Almaty, Kazakhstan — Post #8
I arrived in Almaty late in the evening and stayed the night in my hostel (also named “My Hostel”). In the morning I headed out to a coffee shop called Social Coffee, this would be my first experience with the coffee culture in Kazakhstan. The Kazakhs have had a huge boom in coffee shops and they would put many American coffee shops to shame. They are warm and inviting, the coffee is usually decent, and they boast a full course menu of options including everything from crepes to horse steak. They are similar to nice restaurants in LA but have a more relaxed atmosphere that make you want to spend the entire day there, which I ended up doing more than once.
Years ago, I had the good fortune of having a Kazakh roommate in Los Angeles who taught me a bit of Russian and Kazakh culture. We talked about my aspirations to travel The Silk Road for many years. He ended up connecting me with one of his friends in Almaty and we met up for a tea at Cafe Nedelka, which quickly turned into a Guinness at the local Irish pub.
The next morning, I found the city coated in snow, which was a very nice change of pace. I walked to a coffee shop called Jumpin Goat Coffee, which was supposedly owned by an American. They served an “American Breakfast” which, consisted of a grilled hotdog on white toast and scrambled eggs.
Almaty is a beautiful city with incredible nature. However, I had chosen to visit in the winter during a snowy week that failed to offer any beautiful views of the mountains. So, my entire experience of Almaty was essentially spent touring the cool coffee shops all over Almaty.
Now on to the next journey.
I went to the train station and found out that I could take a train from Almaty to Actau, on the Caspian Sea, for just 30 dollars. The real cost associated with the travel was time though. The whole journey would take 3 days. However, I felt best making some progress rather than staying in Almaty one more day.
Ever since reading “Riding the Iron Rooster Through China I had imagined taking a Soviet train across Asia.
This was my chance.
Most old soviet trains in China had been replaced with high speed rail but Kazakhstan has ruthlessly maintained these trains keeping them on life support for many years.