While stopped at Almaty I train station for a 20 minute wait before leaving for Almaty II station in the city centre, Mohammad burst into our cabin saying "come with me, my father is here and will take you to a hotel". This was an offer we could hardly refuse as we had been worried about finding accommodation and now we had not only an interpreter but a car to drive us there too!
Mohammad's father Ali was a friendly guy who drove us around multiple hotels (calling his friends for help too) before we found a clean-ish, safe-ish, and cheap-ish one in the middle of town. This hotel is costing us over NZ$50, for which price in China we could be staying in luxury, but for Almaty it is cheap.
Once parted from our friends we fell asleep exhausted. We had planned to meet up with Muhammad at lunch time but he got delayed so we headed out in search of food and a money exchange office. We successfully got our first meal, managed to exchange our RMB, posted that damn letter (without any language skills, but much quicker and easier than any of our visits to China Post) and found a supermarket! During our wander we couldn't help but notice all the expensive designer stores around town (and genuine too, not genuine-fake like in China)!
When we arrived back at our hotel Mohammad was chilling out front, so we headed out in the rain (again), where we were shown around a huge mall and taken out for dinner and beer.
All in all, a very successful and enjoyable first day in a new country.
Adlibing Almaty.
Monday, August 18, 2008
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