Medeo Ice Rink

According to Wikipedia, this is one of the most famous ice rinks in the world. It's local claim to fame though is that it is the largest ice rink in Central Asia (just about everything in Kazakhstan seems to be labeled the "biggest in Central Asia"), and will be one of the main venues for the 2011 Asian Winter Games. The rink is nestled high in the mountains south of the city, with a large dam towering over it in the background. For the equivalent of US $0.30, I got an entrance ticket and went exploring inside the rink. It was indeed massive, but the facilities were in desperate need of some love and affection, having been largely neglected since the end of the Soviet Union. On an interesting side note, there was a Gypsy wedding being set up inside the rink while I was there wandering around. I suppose that's how they make their money in the off-season...? At any rate, the big highlight of the day, and the subject of over half of the pictures in this gallery, was when I ventured up the dam behind the rink for some pictures and ran into two young Kazakh girls taking pictures of each other. I of course offered to help them take a picture of the two of them together using hand gestures (and making sure my massive camera was visible to show that I was qualified to take the pictures for them and not just some perv trying to hit on two young ladies at the largest ice rink in Central Asia), and then when I spoke a few words of English to get my point across they excitedly busted out their excellent English and asked me where I was from. After chatting for a little while (and taking silly jumping pictures in the process), I found out that Arai and Gulvira were both recent college graduates who had yet to find jobs and were enjoying their unemployed days exploring the grounds of Medeo. With their bubbly personalities and bundles of energy, they kept me entertained and on my toes as we climbed the dam together and took pictures along the way. I was quite thrilled to have my first opportunity to interact with some locals (aside from the local filmmakers I had met with the first two days in town) and asked all sorts of questions about Kazakhstan and their lives there. After we conquered the dam, they offered to accompany me to Kok Tobe, a small mountain at the top of Almaty's aerial tramway and home of Almaty's large television tower. We were still on the road up to the base of the TV tower when the sun set, so we decided to just stop on the side of the road (where the view was already quite impressive) for some pictures. It was a lovely sunset, and a lovely ending to my short stay in Almaty and Kazakhstan, as early the next morning before the sun was even up I boarded a sleeper bus and headed back to Urumqi.