Central Asia

7 Awesome Things to Do in Shymkent, Kazakhstan

November 14 2020 by Megan Starr 1 Comment

Are you looking for the best things to do in Shymkent, Kazakhstan? This guide will give you details for what to do in Shymkent!

During my time living in Kazakhstan last year, I made it my mission to go to Shymkent to see what the third largest Kazakh city and Silk Road hub had going on in modern times.

I had planned to leave my job there a couple of weeks early and take an overnight train from Almaty to the city. One thing led to another and I ended up doing a quick run through Osh, Kyrgyzstan and then had a ticket booked to get away from Central Asia by flying to Istanbul.

If you have been a long-time reader of my blog, you know what transpired from that mess. But, I never made it to Shymkent. I have a lot of regret for that, but it was out of my control much of the time as I had to travel out of Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan every other week for a visa run (yay for Kazakh government upping the visa-free days from 15 to 30 for travelers!) Nevertheless, Shymkent remains on my mind.

So, imagine my excitement when an American soccer player named Kaelyn Korte messaged me and told me that she was living and playing professional soccer in… Shymkent?! While I never actually made it to the city, she is here to tell you about 7 awesome things to do in Shymkent, Kazakhstan after a brief introduction to the city.

Before going into what to do in Shymkent, you should probably know a little bit about Shymkent. The Kazakh city is located in southern Kazakhstan, pretty close to the border of Uzbekistan. Until 1993, the city was referred to as Chimkent. This region of Kazakhstan is the most densely populated and the city of Shymkent is just shy of 1 million inhabitants.

Shymkent played a crucial role in Silk Road history as it was a caravanserai to protect that Silk Road town of Sayram which was located about ten kilometers east. Destroyed several times, including once by Genghis Khan, the city of Shymkent always persevered and the city’s name became synonymous with ‘kumis’ – a fermented mare’s milk that is popular in many Central Asian countries.

Today, Shymkent is known as one of the most Kazakh cities in Kazakhstan as the Kazakh language is spoken ubiquitously in comparison to other cities where the Russian language still dominates.

Indulge in the Local Food Scene

Food in Shymkent is amazing. Any restaurant on Tripadvisor won’t let you down but my personal favorites are Madlen, Bar Villa, and Eldorado. The meals are very reasonably priced and the mojitos are amazing. Highly recommended.

Madlen: Madlen is a chain of restaurants located exclusively in Shymkent. You can find a variety of food there ranging from fresh salads to pizza and pasta. They also serve coffee and tea. To find out more, including where their locations are, check out their website.

Bar Villa: This spacious restaurant is popular among its international clientele and has a menu ranging from pasta to local dishes to global favorites. Bar Villa is aesthetically pleasing and a hotspot in Shymkent. You can find it at Zheltoksan 9/2.

El Dorado: Another local favorite, El Dorado serves a variety of food from pizza to salads. You can locate El Dorado at Tauke-Khan 82.

Interact with the Locals

Look for local pickup soccer games at around 1800-1900 when the children get out of school. They love to practice their English and are very welcoming to foreigners. Usually, any field near an elementary school will have a game going, don’t be shy to jump in!

Peruse the City at Night

Walk the streets along the Mega Center and Plaza at night. You never know what you will come across. Anything from late-night karaoke to small stands where locals sell their handmade crafts (perfect gifts for souvenirs). For those interested in photography, the water fountains light up in various colors making for some great long exposure shots.

Bazar Samal

The Bazar Samal is an incredibly vibrant market area. It is a great place to get fresh fruit and vegetables as well as see what everyday life is like for most Shymkent natives. Tourists are very welcomed and the atmosphere is incredibly unique.

The Bazar Samal is located on the edge of Shymkent close to the Samal Bus Station. You can find the Bazar Samal on Ryskulov. It is the largest bazaar in the city and sells millions of items. The Bazar Samal is open from 0800-2000 Tuesdays through Sundays.

Fantasy World Park

The Fantasy World park is filled with so much life. It’s best to go in the late evening when everything is lit up. The roller rink is definitely a hot spot and it’s fun to watch the experienced skaters show off. There are several rides, games, and amazing food stands to splurge on.

Satisfy your Sweet Tooth

Kazakhstan chocolates and desserts are a must. If you have a sweet tooth there are several places you can find to satisfy your cravings. Don’t be afraid to ask natives (most likely using a translator) where the best place is to buy sweets. Often times the hidden hole in the wall places are just as good as any high-end restaurant.

Biik Kazygurk

Last but not least, watch Biik Kazygurk, the Shymkent women’s professional team. They are the top women’s team in Kazakhstan and compete in the UEFA Champions League. You can find their schedule here.

<photo provided by Kaelyn Korte>

Thanks so much, Kaelyn for taking us on a trip to your new city! It was fun to see your favorite things to do in Shymkent, Kazakhstan and it makes me desperately pine to get back to Central Asia and explore it deeply. To read more from Kaelyn and her travels and life in Kazakhstan, check out her Instagram or Facebook page.

Starry Song Kul Nights Trail in Kyrgyzstan: From Kyzart to Kilemche

November 14 2020 by Megan Starr 2 Comments

I have all the components that would make up a terrible trekker. I am afraid of heights. I am claustrophobic, which comes into play when trying to stuff me into a tent to sleep.

And all animals distract me, which can be a horrible problem when trekking during spring, and all the baby animals are frolicking on the land that I am supposed to be conquering with my hiking skills. I mean, these cute animals aren’t going to play with themselves.

Lastly, I am in the worst shape of my life. I don’t even have an excuse for this except that I like beer more than I like going to a gym. I have a very sports-heavy background and love to hike, despite all of this. So, when I embarked on a trail-marking project with Discover Kyrgyzstan last month,

I was pretty sure things would go smoothly despite all of the factors I listed above. I was finally going to trek to Song Kul Lake (from Kyzart through the Kilemche jailoos), one of the most famous places in Kyrgyzstan, and I was going to help one of my favorite countries bring in more tourism- it was a win/win if I ever knew one.

