In the Lap of Luxury

Yep, I'm still here. Caught up on my sleep, nearly over the cold I came home with, very much enjoying my own bed and being able to brush my teeth with tap water!

Since I am woefully behind in posting anything much about Kaz, I'm starting out my "retro" posts with a photo tour of the accommodations on my first trip. It was rather interesting, to be in places that I have seen on other blogs. In some cases, reality was nicer (the Almaty hotel), in others, not so much. In any event, all three places were livable and comfortable in the end.

I was on the 4th floor of the hotel, and both apartments were on the 3rd floor. Elevators? What's that? Definitely got my exercise while in Kaz! The apartments are very typical of old Soviet style. Decrepit concrete exterior, dank and dark concrete stairwells with heavy metal doors to enter the building. Each apartment door also has some sort of heavy metal exterior door (some were rather ornate), with what we would consider a regular wooden front door a few inches inside the outer door. Other than weather and security, bomb shelters? Maybe the original intent, but not a chance, given the construction is, well, not quite up to US code.






Floors are not level, there are thresholds are built up and you actually have to step over them to go from room to room (not fun on bare toes in the middle of the night!) and there still might be 2-3 inches difference in the floor level from one room to the next. The light switches are all on a wall before you enter a room, rather than inside a room, and outlets are midwall, instead of a foot or so from the floor. Neither apartment had anything resembling a table lamp -- ceiling lights only. PAP Alert: If you like to read in bed, I would strongly suggest bringing a clip-on book light. I will be for my next trips.

Plumbing is exposed (as are gas pipes) and the toilet has it's own little room that opens into the hall separately from the rest of the bath. Both "bathrooms" are hot and smelly. The plumbing is shared from neighboring apartments and I'm guessing decent venting and traps are nonexistent. The hot water pipes double as drying racks in the bathrooms as well. I will say that those hot water pipes must be nice in the winter, because the floors in both rooms and the rooms themselves are very toasty.


Almaty Hotel -- The Grand Hotel Tien-Shan

Front Entrance

The window sills are very deep (about 18") so made a great place to sit and watch the world go by.


Regina's Apartment

My second abode was Regina's apartment, which she graciously shared with me my first 3 days in Aqtobe. It was good sized -- 2 bedrooms, multiple living areas, nice sized kitchen. The pictures don't really show this apartment's quirks. The most noticeable was the ripply floors. Vinyl floors are very popular here, but it seems they put some sort of pad or something else underneath. Or maybe it is just layers and layers of other flooring material. In this place, whatever was underneath was all bunched up in places. It reminded me of a sandy beach after many people had been walking on it.











It seems that armoires, in both the bedrooms and entryways are used in lieu of closets. Regina's apartment did have one large pantry-like walk-in closet full of shelves off the hallway for storage. My apartment had nothing except the armoire in the bedroom and some hooks in the hallway. Efficient and minimalist. Really does put in perspective how much "stuff" we Americans are used to acquiring and I'm a packrat by nature.

My Aqtobe Apartment

This next series is of my home away from home. Many families have stayed in this apartment in the past and I had seen pictures and descriptions of it on other blogs. I was prepared, but also pleasantly surprised. While it certainly had its quirks, it was cozy and comfortable. Also had AC in the living room, which assisted by the fan I purchased, made it a respite from the furnace outside. Also had a washing machine. Something I don't know that I could have survived without when I was being spit up on daily!

Street side of building:

Entrance and parking side of building: (also where I would wait for the driver to pick me up to go to babyhouse)

View at dusk from kitchen window. Dusk was close to 10pm (and sunrise was well before 6am). Families were still out in the park this late with their kids.

Front Hall: (It is customary to take your shoes off when entering anyone's home.)

Living Room:


Hall to Kitchen:

Kitchen:
Yes, those are the gas pipes. You turn on the gas and light the burner with a match. Yes, it flares. Yes, I singed my fingers several times. There was always a lingering odor of gas around the stove. I made a point to open the windows during non-mosquito hours to air the place out.
Strangely enough, I never used the microwave, but I did use the magic hot pot. Zero to boiling in less than 3 minutes.

Refrigerator - the doors on the right go into the washroom and the "water closet":

Bedroom, with access to the "balcony". You can't tell from this picture, but that mattress was like the Grand Canyon times two. Couple of times I rolled over and woke up with a start wondering who else was in the bed! The ridge in the middle was a good 6 inches high. I actually piled some extra blankets on the mattress under the sheet to try to even it out! Not comfortable, but pretty funny. Now anyway. ;)

Washroom and the life-saving washing machine:

Single Faucet which rotates between the tub and sink: (I scrubbed that tub! I came to the conclusion that the combination of low grade porcelain and mineral laden water has caused the staining.
Hot water pipe drying rack. Very handy for bibs and spit-up rags between babyhouse visits!


True double-pane windows! Not only is each window double-pane, but there are two windows as well!


Enclosed balcony, which is somewhat sunroom like. This is where people hang their clothes to dry (dryers are not common).



This would be why I only ventured onto the balcony long enough to hang out and retrieve a blanket after washing it! Only a few inches of crumbling concrete seem to be supporting it. I just kept thinking, get me home before the earthquake hits, please! I took this picture while hanging out the kitchen window.


Apparently the upstairs neighbors have some plumbing issues. Fortunately, despite many stains, all remained dry while I was there.


Electrical? Light fixtures are very ornate and interesting. Also seem to take very low voltage bulbs, which don't last long and blow up often! The power fluctuates ALL the time. I unplugged everything (except the refrigerator) if I wasn't using it. Also appears that the metal or plastic outlet boxes required in the US to house an outlet or switch are not used in Kaz. The wiring just connects to the outlet plate, which in many cases is only attached to the wall by clips that fail. Thus the outlets kind of hang out of the wall. Scary. Again, unplug often and with dry hands!


The cord from the AC unit was about 4 inches too short to reach the outlet, therefore the suspended in mid-air extension cord. I moved this cord around daily in order use the hairdryer, then again for the washing machine. And what about that wallpaper??!! It reminded me of that spray on snow-in-a-can stuff we used to spray little scenes on windows at Christmas time when I was a kid!








But we have to have our MTV! I was surprised to see so many satellite dishes mounted on every apartment building. The old style antennas were everywhere too.


More to come another day.