There and Back Again

Well, I'm writing this on my flight from Almaty to Amsterdam, which will be shortly followed by a flight from Amsterdam to Atlanta. In the airport, I said goodbye to the last intern I would see, Bretislav, as he waited for his plane to Saint Petersburg.

I've delayed writing my post on our last time in Almaty significantly, often out of business but in a way also not wanting to accept that this is over. It's been an incredible last few weeks, but also incredibly sad as we needed to say goodbye to people we came to know so well.

I can't go over everything that has happened in over 2 weeks since I last wrote a comprehensive blog post, but this will go over some of the biggest moments and my final thoughts from the project.

1. Change of Scenery
2. First Goodbye
3. Global Village
4. Work Concluded: Final Days at the Orphanages
5. Time to Say Goodbye

Change of Scenery

Not long after I returned from my trip to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, our time in the university dormitories came to an end. We knew this for a while, though it was more recent that we found out where we were going.

Unfortunately, I needed to divide from the rest of the group. As the 6 girls remaining were going to work at an orphanage that could only house 6 females and no males, I couldn't live near them any more.

However, as they left for their orphanage across the city, I ended up living not far away from where we always had lived, in a flat owned by Eduardo, an intern of Shine Bright from Mexico who has lived in Almaty for over 9 months now.

I'm glad to say that, despite this change, we still worked together daily at our original orphanage, while afterwards two of the girls would work at the new orphanage in shifts. It was only the day after they moved that I joined Iris from work to see where they lived, and what I saw was nothing short of impressive.

Children's Home No. 2

While Eduardo's location was very convenient, being close to groceries and many major bus routes, I admit I was extremely jealous when I saw where the girls lived. The new children's home (Children's Home No. 2) was built less like an orphanage and more like a hotel. It has a beautiful layout, and amazingly is largely managed by the residents themselves.

When I arrived, kids were busy working on a garden (which turned out to be where they grow many of their own vegetables) as others shaped the trees within their fences. In addition, the orphanage often had very intricate meals, as the kids planned and created them largely on their own.

A main course of lamb complete with sides of salad and baursak

The children there were incredibly friendly, and were consistently eager to talk with me, over any language barriers. This was excellent as I believe I gained more practice in those last two weeks for my Russian than I probably had over the past month before it.

Enjoyed the place so much, I ended up visiting almost every day that we worked together and there wasn't an activity in the afternoon. The orphanage was friendly enough to accept my visits and I was glad to be able to help with English lessons there when I could.

First Goodbye

Unfortunately, however, it wasn't long after coming to this new orphanage that we needed to say our first goodbye to an intern leaving Kazakhstan.

Due to some issues regarding visa terms, Eva needed to leave earlier than expected and return to her home in Macau.

Eva leading us in a Beatles mimic in one of her first days
Taken June 22nd at Kok-Tobe

While it was sad to say goodbye to someone so soon, we made sure to mark the occasion with plenty of activity and celebration.

First, we had a farewell celebration with the kids of Eva's original orphanage. To begin, we had a celebratory dinner and spent much of the day playing with the children rather than our usual English lessons.

This celebration included dance performances by many of the children, including a rather incredible performance by one of my students (clip below)

This concluded in a final farewell party for Eva in one of the best places in Kazakhstan, where we visited during my first week (before the other interns with me arrived. I was the most experienced ShineBright intern in Almaty at this point, save of course for Eduardo). At the high point of the park, we sat and enjoyed a picnic while talking about our favorite parts of the internship and our favorite times with Eva.

While it was sad to see her go, we made sure to make our last day with her in Kazakhstan memorable.

I'm very glad to say, however, that I may be seeing her sooner than most, as Eva will be studying this fall at the excellent Boston University, 8 hours from DC.

Global Village

After Eva's farewell, we continued working in the orphanage as the days led up to "Global Village," an important event which we had been consistently reminded of since before we even got our visas for Kazakhstan.

In this event, all interns (including those who left Almaty to work in summer camps) would set up stalls in a mall's food court and give presentations about our country. In addition, we would need to go on stage and perform something related to our country's culture.

The result of the interns' work was quite amazing.

Many girls even brought traditional attire from their countries, and looked incredible.

 

 

Unfortunately, my stall was quite simple for the United States, but I made do with what I had.

