Somehow I made it to Almaty on time last night! All planes were
delayed going into and out of Chicago (did Chi-Town not get the memo
that there should be no snowy/freezing weather in late April??) but my
flight to Frankfurt was the only one that was running on time. Thanks
to everyone who was praying for that!!! Once I got to Frankfurt I ran
to the ticket counter for a boarding pass and got to the gate as the
flight to Almaty was boarding. Whew!
Going through
customs at the Almaty airport was fast and easy. I told the agent that I
had to declare the US$ I was bringing in and we went into the office.
He noticed I was from Texas and all was well--stamp the form, talk about
Texas and it's similarities to KZ (he said that north of Almaty looks
like "Marlboro Country"--his term!) and I was off.
Marina
and Sam met me at the airport. Marina gave me Alex's KZ passport (!)
and my train tickets and got me set up at the hotel so I was able to
crash just after midnight. I was up early--too early! They don't start
serving breakfast until 7:30. I just got back from a walk around town
and I must say that spring is the season to be in Almaty! When we were
here in March it was still gray and kind of desolate. Now the trees
have leaves, the grass is green and the flowers are blooming (thousands
of tulips in all colors all over the place) and the whole city is really
cheerful and bustling.
Train to Taraz tonight...
No comments:
Post a Comment