: 113 Baitursynov Street, AlmatyPhone: +7 (727) 250 70 50, +7 (727) 250 10 60E-mail: [email protected]

Hotel Premier Alatau H H H H

Address: 105 Dostyk AvenuePhone: +7 (727) 258 11 11, +7 (727) 258 43 12www.alatau-hotel.kz

Jeppesen Hotel H H H

Address: 206B Gagarin Street Phone: 8 (727) 275 49 05 www.aviaclub.kz

Almaty Hotel H H H

Address: 85 Kabanbay Batyr Avenue Phone: 8 (727) 272 00 47 www.hotel-alma-ata.com

Hotel & Resort “Altyn Kargaly” H H H

Address: 204 Zhandosov StreetPhone: +7 (727) 250 08 28, +7 (727) 250 08 26www.altyn-kargaly.kz

Gold Dragon Hotel H H H

Address: 402 Seifullin AvenuePhone: +7 (727) 279 71 59E-mail: [email protected]

Astra Hotel H H H

Address: 12 Zheltoksan StreetPhone: +7 (727) 246 86 88www.astra-hotel.kz

Olympica Hotel H H H

Address: 14 Sanatornaya StreetPhone: +7 (727) 250 03 27, +7 (727) 299 02 44www.baganashil.kz

*Hotel star rating provided by the Ministry of Tourism and Sport


Rixos Hotel

Holiday Inn

Intercontinental Hotel

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Almaty visitors who’d like a little mountain air in a gor-geous natural setting without having to rough it should check out the Tau Dastarkhan Resort.

The resort’s location 30 minutes from Almaty in the Ili-Alatau National Park’s Alma-Arasan Gorge guarantees spectacular sights and invigorating hikes.

But the resort also contains a first-rate hotel with four restaurants, saunas, swimming pools, a water park and other amenities for those who want to be pampered while savoring the fresh air.

The Tau Dastarkhan, which opened in 2002, has long been considered one of the best mountain resorts in the

Almaty area. And manager Yuri Apolsky said the owners renovated it recently to make it even more alluring.

The 53-room Tau House Hotel’s restaurants are the Kazakh-themed Mergen, the Georgian-oriented Avlabar, the European-focus Gorny and Kazbek, which offers sev-eral varieties of cuisine. A number of mountain-style res-taurants are within walking distance of the resort.

The recreational crown jewel of the resort is the Tau Spa, which boasts four saunas, two swimming pools and water slides. There are two Finnish-style saunas – wet and dry – plus Turkish and Japanese styles. For a total sauna experience, it’s fun to jump from one type to the next until you’ve sampled all four.

Both men and women use the saunas, so bathing suits are required. Sitting on a steamy sauna bench “is a great way to meet a girl,” said a young Almaty resident whose family has had a longtime Tau Spa membership.

In addition to the four saunas, the Tau Dastarkhan of-fers massages and other spa services, and has a mini-zoo for children that includes wolves, foxes, peacocks and other animals.

Skiing is available between December and February at the nearby Kumbel resort.

For more information visit www.tau-dastarkhan.kz.

Tau Dastarkhan is a Spectacular Mountain Resort Close to Almaty

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A lmaty is truly Kazakhstan’s cultural capital.Its historical museums offer an extensive history of the country from its taming of the steppes to the construction of its world-

class capital.Almaty’s array of visual and theatrical arts are also world class and

have won prestigious international awards. And just strolling around the city’s parks and monuments gives a sense of Kazakhstan’s rich culture.

One of the best places to start is the Central State Museum. This three-story museum contains more than 200,000 artifacts – from early tools to weapons to a replica of Kazakhstan’s Golden Man – which visu-ally explains ancient-to-modern Kazakh history.

To get a sense of the visual arts of Kazakhstan and the region, try the Kasteyev State Museum of Arts, which contains more than 22,000 works from Kazakhstan, Russia, Western Europe and Asia.

For the theatrical arts, try the Abai Kazakh State Opera and Ballet The-atre and its beautiful Italian-style building. Here you’ll find world-class international performances. More contemporary performances can be found at the Art&Shock Theatre which specializes in cutting edge plays.

And one of the best ways to get a feel for the city is to head to Panilov Park. There you’ll find the multicolored St. Ascension Cathedral, one of the largest wooden structures in the world made without nails, and a monument to WWII Kazakh troops.

Some of the museums have small entrance fees and most don’t offer English language displays. So bring a Russian speaker or call ahead to arrange a guide.

But no matter which museum or theatre you visit, you’ll see that Al-maty’s arts and culture reflect the influences of centuries at the heart of the Silk Road.

Art &Culture

Almaty

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Kasteyev State Museum of ArtsKasteyev is considered Kazakh-stan’s top art museum. It began its acquisitions in 1935 and has since collected more than 22,000 works from Kazakh, Russian, Western European and Asian artists. The extensive collection includes paint-ings, graphics, sculptures as well as pieces from the theatre and decorative arts dating from ancient times to the present. The collection began with 200 works donated by Russian museums. The museum houses 14 permanent, temporary and traveling exhibitions and often showcases local artists. A virtual tour is available on the museum website listed below. Address: 30a Satpaev StreetPhone: 8 (727) 2478356, 2478249 Hours: 10 am - 6 pm (closed on Mondays and last day of each month)Entrance fee: 80 tenge adults, 50 tenge children and studentswww.gmirk.kz

Central State Museum If you have time to visit only one museum in Almaty and want to learn about Kazakhstan, this is

the best place to go. It is one of the oldest and largest museums in the country and is located directly across from the Presidential Palace. This museum takes visitors on a journey through Kazakhstan’s ancient and modern history from its early agri-cultural roots up to its present day politics. More than 200,000 artifacts help tell the story of the country. The museum also houses a replica of Kazakhstan’s famous Golden War-rior Prince. And there’s a small area detailing the history of Almaty. The museum also features a small cafe and souvenir shop.None of the exhibits are in English, so you’ll want to bring a Russian speaker or hire a guide at the museum.Address: 44 Samal-1 Phone: 8 (727) 2644650, 2642200, 2645577 Hours: Wed-Mon 10 am-6 pmEntrance fee: 80 tenge adults, 50 tenge students and pensioners, 40 tenge children

Abai Kazakh State Opera and Ballet TheatreThe opera singers and ballet per-formers who fill this classic Italian building are among the celebrated

masters of their crafts as well young performers who have already been recognized in prestigious interna-tional competitions.The theatre itself was created in 1934 from a musical studio and the building is depicted on Kazakhstan’s 2000 tenge note. Address: 110 Kabanbai Batyr Avenue Phone: 8 (727) 2727934, 2722042Ticket office hours: Mon-Sun 10 am-6 pmwww.gatob.kz

State Museum of National Musical InstrumentsThis museum is considered to be one of Almaty’s most interesting at-tractions. The all-wooden museum building is an attraction in itself as it was built in 1908 by Andrey Zenkov, the same architect that designed Almaty’s famous cathedral built without a nail. The museum build-ing was one of the few that survived Almaty’s massive 1911 earthquake.



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The instruments collection was established in 1980 and features 60 varieties of Kazakh traditional in-struments from across the country and other post Soviet nations. The collection includes the dombras of some of the country’s best known poets and composers.Address: 24 Zenkov Street Phone: 8 (727) 2916326 Hours: Tues-Sun 10 am-5:30 pm

Art&Shock TheatreArt&Shock is a modern independent theatre thought to be staging some

of the most innovative perfor-mances in Kazakhstan. This theatre pushes the edge with improvisation and interactive performances along with pantomime and traditional theatre. The theatre chooses its per-formances based on the concepts of “theatralization of theatric art” and “theatralization of life.” Art&Shock was founded in 2001 and has won grand prizes at international theatri-cal festivals throughout Europe, Russia, and Central Asia. Address: 49/68 Kunayev StreetPhone: 8 (727) 2735282, 8 (727) 2735282

Ticket office hours vary. See websitewww.artishock.kz

Lermontov Russian Drama Theatre and Tengri Umay Arts Gallery This space includes a Russian language theatre and a visual arts space. The theatre was founded in 1969 and continues to stage Rus-sian language plays every day but Monday. On Mondays, the space displays the artwork of contempo-rary Kazakh artists.The Tengri Umay gallery was es-tablished in 1990 and features more than 300 works of contemporary paintings, sculptures and installa-tions.The space also features a shop sell-ing artworks and souvenirs. Address: 43 Abai Avenue Phone: 8 (727) 2673131, 2673151, 2673145Hours: Mon-Sat 10 am-6 pmwww.tl.kz

Deutsches Theater AlmatyDeutches offers Almaty residents and visitors a taste of European theatre. It was founded in 1975 as a way to preserve German culture but

has since expanded to become an international theatre company. Its plays are performed in German with simultaneous Russian translations. Like Art&Shock, Deutches special-izes in innovative, contemporary theatre in addition to traditional works. The theatre moved to Almaty in 1989.Address: 64D, Satpayev Street Phone: 8 (727) 3920234, 8 (727) 3920233Ticket office hours vary. See websitewww.dta.kz

Arvest Art Gallery You’ll never know what you’ll find at the Arvest Art Gallery. This unique space does not focus on particular trends in art, but rather chooses its exhibits based purely on the origi-nality and talent of the artist. Created in 2007, Arvest is a space for artists to display and sell their paintings, sculptures, graphics and other art forms. You can expect a new exhibit almost every month and master art classes are offered each Monday.Address: 75/68 Bogenbay Batyr AvenuePhone: 8 (727) 2914797Hours: Daily 10 am-8 pmwww.arvest.kz

Almaty Opera House


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C offee is the elixir of early mornings, late night meetings and long afternoons debating the issues of the day over an espresso at a sidewalk cafe. But no matter how you prefer

your coffee, you should be able to find what you need in Almaty’s cafes and coffee houses.

4A Coffee remains one of Almaty’s more popular coffee shops among locals and expats. They roast their coffee on site and the aroma

alone will get your taste buds going. Madlen also offers a nice resting place particularly if you have a sweet tooth as the place is known for its exclusive cakes and goodies. It also offers WiFi. And if you have seri-ous work to do, you can head to Cafemax which has designated work sections.

Many of the coffee shops in Almaty now come with WiFi and most offer at least sandwiches along with their java.

Cafés & Coffee Houses

Almaty

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Segafredo Zanetti

4A Coffee This is the coffee house for Almaty’s hipster class and in-the-know expat community. Luckily, in addition to being trendy it’s also generally considered to sell the best coffee and coffee beans in the city. The smells of the place are delicious as they roast their coffee on site. Good bread and tasty sandwiches round out the experience. Surprisingly, you

won’t find WiFi here, but they offer plenty of old dead-tree edition books for customers to read. Address: 81 Zhibek Zholy Street Phone: +7 (727) 271 82 37Hours: Daily 8 am-9 pmwww.4acoffee.com

L’AfficheIt’s a bit pricey but it has a great central location near the opera house and quality coffee. They also

offer numerous coffee cocktails and some international cuisine, includ-ing great sandwiches. The ceiling is also painted in a tribute to Gauguin.Address: 83 Kabanbai Batyr AvenuePhone: +7 (727) 272 10 92Hours: Daily 11 am-1 am

CoffeedeliaWiFi and an outdoor seating area are among the main draws of this popular coffee house. It’s friendly, open until midnight and its com-bination of good food and quality coffee draw a wide ranging clientele. It’s an enjoyable place to sip and surf the web.Address: 79 Kabanbai Batyr Avenue Phone: +7 (727) 273 23 94 Hours: Daily 8 am-12 pm

Marrone Rosso“Gourmet” is a relative term. But you can feel safe calling Marrone Rosso a gourmet coffee house. Marrone Rosso means “brown-red” in Latin and those are considered to be among the finest beans. Marrone Rosso also makes its salads and sandwiches to order so they are fresh and bakes its pastries on site.The coffee shop is part of the inter-national Aroma Espresso Bar chain. But don’t let the chain affiliation scare you away. It’s an interesting place to hang out and have a pastry.Address: 149 Furmanov StreetPhone: +7 (727) 261 39 54Hours: 8 a.m. – midnightwww.marronerosso.com

“Segafredo Zanetti” cafeIf you’re experiencing espresso withdrawal symptoms, go here. Segafredo Zanetti is one of Italy’s

leading espresso companies and this cafe specializes in the real thing. It is also known for its des-serts and outdoor seating. Internet access is free. It’s also open late. Just look for the sign that says “Uno coffee per amico,” meaning “Coffee for a friend.”Address: 46 Dostyk Avenue (corner of Zhambul Street) Phone: +7 (727) 291 02 27Hours: Daily 9 am-midnightwww.segafredo.kz

