Today we could have slept in, but instead we got up with the sunlight streaming through the curtains. We headed down to breakfast in our very Russian-looking hotel, which had a giant dome room for the dining area.
After breakfast, we met back up with our group and took the bus on a tour of the city. Our first stop was in front of the city council’s office, which looked a lot like the White House in Bishkek. There, our guide told us a little bit more about Almaty, the city of apples.
Next, we drove back closer to our hotel and walked through the park to visit the beautiful wooden Christian Orthodox church. From there, we visited a war memorial before finally making our way to the Green Bazaar.
We walked around the different stalls, eventually buying some souvenirs, strawberries, and raspberries. For lunch, we walked through the city and found a Korean restaurant, as Ji was craving some food from home!
After lunch, we managed to grab some time for a nap before deciding to try a Kazakh spa. We booked a private room and got to experience their traditional steaming treatment, where you sit in a sauna and get whacked with leafy branches “to get rid of the toxins,” before enjoying a scrub and a massage.
Feeling very relaxed, we grabbed some ice cream and headed back to the hotel for the night!