The trail I was going to be marking started at Kyzart down in the Naryn Region of Kyrgyzstan and went through Kilemche all the way to Song Kul Lake. I hadn’t been to this region but I knew it was famous for Song Kul and its surrounding jailoos (summer pastures) and being the heart of Kyrgyzstan.

I was excited to finally see all of these images with my own eyes instead of through someone else’s. I was also looking forward to finally doing some proper trekking in Kyrgyzstan. I had traveled to Kyrgyzstan nine times before this trip and each and every time was during the middle of winter. Needless to say, trekking opportunities weren’t plentiful.

Two days before the trek, I got extremely sick.

My friend, Cynthia at Journal of Nomads, and I both came down with the flu and were not in great physical conditioning for anything more demanding than lifting our coffee cups at Social Coffee during our co-working days. She was sick prior to me and was able to heal to a somewhat human state before trekking.

I played it off like I was going to be able to do the same. I figured rest and relaxation would do my body well and I took it easy as I attempted to prepare myself for the hike.

There were several groups of us going out on separate trail-marking projects around Song Kul at the same time, so we all met at the Trekking Union of Kyrgyzstan office in the Bishkek city center and packed up our vans and vehicles with all the equipment needed for the duration of our hikes. After an hour and after saying our goodbyes, my group went on our way to Kyzart.

Starting at Kyzart

Upon arriving in Kyzart, we unloaded the car and met our local guide. There were only three of us- the local guide (Bexultan), the guide from TUK (Myrza), and me. I was informed that we would be staying at the local yurt village that evening and would have space and a warm meal awaiting us.

We were slow getting over the initial pass and it took us almost the entire first day to do so. Just getting into the groove of what we were doing, we stopped and chatted with local sheepherders and dogs (only one of us engaged in canine conversation… I will let you guess who).

We eventually hit a spot where the gravel was loose and an accidental slip on it would have taken you down the side of the mountain. Naturally, my fear of heights kicked in and I began to panic.

Unsure of what to do and also completely unaware of some of my irrational fears, Myrza asked me if I could ride a horse over the loose gravel to a point where I could continue hiking.

I neglected to mention that I had a failed attempt at riding an Icelandic horse in the Lofoten Islands just six months prior and obliged. Our horse, Pelet, had too much weight to carry already, so a local sheepherder lent me his horse to make the journey over the loose gravel.

His horse was a legend and got me across with no problems. Making it across this, even with the help of a horse, empowered me to continue the hike and it even motivated me for the days ahead.

Night 1 at Uu-Tor

Dusk was settling upon us and we were ready to stop for the evening. I quickly learned that we did not quite make it to the yurt village we were supposed to stay at and were stuck pitching our own tents for the night around Uu-Tor.

I have never pitched a tent before, so I watched and tried to learn how to do it so I could participate the next time. Once the tents were pitched, the skies began to take a turn for the moody and we unpacked all of our food to see what options we had for our long trek.

We were stocked up with a lot of canned goods, pasta, tinned fish, fresh vegetables, and much, much more. We all worked together to create a meal for the night- Bexultan washed dishes in the stream, I created a fresh salad, and Myrza made a broth and soup that we tossed spaghetti and canned meat into later.

Once we were done eating, we took the rest of the soup to the nearby family who was staying in a yurt in the same valley as us.

I started to feel a bit run down from my lingering illness and decided to call it a night right after dinner. I crawled into the tent and before I was able to zip shut the door to it, I saw a mouse run across the grass and I screamed. I don’t like rodents. At all. The tent was cold and I buried myself in my sleeping bag and attempted to get some shut-eye.

After hours of tossing and turning, I finally came to terms with the fact that my claustrophobia was not going to allow me to get any sleep that night. Heights, rodents, and claustrophobia all in a matter of half of a day. If someone had vomited in my sight that day, I could boastfully say I faced all of my fears there at Kyzart.

I stepped out of the tent and walked around in the darkness to find a place to go to the bathroom and catch some fresh air before wandering back into my tent. Once I arrived back in the tent, the skies opened up and the rain came down. And it came down in droves.

Every so often, it would slow down and I could hear something right outside of the tent loudly making noises and eating. I remember secretly hoping that a snow leopard had found its way to say hello to me. Snow leopards and I don’t tend to hang in the same ‘hoods, if you get my jist, so I knew it was a slim chance, but you just never know in Kyrgyzstan. The rain made its way back and the noise was once again drowned out.

Morning arrived and the rain was still pretty incessant. I got absolutely no sleep that night but I was curious what was happening outside of the tent as the noises were still pretty loud and I needed to give a proper greeting to the snow leopard that inevitably wanted to say hello.

I unzipped the tent and there it was. A beautiful, graceful, not so elusive…. donkey. Being the animal lover that I am, I begrudgingly got over my disappointment over what species the animal was and said hello before making a cup of instant coffee to get my day started. But I felt like crap.

Hiking to Kilemche Via the Chaar-Archa Pass

We packed up and started our trek to Song Kul. The weather was bad and was getting increasingly worse as we made progress toward our final destination. We stopped for several breaks and continued to mark the trail for future trekkers. At some point high above the Kilemche Valley (around 2500m), I started to feel dizzy and nauseous so we stopped to eat.

We sat down and devoured tomato and mackerel with some soggy bread that was falling apart in our hands from the downpour that was drenching us as we ate. The nausea subsided a bit, but I was soaked to my core and my legs were weak from the constant shivering from the cold rain that wasn’t letting up. I had completely inappropriate clothing for the occasion, wearing some thin leggings from H&M and no hat except the hood of the jacket I borrowed which refused to stay up on my oversized head.

