This is an amazing city.
Like Dubai it is an oasis in a desert.
Unlike Dubai it has been done by capturing local water (glacial melt rivers) and planting trees.
The mountains are the Tian Shan (Celestial) Mountains that start in China, make up much of Kyrgyzstan and spill over into the south east corner of the enormous Kazakhstan ( think size of Europe).
The photo is Clare in the foothills above Almaty after a lovely longgggg chairlift.
The city is very new due to level 8 earthquates 100 and 40 years ago and so it is not like Rome or Paris. It does not feel Asian due to the trees and parklands. Also it is relatively low (5 stories) due to the eartquakes and so I would equate it to a Geneva.
This is a lovely city!
The capital through most of last century it is still the largest city by far at about two million. There is a very large component of international students swelling this number.
The streets are wide and well made in the centre particularly but it is very busy.
A single line subway traverses the city about 50 metres underground. The second photo is beautiful artwork decorating this spotless efficient subway.
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