The Upward Spiral

I’m not sure what to feel about new year. I just hope I would be able to do something. Continue to experience & explore new things & places. I can’t stand monotonous life. It’s just not for me. It makes me feel awkward mentally.  For me life is kinda stop when I stop exploring. I’m still exploring in a way but in a different way. More like exploring knowledge & myself through books & countless articles. Getting more knowledge of any kinds give me sort of satisfaction. I never really realize that knowledge is really that powerful. Previously all I know is that, u need knowledge to pass the exam & that’s it. Talk about Malaysian education system failure at its finest. Anyway as I wrote in my previous blog entries, I had mention that I’m still trying to figure out a way to prevent depression recurrent. I can’t say that I found it yet but I think I sort of found some ways to deal with it. I read this book called  “The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the C

Almaty, Kazakhstan


I was pretty much excited to have the chance to go to central Asia. I never thought that i will ever visit this part of the world before honestly. Visa is not required for Malaysian to go there. But u will need some sort of registration when u are there. I'm sorry I don't know how's the process were because it had been done by the secretary of the company that I work with at that time.

I fly there by using Etihad plane transit to Abu Dhabi. I hate their airport. It was too crowded.
Anyway, once u reach Almaty, u will be greeted by a row of iced mountain. Wonderful view. I wish I can sit there & watch it for hours.
If u need a SIM card, u can purchase one in the airport. They don't have a nano sim but don't worry, they will cut micro sim to be a nano-sim for u & their. English is very limited, some can't speak English at all.

At that time I had stayed  at this nice hotel named Iris Hotel at Furmanov street. I got a super big room that can fit 3 small people like me. My room have a balcony that is facing the road. So everyday during my free time I will just stand there & watch people since it was & is still my favorite activity. I pretty much love staying there.  The wall is quite thin though, I can hear  whatever activities of the people in the next room did. But I will not tell u the details here. It was explicit 😂


The view from my balcony


My big room
This hotel can be book at Agoda. Just click this 'Hotel in Almaty' to redirect u to the list of hotels option in Almaty.

Anyway  Free breakfast was included. I love their breakfast although it's kinda simple but it's nice.
The hotel is attached to a bar called Balcon bar where I had my breakfast & dinner at night. I love the atmosphere of this bar.


 Balcon bar 


A cosy place to have breakfast & dinner. I love this bar & the music. They have some nice choice of songs. I think its a new-age music.



The dinner meal was quite expensive for me to be honest. Most of the restaurant around the place that I stayed in have the same Price range  for the meals. It feels awkward having my dinner there though,
because everyone there was having a drink, dressed up nicely & having a good time with their friends & partner. And I look like a potato with my sandals (because i don't like wearing shoes even in a colder climates & always wearing sandals in a plane too) sleeping tshirt in & a jacket outside & alone. But I love watching them. I love observing people. The people are gorgeous. The women really dressed to kill especially at the bar & I feel ugly. They even dress better than some in other European countries. A quick fact, if some of u didn't know it, they have more women than men there. Anyway  I still remember some central Asian guy told me that most Malaysian are ugly, he said like only 1 in 10 Malaysian are good looking. Not sure if he really means it. But he's not the only one who is saying that lol.

The area was not so bad. There are some fancy restaurants & bar around. Mini shop, mall ( a pathetic one i might say) & an atm machine.



I don't even know what building is this. I guess it is some important place? Ignored that Kazakh teenage boy who photo-bombed me at the back. I was actually on my way walking to the mall.


Basically if u can't speak Kazakh or Russian, u will have a tough time there. Once I try to ask the people in the shop whether they sell the reload card, nobody understand what I want because nobody speak English there. U may have a better luck staying somewhere near to a popular tourist area.  My situation is kinda better since I was there for a business trip so there will be some people will help me. The reload credit can be purchased from a machine which I couldn't remember whether there is an English option or not 😅.

My second day there was a disaster, my universal adapter exploded when I try to boil some water using my own water boiler that I smuggled in from home. Bringing a water boiler or a rice cooker was a must for me at that time because there's a possibilities that I will be stranded somewhere with nothing around it. Anyway my power adapter have a bad quality,  it didn't secure tightly to the power socket hence the explosion. But it's not that serious. I made some other plug exploded too while I was in Rome but that would be in another post. Luckily I was not here on a leisure trip, can u imagine being  here without the power adapter? I can't  charge my laptop & phone. But it's kinda good that phone nowadays can be charged  using USB.

A Kazakh choc as an exchanged of Kazakh coins during my purchase at the mini shop


As usual it's a must for me to do some leisure trip after I'm done with some serious business, so I went to this place called Shymbulak ski resort. Because it was a last minute plan, my only choice to go there is by using a taxi & it's not cheap. Because a communication between me & Kazakh driver was almost impossible, the best way to book for a taxi is through the hotel. My final Kazakh notes was being used to pay the taxi driver. But no regrets, the place is beautiful. Some of the most wonderful view I had ever seen so far since I haven't go to NZ or Switzerland for now. So the taxi driver was my  loyal companion throughout my trip. How do we communicate? By using body language 😅

Very important tips if u go to a country that didn't speak ur language & u want to get to ur destination, u need to show them the address in their languge  that u can googled or save in your phone. It works everytime for me.


My driver who I use body language to communicate with


Wonderful view from my way up


At Shymbulak Ski Resort









At the top of Shymbulak



Being here made me feels like I am in Mars


Somehow I didn't bring any winter jacket with me & it was cold AF. So I layered myself with a a few jackets that end up made me look weird but who cares.


When I'm done with Shymbulak, I request the driver to bring me to Park of 28 Panfilov Guardsmen. Thanks to google, I manage to show him the correct place that I wanted to go.
I love this place & the weather was good. Ex-soviet park have the same feel to it. Probably because of the monuments there. So, that's a wrap of my Almaty trip.






Zenkov Cathederal (It is a Russian Orthodox Church)




The 28 Panfilov Guardsmen. It is actually dedicated to the Panfilov Heroes, 28 soldiers of an Almaty infantry unit who died fighting Nazi German in World World II

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