Almaty

The capital of Kazakhstan under the Soviet Union, Almaty is still the largest and most populous city in Kazakhstan, with almost 10% of the population of the entire country. Located just north of the Tianshan mountain range that separates Kazakhstan from Kyrgyzstan, the city does have some splendid views (if you can get up high enough... the streets inside the city are a bit too packed to see the mountains unless you are on the south side of town). I only had one day to get out of the town center, and that was when I visited the Medeo ice skating rink, which I've put in a separate album. So this album is full of random pictures of life and buildings mostly in central Almaty that I took during a few strolls around town. I think the thing that struck me the most about this city was how clean and well organized (almost) everything was, but that's probably just because I've lived in China for so long!