As for the stage performance, I resorted to something that every intern had heard more times than they could count. One of my favorite songs to play on guitar by fingerstyle was written by a Hispanic-American, and thus could be fitting to present an aspect most don't think of when thinking of the United States.

I'm glad to say I didn't mess this up, and while it was simple, it seemed to be popular with the mall crowd at the time.

I'm sad to say that I couldn't stay in Global Village for long, as I had a train to Astana to catch (see previous posting). Still, Global Village was an excellent time, and the interns who put it together did an amazing job.

Work Concluded: Final Days in the Orphanages

During the past two weeks,  my work at the orphanages hit a high point. The kids became entirely comfortable with me and respected me largely as a friend in addition to as a teacher. Whereas the first few days working with them were absolute chaos and difficult to control, they improved significantly, and were even beginning to be able to make sentences in English on their own (barely).

Perhaps the best part of my work at the orphanage however, was learning how much they would pay more attention if I incorporated video games into the lessons. Sometimes, it would be simple. During break I would take out a video game and play it with them. I never did anything they said in Russian, so they were constantly asking how to say verbs in English before asking for me to do them.

The day that I returned from Astana was our final day working at the orphanage. As a result of this, we spent the day without lessons but rather celebrating and enjoying our final day with the kids we came to know so well. This celebration included cake, balloons, and a LOT of photography.

We also had the pleasure of meeting the newest intern of Shine Bright, Paulina (She will work for a separate summer camp for a few weeks after we have left)

Unfortunately, most of the students I taught lessons to were not present for this final celebration, as they had a summer camp to attend. Still, I enjoyed my time with Iris and Kay's students, who I had still come to know very well.

Seeing the kids reactions to us going, their eagerness to say what they thought in English, and their overall benefit from our time together was wonderful. It made me absolutely proud of my choice of project, and glad that I did make some impact in their capabilities and more importantly their perception of our countries.

Time to Say Goodbye

After our celebrations in the orphanage, we headed for our own goodbye party at a cottage near Kok - Tobe (The highest point in Almaty, where some of the interns visited during one of our first weeks). There, we met with the interns from summer camps who we had seen little of over the past two weeks, but still remained close to.

After some kind words about our experiences in Almaty with Shinebright, the distribution of gifts and certificates, we also celebrated Karina's birthday with a rather unique set up (joined by our International School of Leadership friends).

Setting up a pathway to guide the birthday girl

Presenting the cake

After a long night of catching up and enjoying each others company for what was for many the last time before leaving Kazakhstan, we fell asleep at various times. (I'd like to apologize once more for taking Saber's bed when passing out early at 2am)

In the morning, we divided up for the last time. Paulina needed to leave fairly early (6:00 am) to return to Ak Bulak summer camp where she would continue to work for two more of their nine day seasons (For her, honestly, this was both a greeting and farewell party, as she was the most recent intern and has worked in the separate summer camp since she arrived in Kazakhstan).

Those of us not going to Astana with Shine Bright returned to our homes to prepare our stuff to leave, and those going prepared for their coming trip by train.

After this point, everything we did was for the purpose of wrapping up. On Saturday, Iris, Kay, Lucija and I went to the Almaty Reservoir by tour, largely as a farewell to Lucija, who left the next morning.

Not pictured: 4 kilometer walk of aggravation

On Sunday, Bretislav and I had one last shashlyk (and by one, I mean 3 for me and 2 for him). We also took trips to the Green Bazaar and other locations as to make sure we had everything we would like from Kazakhstan.

*hums "I Will Always Love You"*

On Sunday evening, Bretislav and I came to the train station to say goodbye to Kay and Iris, (joined by Karina and Bagim). Kay and Iris actually weren't leaving Kazakhstan but rather are taking a long trip accross its less known regions west of Almaty. Still, as this would be the last time we would see them in Kazakhstan, it was pretty emotional.

Iris and Kay on the train to Shymkent

Finally, at 12:30am, Bretislav and I took a taxi with the help of Bagim to the Almaty airport. Amusingly, Bretislav and I had been to so many of the same places, but our last day was the only time we had ever traveled any notable distance together.

Bagim and Bretislav the night of our departure

Spending some three hours in the airport through check-in, customs, and other matters, we finally said true goodbyes at 3:40 as I said goodbye to Kazakhstan, and boarded my plane for Amsterdam.

