TiMeZoNe: KZ: Last Day before leaving

According to agenda, I am supposed to be in the company office at 11am. However, the head of the unit would like to see me before he leaves for Astana, thus I have to be in earlier. Met him for 15 minutes and he briefly mentioned his plan for me and the package I might be offered. I would say it is not that attractive.

In the afternoon, I went to another building to have lunch with the country head. A New Zealander who has been in the country for the last couple of years. Pretty interesting story from him on the country development.

After lunch, Lyazatte came to fetch me and another candidate for a city tour. We decided to enjoy both the city and the mountains. Original plan is to go to Chimbulak, a ski resort. However, we cut short our trip and stopped only half way there. Around 1500ft above sea level. It was a breathtaking view. Then we went down town and the first stop was Post Office. I needed to post a postcard to myself. I always do this whenever I went out of the country. Buy a postcard and post it to yourself.

Then, to the Green Market where a lot of cheap stuff including souvenirs are sold. Actually, other things are cheap, but not the souvenirs. It is known as Green Market because the area is full with vegetables and fruits stalls. Then we moved to the Central Mosque. The first ever mosque I found in Almaty. People are not really religious. Met few Muslims Kazakh. Unfortunately they do not speak English, so unable to converse well with them.

Since it was already dark and our tour guide needed to go back to the office, we decided to call off the day. The traffic was so bad. Reminds me of Kuala Lumpur during peak hours.

Had dinner with David and Gary at the Namaste Indian Restaurant nearby our hotel. Although this is Indian restaurant, they also serve Thai and Chinese. As per other restaurants in Almaty, pork is also served.

After dinner, I went back to pack and dozed off after packing, Tomorrow pick-up will be at 7am form the hotel. Need to wake up early in this cold weather.