Almaty Take 1: Where Petrol’s cheaper than water

If I may paraphrase a fellow cycle tourist, ‘Almaty is, in a word, expensive’. It is a city whose theme is grand buildings, green parks and water fountains. A cosmopolitan hub that seems out of place relative to the places we’ve cycled through to get here. Where oil money is fueling disposable incomes. Where mercs are the rule. Where gorgeous snow capped peaks are visible between tall man-made urban mountains. Where water isn’t the cheapest fluid going around.

25 hours or 25 days?

1000km of flattish, uninspiring steppe in the middle of summer. Who wouldn’t choose a hot, bumpy overnight bus ride? We quashed the voices of the hardened cycle tourists within and prepared for the logistical battle of alternative transport.

The surlys on the bus stay nice and still, nice and still, nice and still...

Bus wasn’t our first choice though. A nice sleeper seat on a train was a much more appealing prospect. Yet it seemed that the next available seat (in 3 days time), didn’t coincide with the next available piece of baggage space for bikes (four days time). The bus station proved more fruitful when an English-speaking Kazakh helped us acquire 4 tickets, 2 for the Surlys and 2 for us on that evenings ride. At least we would be accompanying Melanie and Gaetan, our compadres from the CCCP bar.