Cafe Coffee and ToffeeStone Pillars and wood beams give this centrally located coffee house a uniquely castle feel. It’s also located in the All Trade building near various tourist sites, so it’s a good place to take a mid-day coffee and lunch break.Address: 44 Shevchenko StreetPhone: +7 (727) 261 74 16Hours: Daily 9 am-11:30 pm

MadlenIf your sweet tooth is stronger than your coffee addiction, then this is the place to go. Madlen has good coffee, but is primarily known for its large selection of cakes and other goodies. The prices are reasonable

Gloria Jeans

Segafredo ZanettiSegafredo Zanetti


and WiFi is available until 7 pm. This Madlen is part of a 15 shop coffee chain with outlets throughout Kazakhstan.Address: 115 Ablay Khan Avenue (at the corner of Karasay Batyr Street) Phone: +7 (727) 272 23 86Hours: Daily 9 am-1 am

www.madlen.kz Cafemax Cafemax is a true internet cafe – Meaning it’s an internet access center first and a cafe second. But this Cafemax is stylishly designed and popular with Almaty youth. It’s also uniquely divided into gaming, work and cafe sections. It also offers a smoking room. And the coffee isn’t bad either as they offer 14 types of coffee drinks.Address: 176 Zhibek Zholy Street (be-tween Kunayev and Furmanov Streets)Phone: +7 (727) 273 95 53Hours: Daily 10 am-9 pmwww.cafemax.kz

“Lounge Bar 29”This place is more of a coffee lounge than coffee house. It’s open late, features DJs and has a VIP

room. Expect to find young hipsters in pre- and post-party mode. The name is also part of the place’s ad-dress and all the prices end in 29.Address: 29 Dostyk AvenuePhone: +7 (727) 291 97 37Hours: Daily 9 am-2 am

Gloria Jeans Gloria Jeans is part of an Australian-owned global coffee company and has two local outlets. The Gloria Jeans in the Mega shopping center is basically a mall coffee shop – a good place to rest your legs and wallet after a day of shopping. But the outlet’s second location on Abylay Khan Street is a true coffee house. It has stylish chairs in the shapes of coffee beans and a strik-ing red parlor. It also features more than 40 types of hot and cold coffee drinks. There’s no alcohol available but they serve a good breakfast and offer free WiFi.Address: 133 Abylay Khan Avenue (at the corner of Bogenbay Batyr Avenue)Phone: +7 (727) 321 04 88Hours: Daily 10 am-midnightwww.gloriajeanscoffees.com

Segafredo Zanetti


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The concepts of fitness, spa and banya are often interwoven among Almaty’s health and exercise facilities.Some faculties are designed primarily for fitness with weight

lifting and other exercise equipment. Others are more spa like with fa-cials and message services. While others are designed to be traditional Kazakh banyas with steam rooms and communal baths.

Among the fitness facilities, World Class Fitness Center is considered to be one of the best. It’s part of a global chain and offers state-of-the-art equipment and exercise classes. It also offers day memberships, which some Almaty fitness centers do not.

The Spa at the Rixos Hotel is also considered one of Almaty’s best. You’d be hard pressed to find more luxury than is offered at the Rixos. The spa has the feel and appearance reminiscent of Roman decadence with full

facial, massage and body treatment services. It also offers a huge swim-ming pool, vitamin bar and beauty salon among other amenities.

The Alligator Club and the Arasan are considered Almaty’s shouldn’t miss Banyas. Banya – as steam rooms are referred to in Russian – are important in Kazakh life and the Alligator Club is among Almaty’s most elite. It offers traditional Russian and Finnish banya, spa therapy, a swimming pool and solarium. The Arasan banya is not the newest or the most opulent, but it is considered the city’s central banya where you’ll find Kazakhs from all walks of life relaxing all hours of the day. It’s a great glimpse into the culture of the city and the country.

Not all fitness centers and spas in Almaty accept day or short-term customers, so call ahead to make sure a long-term membership isn’t required.

Arasan Banya

Fitness &Banya

Almaty

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World Class Fitness CenterType: Fitness CenterWorld Class is among the best fitness centers in Kazakhstan. It opened in 2002 as part of the global World Class chain and offers one of the largest western-style facilities in Central Asia. In addition to top-of-the-line equipment, you’ll find classes in yoga, aqua fitness, dance, stretch, body ballet and more. Annual memberships cost around $3,000. Day visitors are welcome. Address: Mendygulov Street at Al-Farabi (between Furmanova and Dostyk)Phone: 8 (727) 250 6500, 8 (727) 250 91 15Hours: Daily 7 am- midnightDaily, monthly and one year member-ships availablewww.worldclassfitnesscenter.net

Rixos Royal SPA Type: Banya / SpaWorld Class may be among Almaty’s most hard-core fitness centers, but Rixos is definitely one of its most luxurious. The Rixos Royal Spa offers the best in body treatments, facials and massages. They also have a state-of-the-art fitness center, gym, sauna, Turkish bath and a huge indoor swimming pool. Inner gardens, rain and steam rooms also help soothe the mind and body. The complex also features a vitamin bar and beauty salon. Address: 506/99 Seifullina StreetPhone: 8 (727) 300 33 00, 8 (727) 300 33 33 Hours: Daily 7am-midnightwww.rixos.com

LuxorType: Spa / Banya / Fitness CenterLike Rixos, Luxor is the place for those who want luxury with their fitness. In addition to a state-of-the-art gym, personal and group training, dance class and children’s

programs, Luxor offers a great spa with massage services, a cafe, restaurant, and beauty salon.Address: 341 Dostyk AvenuePhone: 8 (727) 2677 577Hours: Daily 7 am-midnightSix month and one year memberships onlywww.luxor.kz

Alligator Club Type: BanyaThe Alligator club is considered one of Almaty’s elite banyas. It offers tra-ditional Russian and Finnish banya, spa therapy, a swimming pool and solarium. Kalian and Karaoke are also available.Address: 1B Kabanbay Batyr AvenuePhone: 8 (727) 261 05 22, 8 (702) 33 222 9Hours: Daily 24 hoursPrice: 7000–11,000 tenge per hour

Arasan BanyaType: BanyaThe Arasan is considered Almaty’s central banya. It’s grandeur is somewhat faded after 35 years, but it is where you will find Kazakhs from all walks of life enjoying its saunas, rinsing pools and beer selection.Address:78 Tulebayeva Street, on the


Rixos Spa Exudes Opulence Garrett DeBose has found the perfect way to pamper himself. The

Kazakh British Technical University professor takes a couple of hours between classes several times a week to use the Rixos Hotel’s spa com-plex.

In addition to offering its facilities to hotel guests, the Rixos makes memberships available to Almaty residents. DeBose chose the Rixos after reviewing its range of spa services – and luxury.

“You should try the spa,” he told an out-of-time visitor recently. “There’s nothing else like it in Almaty.”

The native of Holland swims regularly in Rixos’ 285-square-meter indoor swimming pool.

He also uses the other amenities in the 2,200-square-meter spa complex and is a frequent massage customer. Besides massages, the Rixos’ other spa services include body treatments and facials.

The Rixos is a five-star hotel, so all of its facilities and services are world-class, including its spa complex.

Actually, the complex isn’t just a spa. It’s a fitness and spa tandem. It has an exercise room with state-of-the-art strength and cardiovascular equipment, for example.

Its other facilities include a sauna, a Turkish bath, seven massage rooms, five relaxation rooms, a vitamin bar and a Turkish bar.

The spa-complex décor is opulent, making you feel like you’re roy-alty. A green-tiled, domed entryway looks like something from Constan-tinople’s heyday. Chandeliers, fountains and lush green plants abound. It doesn’t take much for Rixos spa users to imagine they’re in a Roman bathhouse during the most glorious era of the Empire.

Rixos Hotel

Rixos Hotel

Rixos Hotel

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corner of Aiteke Bi AvenuePhone: 8 (727) 272 46 71, 8 (727) 272 46 72Hours: Tues-Sun 8 am-10 pm. Closed MondayPrices: Tues-Fri 1500 tens per hour, Sat & Sun 2000 tenge per hour

FitnationType: Fitness Center / BanyaFitnation offers a well-equipped gym, a swimming pool, Russian and Finnish banya, and a Turkish bath. It also offers personal and group fitness training and testing.Address: 15 Respubliki Street Phone: 8 (727) 295 29 39Hours: Daily 7 am-11 pmSix month and one year memberships onlyE-mail: [email protected]

Samal Fitness CenterType: Fitness / BanyaSamal is a large three-level banya and fitness center with a well-stocked weight room, as well as a sauna and swimming pool. A one-month gym pass for 3 workouts per week costs $40 to $50. The banya also offers billiards and karaoke. Massage and peeling services are available.

Address: 91A Samal 2Phone: 8 (727) 265 39 10Hours: Daily 24 hoursPrice: 8000- 10,000 per hourwww.samaldeluxe.kz

Nordik Fitness ClubType: Fitness ClubThe Nordik Fitness Club features a quality gym in addition to a juice bar, core training and massage.Address: Tsum building. Entrance from Zhibek Zholy, inside the glass door on the right.Phone: 8 (727) 273 78 84.Hours: Daily, except Sundays, 9 am - 9 pmDaily, weekly and one year memberships availablewww.banzai.kz

OazisType: BanyaOazis features seven banyas with Russian, Finnic and Eastern saunas, a bar, karaoke, billiards, massage and hotel rooms. Address: 176 Altyn Besik, on the corner of Tole Bi YassayuPhone: 8 (727) 226-07-77, 8 (701) 744-98-97Hours: Daily 24 hoursPrice: 12,000 tenge per hour

Caesa’r ClubType: BanyaCaesa’r offers Russian, Eastern and European style saunas, billiards, DVD, karaoke, kalian and massage services.Address: 212 Raymbek AvenuePhone: 8 (702) 222 99 90; 8 (727) 269 94 84; 8 (727) 269 94 93Hours: Daily 24 hoursPrice: 5000-10,000 per hour

AprofitType: Fitness CenterBring your kids to your workout to enjoy Aprofit’s children’s pro-grams. Aprofit also features a gym, personal and group training, dance classes, a swimming pool, spa and massage services.Address: 132 Dostyk AvenuePhone: 8(727) 264 34 35, 8 (727) 264 55 48Hours: Daily 7 am-11 pmDaily, weekly and monthly memberships availablewww.aprofit.kz

BellaType: BanyaBella offers sauna, a swimming pool, heat insulated floors, and mas-

sage. It also offers Turkish tapchan, a bar, hotel VIP rooms, billiards, karaoke and kalian.Address: 106A Gurileva StreetPhone: 8 (727) 234-46-74, 8 (701) 335 88 38Hours: Daily 24 hoursPrice: 5000 tenge per hour

FitCurvesType: Fitness Center / SpaFitCurves is another local center that offers programs for children. You’ll also find a swimming pool, gym, personal and group training, mas-sage services and a spa.Address: 15 Kaldayakov StreetPhone: 8 (727) 390 60 90Hours: Daily 7 am-11 pmDaily, weekly and monthly memberships availablewww.fitcurves.kz

TeremokType: BanyaTeremok is known for its European style service and extensive tradi-tional Russian banya. It also offers spa therapy, karaoke and kalian.Address: 16 Adylova Street, Taugul-3 Microdistrict. Phone: 8 (727) 309 21 21, 309 20 20,

Rixos Hotel


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8 (705) 999 30 30Hours: Daily 24 hoursPrice: 3000-12,000 tenge per hour

Barskye ZadvorkiType: BanyaIf you like a little mountain air with your banya head to Barskye Zadvorki. The elite Russian wood banya also offers massage therapy, scrubbing, peeling and a facial mask. You can also play billiards or sing karaoke.Address: Dostyk Avenue on the corner of Marat Ospanov StreetPhone: 8 (727) 260 45 04, 8 (701) 369 81 56Hours: Daily 24 hoursPrice: 7000 tenge per hour www.vip-sauna.kz

Anira Silk Way CityType: Fitness Center / SpaAnira is a quality facility offering a gym, personal and group train-ing, dance workouts, a swimming pool, spa, massage services, cafe, restaurant and beauty salon.Address: 142 Dzherzinsky Street, on the corner of Zheltoksan StreetPhone: 8 (727) 328-62-46Hours: Daily 7 am-11 pmDaily, weekly and monthly memberships availablewww.anira.kz

For LifeType: BanyaIn additional to Russian and Finn-ish banya, a swimming pool, spa therapy, karaoke and kalian, For Life offers tasty fusion cuisine.Address: 208A Aimanov Street, on the corner of the Dzhandosov Street

Phone: 8 (707) 333 88 84, 8 (705) 115 55 33Hours: Daily 24 hoursPrice: 7000-10,000 tenge per hour

Car Banya ComplexType: BanyaCar Banya offers Russian banya, a swimming pool, spa therapy, bil-liards, karaoke and kalian. Address: 32 Rymzhanov Street, Kalka-man Microdistrict Phone: 8 (727) 393 90 94, 381 86 86, 8 (777) 809 88 33Hours: Daily 24 hoursPrice: 8,000 tenge per hour

Body DanceType: Fitness Center / SpaBody Dance offers a pleasant cafe, restaurant, spa and beauty salon to pamper yourself after using the facility’s gym, swimming pool and training programs. Body Dance also offers children’s programs and massage.Address: 47B Mynbayev Street on the corner of Auezov StreetPhone: 8 (727) 375 39 92Hours: Daily 7 am-11 pmDaily, weekly and monthly memberships available

MedvedType: BanyaIn addition to Russian and Turkish saunas, a swimming pool and spa therapy, Medved offers karaoke, kalian and billiards. Address: 60 Makatayev Street, on the corner of Kunayev StreetPhone: 8 (727) 297 00 00Hours: Daily 24 hoursPrice: 3000-12,000 tenge per hour

Arasan Banya Gives a Glimpse into Kazakh Life

The saunas that the Russians introduced to Kazakhstan two centu-ries ago are now as much a part of the Kazakh psyche as horse milk and falconry.