I threw my headphones in my ears along with some of my favorite music to distract myself from the cold and walked high above the Kilemche where the Chaar-Archa and Bazar Turuk rivers met.

The landscape started to turn a vibrant hue of red and the mud caked itself on my Keen hiking boots so heavily that I was having to kick it off with every step. I like getting dirty, so that was actually quite fun.

Night 2 at Yrys Yurt Camp

The river and scenery were out of this world and almost made me forget that I was started to feel like death. We slowly made our way to a yurt camp for the evening. I asked if I could pay to sleep in the yurt camp so I wouldn’t have a claustrophobic fit with the tent again.

I also needed heat as I was shivering and pale and felt like I was on the verge of passing out. I paid 600 soms to sleep in a heated yurt that evening.

I am not sure if I was paying for myself or our whole crew as we all slept inside of them. We ate a hearty dinner of soup and bread, enjoyed some tea, and then called it a night. I was asleep almost instantly that evening and was actually frightened because I had a feeling I hadn’t seen the worst of what was to come. I was definitely right.

Jalgyz Karagai Pass to Song Kul

The next morning, I woke up feeling extremely ill. I couldn’t see straight and I was still shivering despite sleeping beside a stove inside of the yurt all night. My guides told me that if I paid the family, I could take a horse over the pass to our final destination, Song Kul, that evening.

This pass was meant to be the most demanding and my health was in no condition to make it. I had no more soms on me and had spent it all paying for a warm place to sleep that evening (and to avoid the crowded tent situation).

I ate some kasha for breakfast and enjoyed some hot tea and reluctantly made my way outside. The weather was the worst we had seen it and the rain was coming down hard. I immediately got soaked and was hoisted up onto my horse.

I was so sick that I couldn’t even keep my eyes open and opted to almost sleep on top of it in a state of delirium. I had no idea how I was going to make this pass and wished that I could have just been left behind until I was feeling better- but we were on a tight schedule to finish this trail marking.

We started on our way up the snowy Jalgyz Karagai Pass. About an hour and a half into the pass, my entire body numb from the cold, and my clothes soaked to the bone, the mud thickened and was everywhere. My horse had done fairly well, but things changed.

As we went up a narrow path on the side of the mountain, my horse slipped and fell down the side of the mountain, hurling me off of it and falling hard on my leg. The horse was able to catch itself a few feet down and I was covered in mud from head to toe.

My legs were so numb from the cold that I couldn’t feel what had happened, but I knew I had hit the end of my journey. I told the guides I wasn’t going to continue. They offered to put me on top of our horse because the horse I was on initially didn’t have shoes (why would you have put an inexperienced rider on top of a horse without proper shoes in this weather was beside me) but I refused. We made our way back toward the yurt camp.

The couple, Marat and Yrys, and their son, Aidar, welcomed me back to the camp and put me by the heater to warm up while they worked on getting me evacuated out of the mountains.

There is little phone reception out in those parts, so getting in touch with someone was difficult, but they finally had arranged me a ride to take me to the CBT guesthouse in Kyzart Village. Around six hours later, I was on my way out of the village, dejected from a failed hike but too sick to even care.

The mountains were flooded out in many parts and leaving the yurt camp was no treat. But I knew that I could soon lay somewhere warm and rest until my body no longer hated me.

CBT Kyzart

I arrived in Kyzart at the CBT guesthouse and was immediately served a dill-icious bowl of soup before crashing. I slept for nearly twelve hours that night and woke up feeling a bit better the next morning. The owner of the guesthouse was friendly and there was a sweet puppy on-site that surely helped the process.

Early that morning, I was taken to the bus station and caught the next marshrutka to Bishkek. Somewhere during that bus ride, I began feeling a lot better. The flu, which had hit its worst while I was trekking, was slowly making its way out of my body (and probably into someone else’s that I met on that marshrutka ride- sorry!

Back in Bishkek

I arrived back in Bishkek feeling like a new person. The weather was warm again and I wasn’t wet from the rain. I arrived back at my hotel looking like a hot mess from several days of not showering and sliding around in the mud. I immediately met a traveler, Bettina, who had just arrived in Kyrgyzstan from Hamburg, Germany and we instantly clicked and made dinner plans. The next few days I spent recovering and catching up on emails and work.

Reflecting back on everything that had happened on the hike, I am pretty disappointed in myself for not listening to my body earlier and quitting. While the hike is easy (the guides told me they view it as ‘moderate’ but it is listed in places as ‘easy’… so whatever), it should definitely not be done in the condition I was in.

The weather was a fluke. The Song Kul jailoos and scenery actually offer some exceptional stargazing opportunities when the weather cooperates and isn’t temperamental like it was when I was there (which isn’t especially common during that time of year).

(Obvious) Trekking Tips for Song Kul and Kyrgyzstan

I’ve considered writing a whole post on this and perhaps I will some time, but for now, here are a few obvious trekking tips that I didn’t adhere to while at Song Kul.

-Dress properly. Okay, so this is obvious, but I wasn’t dressed well for the trek. I didn’t know I was going to be on this trek until I was already traveling in Central Asia and didn’t have the proper attire and made no attempt to purchase it because I didn’t really know what I was going to need. A snowstorm hit Song Kul the week before the trek (which actually postponed our trek a bit), so anything can happen. Be prepared.

-Make sure you’re healthy or don’t go. Again, obvious for most, but I had the philosophy that if I was out in ‘nature’, I’d feel better. It doesn’t quite work like that if you have the flu. It will only exacerbate the illness… trust me.

-Waterproof everything. While this kind of fits into the ‘dress properly’ part, just make sure you have the right clothing if things get a bit wet.

-Let your guide know if you have issues with heights before the trek. I didn’t even think about this for some reason. I only had one issue with heights and it was at the beginning and only because the ground was kind of uneven. I took them by surprise when I had to sit down and explain my fear of heights.