So here I am, writing on a plane with an Estonian flag on my wrist. A flag of Taiwan hangs from my bag along with trinkets from Kazakhstan. In my wallet there is a scale from the Czech Republic and money from Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. A hat from Kyrgyzstan sits next to me, and in my journal, cards from Macau and poetry from China remain safely tucked.  On my computer, 45 GB of pictures highlight this entire adventure from beginning to end, step by step, moment by moment.

Thank you to all of AIESEC Kazakhstan for preparing this experience, and keeping me and all the other interns safe and informed during our time in your wonderful country. I hope to do my part in sharing about Kazakhstan and what I have experienced with those who know little of the region here.

Furthermore, to all those interns who I joined in this: I can't possibly express my appreciation of your friendship. Despite coming from places thousands of miles (or, ahem, kilometers) apart, I never felt out of place in all of your company. I know that this was not truly good bye, and ,one way or another, we will see each other again.

1000 Kilometers Later: Astana

The evening of Sunday, July 20th, I went by train to the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana. I stayed in Astana for only about 3 days, taking a train back to Almaty on the 23rd. This is the last excursion i made before my upcoming flight back to the United States.

Pre-Planning

As mentioned in the previous trip post, I planned out my trip to Bishkek without affiliation with the AIESEC organization. Like Bishkek, I planned out my trip to Astana on my own accord.  However, unlike Bishkek, I only knew I was going to go to Astana less than a week before the day I would depart. This made planning somewhat more frantic and, while I came up with a concrete plan, it was still a nervous experience. Also, it's worth noting that unlike Bishkek these plans had to keep in mind that I would have no guide with me, and that any questions, navigation, or other assistance would need to be procured by my own knowledge of Russian.

Map of key points in Astana
Note however that I didn't know the exact location of the apartment when I started

However, the most ridiculous part of the pre-departure phase of the trip was my experience buying the train tickets. The problem began when, while I expected my passport to be available on the night that I was going to buy my tickets, the time for me to acquire it was delayed by a day (My passport was being registered with customs). As documentation is required to purchase a train ticket, this immediately presented a problem. So,  (having luckily been offered guidance by a local friend) I went with a guide to the train station, where we firstly needed to set on was finding a way to print my digital image of my passport to see if we could use it (When my original tickets for Astana were purchased, a photo of my passport was used instead). Finally, after looking everywhere, we found a firm open at 11:30 that was willing to let us use the printer. After this, the problems only continued. None of the ticket machines worked or wanted to accept my documentation, and would always come up with a new reason to not work. Finally, at about 1 am the machines agreed with us with some help from an assistant at the trains station.

From there, at about 2 am we exhaustively arrived at the flat, where my friend was extremely glad to see me safely arrived. From there, I gladly passed out on my couch, and had no further problems preparing for the trip ( My passport was returned to me the next day, and now I never lose it from my side).

Sunday, July 20th: Departure

Now, I knew that Global Village, a concluding event with all of the interns in which we present our countries to locals ( I'll talk about it in my final blog post), would be happening on July 20th. Unfortunately, however, I didn't know that Global Village would be in the evening, but rather thought it would occur at around noon on Sunday. Due to this, I had purchased my ticket for around 7pm on Sunday.
However, it later turned out that Global Village would run from 4-8pm. While I didn't have much for Global Village, I still enjoyed the time significantly, and was sad to leave it early. Taking a taxi, I reached the train station about an hour and a half early. Considering I didn't have any AIESECer to guide me through the train station or make sure I didn't miss an announcement, this was a reasonable precaution.At about 6:00, the train arrived.

The walkway outside our compartments on the Talgo train

 Honestly, I was shocked with how nice the vehicle turned out being.Extremely modern, even in my low class tickets the seats were comfortable, spacious, and included a bed to sleep on.The views were also nice, but after a point were really just endless steppe.

and to your right you can see everything for the next 8 hours

It was only 9 or 10 when I cashed in for some much needed early sleep, in what may have been the most comfortable bed I've slept on in the past month.

Arrival: Monday, July 21st

I woke up naturally around 6:30am, with 2 hours remaining on the train ride. Being on a bunk with an older man below me, I didn't want to jump down and wake him, so for the remainder of the trip I simply relaxed on my bed and listened to music.