Kazakhs have such a love affair with banyas -- as steam rooms are known in Russian -- that even the humblest of villagers shell out a few tenge a month to patronize them.

Dinmukhamed Kunayev, the longtime leader of the Kazakh Socialist Republic, believed banyas to be a necessity, not a luxury. So he built a palatial banya facility in Almaty in the mid-1970s.

During Soviet days, the most splendid facilities were reserved for important officials and their families. But Kunayev opened the Arasan Banya to everyone, endearing him to Kazakhs.

The Arasan, which is on Kunayev Street near the intersection of Ay-teke Bi Avenue, has seen better days. It’s 35 years old, after all. But it’s still worth visiting, especially after a recent very decent renovation. One reason is that it offers a glimpse into how Kazakhs live. Another is be-cause it’s an Almaty institution. And another is that it’s just plain fun.

Bathing facilities in the Arasan -- as in all large banyas -- consist of showers, saunas and cold-water rinsing pools. Some customers show-er before entering a sauna, others don’t.

The sauna is a simple affair: benches to sit on, a tap and a coal- or electric-fired oven. Atop the stove are hot rocks. The room is hot but dry when you enter. After a few minutes, a bather will fill a bucket with tap water, then pour it on the rocks. The result is instantaneous steam.

The next part of the adventure is seeing how long you can bear the steam. While you’re gritting your teeth, the sweat is pouring off you and you feel as if you’re inhaling super-heated air.

At the end of your Arasan visit, you’re guaranteed to be as relaxed as a limp rope.

You’ll need a few supplies when you visit Arasan: beach sandals, a towel, soap and shampoo. Many locals also wear felt caps to protect their heads from the steam. Sandals are a must because the floors of some of the Arasan saunas are hot enough to burn your feet.

If you forget an item, you can buy it at a shop just inside the Arasan’s front door.

After an hour or more in the saunas, many bathers are ready for a beer. International visitors will be glad to know that the Arasan offers it, along with other beverages.

A day at Arasan not only revives the body, but provides a glimpse into Kazakh culture.

Rixos HotelRixos Hotel

Arasan Banya


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A lmaty’s shopping options range from traditional to modern to just plain interesting.Whether you want a three-story glass enclosed megamall

with a rock climbing wall or a teeming local bazaar where you can bar-gain with the venders, you will be able to find it in Kazakhstan’s business capital.

Starting with the more traditional options, you can head to the Green Bazaar. This is a huge outdoor and indoor traditional Kazakh bazaar which specializes in the foods of the region. You can watch butchers chop up chunks of horse meat and experienced workers hand-stuffing spicy Kazakh sausages. Colorful piles of fruits, vegetables and mixed dishes line the aisles and sampling is encouraged.

Among the city’s most modern malls is Mega Center where you’ll find more than 100 top designer boutiques such as Zara, Calvin Klein and Yves Rocher. Mega also includes a skating rink, rock climbing wall and bowling alley.

And for an interesting slice of local flavor, head to Barakholka and Adem. Barakholka is a teeming crowded marketplace where you can find just about anything you could want. It can appear a bit chaotic but is certainly an experience. Nearby is Adem, which is a similar atmosphere only less crowded and with much appreciated air conditioning.

And if you’re hungry, Almaty offers an excellent 24 hour food market with a large selection of imported items, a quality deli and lots of wine.

From modern to traditional you can find it in the shops of Almaty.

Mega Mall

ShoppingAlmaty

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Mega CenterKazakhstan’s growing energy wealth is beginning to reach the pockets of Almaty’s middle and upper classes. And Mega Center is where they go to spend it. You’ll find the latest fashions at Mega Center’s more than 100 boutiques includ-ing Zara, Calvin Klein Jeans, Yves Rocher and Benetton. The center also offers a rock climbing wall, bowling alley, movie theater and skating rink.Address: 247A Rozybakiyev StreetPhone: +7 (727) 232 25 01Hours: Daily 10 am-10 pmwww.almaty.megacenter.kz

Ramstore Trade CenterRamstore is best known around Al-maty as a high quality supermarket chain with one of the city’s best se-lections of imported items. But the Ramstore Trade Center is way more than a food shop. The Ramstore Center at the corner of Furmanov and Zholdasbekov Streets is a com-bination mega food store, entertain-ment complex and upscale mall. In addition to its quality supermarket, the center offers restaurants, cafes, a movie theater, skating rink and 56 stylish boutiques.

Address: 226 Furmanov StreetPhone: +7 (717) 258 75 80, +7 (727) 258 75 81Hours: Daily 9 am-11 pmwww.ramstore.kz

Zangar, also known as TsumIt’s not flashy, but you’ll find what you need. Whether you’re searching for souvenirs, mobile phones or a new toaster, Tsum’s dozens of boutiques and small shops spread over three levels will have it. The first floor is the place for electron-ics, the second floor offers clothing, and footwear. And cosmetics are found on the third level. Tsum also features numerous souvenir shops where you can find traditional Ka-zakh swords, horse whips, felt hats and other kitsch for your friends back home.Immediately beside the mall is a pedestrian-only section of Zhibek Zholy Street featuring small venders selling their wares and local artists selling their works. Tsum is one of Almaty’s oldest and best known malls. Address: 62 Abylay Khan Street Phone: +7 (727) 273 29 51, +7 (727) 273 06 30Hours: Daily 10 am-9 pm

Barakholka and AdemIf you like a little local flavor with your shopping this is the place to go. Barakholka is a huge, teeming and crowded flea market. It may seem a bit chaotic at first but you can find bargains on literally everything you could want – from household appliances, to shoes, to souvenirs. Just remember to keep a hand on your wallet as the jostling crowds are prime feeding grounds for pickpockets. Sunday mornings are the most crowded.Just before arriving at Barakholka you’ll notice three buildings on your right. These buildings make up an-other market called Adem, which is the better known and more modern partner to Barakholka. You’ll find pretty much the same selection of stuff here as Barakholka, but Adem is smaller, less crowded, offers bet-ter security, and – best of all – it’s air conditioned.Address: Take a ‘Barakholka’ bus headed down Rozybakiyev Street from Raimbek Street Phone: Adem: +7 (727) 270 66 66, +7 (727) 270 66 22 Hours: Daily 10 am-6 pm. Closed Mondays.

Zelyony Bazar, also known as Green BazaarThe Green Bazaar is one of the best places in Almaty to find traditional Kazakh food. You can watch butch-ers chopping up chunks of horse meat and experienced workers hand-stuffing spicy Kazakh sausag-es. Fruits, salads, cheeses, meats and traditional mixed dishes line the aisles of the large indoor section. And the best part is that sampling is encouraged. So feel free to taste before you buy. The large bazaar in-cludes indoor and outdoor sections and features clothing, shoes, appli-ances and other everyday items in addition to its food offerings.The vendors are friendly and the whole market has a welcoming vibe. It’s a great place to spend some time getting a real cultural taste of Kazakhstan.Address: Intersection of Zhibek Zholy Street and Zenkov Street – one street down from the St. Ascension Cathedral (also known as Zenkov Cathedral) Hours: Daily 10 am-6 pm. Closed Sundays.

Stolichny If you’re hungry at 4 am, this is where you go. It’s a 24-hour super-market that is way more than a late night convenience store. It offers an ample selection of imported food and beverages, a well-stocked deli and lots of wines. It’s also right in the center of Almaty. So if you can’t sleep or just want some good cheese at midnight, head to Stolichny.Address: 121 Abylay Khan Avenue Phone: +7 (727) 266 55 05, +7 (266) 55 15Hours: Daily 24 hours


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(Please note: the telephone numbers

listed here are for dialing in Astana

from a cell phone. For more infor-

mation on making telephone calls,

please see the “Practical Information

When in Kazakhstan” section.)

AusteriaCuisine: EuropeanAddress: 8 Vodno-Zelenyi Boulevard in the Keruen Shopping Center Phone: 8 (7172) 79 55 13Hours: 10:00 am – 11:00 pmPrice Range: $$Website: www.austeria.net/

Alasha Restaurant29, Turan Avenue, Left Bank of the Yessil River, Astana Phone: 8 (7172) 73 17 73 Web site: www.alasha.kz Hours: 12:00 – 24.00Price range: $$

Al FrescoCuisine: ItalianAddress: 14 Kunayeva StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 50-83-85Hours: 10:00 am – 12:00 amBusiness lunch: 12:00 pm – 04:00 pmPrice range: $$

ArbaletCuisine: EuropeanAddress: 16 Beibitshilik AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 32 40 60Price: $$$

Arystan RestaurantCuisine: EuropeanAddress: 2 Aykayryn StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 29 20 36Price range: $

AssortiCuisine: Russian, Italian, JapaneseAddress: 9 Dostyk Street (right behind Ramstore)Phone: 8 (7172) 79 53 97Price range: $$

Astana NuryCuisine: Caucasian, EuropeanAddress: 3/2 Respublika Avenue

Phone: 8 (7172) 43 93 38/39Price range: $$$Website: www.a-n.kz

BeerhoffCuisine: EuropeanAddress: 44 Kenessary StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 21 00 10, 8 (7172) 21 00 40Hours: 11am - 2amPrice Range: $

Bochonok BreweryCuisine: European, mixedAddress: 75 Kenessary StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 37 16 66Price range: $$Website: www.bochonok.kz

Capital Music and Pub RestaurantCuisine: European, KazakhAddress: 14 Tauelydzyk StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 24 46 71Price range: $$

Chilli PeppersCuisine: Pizza, European, ItalianAddress: 33 Sarayshik StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 50 37 73Price range: $

East WestCuisine: Indian, InternationalAddress: 2/2 Kabanbay Batyr AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 24 40 34Price range: $$

Egorkino DerevnyaCuisine: RussianAddress: 33 Turan AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 40 21 81Price range: $$$

EpochCuisine: European, Kazakh, RussianAddress: 9 Valikhanov StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 21 01 57Price range: $$

Europe-AsiaCuisine: European, KazakhAddress: 30 Kabanbay Batyr AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 62 87 43Price range: $$

Farkhi/ Ali BabaCuisine: Caucasian, Kazakh, Middle EasternAddress: 3 Bukeykhan StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 32 04 06Price range: $$$

French Brasserie CapriCuisine: MediterraneanAddress: 4 Sary Arka Avenue,Radisson HotelPhone: 8 (7172) 99 00 00Price range: $$$

FusionCuisine: American, Italian, JapaneseAddress: 4B Mailina StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 22 27 77Price range: $$

Grilliage RestaurantCuisine: European, Kazakh, RussianAddress: 1 Zhenis StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 32 52 22Price range: $$

Il Patio and Planet SushiCuisine: Pizza, ItalianAddress: 24 Turan Avenue (Saryarka Shopping Center) and 10 Respublika AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 79 22 03Price range: $$

Jet SetCuisine: EuropeanAddress: 2/1 Kabanbay Batyr AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 24 29 04Price range: $$

Kausar RestaurantCuisine: HalalAddress: 5th Microdistrict, 20/1Phone: 8 (7172) 34 34 70Price range: $

KishlakCuisine: Uzbek, EuropeanAddress: 22/2 Kabanbai Batyr Avenue, Kruglaya PloshadPhone: 8 (7172) 974 161 or 974 142Hours: Daily, 12:00 pm to 2:00 amPrice range: $

Korean HouseCuisine: KoreanAddress: 19/1 Sary Arka AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 40 20 99Price range: $$