-Bring a bag for trash. Super obvious one, of course, but don’t expect trash cans along the hike. Don’t litter. We saw plenty of litter along the way and this hike wasn’t even really being done, hence the trail marking. Leave a place in better condition than how you found it.

-Don’t waste food. Give it to the locals. They will happily accept it and will be grateful in return. There are several yurt camps and locals you may meet along the way. This is a great way to strike up a conversation or interact with people.

-Be prepared. Study the terrain before you go and know what you’re up against. Fortunately, this hike would have been well-suited to my level of endurance and my physical condition had I been healthy. But it is always good to know beforehand what you’re about to embark on. A topographic map of the hike doesn’t hurt, either.

The Starry Song Kul Nights trek is now marked and ready for you to come to Kyrgyzstan and use it! The skies are big and the weather is usually better than what I faced when there, hence the name of the trail (which I named, by the way). And there is a 97% chance that you’re in better shape than me even at my healthiest. I definitely recommend this hike or the several others that Kyrgyzstan offers. To see more about the Starry Song Kul Nights trek, click here.

*Special thanks to Discover Kyrgyzstan for inviting me to take part in this Song Kul trek and marking it for future travelers. All failures and dumb decisions were made solely by me and will hopefully not be recreated by any future trekkers.

Best Coffee in Almaty, Kazakhstan: Almaty Cafes You’ll Love

November 14 2020 by Megan Starr 2 Comments

Are you looking for the best coffee in Almaty? This guide has some of the best Almaty cafes to put on your itinerary!

When I traveled to Almaty back in the day on my 2013-2014 trip, good coffee was limited. It was nearly non-existent. What I have learned about the Kazakh culture capital is that there is a distinct difference between a good cafe and good coffee.

Almaty does a cafe better than almost any other city in the world. These cafes have mediocre to decent coffee, tasty salads, and also double as a nightlife spot.

I never really went to bars and pubs when I lived there; you could always find me at a cafe. On the other hand, Almaty’s coffee scene isn’t superb. It is growing, but it still leaves a bit to be desired. You can’t really blame the lackadaisical growth of specialty coffee in the city- locals love sweet, syrupy coffees.

Who am I to come in and state they should be drinking something else? Nevertheless, the first thing I did when I arrived in Almaty (when living there) was hunt down cafes with good coffee. I probably visited forty different cafes during my time in Almaty, but I can assure you that most did not have palatable coffee if you’re into specialty coffee. The following cafes have the best coffee in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Please feel free to chime in with your favorites in the comments section.

DOM

Almaty’s best coffee. This was the first cafe I hit up upon arriving in Almaty as I saw that they had their own roastery inside. I figured that someone in-house knew coffee if they were roasting their own beans. They certainly did and I found the baristas to be surprisingly knowledgeable for a cafe that does it all. DOM is a bar, cafe, restaurant, coworking space, meeting place, etc. It is huge and it really offers so much to customers.

The first day I went, I found the interior to be slightly pretentious and I was scared of making it my regular spot as I wasn’t sure what kind of clientele it would attract. However, I found out really quickly that it was perfect. I eventually started going here daily and I even took my friends there to co-work toward the end of my stint in Almaty. I miss their tabbouleh salad and flat whites like crazy.

Go there for: any coffee. All of it is good. I usually opted for their flat white as I would make my own black coffee back at the place I was staying.

You can find DOM at Dostyk Ave 42 in Almaty. To reach DOM via the metro, take it to either Almaly or Abay. To find out more information, including their opening hours, check out their Facebook page.

PINCH

*Will be updating this soon as I am hearing mixed information about whether or not PINCH is still open.

PINCH opened at the beginning of my time in Almaty. I actually found this cafe on Instagram as it is super “Instagrammable”. Little known irrelevant fact- Kazakhs love social media and being featured in places… so you can always find the latest hip spots by searching on the good ol’ IG.

I was working from cafes one day and decided to check it out as it was a bit of a trek from my usual haunts. I went inside and fell in love with the place. The design, backed by Vesna Group, is flawless and incredibly cool and colorful.

I went here numerous times while in Almaty. While their coffee wasn’t amazing, it was still drinkable and I could always pair it with a crisp and fresh salad. They also have fast and free wifi. One evening, I had a meeting and I was sitting in DOM (listed above) and there was a loud party so I had to move cafes abruptly to find a quiet space to work from.

I went to Honest Coffee, which has HONESTly horrific coffee and also found HONESTly bad wifi. So I ran to PINCH, which wasn’t particularly nearby, and they accommodated me in a quiet area, turned off the music, and allowed me to have my hour and a half meeting in the cafe. My friend, Jenny, was in town from the US for work and she met me afterward for a bottle of wine. Nevertheless, PINCH is a great cafe that deserves a visit if you’re in Almaty.

Go there for: a cappuccino. Then stick around and enjoy a salad and beer.

You can find PINCH at Kunaev St 86 in Almaty. To reach PINCH via the metro, take it to Almaly or Zhibek Zholy. To find out more information, including their opening hours, check out their Facebook page.

Urban Coffee

This cafe is my second favorite for tasty coffee in Almaty. Located on Satpaev, Urban Coffee has a cool interior, fast wifi, and really delicious food. While DOM ended up closer to me when I moved locations in Almaty, Urban Coffee was my hotspot initially as it was located close to my office and where I was staying.

The decor is a bit edgy and a bit rustic. There is also a wall with comic characters and superheroes that add a pinch of personality to the cafe. Kazakhs really have a knack for being ingenious when it comes to design, let me tell you.

I always ordered a cappuccino here and it came with very little foam. I’d like to think it was more like a flat white than a proper cappuccino, and that made me happy. They also have a really tasty beetroot salad with Danish feta that I always ordered when there.

Go there for: a cappuccino. Enjoy a beetroot, apple (Almaty is the home of apples, ya know…), and Danish feta salad for me!

