Almaty, located in southeastern Kazakhstan, is not the current capital (that’ll be Astana) but this city was the apple of the Soviet Union’s eye from 1929 to 1936 when it was designated the capital by the now-defunct communist state.
Incidentally, “Almaty” means “father of apples” in Kazakh, and since the origins of the modern apple have been traced to this locale, the name couldn’t be more apt.
Almaty continued being the capital before and after Kazakhstan gained independence in 1991, until the government relocated it to Astana in 1997.
Today, “it is the students’ city”, said Turezhanova. “There are a lot of students living here, so there’s a very young vibe.” No surprise there considering there are 31 universities, big and small, in Almaty.
THE YURT LIFE
While we see yurts and horses as romanticised advertisements to court visitors, over here, it is as real as visiting Grandma on weekends and to hang with your cousins.
“Some of us still return to the steppes and to our grandparents’ yurts on weekends for family visits,” said Turezhanova. Apparently, about 10 per cent of the population still adhere to the nomadic lifestyle.
How you enter a yurt, which I learned at the Huns Ethno Village, can say a lot before you even speak. Step in with your right foot and you’re a bearer of good news; do so with your left – and especially stepping on the threshold – and you have bad news to share.