Almaty, positioned in southeastern Kazakhstan, isn’t the present capital (which can be Astana), however this metropolis was the showpiece of the Soviet Union from 1929 to 1936, when it was designated the capital of the now-defunct communist state .
Incidentally, “Almaty” means “father of apples” in Kazakh, and for the reason that origins of the trendy apple are traced again to this location, the title could not be extra acceptable.
Almaty continued to be the capital earlier than and after Kazakhstan gained independence in 1991, till the federal government moved it to Astana in 1997.
Today “it’s the metropolis of scholars,” Turezhanova mentioned. “There are a variety of college students dwelling right here, so it is a very younger environment.” No shock, contemplating that there are 31 universities, massive and small, in Almaty.
YURT LIFE
While we see yurts and horses as romantic ads for court docket guests, right here it is as actual as visiting grandma on the weekends and staying along with your cousins.
“Some of us nonetheless return to the steppes and our grandparents’ yurts on weekends to go to household,” Turezhanova mentioned. Apparently, round 10% of the inhabitants nonetheless adheres to the nomadic life-style.
The approach you enter a yurt, which I realized at Huns Ethno Village, can inform rather a lot earlier than you even converse. Step in along with your proper foot and you’re the bearer of fine information; do it with the left – and particularly crossing the brink – and you should have unhealthy information to share.