You can find Urban Coffee at Satpaev St 4a in Almaty. To reach Urban Coffee via the metro, take it to Abay and walk up the hill toward the mountains a bit. To find out more information, including their opening hours, check out their Facebook page.

Bowler Coffee Roasters

* I have seen been to Bowler a few times and this is a sensational place! GO THERE!

I am so ashamed to say that I never made it here. I passed it frequently based on its proximity to my accommodation, but I was always in a hurry and never had a chance to pop in. I am simply placing it on here as I have heard from several people that they have good coffee. I will be checking it out next time I am in Almaty for sure.

You can find Bowler Coffee Roasters at Kabanbai Batyr St 65 in Almaty. You can reach Bowler by taking the metro to Almaly. To find out more information, including their opening hours, check out their Facebook page.

Social Coffee

I contemplated putting Social Coffee on this list. While I think their coffee is better than average, it was terribly inconsistent when I went there on the few occasions. However, I do recommend Social Coffee to cafe lovers as the cafe is so quintessential Almaty it hurts. It is pleasantly decorated, sells decent food and drinks, and has fashion shows on TV screens. While this may sound mad to some, fashion shows on TV screens in cafes is pretty standard for Almaty.

I have seen this in bars and pretentious clubs in other cities, albeit never in cafes. But in Almaty, you get to watch pretty guys and gals strut their stuff down the runway while you sip on an espresso, or eat a curry. Yep, my favorite Indian restaurant shows fashion shows too. Anyway, Social Coffee is a cool place for cafe lovers to check out.

Go there for: the cappuccino. Then grab a pretentious cocktail and channel your inner Naomi Campbell.

You can find Social Coffee at Satpaev St 10 in Almaty. You can reach Social Coffee by taking the metro to Abay and walking up the hill to Satpaev toward the mountains. To find out more information, including their opening hours, check out their Facebook page.

JumpinGoat Coffee

I heard about this place from a friend of mine and decided to take a journey all the way over to Baikonur metro station to check it out. It is located underground and is a small and practical little cafe. They just opened a new location across the city (Panfilava 110 corner of Buganbi Batir), evidently, which I am sure makes just as tasty coffee as the original.

JumpinGoat is owned by an American from Georgia who I had a blast chatting with when I stopped by when living there. His goal was to capitalize on a gap in the market for good coffee in Almaty. The city is saturated with similar style cafes, but really was just missing that place to get a delicious to-go coffee. Job well done, JumpinGoat.

Go there for: a black to-go coffee. They offer many filter and pourover options.

You can find JumpinGoat Coffee at Baytursynov St 78/1 in Almaty. To reach JumpinGoat, just take the metro to Baikonur station and it is right as you exit the station, but still underground. You can’t miss it. To find out more information about them, including their opening hours, check out their Facebook page. Sadly, I have no pictures of my coffee at JumpinGoat.

Double A Coffee

I stumbled upon Double A Coffee when I was going underground to the Zhibek Zholy metro station with my partner (he came to visit) during a major Almaty blizzard.

I was cold and craving some caffeine, so I decided to give this small stand in the metro station a go and hoped that they could at least provide me with a black coffee that wouldn’t be worthy of a premature visit to a trashcan.

I must say that I was really impressed with their Americano. It was served to me by the sweetest girl who was eager to practice her English with me. If you’re at Zhibek Zholy and in need of a cup of joe, grab one here!

Go here for: their Americano.

You can reach Double A Coffee at Panfilov St in the Zhibek Zholy metro station in Almaty.

Almaty has a vibrant cafe scene… and while the specialty coffee scene is a bit behind, you can still find a good cup of coffee in Almaty. Not every cafe listed above is a hub for specialty coffee, on the other hand; some merely just offer good coffee or a great experience. While everyone has their favorites, I can assure you that I did try well over forty cafes when in Almaty.

Some of the ones that were suggested to me were Sova, Nedelka, Coffeedelia, Traveller’s Coffee (actually the worst coffee I have ever had in my life), Coffeeroom, Milk and Honey, Honest Coffee, Double Coffee, My Cafe, Daily Coffee, Cafeteria, Coffee Inn, United Coffee, Central Cafe, Biskvit, and many, many more.

I tried all of those listed and I really loved almost all of them as cafes, but the coffee was really sweet or not the main attraction (except at Sova). In fact, I tried many of them on my first trip to Almaty a few years back before moving there years later.

Almaty is changing and getting hipper by the day. More and more cafes are opening their doors and I expect to grow this list on my next trip to the city. If you have any suggestions, please throw them in the comments section! I will soon be coming out with a cafe guide to the city which will include a variety of places, regardless of how I felt about their coffee.

Click here for my one day in Almaty itinerary.

Note: When I am on the road, I always bring a Keep Cup with me and an Aeropress with all of its accessories. While I love supporting local cafes and independent businesses, it can get expensive after a while if you travel as much as I do! You can shop my travel coffee kit below, including stainless steel straws for cold brews.

Issyk-Ata: A Soviet Sanatorium in Kyrgyzstan

November 14 2020 by Megan Starr 17 Comments

My first experience with a Soviet sanatorium was back in Sukhum, Abkhazia in 2013. I had booked a place on Couchsurfing to stay that ran me $1 (free accommodation was illegal at the time in Abkhazia so the hosts were mandated to charge something) and upon my arrival in the city, I was unable to figure out how to get to their place.

Frazzled and on the verge of checking into an actual hotel for $100, I eventually found a taxi driver that could make the phone call to the host to get specific location information (Georgian SIM cards don’t work in Abkhazia). My host told the taxi driver to take me to the sanatorium and she would meet me outside and drive me to her place. The friendly man dropped me off and I waited for a while before she arrived.

Three and a half years later, I found myself back at a Soviet sanatorium, however, this time it was 77 kilometers outside of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan at a place called Issyk-ata.