La RiviereCuisine: FrenchAddress: 2 Kabanbay Batyr Avenue (near Quay Park)Phone: 8 (7172) 24 22 60Price range: $$$

Line BrewCuisine: European, CaucasianAddress: 20 Kenessary Street

Restaurants Your Guide to Astana

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Phone: 8 (7172) 23 63 73Price range: $$$

MedvedCuisine: RussianAddress: 46 Kenessary StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 21 28 75Price range: $$

Melnica “The Windmill”Cuisine: UkrainianAddress: 31 Turan AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 40 21 68Price range: $$

Muller Music: wallpaper music, jazz, aliveCuisine: German & EuropeanAddress: 12/1 GabdulinaPhone: 7(7172) 41 19 30, 41 19 32Opening hours: Mon.-Fri: 11am-mid-night, Sat:11am-2amAverage price: $

PivovaroffCuisine: GermanAddress: 1 Beibitshilik AvenuePhone: 8 (7212) 41 15 62Price: $$

PortofinoCuisine: Italian, JapaneseAddress: 27 Turan AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 40 20 34Price range: $$$

Princess TurandotCuisine: ChineseAddress: 40 Sary Arka AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 23 70 55Price range: $$

Regine’sCuisine: French, European, KazakhAddress: Astanalyk Business Centre, Left BankPhone: 8 (7172) 50 21 33Price range: $$

SamovarCuisine: Russian TraditionalAddress: 22/2 Kabanbai Batyr Avenue, Kruglaya Ploshad, as well as 24 Kenes-sary Street (near the Sine Tempore Shopping Mall)Phone: 8 (7172) 974 171Hours: Daily, 12:00 pm to 2:00 am

SattiCuisine: Kazakh, InternationalAddress: 32 Kabanbay Batyr AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 24 28 48Price range: $$$

SbarroCuisine: Pizza and pastaAddress: 1 Kurgaldzhinskoe Highway (Mega Centre)Phone: 8 (7172) 79 14 97Price range: $

Thank God It’s Friday (T.G.I. Friday’s)Cuisine: AmericanAddress: 10 Respublika AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 79 30 30Price range: $$

TiflisCuisine: GeorgianAddress: 14 Imanova StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 22 12 26Price range: $$

Tre KronorCuisine: EuropeanAddress: 17 Sary Arka AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 40 20 50Price range: $$$

VaqueroCuisine: Mexican, ItalianAddress: 5 Beibitshilik StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 39 01 21Price range: $$

VeniceCuisine: ItalianAddress: 9 Kenessary StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 75 39 06Price range: $$

Zhybek ZholyCuisine: Kazakh, European, Eastern and ChineseAddress: 102 Abay AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 21 05 07, 8 (7172) 21 66 56Hours: 11.00 am - 03.00 amPrice range: $$

American Corners and Cultural Centres in KazakhstanAddress: The National Academic Library (near Baiterek)Phone: 8 (7172) 44 62 39 Hours: Tuesday-Friday 11:00 am – 08:00 pm; Saturday & Sunday 10:00 am – 06:00 pm; closed on Mondays and the last Friday of every month. Website: www.amcorners.kz

Alzhir Memorial Museum of Victims of Political Repres-sions and Totalitarianism Address: Kurgalzhin Highway, 37 km from Astana in village MalinovkaPhone: 8 (7172) 49 94 55, 8 (7172) 54 26 69 Hours: 10:00 am – 06:00 pmWebsite: www.alzhir.ucoz.kz

“Atameken: A Walking Map of KazakhstanAddress: 6 Kabanbai Batyr Avenue

Phone: 8 (7172) 24 04 97, 8 (7172) 24 52 72Hours: 8:00 am – 10:00 pmOpened from the May till November

Has Sanat Gallery Address: 47 Abai Avenue and 14 Kunaev Street (Nursaya-1 residential complex)Phone: 8 (7172) 39 12 68, 8 (7172) 97 85 44Website: www.hassanat.kz

Kulanshi Modern Art Center Address: 57 Tauelsizdik Street, Palace of Peace and Harmony (6th floor)Phone: 8 (7172) 74 47 17Hours: Mon. – Fri. : 10:00 am - 6:00 pmSat.: 11:00 am - 5:00 pm

Modern Art GalleryAddress: 57 Tauelsizdik AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 70 03 83Hours: 10:00 am – 6:00 pm (Closed Mondays)

Shezhyre GalleryAddress: 57 Tauelsizdik Street, Palace of Peace and HarmonyPhone: 8 (7172) 74 47 27

The Kazakhstan Central Concert Hall Address: 10/1 Orynbor Street Phones: 8 (7172) 70 53 02

The Museum of the First President of the Republic of KazakhstanAddress: 11 Beibitshilik StreetPhones: 8 (7172) 75 12 14/92

The Museum of Modern Art in AstanaAddress: 3 Respublika Avenue Phone: 8 (7172) 21 54 33Website: www.msi-astana.kz

The National Theater of Opera and Ballet Named after Kulyash BaiseitovaAddress: 10 Akzhaiyk StreetPhones: 8 (7172) 39 27 60/61Website: www.astana-anshlag.kz

The Palace of IndependenceAddress: 52 Manas StreetPhones: 8 (7172) 70 03 80/95/89 Hours: 10:00 am – 6:00 pm (Closed Mondays)Website: http://tauelsizdik.kz

The Presidential Center of Culture of the Republic of KazakhstanAddress: 1 Respublika AvenuePhones: 8 (7172) 44 32 33/76

The Russian Drama Theater named after Maxim GorkyAddress: 11 Jeltoksan StreetPhones: 8 (7172) 32 40 538 (7172) 32 05 708 (7172) 32 24 49

The Saken Seifullin MuseumAddress: 20A Ayezov Street Phone: 8 (7172)323563Fax: 8 (7172) 32 84 67Hours: 10am-6pm

The Zhastar PalaceAddress: 34 Republic Avenue Phone: 8 (7172) 32 80 91

The Beijing Palace Soluxe Hotel Astana H H H H H

Address: 27 Syganak StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 70 15 15E-mail: [email protected]: www.soluxe-astana.kz

Comfort Hotel Astana H H H

Address: 60 Kosmonavtov StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 24 44 44 Website: http://www.comforthotel.kz

Daniyar Hotel H H H

Address: 11 TauelsizdikPhone: 8 (7172) 35 02 15

Diplomat Hotel H H H H

Address: 29/1, D. Kunaev StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 55 00 01 Website: www.diplomathotel.kz

Duman Hotel H H H H

Address: 2A Kurgalzhin RoadPhone: 8 (7172) 79 15 00

Grand Park Esil H H H H

Address: 8 Beibitshilik Phone: 8 (7172) 591901 Website: www.grandparkesil.kz

Imperia G Hotel H H H H

Address: 63 Abay StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 40 55 01Website: www.imperia-g.kz

CultureArts&

Hotels

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Kaspiy Astana Hotel H H H

Address: 9 Takha Husien StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 22 43 54Website: www.kaspii.kz

Katon-Karagay Hotel H H

Address: 18 Kuyshi Dina StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 40 06 33

King Hotel Astana H H H H

Address: 7 Valikhanova StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 70 57 05Website: www.kinghotelastana.com

Mukammal Hotel H H H H

Address: 53/1 Pobeda AvenuePhones: 8 (7172) 30 29 068 (7172) 30 29 07Website: www.mukammal.kz

Prestige Hotel H H H

Address: 1 Zheltoksan StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 32 51 81

Radisson SAS Hotel H H H H H

Address: 4 Sary Arka Street Phone: 8 (7172) 99 00 00Website: www.astana.radissonsas.com

Ramada Plaza Hotel H H H H H

Address: 47 Abay StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 39 10 00Website: www.ramada.com

Rixos President H H H H H

Address: 7 B Kunayev StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 24 50 50Website: www.rixos.com

Tengri Hotel H H H

Address: 1a, Vavilov Street Phone: 8 (7172)413838 Website: www.tengrihotel.kz

Zhasamir Hotel H H H

Address: 17 Kenesary StreetPhones: 8 (7172) 32 30 958 (7172) 32 33 97 Website: www.jasamir.kz

*Hotel star rating provided by the Ministry of Tourism and Sport

DauletType: Sports complex and tennis courtsAddress: 6/3 Kabanbai Batyr AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 44-56-24Hours: 8:00 am-11:00 pm

EmirType: BanyaAddress: 2 Sary Arka Avenue (Left Bank)Phone: 8 (7172) 55 63 33Hours: Around the clockURL: http://astana-park.kz

Fitnation NetworkType: Fitness centreAddress: 4/1 Turan AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 23 05 95Hours: 7:00 am-11:00 pmURL: www.fitnation.kz

Highvill Cultural and Community CentreType: Fitness centreAddress: 1, 23-21 StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 51 32 69Hours: 9:00 am – 10:00 pm

Zhety KazynaType: Sauna complexAddress: 18 Bogenbai Batyr AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 23 65 09Hours: Around the clockWebsite: http://7kazyna.kz

KeremetType: Banya complexAddress: 19 Turan Avenue (Left Bank, opposite Mega Centre)Phones: 8 (7172) 79 18 008 (7172) 79 18 03Hours: 10:00 am-10:00 pm

Life Fitness AstanaType: Fitness centreAddress: 2 Turkestan StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 79 73 73Hours: Weekdays 7:00 am-12:00 amWeekends 9:00 am-12:00 amWebsite: www.life-fitness.kz

SharobanType: Entertainment centreAddress: 38 Seifullin StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 32 67 708 (7172)32 67 68Hours: 3:00 pm – 3:00 am

World ClassType: Fitness centre and spaAddress: 1 Pobeda Avenue (Next to the Radisson Hotel)

Phone: 8 (7172) 39 13 698 (701) 222 90 90Hours: Weekdays: 7:00 am - 12:00 amWeekends 9:00 am - 12:00 amURL: www.worldclass.kz

The Apriori Sport ClubAddress: The Duman Hotel is conve-niently located at 2A Kurgalzhin High-way, on the Left Bank of the Yessil River, very close to the Mega Centre shopping and supermarket complex. It is about a 15-minute drive from the airport.Phone: 8 (7172) 79 15 56Website: www. apriorisport.kz

AzhurCuisine: Italian, JapaneseAddress: 27 Turan AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 40 20 34Hours: 12:00 pm to last visitor

ChocolateCuisine: JapaneseAddress: 2 Sary Arka AvenuePhone: 8 (701) 550 0017

FashionCuisine: Italian, American, JapaneseAddress: 4 Mailin StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 22 27 77Hours: Fri. & Sat. 10:00 pm to last visitorWebsite: www.fusion.com.kz

Insomnia Night Club Cuisine: MixedAddress: 3 Dostyk StreetPhone: 8 701 511 4740Hours: 10.00 pm - 04.00 am, Sun - Mon is closedPrice range: $$

Jimmy’zCuisine: European, Kazakh, FrenchAddress: Astanalyk Business centrePhone: 8 (7172) 50 20 338 (7172) 50 21 33Hours: Around the clock

Oscar Lounge Bar & Night ClubCuisine: Eastern, European, Japanese and KazakhWeb: www.nc-oscar.kzAddress: 2A Kurgalzhinskoe Highway, Hotel DumanPhone: 8 (7172) 79 15 67Hours: Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday 12:00 pm - 02:00 amFriday –Saturday 12:00 pm - 05:00 amPrice range: $$

BanyaFitness&

Fitnation

ClubsNight


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8 Drops music clubAddress: 29 Abai Street and 6/4 Kaban-bai Batyr AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 46 70 18Hours: 8:00 pm – 4:00 am

AlbionAddress: 6 Korgalzhinsky HighwayPhone: 8 (7172) 79 69 90, 8 (7172) 79 69 91Hours: 12:00 pm to last visitor

BalkanAddress: 33A Respublika AvenuePhone: 8 (701) 517 38 86Hours: 12:00 pm – 2:00 am

Beermac Bar (Khan Shatyr)Address: 37 Turan AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 73-47-68 (Khan Shatyr main number)Hours: 10:00 am- 11:00 pm

Bar BossCuisine: MixedAddress: 8/2 Ryskulbekov Street in the Ak Kaiyn HotelPhone: 8 (7172) 29 00 90Hours: 4:00 pm – 4:00 amPrice range: $$

Boulevard Grill BarAddress: 14 Kunayev Street (Nursaya Residential complex)

Phone: 8 (7172) 24 45 31, 8 (7172) 24 45 32Hours: 10:00 am – 1:00 am

Che GuevaraAddress: 33A Respublika AvenuePhone: 8 (702) 723 39 79Hours: Fri 8:00 pm – 4:00 amSat 8:00 pm – 4:00 amSun 8.00 pm – 4.00 am

