Arjun's Travels: Almaty, Kazakhstan

In Almaty, which used to be the capital of Kazakhstan, I saw an Russian Orthodox church.

The next day, we went to the Central State Museum. In Kazakhstan, they make very nice rugs and long strips that decorate the outside of the yurt - the portable tents that they lived in on the steppe. It turns out that we have a Kazakh designed rug in our living room already!

This is a bowl and ladle with two sides to it to pour the fermented mare's milk which is a favorite drink here.

Plate and bowls from Kazakhstan

Ancient Kazakh hat

And jewelry with little cylinders on top to put things in

The next day, we went to the instrument museum. There were a lot of cool instruments that I've never seen before. And here are a few of them. The most popular stringed instrument is the dombra.

Large drum and jingle stick.

Noise maker

Bells

One of the really cool instruments was an upside down violin.

And in fact, I play one!

This is an arrow shaped harp.

Ocarinas

I was feeling tired that day, so I just took a nap.

This is the outside of the Instrument Museum, and me playing chimes hanging inside the large dombra below.

After the instrument museum, we went to get ice cream in the big park called Gorky Park.

9 Botahan.kz is the car I drove from here all the way around in the park, and boy was it fun!

The park also had fun games and rides, so it was basically an amusement park. This is me on the chair swing ride.

This is me reloading a bebe gun to shoot a balloon or a white target. I never had luck, except for two balloons that I shot. Because they spoke Russian, I didn't know what to hit. But when I shot the two balloons, I got a toy hammer that was pink and yellow and when you hit it on the ground, it squeaks.

This is an activity where you can use a bulldozer to dig up sand. I didn't go on it, though.

After that, we walked through the park and found a replica of a machine gun that they might use on a ship.

This is a mosque in Almaty.

This is what it looks like inside the mosque.

This is the door on the back side of the mosque.

Statue of a man on a horse with a weapon.

Two wrestlers made of grass, leaves, and moss.

Walking around Almaty, there are a lot of statues and fountains.

And by fountains, I mean fountains you can walk in. This is me walking in a fountain for about 1/2 an hour on a very hot day!

After that, we went into an underground mall. Mommy and Victormama got me some cheese flavored chips!

A cool car with butterflies on it!

The very next day we went to yet another park, with a bouncy house!

On our last day in Almaty we went to a Modern Art Museum. On the way, we passed by another amusement park and circus. Across from the part, there were people practicing their horse riding and sword fighting!