Wednesday 17 May 2023
Highlights: The Green Bazaar (Almaty), Flight diversion

Today I say goodbye to Kazakhstan but first I still had a morning in Almaty. The day started with the most comprehensive breakfast buffet so far. After breakfast Anne, Birgitta and myself headed out to find the Green Bazaar.

The Green Bazaar has been operating in one format or another since 1875. The Bazaar sells spices, prepared foods, produce, textiles, clothes and shoes, just not country fridge magnets.

While Anne managed to find a Post Office and get local stamps for her collection my fridge magnet would have to wait until we got to the airport.

Before leaving the hotel at 12.30 pm for the airport I did a presentation to our drivers and Ilyas thanking them all for their support, services and insights on the first nine days of this tour.

At the airport Anne guested me into a Business Class Lounge which was very much appreciated. The flight to Dushanbe, Tajikistan was very eventful with a weather related diversion to Khŭjand (see flight review here).

At the airport we meet our new tour leader / CEO Rustam Nazarov. As we were very late the city tour was pushed to tomorrow morning which will have to be more limited in order to still do everythng else planned for tomorrow. We also skipped having a late night dinner and instead bought small snacks to have in our rooms. The wet weather hopefully isn’t a sign for the rest of our time in Tajikistan.