Chelsea English PubAddress: 7 Respublika AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 21 77 27Hours: 12:00 pm to last visitor

Cigar Bar-Radisson AstanaAddress: 4 Sary Arka AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 99 00 00Hours: 8:00 am – 4:00 am

Comfort Hotel Astana BarAddress: 60 Kosmonatov StreetPhones: 8 (7172) 24 44 448 (7172) 24 54 44Hours: Around the clockWebsite: www.comforthotel.kz

ContrabassAddress: 25/3a Ablai Khan AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 56 15 01Hours: Mon – Tue 5:00 pm – 4:00 amFri-Sat 5:00 pm – 5:00 am

Graff lounge barCuisine: Eastern, European, Japanese and KazakhAddress: 2 Turan Avenue Phone: 8 (7172) 55 63 33, 8 777 115 34 25Hours: Lounge bar on Friday and Satur-

day 7:00 pm - 4:00 amHotel and saunas – around the clockPrice range: $$Website: http://www.astana-park.kz/

Guns n’ RosesAddress: 11 Samal MicrodistrictPhone: 8 (7172) 59 18 09Hours: 11:00 am – 3:00 am

KazbarAddress: 18 Mirzoyan StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 92 88 49Hours: 8:00 pm – 4:30 am (Tue-Sat)Restaurant - 11:00 am – 2:00 am

Kega Sports BarAddress: 11/1 Kuyshi Dina StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 36 89 99Hours: Mon- Tue 4:00 pm – 2:00 amFri – Sat 4:00 pm – 4:00 amSun 4:00 pm – 2:00 am

KrushovitsaAddress: 8 Abai AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 40 72 52Hours: 12:00 pm – 1:00 am

MindalAddress: 25/1 Kuishi Dina StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 41 08 11Hours: Mon – Tue 2:00 pm – 3:00 amFri – Sun 2:00 pm – 5:00 am

OriokeAddress: 9 Aliyev StreetPhones: 8 (7172) 34 20 598 (7172) 34 22 59Hours: Mon – Tue 5:00 pm – 7 pmFri – Sun 5:00 pm – 3:00 am

PrimeAddress: 6 Kurgalzhinskiy HighwayPhone: 8 (7172) 79 69 95, 8 (702) 338 21 13Hours: Fri 6.00 pm – 4.00 amSat 6:00 pm – 4:00 am

Q Night BarAddress: 10 Sagynak Street (Nomad Residential Complex)Phone: 8 (7172) 66 14 14Hours: 6:00 pm – 3:00 am

Rixos Irish BarAddress: 7 Kunayev StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 24 50 50Hours: Around the clock

Sky BarAddress: Kabanbai Batyr Avenue (Asia Park shopping center)Phone: 8 (7172) 97 87 70Hours: 12:00 pm – 1:00 am

Sligo Irish pubAddress: 45 Abai Avenue (close to the Ramada Hotel)Phone: 8 (7172) 39 01 82Hours: Tuesday – Thursday: 1:00 pm – 3:00 amFriday-Saturday: 1:00 pm – 4:00 am

Sunday – Monday: 1:00 pm – 2:00 am

Stolichny PubAddress: 47 Kenessary StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 21 91 21Hours: 12:00 pm – 1:00 amSun 6:00 pm – 1:00 am

Triumph pubAddress: 11 Kabanbai Batyr Avenue (residential complex Triumph Astana)Phone: 8 (7172) 68 91 04Hours: 12:00 pm – 2:00 am

Why Not?Cuisine: European, KazakhAddress: 102 Abai Avenue (on the corner with Valikhanov Street)Phone: 8 (7172) 21 05 07, 8 (7172) 21 66 56Hours: 12:00 pm - 03:00 am dailyPrice range: $$

Bar FontanAddress: Kenessary Street, Sine Tem-pore Shopping Mall, 1st Floor, Phone: 8 (7172) 753 906Hours: Daily, 10:00 am–10:00 pm

Bon BonAddress: 14/1 Tauelsyzdyk StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 50 87 00Hours: 10:00 pm - 1:00 amSat – Sun: 10:00 - 2:00

BukharaAddress: 7, 3rd MicrodistrictPhones: 8 (7172) 35 19 328 (7172) 36 57 32Hours: 12:00 pm - 2:00 am

Cafe LaAddress: 9 Dostyk Street, Keruen and Sary Arka shopping centers, Astana International AirportPhone: 8 (7172) 79 55 73Hours: Mon – Fri, 9:00 am – 1:00 am, Sat – Sun, 9:00 am – 2:00 am

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Café Marzipan Address: 1 Magistralnii Street (by the Singing Fountains Square)Phone: 8 701 551 4897Hours: Daily, 10am–2am

CafestarAddress: 13 Dostyk Street (Nursaya-2 Residential complex)Phone: 8 (7172) 79 54 12Hours: 9:00 am until the last visitor leaves

CaramelAddress: 10A Imanov StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 53 73 88Hours: 9:00 am – 11:00 pm

Coffe NovaCuisine: EuropeanAddress: 15 Sagynak StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 79 52 55, 8 (7172) 56 69 34Hours: 09:00 am – 12:00 am Price range: $

Coral Reef CaféAddress: 171 Abay StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 21 83 93Hours: 12:00 pm – 12:00 am

CorsoAddress: 12 Imanov Street (between Respublika Avenue and Valikhanov Street)Phone: 8 (7172) 53 73 00, 22 12 49Hours: 9:00 am – 1:00 am

Demalys ComplexAddress: Central Park of AstanaPhone: 8 (7172) 32 80 29Hours: 11:00 am – 2:00 am

ÉclairCuisine: FrenchAddress: 14 Kunayeva Street.Phone: 8 (7172) 50 83 85, 8 (7172) 50 83 81Hours: 08:00 am - 12:00 amPrice range: $ Website: www:éclair.kz

IndianaAddress: 22 Sary Arka StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 32 34 63 Hours: 12:00 pm – 1:00 am

Kvartal (Quarter)Address: 24, 3rd MicrodistrictPhones: 8 (7172) 34 11 258 (7172) 21 44 90Hours: 12:00 pm – 12:00 amFri – Sat 12:00 – 2:00 am

La BelleAddress: 12 Irchenko StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 23 06 00Hours: 12:00 pm - 2:00 am

Library CaféAddress: 61/1 Kenessary StreetPhones: 8 (7172) 20 08 018 (702) 6822877Hours: Tue – Fri 1:00 pm – 9:00 pmSat 10:00 am – 7:00 pmSun 2:00 pm – 7:00 pm(Closed on Mondays)

MadlenAddress: 12/1 Tauelsyzdyk StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 68 96 79Hours: 10:00 am – 2:00 amWebsite: www.madlen.kz

Mister CoffeeAddress: 15 Turan AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 90 10 33Hours: 10:00 am – last visitor

News CaféAddress: 34 12th Street, Diplomat ComplexPhone: 8 (7172) 50 35 67Hours: 10:00 am – 2:00 amFri – Sun 11:00 am – 3:00 am

OasisAddress: 7 Respublika AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 21 44 90Hours: 11:00 am – 1:00 am

Pizza City Address: 17 Imanov Street (between Respublika Avenue and Valikhanov Street)Phone: 8 (7172) 20 09 65Hours: Daily, 8:00 am–2:00 am

Red & WhiteAddress: 2, 4th MicrodistrictPhone: 8 (7172) 34 10 58Hours: 6:00 pm – 4:00 am

RedfordAddress: 43 Kenessary StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 32 82 36Hours: 12:00 pm – 1:00 am

ShambalaAddress: 30 Republic AvenuePhone: +7(7172) 33 32 2

The “Rafe Coffee & Food” Coffee houseCuisine: Italian, Halal Turkish (but with a big emphasis on Italian).Rafe serves breakfast from 9am to 12pmAddress: 14 Tauelsizdik Street Phone: 8 (7172) 24 49 00Hours: 08:00 am -12:00 pmPrice range: $

Asia ParkAddress: 24 Kabanbay Batyr AvenuePhones: 8 (7172) 97 87 678 (7172) 97 86 00Hours: 10:00 am – 11:00 pmWebsite: www.asiapark.kz/gorod_astana

KeruenAddress: 9 Dostyk StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 79 55 208 (7172) 79 55 22Hours: 10:00 am – 11:00 pmWebsite: www.keruen.kz

Khan ShatyrAddress: Turan AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 73 47 68Hours: 10:00 am - 10:00 pmWebsite: www.khanshatyr.com

MegaAddress: Kurgaldzhinskoe HighwayPhone: 8 (7172) 79 18 51 Hours: 10:00 am – 10:00 pmWebsite: http://astana.megacenter.kz

Sary ArkaAddress: 24 Turan AvenuePhones: 8 (7172) 51 56 068 (7172) 51 55 99Hours: 10:00 am – 10:00 pmWebsite: www.saryarka.com

Sine TemporeAddress: 9 Beybitshilik StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 75 38 07Hours: 10:00 am – 11:00 pm

Empire Casa Address: 11 Kabanbai Batyr Avenue (Triumph Building, Section 2—for corporate clients)Phone: 8 (7172) 68 88 00 (corporate clients/office)

Boutiques are also located in the Astana International Airport and the following malls: Mega, Keruen, Sine Tempore.

Keruen

Shopping


Useful Information

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107_USEFUL_INFORMATION.indd 107 6/6/11 6:08:07 PM

PRACTICAL INFORMATION WHEN IN KAZAKHSTAN108

Making Telephone Calls in kazakhsTanMaking telephone calls in Kazakhstan can be a little confusing for the new visitor. Here are some instructions that will, hopefully, make it a little easier.

local CallsIf you are calling locally how you dial will depend on whether you are using a land line or a cellular phone.

If you are calling a land line from a land line, it is easy. Simply dial the local number (last six digits).

If you are calling a land line from a cell phone, you must dial the prefix: 8 + the city code (7172 for Astana) and then the local number.

If you are calling a cell phone from a land line or another cell phone, you must also dial the prefix: 8 + the cell company code + the number

international callsIf you are calling abroad from Kazakhstan:Dial for international access (810) + the country code + the regional code (if any) + the local telephone number.

To call Kazakhstan from abroad:Dial the code for international access + Kazakhstan’s country code (7) + the Kazakhstan city code + the Kazakhstan local telephone number.

kazakhstan Dialing Codes:Almaty region: 727, 728Astana city dial code: 717

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Climate

Kazakhstan’s distance from

the ocean and its vast territory

affect the country’s climate.

The weather and temperature

can vary dramatically based

on geography and time of

year. Also beware of the wind

from the steppe, which can

make a huge difference in

how the temperature feels.

Average temperatures for

the two main cities are:

AstanaJanuary, -17°C (1°F)

July, 20°C (68°F)

Almaty

January, -6°C (21°F)

July, 24°C (75°F)

kazakhsTan Cellular CoMMuniCaTions CoMpanies

Kazakhstan cell phone companies operate on a prepaid system. A SIM card can be purchased (GSM network) providing a local cell number. As credit runs out, it can be replenished easily by purchasing more via electronic dispensers through-out the city. They are located mainly in supermarkets, convenience stores and major shopping centers. Credit can also be purchased on scratch cards and loaded onto a cell phone by entering the code. No monthly billing plans exist in Kazakhstan at this time.

108_109_KAZ_Practical Information.indd 108 6/6/11 8:34:11 PM

PRACTICAL INFORMATION WHEN IN KAZAKHSTAN109

news abouT kazakhsTan anD The regionuseful websiTes

There are a variety of websites in Kazakh, Russian and English with in-formation on Kazakhstan. We have listed many of the websites that in-clude an English language version here. If the site does not immediately open into an English language version, look for the “Eng” button. Not all the websites will have everything translated into English, but most have sufficient information to make the sites useful.