My bed and the compartment, just prior to arriving

When we arrived in Astana, exiting the train was calm and quick, far from the chaos one normally sees on a plane.Astana's difference from Almaty was quickly apparent. While the section of the city the station is in is far smaller than the usual scene in Almaty, the technology is all extremely modern. 

After taxis continuously told me that they would charge no less than 1500 Tenge to take me to the Museum of the First President, and the information desk seemingly refused to give me information on bus routes,( Or as she angrily said in Russian: "I AM NOT A MAP!") I decided to walk to the museum.

The trek was pleasant, but I really did about 5 loops around the area of the Museum

This one hour trek didn't include much sight seeing, but it did provide some interesting perspectives on differences between Almaty and Astana in that part. For one, I found Russian was far less common on the streets of "old Astana." Store signs are in Kazakh, street signs are in Kazakh, people are more often speaking Kazakh. This changed some when entering the new city, but for the time being was quite confusing as I tried to reach the Museum.

Finally, after about 30 of walking followed by 30 minutes of searching a small radius for the museum (the roads weren't labeled in that section), I found the Museum of the First President. And of course:

"Closed on Mondays"

On a brighter side, after the museum everything was extremely easy to find, as once you reach a certain point all of the major monuments and buildings are visible from far.

Part of the Astana city view from the river

After the Museum of the First President, I crossed the river into Astana Park, which was hardly notable , being largely torn apart as to accommodate a carnival. However, in the distance one could already see the rather amazing architecture of Astana, including the Khan Shatyr, Baityrek Tower, and Presidential Palace, along with multiple private skyscrapers.

The Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center
The highest tensile structure in the world

After reaching the Khan Shatyr, I took advantage of the opportunity and rested in the food court, purchasing some water from a grocery store in a lower floor and using the free internet to assure my family and AIESEC of my safe arrival.

After a bit of rest, I continued from the Khan Shatyr down what I would refer to as the Kazakh "National Mall."Following the Khan Shatyr, I came to the Bayterek tower. 

Much to my pleasant surprise, the golden ball at the top of the Bayterek is actually a hollow viewing deck, and one can purchase tickets for access with a mere 500 Tenge. Unfortunately, the gold tint of the glass caused problems with taking pictures, but I still managed to get enough memories from this point of the sights.

Path from Khan Shatyr to the Bayterek Tower

The Presidential Palace, with the Palace of Peace and Acord slightly visible in the background

At the top, one could see all of the amazing architecture new Astana displays. However, the more interesting sight for me at this height was rather the size of the city. One doesn't realize when walking through it, but from above one can see how incredibly small the spread of the city is. Additionally, whereas Almaty had mountains in the distance, in every direction from Astana there is nothing but flat steppe extending until the horizon.

After Baiterek, I continued until the Presidential Palace. This part was actually extremely unnerving for me, as, whereas the Baiterek tower had a sizable amount of people in and around the tower taking pictures and sight seeing, the area near the Presidential Palace was empty. By "empty", I don't mean one or two tourists, virtually, basically, or any other hyperbolic modifier. I was literally the only non-military person in sight.

Picture before getting out of there because that was incredibly unnerving

Judging by the fact I didn't get yelled at by the guards, and there were no blocks from the Baiterek to this area, I'm assuming that there was no rule against going to this area. However for some reason none of the tourists visiting the Khan Shatyr and Baiterek seemed to continue to the Presidential Palace. Somewhat discomforted by this, I quickly went past the Presidential Palace and continued towards the Palace of Peace and Accord, across the river behind the Presidential Palace. Once again, the Presidential Park had literally no one in its vicinity. This gave me idea that I could actually take some pictures of myself without help by setting up my camera with a timer and running back to walk towards it again.

*Crickets chirping*

So now I have quite a few pictures of me emphasizing how much I have been walking.

Finally after a considerable time just walking on my own, I reached the entrance of the Palace of Peace and Accord. Once again, this location offered a rather stunning view of an entirely new set of architectural feats.

Once again, for 500 Tenge I was able to visit the Palace of Peace and Accord and, with a guided tour translated in English, visited the precipice of the pyramid. The symbolism is incredible for the structure. I would include all of the ways the inner and outer designs were decided, but this post is already long enough as it is.

Afterwards, I continued to the Independence Square, which included in its vicinity the largest mosque in Central Asia, the "Kazakh Eli" Monument, and the National Museum, which had only opened less than a month ago on Astana Day.