For those of you unfamiliar with sanatoriums, they are establishments that deliver medical treatment for people who are convalescing or suffer from a chronic illness. The Soviet Union took this idea and concept very seriously and it is reflected in the many sanatoriums they built or continued operating.

Every Soviet sanatorium is a little bit different, but most utilize the local area’s natural resources and offerings. Issyk-ata is famed for its hot springs that offer healing properties to visitors. It is also located outside of Bishkek enough to experience pristine mountain air and not the dust and grime that incessantly plagues the city.

History of Issyk-ata and Its Hot Springs

Issyk-ata sanatorium was built in 1891 and was controlled by the Jeti-Suukskyi department of the Red Cross until 1917. The first mention of the hot springs and area dates all the way back to the second or third century BC and there are Buddha carvings in rocks in the region that prove its history.

Known as Arashan to locals, Issyk-ata sits at about 1775 meters above sea level right at the foot of the Tien Shan mountains in the Chuy Valley. This sanatorium, one of Central Asia’s most notable and oldest, specifically was and still is currently in use as a treatment center for bone and muscle ailments, esoteric gynecological cases, and radiation illnesses that followed the disaster at Chernobyl.

Many treatment programs here rely on the hydro-sodium thermal water and nutrient-rich peat mud. The crystal clear water is said to have magical healing properties despite its sulphuric taste and smell.

During World War 2, Issyk-ata was used as a treatment center for soldiers. Overlooking the dining hall area is a large hill that was used as a mass grave for soldiers and civilians that perished during this time. In 1957, Issyk-ata went from being a seasonal sanatorium to being open year-round.

Today, Issyk-ata has the capacity to host 800 visitors yet I highly doubt they even book an eighth of that. The area is home to quite a bit of flora such as sea buckthorn, mountain ash, wild rose, barberry, and other bush berries, all of which are vitamin-rich and used in spa settings for their own healing and health properties.

My Day Trip to Issyk-ata from Bishkek

I ended up at Issyk-ata after nearly exhausting all other day-trip options from Bishkek over my many jaunts to the Kyrgyz capital.

I knew Issyk-ata existed, but it wasn’t until my partner came to visit me during my three-month stint in Central Asia that I decided to actually make the effort to go out there. We set off for Issyk-ata mid-morning and decided to just grab lunch upon arrival.

It took around two hours for us to catch the marshrutka and arrive at Issyk-ata. Upon arrival, we scoured the area for a restaurant, bar, or anything offering a hot bowl of soup and a beer. To our surprise, there was nothing.

We asked around to ten different people about where we could grab a bite to eat and every single person told us something different and pointed to various nearby buildings.

After two hours of investigating and hunger pains so bad that I was even willing to put a piece of dill in my mouth (okay, they weren’t that bad), we sucked it up and walked into the grocery store and bought two Snickers bars that were well past their expiration date.

The shop had no bread (at the time), no food, nothing. It was a barren and pathetic excuse for a grocery store considering people were overnighting in the area. Lesson learned.

While we had searched around for food, we ended up inside of a large building that was locked, yet had doors and windows so broken that we were able to sneak inside. One person had told us that there was a restaurant inside of this building.

We found nothing of the sort and the unkempt place looked like it had been left abandoned for some time. This was undoubtedly the culture center for the resort. However, on one wing of it, we found a billiards bar that was closed but left a door unlocked.

Due to the immediate gust of heat thrown into our faces, we knew that the billiards place was not abandoned, but perhaps just closed at the time.

**After a little research, I discovered that this cultural center once had its own library and 400 seat auditorium, amongst other things.

The sanatorium had a fair amount of visitors for the winter season, but nothing aside from an eco-lodge and its heated pool seemed to be open. It was kind of strange really. We walked up to different buildings and explored, finding more heated pools and a few people utilizing them. Aside from that, we nearly had the place to ourselves.

After coming to terms with the fact that we may die of starvation at some point or another during the day, we headed up the side of the mountain to start hiking the trail towards the waterfall.

We were not going to stand a chance of making it to the waterfall since our quest for food had taken so long, but we at least got to be out in the middle of the wilderness in the snow so we could soak up the clean air and do a little snow leopard spotting.

I had been in the Kyrgyz wild several times, but this time was particularly special as I was able to share it with someone so dear to me and not by myself (although that is pretty special, too).

A couple of hours later, we headed back to the ‘base-camp’ to catch our bus, the last bus of the day, back into Bishkek.

We went back to our beloved grocery store only to find a new delivery of bread sitting there waiting for us to feast on. We purchased a large bread reminiscent to that of an Indian roti with onion baked into it and indulged before our long trek back to the city.

Issyk-ata is an ideal day trip for those looking to experience some nearby and accessible nature when in Bishkek. The sanatorium itself may not be of interest to all as it still remains very Soviet, but the nature surrounding it makes up for that and then some.

Getting to Issyk-ata

You can obviously hire a taxi and pay larger fees to get out there. But if you’re on a budget like I was, the best way to get out there is via marshrutka.

Marshrutkas take about an hour and a half and leave from Bishkek’s east bus station (this is not where the buses from Almaty go in and out of FYI). Currently, the scheduled departure times are 0830, 1000, 1130, 1330, 1700, and 1800 daily.

These marshrutkas don’t fill up before leaving as they are on a regular route and schedule and will stop around 590 times before reaching its final destination of Issyk-ata. The fare is around $1-$2.

Getting back to Bishkek

Do not miss the last marshrutka! Really. The scheduled marshrutkas back to Bishkek leave at 0745, 0830, 1100, 1315, 1430, and 1600. They all leave from the front gate at the same place they dropped passengers off at.

You can also take a day-trip to Issyk-ata with the TUK (Trekking Union of Kyrgyzstan). The prices are extremely affordable and open to anyone as long as you sign up in time. To find out more information, check out TUK’s website.

Tips for a Trip to Issyk-ata

Pack food. And alcohol, if that’s your thing.