CurrenCY eXChange raTes as of MaY 25.2011

TENGE USD 145,43EUR 209,45 RUR 5,20 AUD 155,41 GBP 240,00 BYR 0,03 HUF 0,79 DKK 28,10 AED 39,60 USD 145,43 EUR 209,45 CAD 149,73 CNY 22,45KWD 529,61KGS 3,18 LVL 295,47LTL 60,68 MDL 12,54NOK 27,07 PLN 52,97SAR 38,78XDR 231,67 SGD 117,96 TRL 91,22 UZS 0,09 UAH 18,22 CZK 8,57 SEK 23,60 CHF 31,87 EEK 170,69 KRW 21,14 JPY 13,48 TJS 1,78

www.centralasianewswire.com (ENG)Leading English language newswire covering Central Asia

www.inform.kzwww.inform.kz/eng (ENG)Official site of KazInform Information agency

www.astanatimes.kzOfficial site of the English-language monthly newspaper The Astana Times out of Astana, updated regularly.

www.khabar.kz Official site of Khabar News Agency

www.kazpravda.kzwww.kazpravda.kz/l/eng (ENG)Official site of the “KazPravda” daily newspaper

ht

tp

://

ww

w.general information:

www.EdgeKz.comEdge Magazine

www.kazakhstanlive.com International Information Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan

www.visitkazakhstan.com/en/Official Tourism website of the Committee of Tourism Industry

kazakh government websites:www.akorda.kzwww.akorda.kz/en (ENG)Official site of the President of the Republic

www.mfa.kzOfficial site of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

www.mts.gov.kzwww.mts.gov.kz/?lang=en (ENG)Official site of the Ministry of Tourism and Sport

www.parlam.kzwww.parlam.kz/Information.aspx?lan=en-US (ENG)Official site of Parliament

www.government.kzwww.en.government.kz/ (ENG)Official site of the government

www.almaty.kzwww.almaty.kz/page.php?lang=2 (ENG)Official site of the city of Almaty

www.astana.kzhttp://en.astana.kz/ (ENG)Official site of the city of Astana

www.astana-almaty2011.kzwww.astana-almaty2011.kz/en.html (ENG)Official site of the Astana-Almaty 2011 Asia Winter Games

Tourism and leisure:www.restoran.kzwww.restoran.kz/en (ENG)Restaurant information for Astana and Almaty

www.realkz.comwww.realkz.com/page.php?lang=2 (ENG)Cities, hotels, restaurants in Kazakhstan

www.kaztour-association.com (RUS)Kazakhstan Tourist Association

www.centralasia.travel (ENG)Central Asia Travel guide

www.eco-tourism.kzwww.eco-tourism.kz/index.php?lng=eng (ENG)Kazakhstan Ecotourism

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108_109_KAZ_Practical Information.indd 109 6/6/11 8:34:12 PM

TRANSPORTATION & TRAVEL ALMATY110 i ZD

WeatherEssentials

ALMATYMonth High LowJun 78°F / 26°C 54°F /12°C Jul 84°F / 28°C 58°F / 14°C Aug 84°F / 28°C 56°F / 13°C Sep 76°F / 24°C 46°F / 7°C Oct 62°F / 16°C 36°F / 2°C

GENERAL

Almaty International AirportAddress: 2 Beimbet Mailin Street, Almaty 050039Phone: 8 (727) 270 33 33www.almatyairport.com

Almaty - 2 Train StationAddress: 1 Abilai Khana ProspektPhone: +7 (727) 296 15 44

Almaty - 1 Train StationAddress: 1 Seifullin StreetPhone: +7 (727) 296 33 92

Almaty Bus StationAddress: 73 Mate Salki Street Phone: 8 (727) 226 26 44, 226 14 91, 225 08 87

Almaty Sayran Bus StationAddress: 294 Tole biPhone: 8 (727) 276 26 44, 276 26 77

TAxis

AZIA Taxi Phone: +7 (727) 299 49 49Hours: 24 hours

Garage TaxiPhone: +7 (727) 276 29 07, 299 90 00Hours: 24 hourswww.garage999.kz

Hertz Taxi and Car RentalPhone: +7 (727) 245 88 03Hours: 24 hourswww.hertz.kz

Mega TaxiPhone: +7 (727) 233 31 11Hours: 24 hours

Almaty Taxi Phone: +7 (727) 255 53 33Hours: 24 hours

Service-TaxiPhone: +7 (727) 230 22 03Hours: Around the clock

Taxi Profi Phone: +7 (727) 270 70 70Hours: 24 hourswww.taxiprestige.kz

Ekipazh Plus Phone: +7 (727) 270 08 88Hours: 24 Hours

Express TaxiPhone: +7 (727) 260 06 00Hours: 24 hourswww.express-taxi.kz

Elit Taxi Phone: +7 (727) 278 03 33Hours: 24 hourswww.nettaxi.kz

AiRLiNEs

Air AstanaPhone: 8( 727) 258 41 35, 258 41 36, 244 44 77, 259 87 03Hours: 9 am-8:30 pmwww.airastana.com

Air Travel SystemPhone: 8 (727) 272 27 02, 272 26 99Hours: 9 am-7 pmwww.czechairlines.com

Air ControlPhone: 8 (727) 244 15 90Hours: 9 am-7 pmwww.aircontrol.kz

Asiana AirlinesPhone: 8 (727) 270 32 34, 270 32 35Hours: 9 am-7 pmwww.flyasiana.com

Brauch Office of Lufthansa Cargo Ag in KzPhone: 8 (727) 388 89 32Hours: 9 am- 8 pmwww.lhcargo.com

British Midland AirwaysPhone: 8 (727) 272 40 40Hours: 3am-8 pmwww.flybmi.com

Carlson Wagonlit Travel KazakhstanPhone: 8 (727) 377 88 77Hours: 9 am-7 pmwww.carlsonwagonlit.kz

China Southern AirlinesPhone: 8 (727) 250 94 85Hours: 9 am-7 pmwww.cs-air.com

Clintondale AviationPhone: 8 (727) 257 45 14, 383 83 96Hours: 9 am-6 pmwww.clintondale.com

Etihad AirwaysPhone: 8 (727) 330 30 00Hours: 9 am-7 pmwww.etihadairways.com

KlM Royal Dutch AirlinesPhone: 8 (727) 250 77 47, 330 21 42Hours: 9 am-7 pmwww.klm.kz

Branch Office of LufthansaCargo Ag in KzPhone: 8 (727) 388 89 32Hours: 9 am-8 pmwww.lhcargo.com

Turkish AirlinesPhone: 8(727) 250 62 20, 333 38 49, 250 62 19Hours: 9am-8pmwww.thy.com

BMIPhone: 8 (727) 25 050 52, 272 40 40Hours: 9 am-6 pmwww.flybmi.com

East WingPhone: 8(727) 250 55 42Hours: 9am- 6pm

CAR RENTAL COMPANiEs

Dimal Car Rental – AlmatyAddress: 6 Rozybakiev street 125/1 office 15, Pushkin street 23 office 6Phone: 8 (727) 275 11 73www.dimal.kz

Dixie TravelAddress: 29 Zheltoksan Street, office 3Phone: 8 (727) 279 28 08, 327 10 10http://dixie.kz

ASAP CarAddress: 92 Panfilov, office 60Phone: 8 (727) 234 78 39, 8 (777) 270 91 87

AutodomAddress: 273A FurmanovaPhone: 8 (727) 244 34 81http://autodom-t.kz

DilizhansAddress: 185 BaizakovaPhone: 8 (327) 268 37 22, 8 (333) 216 55 26www.diligence-kz.narod.ru

Almaty International AirportAddress: 2 Beimbet Mailin Street,the 1st levelPhone: 8 (727) 270 33 33www.almatyairport.com

ARD KazkhstanAddress: 208 ZharokovaPhone: 8 (727) 329 43 49www.ard-ts-kz.ucoz.ru

Prestige TaxiAddress: 262 Kazybayeva Street, Kulager districtPhone: 8 (727) 270 70 70 www.taxiprestige.kz

HertzAddress: 42 Timiryazeva, 15/3B officePhone: 8 (727) 245 88 03, 245 88 51, 8 (777) 355 66 55www.hertz.kz

Exotic LimoAddress: 53 Dostyk StreetPhone: 8 (727) 291 62 90

110_111_ALMATY_PRACTICAL_INFO.indd 110 6/6/11 6:53:06 PM

PRACTICAL INFORMATION WHEN IN ALMATY 111i ZD

ALMATYEMERGENCY SERVICES

Fire prevention - 101Police - 102Ambulance - 103Gas service - 104Rescue - 112 or 051

REfERRAL SERVICES

Almaty International Airport006 or 155

Railroad Station Almaty one 105, 8 (727) 296 33 92

Railroad Station Almaty two 8 (727)296 15 44

Bus station Sayran8 (727) 276 26 44

Bus station Sayakhat8 (727) 230 25 29

Evacuator (angels.kz)8 (727) 233 13 42

Free phone referral service8 (727) 327 00 98

Free phone referral service - 080

Address bureau - 8 (727) 254 46 96

Lost-property office 8 (727) 292 14 39, 8 (727) 328 22 33

Chargeable phone referral service088 or 177

ALMATY CELLuLAR CoMMuNICATIoNS CoMpANIES

KcellAddress: Samal-2, 100 - K’cell Main OfficeHours: Mon-Fri 9 am-8 pm, Sat 9 am-6 pmhttp://kcell.kz

ActivAddress: 2G Timiryazev StreetPhone: 8 (727) 258-80-00 Hours: 24 hours Mobile: 3030http://activ.kz

DalacomAddress: 115/105 Kunayeva StreetPhone: 8 (727) 259 77 00 Hours: Mon-Fri 9 am-7 pmhttp://dalacom.kz

Beeline Address: 55 Tole bi StreetPhone: 8 (727) 350 05 00, 8 (727) 350 06 00 Hours: Daily 9 am-8 pmMobile: 0611 http://mobile.beeline.kz

PathwordAddress: 115/105 KunayevaPhone: 8 (727) 259 77 00, 8(727) 258 17 77Hours: Mon-Fri 9am-7 pm

CouRIER SERVICES

BaidExAddress: 12 Momushuly AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 45 79 16, 8 (700) 459 87 47, 8 (707) 323 50 25

Direct DeliveryAddress: 12a Kazhymukan Street - 9th floorPhone: 8 (7172) 55 62 62Mobile: 8 (707) 782 22 18URL: http://www.dd.kz/

FedExAddress: 38 Tulebaev StreetPhone: 8 (7273) 56 38 00 URL: http://fedex.com/kz/

Garant Post ServiceAddress: 9 Lomonosov Street, # 203Phone: 8 (7172) 215-458URL: http://www.gpserv.kz/

Pony ExpressTel.: 8 (727) 258 33 33, 8 (727) 317 26 26 URL: http://www.ponyexpress.kz/

110_111_ALMATY_PRACTICAL_INFO.indd 111 6/6/11 6:53:08 PM

ALMATY CONSULATES112

Consulate of AustraliaAddress: 174B Furmanov Street, 3rd Floor, AlmatyPhone: 8 (727) 261 51 60 E-mail: [email protected]://www.russia.embassy.gov.au

Consulate of AfghanistanAddress: 2 Sholnik microdistrict, AlmatyPhone: 8 (727) 227 23 90

Consulate BelgiumAddress: 117/86 Kazybek Bi Street, Almaty Phone: 8 (727) 260 68 63E-mail: [email protected]

Consulate of Great BritainAddress: Samal-2 microdistrict, 97 Zholdas-bekov Street , building 2A, AlmatyPhone: 8 (727) 250 61 91/92 e-mail: [email protected]

Consulate of HungaryAddress: 4 Musabayev Street, AlmatyPhone: 8 (727) 255 13 08, 8 (727) 258 18 36E-mail: [email protected]

Consulate of GermanyAddress: 62 Kosmonavtov StreetPhone: 8 (727) 262 83 41 46/49E-mail: [email protected]

Consulate of EgyptAddress: 15 Teplichnaya StreetPhone: 8 (727) 263 96 95

Consulate of IndiaAddress: 71 Maulenov Street, 3rd floor, AlmatyPhone: 8 (727) 278 44 55/65Email: [email protected]

Consulate of SpainAddress: 20A Kazybek bi Street, AlmatyPhone: 8 (727) 293 02 40, 8 (727) 293 02 66E-mail: [email protected]

Consulate of ItalianAddress: 41 Kazybek bi Street, AlmatyPhone: 8 (727) 266 36 09

Consulate of YemenAddress: 20B Begalin StreetPhone: 8 (727) 291 99 72E-mail: [email protected]

Consulate of ChinaAddress: 12 Baitasov Street, AlmatyPhone: 8 (727) 270 02 21

Consulate of KoreaAddress: 52a Ivanilov Street, Gornyi Gigant, AlmatyPhone: 8 (727) 263 26 60/91, 8 (727) 263 29 89, 8 (727) 263 62 28/29E-mail: [email protected]

Consulate of KyrgyzstanAddress: 30A Lugansky Street, AlmatyPhone: 8 (727) 264 22 12E-mail: [email protected]

Consulate of LithuanianAddress: 15 Iskanderovo Street, Gorny GygantPhone: 8 (727) 263 10 40http://kz.mfa.lt

Embassy of MalaysiaAddress: 9A Rubinshtein Street, Almaty Phone: 8 (727) 333 44 83/4/5E-mail:[email protected]@kln.gov.my

Consulate of NetherlandsAddress: 103 Nauryzbay batyr Street, AlmatyPhone: 8 (727) 250 37 73E-mail: [email protected]

