My final day in Almaty, and Kazakhstan was originally intended to be a spare day to either mop up things I'd missed or to head out of the city for some sightseeing. Sharyn Canyon, 3 hours out to the east was top of the list. It's like their version of The Grand Canyon. However with the weather as hot as it was, I wasn't welcoming to the idea of spending it all out in a climate that was even hotter than the already hot city. So I'd bumped 2 parks to today: Fantasy World which I'd been to the day before to find it shut and Koktobe, a popular place with the locals and home to an alpine coaster that runs down the side of the mountains bordering the city. Usually in a city I like to go somewhere high and get a view overlooking the city. I was already in the tallest building open to the public with my hotel, so it made sense with the mountains being so close that I do that instead.
The day was going to be very easy so I had a lie-in and took the metro to Fantasy Park. This park was great, not too big but with a good selection of rides including some unusual ones and for the rollercoaster fan, two new rides: one kiddy one and the big suspended coaster Anaconda. The little coaster was fine to ride once I found it, it's tucked away at the rear right corner of the park. The Anaconda wasn't so straightforward. Firstly the coaster appeared to be down, which was a bit of a downer, but as I explored the rest of the park I realised that the rides looked to have scheduled downtime and the Anaconda just happened to have it's at the start of the day. I had to hang around for a little while but it did eventually open and it then became apparent the train would only be accessed when there were enough passengers to fill it. That only took about 10 minutes as the teenagers realised the coaster was operational.
Having had my fill of the park I headed back to the hotel to catch the cable car up to Koktobe. The mountaintop was quite busy as the place is quite popular with the locals. Up there, there are rides including a big wheel (which appeared bigger from the bottom of the mountain than it did when you got to it) and a number of spin rides, simulators and the alpine coaster, which was my ride reason for going up there. On the negative there were people hawking up there, and not the bird of prey hawks unfortunately, just people trying to sell stuff.
From here it was journey back to the hotel, where I grabbed my bags and caught a reasonably priced taxi to the airport for the next leg.
The park has a fair selection of rides mostly buried amongst the trees, which are located either side of a main pathway.
At the top of the park there's a more open expanse of land with another selection of rides.
There are some amusing statues around the park too.
Take Off was one of the smaller rollercoasters on the trip. But they all count!
I don't recall seeing this ride before. I've seen disk-o rides where the passengers sit in a circle facing out, and rocking tugs where people sit at each end facing the middle, but I've not see a stand up variant like this. The mother was screaming that her child was hating the ride and for it to stop. The kid was fine, it was the mother who couldn't handle it.
Seeing this closed was a big scare that I really didn't want to endure. There are currently only two of these rides operating in the world and I'd ridden the other one in Italy a few years ago. Seeing it open was a huge relief. It's a terrible ride, it starts off fine but there's a brake block towards the end that kills the train before the final helix back into the station. The train crawls through that bit killing the ride.
Off to Koktobe and the cable car went fine with air conditioning that looked to have been re-purposed from gaming PCs; MacGyver would be proud. The deceptive wheel looks big from the ground.
The alpine coaster wasn't bad. The ride ops were entertaining with their spiel before you're allowed to depart. In America they have you enduring briefings and signing disclaimers to protect them from any legality from collisions. Here however I just got this
"Forward to go fast, pull back to slow down, but you? you should just go forward all the way".
He could tell how far away the other cars were by standing on the track and feeling the vibration and he was right. I went flat out all the way and didn't meet another car. On this ride the lift hill is at the end so you're off and running from the outset. It's a fun ride and given the disappointment that Anaconda gave me I'd say this is by far the best ride in the city.
There was as a slight smog that killed the view off the mountain. This was expected as it happens in most developed cities with mountains surrounding it such as Mexico City. The smoke from the city gets trapped killing the view out.
There was some art up here too. The apple is a symbol of the city's rebirth. I'm not sure why but they also have a statue of The Beatles with piped Beatles songs playing around it. A little bizarre.
I've seen The Russian Swing in Cirque shows. I've never seen one in a children's playground before.
I love the Koktobe Alpine Coaster, yes I do!
and that was my Kazakhstan leg over and done with. All of it was worth doing for different reasons. I loved the expo and I enjoyed exploring both major cities. Astana is the more touristy by a long way but offers nothing geographical. Almaty is more scenic but lacks the modern architecture that Astana has; to some that won't be a big deal. Kargandy was just a silly day trip but I enjoyed that. From a rollercoaster perspective whilst there are more to ride here I only missed out on one, which was way better than I had anticipated.
Kazakhstan still remains an out-of-the way country but it's worth the visit. Would I come back? Yes I would. I still wish to get the eagle photo and I would like to head west and visit the Russian Launchpad in Baikonur.
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