If you want to enjoy the hot, thermal pools you can for the price of 100 som per person. Just ask around when there where the public pools are as I was unable to locate them.

Where to Stay

I say stay in Bishkek and go to Issyk-ata as a day trip. Accommodation is sparse out this way and is by no means luxurious. There is an eco-lodge out there, but it appears to have a very limited number of rooms. To find out more about where to stay at Issyk-ata, you can call +996 (772)89-19-89.

Karaganda, Kazakhstan: Doing Nothing in a Fascinating City

November 14 2020 by Megan Starr 5 Comments

Have you ever passed through a place on your travels and left not really knowing too much more about the city than you did prior to visiting? As most travelers do a little research prior to taking off somewhere, I’m guilty of not making such efforts.

I may research the first location a little, but if I am hitting up multiple cities, I stand very little chance of researching the following ones. I chalk it up to laziness. Such was the case with Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Or Karagandy, as it is written and said in Kazakh.

I initially planned three days in Karaganda, a city of nearly 500,000 residents and Kazakhstan’s fourth most populous city. Why Karaganda? Well, there was no real reason except for the fact that when I planned a fourth Kazakh city, I axed the idea of Shymkent due to location, and was left missing one.

I could go to Semey, a city of around 300,000 people located on the Russian border and known for being a nuclear wasteland as it is situated close to the old Soviet atomic bomb proving grounds.

This was all intriguing to me, but finding a place to stay there proved to be a bit more of a challenge and it was even farther out of the way without any cheap flights to Almaty, my last Kazakh destination.

(Random fact: The driving by car distance from Karaganda to Almaty is over 24 hours. Kazakhstan is HUGE).

With a homestay (that I thought was initially a hostel) available and a decently priced flight from Karaganda to Almaty, Karaganda was the clear winner.

Karaganda was approximately a 2 hour or so train ride from Astana, my previous location, and located in the middle of nowhere Kazakhstan. With a January daily mean temperature of -13C / 9F, this was no tropical paradise. The problem I had was that I couldn’t leave Astana.

Not that I liked the place. I hated it. I just couldn’t leave because I tried over and over to find redeeming factors that would change my opinion of the city. Astana made me, for the first time in my life, hate travel. As bad as I wanted to escape Astana, I just couldn’t bring myself to do much aside from sitting in my hostel’s kitchen drinking copious amounts of green tea.

Once I finally fled Astana, I had a mere twenty-four hours to explore and get to know Karaganda. But I was burnt out. Really burnt out. I decided to just pass through the city and relax until my flight left the following day, sending me to Almaty refreshed and with an open mind and open heart.

Upon arriving in Karaganda’s train station, I knew I had made a major mistake. Karaganda was my kind of city. And by ‘my kind of city’, I mean most people would scoff at the grey, homogenous buildings and cracking sidewalks- but I knew this city had a history of some sort and my first mission upon arriving at my hostel (which, of course, turned out to be a homestay) was to uncover exactly what that was.

Eldos and Zhandos from my homestay

It turns out that Karaganda was once inhabited by ethnic Germans. In fact, the city’s makeup in the 1940s was approximately 70% German. Evidently, these Germans were deported to Karaganda (and Siberia) during Stalin’s reign when Hitler invaded Soviet-annexed eastern Poland and the Soviet Union.

Karaganda then became an epicenter for labor camps, or gulags,- of which many Germans were thrown into. Karaganda has significantly fewer Germans these days, as around 100,000 of them emigrated back to Germany under a law permitting them to do so.

Kazakhstan. A land of so many cultures. Who knew? I suspected Russian and the native Kazakhs, but I never realized Germans were inhabiting certain cities as well.

It actually started to make sense as I met one person in Kostanay who told me he was German and on his Kazakh (not German) passport, it stated that his ethnicity was in fact, German. I had also met a guy on a train from Kostanay to Astana who told me he was German.

He then proceeded to tell me he had dual citizenship from his ancestry. I also know of a person through another person who lives in Germany but had come from Karaganda. I didn’t discover this until just recently, but it’s fascinating to see how things you read about play out around the world.

With such a short amount of time in Karaganda and the sun slowly on its way below the horizon, there was only one thing to go and do in this city.

I went to the mall.

I clearly didn’t fit in like a local in Karaganda. I ventured around the small mall, which was so crowded that it proved there was truly very little to do in the city.

If I was to envision a mall from the Soviet-era in my head without having previously seen a Soviet-style shopping center, this would have fit the bill. In reality, it looked newer, so it wasn’t probably at all a Soviet timepiece. The residents rocked their fur.

They mostly all looked Germanic or Russian, not Kazakh. Those who were Kazakh formed one clique and those who were another ethnicity formed another.

The girls were beautiful, as all of the girls of Kazakhstan, ethnicity aside, were. I looked for food, but aside from a cafe or two and a Mag&Dak (Kazakh fast food), I couldn’t find anything, which was my calling to leave.

I left and used my phone to Foursquare the nearest place to grab a bite to eat. Anything would suit, as I was completely over Kazakh food for the moment after a beshbarmak nightmare in Astana. Foursquare led me to Sunset Cafe- a cafe, Turkish restaurant, and dance club off of Bukhar-Zhyrau Avenue.

I went inside, ordered a pizza and a beer, and chilled out watching the nonexistent dance skills of some of the patrons. It wasn’t too long before a few locals made their way to my table. Apparently rocking Nike workout gear because all of your other clothes are dirty isn’t typical of the locals in these parts.

Two local Turkish guys and a local Russian girl (that is how they introduce themselves despite all having Kazakh passports) joined my table and ordered a hookah to the table. We chatted for a few hours, took a few photos, and went on our ways.

And my time in Karaganda was done.

The next day, I ordered a cab to the airport. The cab ride was quite long and I asked the driver to take me around the city in the daylight so I could see what I missed.