Consulate of PolandAddress: 9 Jarkentskaya Street, Gornyi GigantPhone: 8 (727) 258 16 17; 8 (727) 258 15 51E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

Consulate of the Russian FederationAddress: 4 Jandosov Street, AlmatyPhone: 8 (727) 274 50 87, 8 (727) 274 61 22E-mail: [email protected]

Consulate of SingaporeAddress: 21 Koktem-3, AlmatyPhone: 8 (727) 270 45 61E-mail: [email protected]

Consulate of SlovakiaAddress: Almaty region, Energetic village, 1A Tikhii,Phone: 8 (727) 297 74 43 E-mail: [email protected]

Consulate of United States of AmericaAddress: 97 Zholdasbekov Street, Samal-2b district, Almaty Phone: 8 (727) 250 76 12

Consulate of TajikistanAddress: 16 Sanatornaya Str eet, AlmatyPhone: 8 (727) 269 70 59E-mail: [email protected]

Consulate of TurkeyAddress: 29 Tole bi Street, AlmatyPhone: 8 (727) 278 41 65/77E-mail: [email protected]

Consulate of TurkmenistanAddress: 137 Furmanov Street, AlmatyPhone: 8 (727) 272 69 44

Embassy of UzbekistanAddress: 36 Baribayev Street Phone: 8 (727) 291 78 86Consulate phone: 8 (727) 291 02 35 E-mail: [email protected]

Consulate of UkraineAddress: 13a Makatayev Street, AlmatyPhone: 8 (727) 230 16 00

Consulate of FranceAddress: 173Furmanov Street, AlmatyPhone: 8 (727) 258 25 04/08, 8 (727) 258 21 81E-mail: [email protected]

Consulate of CzechAddress: 5 Al-Fara bi Avenue, AlmatyPhone: 8 (727) 277 70 93e-mail: [email protected]

Consulate of JapanAddress: 41 Kazybek bi Street, AlmatyPhone: 8 (727) 298 06 00


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112_113_ALMATY_CONSULATES.indd 112 6/6/11 8:25:16 PM

113_AD_TELECOM.indd 1 6/6/11 6:04:14 PM

TRANSPORTATION & TRAVEL ASTANA114 i ZDTRANSPORTATION & TRAVEL114 i ZD

GENERAL

Astana International AirportAddress: Airport 14 OSPhone: 8 (7172) 70 29 99Website: www.astanaairport.kz

Train StationAddress: Privokzalnaya square Phone: 8 (7172) 1058 (7172) 38 07 078 (7172) 38 33 33

Bus Station Address: Privokzalnaya square Phone: 8 (7172) 39 85 048 (7172) 30 35 49

TAxis

Arba taxi Phone: 8 (7172) 31 57 13 Hours: Around the clock

Green Eyed Taxi Phone: 8 (7172) 34 44 94Hours: Around the clock

Pegasus XXI taxi Phone: 8 (7172) 37 24 24, 8 (7172) 37 18 18 Hours: Around the clock

Samal taxi Phone: 8 (7172) 22 22 22, 8 (7172) 22 18 82Hours: Around the clock

Metropolitan taxi LLPPhone: 8 (7172) 32 02 20, 8 (701) 785 57 37 Hours: Around the clock

Transport company Riksha VIP taxi Phone: 8 (7172) 62 72 608 (701) 441 75 57 Hours: Around the clock

Elite taxiPhone: 8 (7172) 34 10 108 (701) 610 23 23

AiRLiNEs

LufthansaPhone: 8 (7172) 28 64 928 (7172) 28 64 93Hours: Mon-Wed-Sat 8:00 pm – 10:00 pmTue-Thurs-Sun 11:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Turkish Airlines Phone: 8 (7172) 77 70 208 (7172) 77 70 21Hours: 11:00 pm-7:00 am

Transaero Phone: 8 (7172) 31 70 408 (7172) 31 83 50Hours: 9:00 am – 9:00 pm

Pulkovo Phone: 8 (7172) 21 69 178 (7172) 21 69 18Hours: 9:00 am – 7:00 pmWeekend 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

AerosvitPhone: 8 (7172) 50 82 74Hours: Round the clock

Belavia Phone: 8 (7172) 23 98 488 (7172) 23 98 25Hours: 9:00 am – 6:00 pm

Air Astana Phone: 8 (7172) 59 14 218 (7172) 59 14 22Hours: 9:00 am – 8:30pm

Austrian Airlines Phone: 8 (7172) 28 64 828 (7172) 39 00 00Hours: Round the clock

BerkutPhone: 8 (7172) 75 21 05Hours: 9:00 am-6:00 pm

Zhetyssu Phone: 8 (7172) 94 63 228 (7172) 94 62 96Hours: 9:00 am – 7:00 pmSaturday: 9:00 am – 6:00 pmSunday: 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

CAR RENTAL COMPANiEs

Transport Company Riksha Address: 25 Bogenbay Street, office 29Phone: 8 (7172) 62 72 60 8 (701) 441 75 57

Hertz Caspian Project Supply CompanyAddress: 6/1 Kabanbay Street Phone: 8 (7172) 58 00 56 8 (7172) 58 04 84

Bastion.kz Address: 166 Omarov Street Phone: 8 (7172) 34 70 70 8 (7172) 34 70 688 (7172) 54 49 63

TANDAU ST Address: 16/1 Maylin Street Phone: 8 (7172) 34 46 658 (7172) 34 46 65VIPCAR KZ Address: 13 Auezov Street Phone: 8 (7172) 47 81 878 701 777 93 53

DanZamir Address: 7 Seifullin Street, office 27Phone: 8 (701) 918 69 17 8 (7172) 23 61 05

KazGPS Address: 19 Imanov Street, office 406BPhone: 8 (7172) 78 74 178 (7172) 78 74 188 (702) 46 74 538

OKAN Intercontinental Astana Address: 47 Abay Street Phone: 8 (7172) 39 10 00

Rent a Car AstanaAddress: 40 Auezov Street, office 211Phone: 8 (7172) 77 96 90 8 (701) 933 26 80

Zhas KalaAddress: 1A Mozhayskiy StreetPhone: 8 (7172) 54 18 19

Green Spedition International Transport CompanyPhone: 8 (705) 118 49 18

OKAN IntercontinentalAddress: 113 Abay Street Phone: 8 (7172) 39 10 00

WeatherEssentials

ASTANAMonth High LowJun 77°F / 25°C 55°F/ 13°CJul 80°F / 27°C 59°F / 15°CAug 77°F / 25°C 55°F / 13°CSep 64°F / 18°C 44°F / 7°COct 48°F / 9°C 32°F / 0°C

114_115_ASTANA_PRACTICAL_INFO.indd 114 6/6/11 6:58:43 PM

PRACTICAL INFORMATION WHEN IN ASTANA 115i ZD 115

AstAnA CellulAr CommuniCAtions CompAnies

ActiveLocations: 2 Pervaya Street and 21 Barayeva StreetPhone: 8 (727) 258 80 00, for mobile 7070 (free of charge) URL: http://www.activ.kz/Hours: 24

BeelinePhone: 8 (727) 350 05 00URL: http://mobile.beeline.kz/

DalacomAddress: 5 Republic AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 59 17 00 URL: http://www.dalacom.kzHours: Mon-Fri 9:00 am – 6:00 pmSat 10:00 am-2:00 pm

KcellLocation: Astana, Kabanbai-Batyr ave., 10Phone: 8 (7172) 24 40 07 ext. 5007URL: http://www.kcell.kz/Hours:Mon-Fri 9:00 am-8:00 pm Sat - 9:00 am-6:00 pm Sun - 11:00 am-6:00 pm

ParthwordLocation: 30 Republic AvenuePhone 8 (7172) 59 17 00, 8(7172) 21 77 77 URL: http://www.pathword.kz/Hours:Mon-Fri 9:00 am-6:00 pmSat 10:00 am-6:00 pm

AstAnA emergenCy serviCes

Police Landline: 102 Mobile: 102

Rescue Service Landline: 112 Mobile: 112

Astana firefighting and accident rescue operations service Landline: 101 Mobile: 101

Astana City Medical Emergency Service Landline: 103 Mobile: 103

General Information for Astana Landline: 109 Mobile: 109

Service “051” (Directory Assistance) Landline: 051 Mobile: 109

Department for Emergency Situations (Astana) Landline: 32 31 98 Mobile: 8 (7172) 32 31 98

Fire Department of Astana City Landline: 37 41 74 Mobile: 8 (7172) 37 41 74

Astana City Telecommunication Center (Astanatelecom) Landline: 58 07 61 Mobile: 8 (7172) 58 0761

Astana City International Airport (information) Landline: 77 70 50 Mobile: 8 (7172) 77 70 50

Railway Station (information) Landline: 93 39 26Mobile: 8 (7172) 93 39 26

Bus Station (information)Landline: 38 11 35, 39 85 04Mobile: 8 (7172) 38 11 35

Courier serviCes

BaidExAddress: 12 Momushuly AvenuePhone: 8 (7172) 45 79 16, 8 (700) 459 87 47, 8 (707) 323 50 25

Direct DeliveryAddress: 12a Kazhymukan Street - 9th floorPhone: 8 (7172) 55 62 62Mobile: 8 (707) 782 22 18URL: http://www.dd.kz/

FedExAddress: 38 Tulebaev StreetPhone: 8 (7273) 56 38 00 URL: http://fedex.com/kz/

Garant Post ServiceAddress: 9 Lomonosov Street, # 203Phone: 8 (7172) 215-458URL: http://www.gpserv.kz/

Pony ExpressTel.: 8 (727) 258 33 33, 8 (727) 317 26 26 URL: http://www.ponyexpress.kz/

114_115_ASTANA_PRACTICAL_INFO.indd 115 6/6/11 6:58:45 PM

DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS116

F

E

C

G

H

I

J

K

A

B

Embassy of Afghanistan2,3 Karaotkel Microdistrict, Astana Phone: +7 (7172) 57 14 42/43/44Fax: +7 (7172) 24 04 54E-mail: [email protected]: www.afghanembassy.kzConsular section:21 Dubok, 2nd Microdistrict, AlmatyPhone: +7 (7272) 255 6324Fax: +7 (7272) 255 5663

Embassy of Armenia19 Kyz Zhibek Street Komsomolski Microdistrict, Astana Phone: +7 (7172) 40 20 15/17Fax: +7 (7172) 40 19 70E-mail: [email protected]

Consulate of Australia174B Furmanov Street, 3rd FloorAlmaty 050013, KazakhstanPhone: +7 (727) 2615160E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.russia.embassy.gov.au

Embassy of Austria62 Kosmonavtov Street, 9th floorAstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 97 78 69/78/79Fax: +7 (7172) 97 78 50E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of AzerbaijanDiplomatic Town, B-6, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 24 15 81+7 (7172) 24 10 97Fax: +7 (7172) 24 15 32E-mail: [email protected] General Consulate:12, 4th Microdistrict, AktauPhone: +7 (7292) 33 67 06/07

Embassy of Belarus35 Kenesary Street, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 32 48 29+7 (7172) 32 06 65+7 (7172) 32 00 34+7 (7172) 32 48 49Fax: +7 (7172) 32 18 70Consular section:Phone: +7 (7172) 32 48 49E-mail: [email protected] Diplomatic Mission in Almaty:115/157 Zheltoksan Street Tel/Fax: +7 (7272) 272 9787E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Belgium62 Kosmonavtov Street, 3rd FloorAstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 97 44 85/86Fax: +7 (7172) 97 78 49E-mail: [email protected] department:5th floor office 501 2A5 Al-Faraby Avenue, AlmatyE-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Brazil6/1 Kabanbai Batyr Street, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 24 46 82/84Fax: +7 (7172) 24 47 43Website: www.brasembastana.kz

Embassy of BulgariaIsker Business Centre 15 Sary Arka Street, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 90 15 15Fax: +7 (7172) 90 18 19E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Canada34 Karasay Batyr Street, AlmatyPhone: +7 (7272) 250 11 51Fax: +7 (7272) 258 24 93E-mail: [email protected] in Astana:6 Sary Arka Street Phone: +7 (7172) 79 30 64Fax: +7 (7172) 79 30 69

Embassy of China28 Kabanbai Batyr Street, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 79 35 61+7 (7172) 79 35 83 (consular section)Fax: +7 (7172) 79 35 65Trade-Economic Department:B-2 Diplomatic town Phone: +7 (7172) 24 25 10Fax: +7 (7172) 24 13 81General Consulate:12 Baitasov Street, AlmatyPhone: +7 (7272) 270 02 21

Embassy of Cuba18 Kabanbay Batyr Avenue, Office 2Astana Phone: +7 (7172) 24 24 67Fax: +7 (7172) 24 26 38E-mail: [email protected]: www.cubakaz.com