Unfortunately, just like the Museum of the First President, the National Museum was closed on Monday. Even with this, the sights were wonderful.
After concluding my tour through independence square, my day of sight seeing in Astana was finished. Seeing the US Embassy along the way, I later decided to ask them by e-mail if I may be able to enter and see the inner workings of a US Embassy abroad, but they politely responded that they are too short staffed at the moment).

 I made my way back to the Khan Shatyr where I could keep contact by E-mail with AIESEC and reach out to my family. From there, I learned the location of the flat where AIESEC would be providing me accommodation, and headed there for the night.

22 Kilometers later, quite exhausted

Rest: Tuesday, July 22nd

Having already seen most of the sights of Astana city, I really only had the museums left to see and had two days left for them. With this, I decided to spend most of the second day getting to know the interns in AIESEC Astana who had so kindly agreed to host me.

Whereas AIESEC Almaty has a considerable host of over 20 interns, AIESEC Astana has 3 interns in their entirety. Two girls are from Hong Kong, and one guy is from Turkey.

They were extremely gracious hosts, preparing all meals of the day and always providing interesting conversation. Being the experienced one in the group, as most of them hadn't been in Kazakhstan for more than two weeks, I offered some advice and suggestions as to my own experience with my internship.

In addition, on this day, Bretislav was arriving from Almaty by plane. Thus, as the AIESEC Astana interns left for their own work (They work in the evening, as opposed to our morning/noon work), I stayed in the flat so that I could let in Bretislav when the time came.
Bretislav arrived shortly after they left, and we spent the remainder of the time talking about our work experience over the past week since he left for the summer camp.
The rest of the day went pretty quietly, with us not going out anywhere major and eventually going to sleep at a fairly early time.

Wrapping Up: Wednesday, July 23rd
As my last day in Astana, I focused on completing the museums and then arriving early to the train station as to not allow any room for error. Joined by Bretislav, we took the bus back to Independence Square, starting the trip from the opposite side as I did two days ago. Once again, the area was almost entirely empty.

*Crickets still chirping*

As the museum only opened at 10:30 (it being 9:30 at the time), Bretislav took the opportunity to see the Palace of Peace and Accord while I relaxed some in the lobby, having paid for the tour yesterday. (The receptionist recognized me when I walked in and was very confused at first.)

After purchasing some souviners at the base of the pyramid, we headed back to the National Museum, and were grateful to hear that there as well there were tours to be hosted in English.

The National Museum of Kazakhstan: Less than 1 month old

In addition, whereas in the Palace of Peace and Accord we would join a Kazakh tour and have everything translated secondly, Bretislav and I were treated to our own individual tour guide who went through the museum at our pace.

Unfortunately, there was only one room where we could take pictures

The museum was wonderful. Extremely extensive and extremely interesting, it kept us busy for a considerably longer time than we originally expected. It's also worth noting that this was all true with only about half of the "halls" open and on display. 

In conclusion, I walked with Bretislav to the Presidential Palace and afterwards to the Bayterek(The trip was considerably harder than it was the day I went, as on Wednesday the wind in Astana was so strong that occasionally it prevented us from walking.), where we split. 

He continued his tour by going up to the top of the tower, while I headed to the Khan Shatyr to solidify my bus routes and make sure everything was in order to leave. Everything went without a hitch at this point, and I easily and without problem left Astana by train at 6:45 pm that evening, ending my time in the capital city.

One Last Look: Kyrgyzstan Day 3

Sunday, July 13th

On the third day we woke up earlier than before, understanding that we would need to move quickly through our itinerary if I wished to still make it to the dormitory before its curfew of 11pm. To begin the day, we walked opposite of Ala Too Square as to get to the "Osh Bazaar" on the eastern side of the capital. During this hour or so of walking, we encountered many Soviet monuments and designs unchanged since the fall of the Soviet Union.

"Мы шли в бои за коммунизм"
"We went to war for Communism"

Finally, we reached the Osh Bazaar. The location was, in a word, chaotic.

The bazaar is  by no means a tourist attraction, as it is focused on food and everyday goods. Souvenirs or anything even specific to Kyrgyzstan were extremely difficult to find, even as we could find animals such as chickens, cats, dogs, and rabbits.
The bazaar itself is also a sort of maze, as only a small part of it is open aired, with the rest situated under a series of metal roofs haphazardly crafted over stalls.