He obliged and during the ride, I concluded that I painfully regretted having not arrived at the city sooner. The city is home to some really fascinating sights, including a really spectacular Soviet Circus that I saw far away from my taxi window.

I arrived at the Karaganda Sary-Arka Airport and hopped out of the cab only to realize I may have been at the wrong location. I sat alone in the airport for a good hour contemplating if the airport was even functional or had flights going in and out of it.

The flight I had booked from Karaganda to Almaty was actually on the EU ban list, so I was already slightly paranoid at the thought of cruising through the skies on something antiquated and lacking modern technology (obviously the flight turned out fine), so when I saw no one else sitting in the airport, I began to slightly freak out a bit.

I found someone from the custodial staff and after ten minutes of frustrating conversation because of my crappy Russian skills, discovered I was in the right place and to just be patient. About forty-five minutes before the flight took off, someone came to the counter to collect luggage and issue all five of us a boarding pass. Crisis averted.

And with that, I was off to Almaty, my final stop in Kazakhstan.

Karaganda deserved a chance. One I didn’t give it. If you stumbled across my blog as a resource prior to visiting Karaganda yourself, please shoot me an email after you leave and let me know how it was. I’ll forever be curious (as I imagine there is probably a very small handful of us western tourists visiting the city) and would be very appreciative to gain some perspective on the place from someone who does give it the time it deserves.

Thoughts from Time Spent Traveling in Dushanbe, Tajikistan

November 14 2020 by Megan Starr 3 Comments

Today I am excited to have a friend, Kathryn Hendley, taking over my blog with a guest post and overview from her time spent traveling in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. I met Kathryn in Almaty, Kazakhstan last year when I was living there and it was so cool to meet someone else with ties to Virginia while there! Hope you enjoy and I hope that I can make it to Tajikistan soon!

Tajikistan is a fascinating country. Most of the wonder I experienced in Tajikistan was in the rural southern portion of the country, weaving through the jagged, imposing Pamir Mountains within view of the northern border of Afghanistan and wandering through the sparse high-altitude desert where plants don’t grow and yak’s milk is a staple of each meal.

But this post is about the capital city of Dushanbe. You certainly should not travel to Tajikistan solely to experience Dushanbe, but the capital city of Tajikistan does provide a pleasant bookend to a journey on the Pamir Highway. I visited Dushanbe after traveling from Osh, Kyrgyzstan on the Pamir Highway to Murghab, Tajikistan, stopping in the town of Khorog near the Afghan border, and finally riding up to Dushanbe to visit the city for a few days before flying out of the country.

Dushanbe is a fairly calm and quiet city with beautiful parks and good restaurants. In contrast to the towns in southern Tajikistan, Dushanbe has a relatively strong diversity of cuisine and shopping, and has functioning ATMs! Like many other post-Soviet Central Asian cities, Dushanbe has beautiful linear parks that run through the middle of the major boulevards in the city that are well-used during the day.

You can get an introduction to Tajikistan’s history and culture by visiting the National Museum, which features artifacts from the empires that staked claim over present-day Tajikistan over the centuries and brief descriptions of the historic events leading up to the present day Tajik state. It is a large museum that takes a significant chunk of time.

The National Museum is surrounded by a monumental public space with gardens, a small lake, and one of Dushanbe’s most noteworthy attractions: “Flag Pole Park”. Flag Pole Park is simply a giant flagpole flying the Tajik flag. It is certainly not the attraction I was itching to visit on my trip to Tajikistan, but believe it or not, it is a pretty impressive flagpole.

If you hang out around the Tajik National University you might find students interested in telling you about their studies and the work they are doing at the university. You can chat at a number of local cafes serving typical Tajik cuisine and tea or go to an Irish pub for fried fare. Dushanbe has a fantastic Indian restaurant, Delhi Darbar, that is an absolutely necessary stop if you want delicious and authentic Indian food.

Dushanbe has an extensive transit system that provides access to any part of the city in vehicles that match your desired level of comfort. As an urban planner, I was really impressed by the breadth of options available to travel through the city. Each transit route is serviced by four types of vehicle: large city buses, smaller minibusses, minivans, and shared taxis, with increasing fares as vehicles get smaller.

The city is serviced by a number of set routes and the transit vehicles have a card in the front windshield with the route number. Whether it is a standard bus or a minivan, they will all go to the exact same stops on the route. It is apparently very competitive to get a permit to provide transit service on one of these routes!

Of course, you can always get around with a standard taxi if you want door-to-door service, but the intricacy of the transit system is very interesting to experience.

On a more somber note, the government certainly makes its presence known in the capital city of Tajikistan, with police frequently stopping vehicles at random.

However, the displays of government authority are not as pronounced in Dushanbe as they are as you travel through the south of Tajikistan, where border patrol agents maintain passport and visa checks every couple of hundred kilometers and President Rahmon gazes down from large billboards on street corners.

The government is also currently undergoing a process of demolishing Soviet-era buildings in its downtown area and replacing them with more modern apartment and office buildings. The Soviet buildings were built in beautiful neoclassical and constructivist styles marked with orientalist motifs and painted in bright colors.

They gave the central boulevard a unique vibrancy, so their loss will erase the interesting architectural features and history of Rudaki Avenue. Hopefully, you can visit before they are all gone!

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this city is the mesh of cultures. You feel the Persian roots, the Soviet recent past, and the Tajik present that is both attempting to modernize and honor tradition. Dushanbe is an interesting stop before or after embarking on the Pamir Highway, giving you a taste of a Tajik urban center that contrasts the isolated villages nestled into the Pamir Mountains in the southern portion of the country.

Kathryn Hendley is an urban planner from Virginia who has lived and traveled through Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia and finds the former USSR countries to be some of the most fascinating places in the world. She recently graduated from the University of Virginia and will soon be taking a two-month journey through South Africa, Lesotho, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda before settling down in Baltimore.