Embassy of Czech RepublicArman Business Centre6 Sary Arka Street, 13th Floor, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 66 04 72Fax: +7 (7172) 66 01 42E-mail: [email protected] in Almaty:2A Nurly Tau Business Centre5 Al-Farabi Avenue 8th FloorPhone: +7 (7272) 77 70 93Fax: +7 (7272) 77 70 92E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Egypt30 Sarayshyk Street, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 28 60 67+7 (7172) 24 18 30Fax: +7 (7172) 28 60 50E-mail: [email protected] Centre:15 Teplichnaya Street, AlmatyPhone: +7 (7272) 63 96 95Fax: +7 (7272) 56 98 02Trade department:51 Kaldayakov Street, Office 33AlmatyPhone: +7 (7272) 291 8997Fax: +7 (7272) 293 0391E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of FinlandAstana Tower 17th floor 12 Samal, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 44 21 21Fax: +7 (7172) 44 21 16

Embassy of France 62 Kosmonavtov Street, 4th FloorAstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 79 51 00Fax: +7 (7172) 79 51 01Office in Almaty:173 Furmanov Street, AlmatyPhone: +7 (7273) 96 98 00Fax: +7 (7273) 96 98 20E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of GeorgiaC-4 Diplomatic town, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 24 32 58Tel/Fax: +7 (7172) 24 34 26E-mail: [email protected] [email protected]

Embassy of Germany62 Kosmonavtov Street, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 79 12 00+7 (7172) 79 12 80Fax: +7 (7172) 79 12 13E-mail: [email protected] Consulate:2 Ivanilova Street, AlmatyPhone: +7 (7272) 262 83 41/46/49Fax: +7 (7272) 50 62 76E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Great Britain 62, Kosmonavtov Street, 6th FloorAstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 55 62 00/19Fax: +7 (7172) 55 62 12E-mail: [email protected]: www.ukinkz.fco.gov.ukOffice in Almaty:97-2A Zholdasbekov StreetSamal-2nd Microdistrict, Almaty Phone: +7 (7272) 250 61 91/92Fax: +7 (7272) 250 71 12E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Greece 109 Karaotkel, 2nd MicrodistrictAstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 56 37 14+7 (7172) 56 37 55+7 (7172) 56 37 84Fax: +7 (7172) 56 38 26E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Hungary62 Kosmonavtov Street, 9th Floor AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 55 03 23Fax: +7 (7172) 55 03 24E-mail: [email protected] consulate:4 Musabayev Street, AlmatyPhone: +7 (7272) 255 1308+7 (7272) 258 1836Fax: +7 (7272) 258 1837E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of India5th floor, Kaskad Business Centre6/1 Kabanbai Batyr Street, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 92 57 00/03Fax: +7 (7172) 92 57 15E-mail: [email protected]

Office in Almaty:71 Maulenov Street, 3rd Floor, AlmatyPhone: +7 (7272) 278 44 55/65Fax: +7 (7272) 278 46 85E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of IranB-7 Diplomatic town, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 24 25 11/12Fax: +7 (7172) 24 15 37E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Iraq19 Konayev Street, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 28 60 92/93E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Israel8 Auezov Street, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 68 87 39Fax: +7 (7172) 68 87 35E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Italy62 Kosmonavtov StreetChubary Microdistrict, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 24 33 90+7 (7172) 24 38 68Fax: +7 (7172) 24 36 86Email: [email protected]: [email protected] Section:Tel/Fax: +7 (7172) 91 03 08E-mail: [email protected] Consulate:40 Kazybek Bi Street, AlmatyPhone/Fax: +7 (7272) 266 36 09

Embassy of Japan62 Kosmonavtov Street, Chubary, 5th Floor, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 97 78 43Fax: +7 (7172) 97 78 42Office in Almaty:41 Kazybek Bi Street, Almaty Phone: +7 (7272) 98 06 00Fax: +7 (7272) 98 06 01

Embassy of Jordan8/2 Novostroitelnaya Street, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 24 52 54/55Fax: +7 (7172) 24 52 53E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Korea6/1 Kabanbai Batyr Street, 9th FloorAstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 92 55 91/92/93Fax: +7 (7172) 92 55 96Office in Almaty:52a Ivanilov Street, Gornyi Gigant Phone: +7 (727) 263 26 60/91+7 (727) 263 29 89+7 (727) 263 62 28/29Fax: +7 (727) 264 33 51E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Kyrgyzstan B-5 Diplomatic Town, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 24 20 24Fax: +7 (7172) 24 24 14Consular Section:Phone: +7 (7172) 24 20 40E-mail: [email protected]


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General Consulate:30A Lugansky Street, AlmatyPhone: +7 (727) 264 22 12Fax: +7 (7272) 64 22 11E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Latvia6/1 Kabanbai Batyr Street, Office 122AstanaPhone/fax: +7 (7172) 92 53 17Fax: +7 (7172) 92 53 19E-mail: [email protected]: [email protected]

Embassy of Lebanon2 Tauelsizdik Street, 13th Floor, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 79 35 15Fax: +7 (7172) 79 35 16E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Libya6, 36-8 Street, Karaotkel, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 56 37 64/5/6Fax: +7 (7172) 56 37 23

Embassy of Lithuania15 Iskanderov Street, Gornyi GigantAlmatyPhone: +7 (7272) 63 10 40Fax: +7 (7272) 63 19 75Consular Section:Phone: +7 (7272) 63 25 05Military Attaché:Phone: +8 (702) 215 7051Fax: +7 (7272) 24 03 40E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.kz.mfa.lt Consulate:15 Ploshad Respubliki, Office 544 AlmatyPhone: +7 (7272) 67 25 08Fax: +7 (7272) 50 65 49

Embassy of Malaysia9A Rubinshtein Street, AlmatyPhone: +7 (7273) 33 44 83/4/5Fax: +7 (7273) 87 28 25E-mail:[email protected]

Embassy of Mongolia1 Musabayev Street, AlmatyPhone: +7 (7272) 69 35 36Fax: +7 (7272) 58 17 27Consulate: +7 (7272) 229 37 90E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Netherlands62 Kosmonavtov Street, Office 801AstanaPhone: +7 (7272) 55 54 50Fax: +7 (7272) 55 54 74E-mail: [email protected]: [email protected] in Almaty:103 Nauryzbay Batyr Street, AlmatyPhone: +7 (7272) 50 37 73Fax: +7 (7272) 50 37 72E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Norway17th floor, Astana Tower, 12 SamalAstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 59 18 30

+7 (7172) 55 11 00Fax: +7 (7172) 58 00 87E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Oman3 Novostroitelnaya Street, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 24 18 61/62/64Fax: +7 (7172) 24 18 63

Embassy of PakistanBeijing Palace Business Centre 27 Syganak, AstanaE-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Palestine37 Kabanbay Batyr Street, Block 4AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 28 75 57/62Fax: +7 (7172) 28 75 55E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of PolandIsker Business Centre, 15 Sary Arka Street, 6th FloorAstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 90 10 11/14Fax: +7 (7172) 90 10 12Email: [email protected] Consulate:9 Jarkentskaya Street, Gornyi GigantAlmatyPhone: +7 (7272) 58 16 17+7 (7272) 58 15 51Fax: +7 (7272) 58 15 50E-mail: [email protected]: [email protected] Mission:72 Zatayevich Street Phone/Fax: +7 (7272) 64 79 11+7 (7272) 63 44 27E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Qatar20A Saraishyk Street, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 28 61 23Fax: +7 (7172) 28 61 33E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Romania28 Sarayshyk Street, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 28 62 03Fax: +7 (7172) 28 62 03E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of the Russian Federation4 Barayev Street, Astana Phone: +7 (7172) 44 08 06+7 (7172) 44 07 93/83/86/92/89+7 (7172) 44 08 01Fax: +7 (7172) 44 08 07+7 (7172) 32 22 09E-mail: [email protected]: www.rfembassy.kz Consular section:Phone: +7 (7172) 44 07 83+7 (7172) 44 04 80Fax: +7 (7172) 44 07 84General Consulate:4 Jandosov StreetAlmatyPhone: +7 (7272) 74 50 87, 274 61 22Fax: +7 (7272) 74 71 68/72E-mail: [email protected]

Consulate:78 Mukhit Street, Uralsk Phone: 8 (7112) 51 16 26Fax: 8 (7112) 24 24 86Trade Missions:39 Kenesary Street, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 32 77 89Fax: +7 (7172) 32 81 51

4 Jandosov Street, AlmatyPhone: +7 (7272) 75 49 55Fax: +7 (7272) 75 46 06E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Saudi Arabia19 Akyn Sara Street, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 92 57 52/53/54/55Fax: +7 (7172) 92 57 62E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Slovakia 5 Karaotkel – 2nd Microdistrict, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 56 37 90Fax: +7 (7172) 24 20 48Defense Attaché: Phone: +7 (7172) 24 40 55E-mail: [email protected] Mission:1A Tikhii, Energetic vil.Almatinskaya OblastPhone/Fax: +7 (7272) 97 74 43E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of South Africa 6/1 Kabanbay Batyr Street, 17th FloorAstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 92 53 27/28/29Fax: +7 (7172) 92 53 29E-mail: [email protected]: [email protected]

Embassy of Spain47-25 Kenesary Street, Astana Phone: +7 (7172) 20 15 35/6/7/8/9/0Fax: +7 (7172) 20 03 17+7 (7172) 20 02 24 (consular section)E-mail: [email protected] Department:20 A, Kazybek Bi Street, AlmatyPhone: +7 (7272) 93 02 40+7 (7172) 293 02 66Fax: +7 (7272) 93 02 59E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Sweden12 Samal District, 17th Floor, Astana

Embassy of Switzerland8th floor Kosmonavtov Street, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 97 98 92/93Fax: +7 (7172) 97 98 94Visa section:Phone: +7 (7172) 97 98 95Fax: +7 (7172) 97 98 96

Embassy of Tajikistan15 Marsovaya Street, Chubary Aicrodistrict, AstanaPhone/Fax: +7 (7172) 24 09 29E-mail: [email protected] in Almaty:16 Sanatornaya Street, Baganashyl vil.Phone/Fax: +7 (7272) 69 70 59E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Turkey6/1 Kabanbay Batyr Street, Office 23, 101, Astana Phone: +7 (7172) 92 58 70/73Fax: +7 (7172) 92 58 74E-mail: [email protected] in Almaty:29 Tole Bi Street, AlmatyPhone: +7 (7272) 78 41 65/77Fax: +7 (7272) 78 41 68E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Turkmenistan8/1 Otyrar Street, Astana Phone/Fax: +7 (7172) 21 08 82+7 (7172) 21-08-23Military Attaché: +7 7172 20-12-95E-mail: [email protected] section:6/109, Abay Street, AlmatyPhone/Fax: +7 (7272) 50 96 04

Embassy of Ukraine41 Kenesary Street, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 32 60 42Fax: +7 (7172) 32 68 11Consulate:Phone/Fax: +7 (7172) 32 43 25E-mail: [email protected] Consulate13a Makatayev Street , Almaty Phone: +7 (7272) 30 16 00Fax: +7 (7272) 30 26 01E-mail: [email protected] Mission:Phone/Fax: +7 (7272) 32 74 80E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of the United Arab Emirates C-15 Diplomatic Town, AstanaPhone: +7 (7172) 24 36 75+7 (7172) 28 60 47+7 (7172) 28 60 75Fax: +7 (7172) 24 36 76E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of the United States3, 22-23 Street, Ak Bulak 4, Astana Phone: +7 (7172) 70 21 00Fax: +7 (7172) 34 08 90Consular Section: Phone: 70 21 00Fax: +7 (7172) 70 22 80E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Uzbekistan36 Baribayev Street, AlmatyPhone: +7 (7272) 91 78 86Fax: +7 (7272) 91 10 55Consulate Phone: +7 (7272) 91 02 35E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of the Vatican20 Zelenaya Alleya Street Chubary Microdistrict, Astana Phone: +7 (7172) 24 16 03, +7 (7172) 24 12 69Fax: +7 (7172) 24 16 04E-mail: [email protected]

Embassy of Vietnam6 Sary Arka Avenue, Astana Phone: +7 (7172) 66 03 75Fax: +7 (7172) 66 03 79

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Learn more about Astana’s bid to host EXPO 2017 atwww.expo2017astana.com

How far can a country travel in the first 20 years of its independence? It depends on where it is heading and how fast it is moving.





www.mfa.kz

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C E L E B R A T I N GOur 20 t h Ann ive rsa r y o f I n dependence

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edge kazakhstan magazine - spring 2011

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