max and hailey travel

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Kazakhstan

Hailey Pryor

From September 2nd to September 5th, 2023

ASTANA 

Stay:

  • St. Regis

  • Rixos Hotel

See/Do:

  • Take a stroll along the Right Embankment of the Ishim River to the Arbat and visit the Kenesary Khan monument

  • Climb to the top of the “golden sphered tower” Bayterek to put your hand in Nazarbayev’s (the current president of Kazakhstan) handprint

  • Visit the glass pyramid style Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, visit every floor and enjoy the diagonally moving elevators to get to the views from the top

  • Go to see the original Golden Man and other traditional Kazakh dress/culture at the National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan 

  • Take a monorail ride through the Khan Shatyr mall; get some other shopping in while you’re at it while browsing next to locals

  • Take a tour through the seven storey building at the Museum of Future Energy, the higher you go, the more futuristic it gets

Eat/Drink:

  • Lunch at the top of Moskva Shopping Center at Vechnoye Nebo, they serve horse as their specialty and the views overlook all of Astana

  • Dinner at St. Regis, you might even get surprised with a firework show at night

  • Dinner at Roastbeef, while the name is weird, the food was great and there were locals all around. They also had a surprisingly nice wine list

ALMATY

Stay:

  • Rixos Hotel

See/Do:

  • Take the cable car to the top of Shymbulak, the nearest recreation center and ski resort with over 7 miles of trails, numerous restaurants, shops, games & year-round activities. You can also take a crack at the Medeu Ice Skating rink to find out why and how so many speed records were broken here.

  • Visit the colorful, vintage but well maintained wooden Russian Orthodox Church Ascension Cathedral and walk through to see all the monuments in the Glory Memorial.

  • Drive out to Sharyn Canyon and take in the natural beauty. You’ll find yourself comparing it to the Grand Canyon, a mini Kazakh version.

Eat/Drink:

  • Lunch at Qazaq Auyl - one of our favorite and most authentic lunch spots from the whole trip! Located a 15 minute hike from Shymbulak, the kitchen and grill were open for all to see and the kitchen crew were busy putting together traditional Kazakh food. Had we had more time, we may have sat to have drinks outside and enjoyed the view from their patio.

We then crossed the border into Kyrzgystan near Karkara.