September 29, 2026
DAY 1: ALMATY CITY
We left the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 at 0820H to take China Southern Airlines flight to our 6-hour layover at Guangzhou, China. The security check line can be long and stressful, so do be prepared. Immediately bring out your electronic gadgets, power banks, bottles of water separately, because they will be inspected. They saw keys in my bag on the x-ray, so I had to empty out my whole bag because they wanted to see them specifically.
DAY 2 - ALMATY CITY
Our first destination was nearby Panfilov Park. We started from the west side of the park at the statue of Bauyrzhan Momyshuly. He was a Soviet military hero and an acclaimed writer, who was later distinctly recognized as a Kazakh national hero.
From there, we walked into the park until we reached a wide empty square where flocks of pigeons flew around. Behind this was an elegant yellow building with four golden spires -- the Ascension Cathedral. It also known as the Zenkov Cathedral after the man who designed it in 1904. As this was an active church for the Russian Orthodox, women were supposed to wear a veil to cover their heads before entering, while men were supposed to remove their hats.
Inside, we were very impressed by all the golden ornaments that we saw from the foyer to the main worship area. The golden retablo was huge, with five tiers with arches each with a painting of a saint. There was a grand chandelier hanging from the ceiling above the nave. The upper walls were adorned with multiple paintings, and to allow sunlight in, there were several window panes covered with glass panels colored yellow, red and blue.
After visiting the church, we walked over to a massive sculpture in another section of the park -- the Memorial of Glory. It featured the imposing stone sculpture of the 28 Panfilov Guardsmen Monument, commemorating the sacrifice of 28 soldiers from an Alma-Ata infantry unit of the Red Army who reportedly put up a noble last stand to defend Moscow to their deaths in 1941. The inscription under the statue means "Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat — Moscow is behind us!" Memorials in their honor lined the two sides of that area in front of the statue, while an eternal flame was lit at one end in the central rectangle.
From the park, the bus took us to Green Bazaar. This was a public market that sold a variety of products, from spices, fruits and nuts both fresh or preserved, processed meats and cheeses, etc. There was a separate area that sold an assortment of clothing -- from daily regular daily wear to jackets and outfits with Kazakh designs. We also walked over to a shop at the end of the block separate from the market to buy chocolate bars with distinctive Kazakh brands.
We had a lunch at Navat Restaurant for our first formal taste of traditional Kazakh food. The restaurant interiors showcased very colorful ethnic designs on the posts and fabricaccents that reflect Kazakh art. This was where first had our taste of the puffy bread balls called Baursak. The main course was the Beshbarmak, the Kazakh national dish. This was a stew-like dish of slow-boiled beef served on a bed of flat pasta with potatoes and onions.
The next activity was Falcon Show at Sunkar Falcon Farm located in the Alma Arasan area. It took a rather long drive to get there and the venue of the show was already full of tourists when we arrived, so we had to take seats at the far end of the bleachers. An older man was hosting the show and cracking dad jokes, while his lovely assistant Anastacia was the one who handling the awesome birds of prey -- owls, falcon and eagle.
We made one final stop at dusk, before our dinner at the posh restaurant called Noodle. We were brought to the elegant Republic Square. The central feature was the Independence Monument, a 28-meter tall stele with a Golden Warrior standing on a winged snow leopard. Across the street from it was the elegant city hall of Almaty. Behind it was a grand staircase lined by water fountains.
DAY 2 - SHYMBULAK MOUNTAIN
The next day, the bus took us about an hour away from the city to a premier ski resort called Shymbulak, located in the Zailiisky Alatau mountain range. Said to be the largest ski resort in all of Central Asia, this resort had guests going up its three levels via cable cars. There were shops and restaurants on the first two levels. We ate our lunch at the Saray Bar Restaurant on the first level. However, it was on the third level, 2200 meters above sea level, that we see the breathtaking mountain views the best, even if the temperatures were dipping to near zero degrees by the time we were walking towards the cable cars on our way back.
DAY 3A - CHARYN CANYON
We left the hotel at around 0630H this morning for a three hour drive to Charyn Canyon. The canyon made of reddish sandstone is about 194km long and 300m deep. We were given two choices on how to experience the canyon. First was a 2.5 km hike downwards to follow the floor of the canyon until you reached the Charyn River, before hiking back. The more popular choice in our group was the shorter 1.5km hike on the same level as the visitor center to witness the grandeur of the canyon from above, except that we couldn't see by this route. We ate our lunch at the Tary Charyn right there at the visitor center.
DAY 3B - KOLSAI LAKE
From the canyon, our bus took us on a two-hour drive to Kolsai Lake in Tian Shan mountains. The pristine blue waters of the lake made it a scenic view in the vein of Lake Louise in Canada. To go to the lake from the main road, you can hike down, or ride the van (whose driver made sure his short drive down a fun crazy one). For a fee of 14,000 tenge per person, we joined some tour mates to ride horses down instead. Opening with a steep downward descent, our ride gave a more intense adrenaline rush that we all expected. It was just too bad that the young man leading our horses could not speak English to annotate what we saw along our ride.
It was a very long 5-hour drive back to the city from Kolsai Lake. When we reached Almaty, we were brought to a restaurant called Syrbaz in a quiet part of the city. We ate a dinner of fresh water fish there. However, the interesting thing I learned that night was my curiosity about the balloon decor we saw on the small stage. Val told me that it was in fact a traditional celebration called "Kyrkynan shygaru" where newborn babies were only shown publicly on the fortieth day after birth to protect him from disease or the "evil eye."
DAY 4 - HUNS ETHNO-VILLAGE
The place we visited this morning was about an hour away from Almaty, in an area with plenty of apple trees. This was the Kazakh version of an all-in-one cultural showcase we've experienced and enjoyed before in other countries, like Japan or South Korea. Upon entering, we were welcomed in with a taste of baurzak (prepared right there on site) with hot tea. This was where we got our first taste of anything from a horse -- kumis (fermented mare's milk).
After that snack, the international visitors were all herded into a traditional yurt, defined as "a portable, circular, dome-shaped dwelling made of a flexible wooden lattice frame covered with felt and skins." The presentor was a Michelle Yeoh lookalike, and she talked about family life among the Kazakh nomads. She described various features of the yurt itself, as well as items used to make taking care of a baby easier in a nomadic lifestyle.
We witnessed a traditional Kazakh wedding, with the bride, groom and the groom's parents chosen from the visitors present. They got to don costumes and perform the rituals in front of everyone. There was a celebratory shashu (tossing of candies) after the show. We then got to witness a display of acrobatic stunts performed on horseback (dzhigitovka), followed by a demonstrations of the kyz kuumai (girl chasing courtship sport) and the audaryspak (horseback wrestling). Guests who wanted to try horseback riding did so after the show.
We got to do things here that we saw being offered for pay in other tourist spots we have visited, like trying on traditional costumes and posing with a hooded falcon (also seen at Shymbulak) or archery (also seen at Charyn Canyon). The staff of the village were mostly young people, and they were multi-tasking, doing different roles for the visitors. The young man we met at the archery station was also one of the guys doing the horseback stunts. The young woman at the horse-riding show was also serving at the food stations.
Day 5 - KOK-TOBE HILL
Our final stop before heading off to the airport was a visit to the Kok-Tobe Hill. This was a hill 1,100m above sea level located within the main city. We rode cable cars to reach the hilltop which had been converted into an amusement park, with various rides (like a Ferris wheel, Cyclon roller coaster, as well as a new coaster ride on the hillside) and attractions (like an upside down house, extreme suspended obstacle course). There was a row of souvenir shops there where we did our last-minute shopping for mementoes.
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