Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Living and transport in Almaty- Introduction guide




Living in Almaty or Kazakhstan can be easy depending on your point of view. Some find it hard - others find it easy to adapt. Again it just depends on where you are coming from. You could be lucky and get a beautiful house in the hills (this is very pricy $$$$) with a car and driver (lucky you!!!). But recently there has been an increase of foreigners that don’t get all the “super” perks and still live comfortably. Making use of public transport and taxis (gypsy taxis) is easy enough in Almaty. In fact, I believe the taxis to be relatively safe, granted of course you don’t just jump into any taxi late at night... you have to be aware as like in any other major city : )

The current rate for gypsy taxis is about 300- 500KZT ... but when its cold or rainy the price can increase significantly. And of course traveling across town could be more towards a 1000 KZT. Gypsy taxis are quite an experience, this means that any car willing to take you could stop... from a Mercedes to a really old Lada.

We once got in a car that eventually died ( the car) on the driver... lucky for us or him (depending on your point of view) we where going down hill and the driver just free-ed the car avoiding traffic lights : ) . The general driving experience is hair raising enough in this country, soooo it was quite a nail biting moment.

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