Day 16 - The Almaty Zoo

Today we went to the Almaty Zoo. We had a great time and took lots of pictures. The zoo has been around since I think 1937 and has some interesting animals on display. Lots and lots of birds, an aquarium, a reptile/night animal house, racoons, pigs...you know the usual zoo fare. It was 200tenge per person to get in and another 30tenge to go in the reptile house. An wasn't going to go in with us but David and I insisted and paid her 30tenge for her. You should have seen her face, she was like a little kid in there...lol. You can tell as she is telling us all about not only the zoo but other things in Almaty she is very proud of her city.

The Presidential elections are coming up in December. She is very excited to think that the current President will win again because under him they have lived in peace with no wars or difficulties or struggles with their neighbors, as she puts it. It is fun to see the excitement in her face as she tells about these things and to see a different perspective on things here. We are outsiders and we may not always see things the way the locals do. We find it funny when she tells us about paying the government $10 per month for the pipeworkers who have to come and fix anything wrong with the pipes in the apartment buildings. We think this is nothing because when we call a plumber it is $80-90 an hour, but when you think about how little they have here $10 may as well be $100.

Here are some pics from our day at the zoo.... (ok maybe not, either blogger or nursat is having issues tonight, I will try again later)