Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Rahat Palace (p64), InterContinental
Almaty (p63) and Otrar (p64) hotels have
bookshops or stalls with titles in English,
including some on Kazakhstan.
Kok-Tobe¨
SOUVENIRS
(
h
11am-10pm)
Souvenir stalls atop Kok-Tobe
hill sell some of the city's best selections of
kitsch Kazakh souvenirs - fur and felt hats,
traditional jewellery, ornamental swords, and
miniature yurts, camels and Golden Men.
Central¨State¨Museum¨
HANDICRAFTS
(mikrorayon Samal-1, No 44;
h
9.30am-6pm Wed-
mon)
The ground-floor shop here has a
good but pricey selection of Kazakh carpets
(60,000T to 80,000T for a 2m-by-3m one)
and other Kazakh souvenirs. The museum
also hosts excellent Central Asian craft fairs,
often on the first weekend of March, June,
September and December.
Barakholka¨
mARKET
(
h
8am-5pm Tue-Sun)
This huge, crowded
madhouse is on the ring road in the north-
western outskirts. Uzbeks, Chinese, Uyghurs
and others converge here to sell everything
from animals and fridges to cars and fur
hats, at very good prices. Chinese goods pre-
dominate. Weekends, especially early Sun-
day morning, are the busiest times.
Watch out for pickpockets, and the po-
lice, who may demand to see conspicuous
Westerners' passports. To get there, take any
'Barakholka' bus westbound on Rayymbek.
Amanulla¨Shafii¨
HANDICRAFTS
(Hotel Saulet, Furmanov 187;
h
10am-6pm mon-Fri)
Amanulla's little shop has a decent range of
reasonably priced Kazakh carpets and dearer
ones from Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.
Akademkniga¨
mAPS
(Furmanov 91;
h
10am-8pm mon-Fri, 10am-7pm Sat
& Sun)
Best place in Kazakhstan for hiking,
road and city maps; also has dictionaries
and phrasebooks.
Scams
Watch out for the 'Wallet Full of Dollars': some-
one inds a wallet on the ground as you pass,
and discovers a lot of money inside. They ofer
to share the loot with you and if you get involved,
another person appears, claiming the wallet
is theirs and that it originally contained much
more money. They then demand compensation
or threaten to take you to the police. So ignore
anyone who 'inds' or 'loses' a wallet, and keep
walking without hesitation.
INTERNET ACCESS
Gosu
(www.gosuclub.kz; per hr 300T;
h
24hr)
Though often busy with excited young men
playing computer games, this internet cafe has
a couple of convenient locations, on
Respublika
alany
(Respublika alany 13) and on
Zhibek
Zholy
(cnr Zhibek Zholy & Bayseyitov).
Web Club
(Ramstor; Furmanov 226; per hr
350T;
h
9am-11pm) Fairly peaceful shopping-
mall facility.
LEFT LUGGAGE
Left luggage oices in the airport (ground loor)
and Almaty-II station are open 24 hours, charg-
ing 750T and 400T respectively, per item for 24
hours.
MEDICAL SERVICES
Apteka No 2
(cnr Furmanov & gogol;
h
7am-
1am) Pharmacies (Kazakh:
darikhana;
Russian:
apteka
) all over Almaty sell both Western and
medical products. No 2 is the biggest and best
stocked.
Interteach
(
%
320 02 00; www.interteach.kz;
Furmanov 275D;
h
9am-10pm mon-Fri, 9am-
6pm Sat & Sun) International clinic with some
English-speaking family doctors, dentists and
specialists; 1st consultation 4500T to 7000T;
one-week membership including ambulance
service and in-patient treatment available.
MONEY
There are exchange kiosks at the transport
terminals and on most main streets. An ATm is
never far away: the airport, all shopping malls,
most banks and some supermarkets and shops
have them.
ATF Bank
(Furmanov 100;
h
9am-1pm & 2-6pm
mon-Fri) This may be the only bank in Almaty
that exchanges travellers cheques (US dollar
American Express cheques are definitely ac-
ceptable; others may be).
POST
Central Post Office
(Bogenbay Batyr 134;
h
8am-7pm mon-Fri, 8.30am-5.30pm Sat,
9am-2pm Sun)
DHL
(
%
258 85 88; www.dhl.kz; gogol 99;
h
10.30am-7pm mon-Fri)
8
Information
Almost all foreign embassies are in Astana, but
there are plenty of consulates in Almaty.
DANGERS & ANNOYANCES
Almaty is a pretty safe town, but you should still
exercise normal precautions. The most common
emergencies for Westerners here concern late-
night activities - people robbed in taxis after
emerging inebriated from bars and nightclubs,
and the like.