The only picture I have from within the bazaar. Crossing from one metal roofing to another

Still, I managed to find some souvenirs and Zhanat took advantage of the prices to buy some useful material for her own place.

After the Osh bazaar we walked South-East with hopes of seeing the Hippodrome, a stadium which hosts horse races and traditional Kyrgyz games on holidays and other special occasions. This proved the most difficult part of the trip as many Kyrgyz didn't seem to even know how to get to the Hippodrome. Also, with visible street names being incredibly rare and the Hippodrome being just off the area covered by our map, we often found ourselves double backing and reassessing our direction.

This is just for an idea. Our route wasn't near direct.

However, after an exhausting trip throughout what is probably a rarely traveled part of Bishkek, we reached the Hippodrome.

Honestly, it's not so much a stadium or a "Hippodrome" as it is a flat field with stands at one side. Still, it was interesting to see.

After seeing the Hippodrome, we were not willing at all to take the walk back from the Hippodrome to the hostel and then further to see Ala Too Square. Luckily, right next to the Hippodrome there was a city bus stop that could take us exactly where we would need to go. 

This brings me to another topic: Bishkek City Buses.
I thought that Almaty buses were rushed and crowded. Heavens, they are first class compared to the norm in Bishkek. While considerably cheaper (A bus in Bishkek costs 10 Som (about 30 Tenge, about 20 US cents)), these buses are rather mini buses in which even I couldn't stand up straight. Moreover, there is no concept of "too many people" for the buses here. If there is a person willing to pay to ride the bus, that person will be put on the bus, no matter how many people are already in it. As a result I found myself crammed on one knee next to the driver still unable to lift my head entirely with the sloped roof.

Enduring this for some 10 or 15 minutes, we finally made it to Ala-Too Square. Amazingly, we made such good time that we arrived at 10:55, 5 minutes before the changing of the guard in the square. This change was certainly a spectacle strongly reminiscent of Moscow's own changing of the guard.

After watching the entirety of the changing of the guard, we continued to the National Museum at the back of Ala-Too Square. Paying literally 5 times more than a domestic student (Domestic students pay 30 som, whereas foreign students pay 150 som), we toured the museum for as long as it had material. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed in the museum, so I have nothing to show for this part.
The Museum is really only comprised of two floors of historical material and a floor of some modern art. The second floor is devoted entirely to the Communist movement and Soviet history in Kyrgyzstan. Including some incredible statues and depictions, this would be more interesting however if these were not depicting Russian history but rather had more to do with Kyrgyzstan. Still, the other glass exhibits did focus on Kyrgyzstan's place in the Soviet Union. I didn't see much discussing post-Independence Kyrgyzstan, but then again the exhibits were all in Russian and Kyrgyz and thus I had difficulty understanding most of it without Zhanat's help.

The State History Museum, behind Manas and the flag of Kyrgyzstan

The third floor was covered virtually all history other than Soviet history. This was an interesting floor as it included pre-civilization culture and included many artifacts from the huns and great Khanates. Most interesting, however, was the mural on the roof. It was a beautiful mural, depicting all the countries holding hands in the name of peace. Seeing countries ranging from Venezuela to Malaysia, I quickly set on finding the United States. However, I couldn't find it. It wasn't long after until I realized the mural depicted all these countries holding hands in the name of peace AGAINST the United States, which was represented by a cowboy in an American flag shirt wearing a skull mask while riding a missile. I really wish I had a picture to show it, but for now you can just imagine my own reaction seeing that at the conclusion of the museum.

After the museum we had seen everything we planned for in Bishkek, and earlier than expected we set out for Almaty. The bus ride was the same as before, with the exception of having an American joining us in the bus.

Us at the end of our trip. Not long after, he caught a train to Astana

Beyond this, to make coincidence further, he's half Puerto Rican! Whereas this was just part of a small excursion for us though, he is set in an extremely long-term trip crossing Asia and Europe without planes, relying on "couchsurfing" for stay. His stories are already extremely interesting, and I'm certainly looking forward to hearing more from his own adventure.

Making excellent time, we arrived in Almaty at around 9. While we had trouble with the buses, once it started raining we simply hailed a taxi to take us to our perspective homes. 

Arriving before even those that were still in Almaty returned to the dorm, I concluded my trip by gladly collapsing on my bunk bed.