Shopping In Almaty

Went shopping today, Wednesday, with Dwight, one of the Canadian guys on the project and our driver Tulybuk. Drew suggested that we should go to a specific supermarket that sells good meat, as good meat is hard to get. This supermarket was located right in the CBD and as usual, traffic was a nightmare, but we eventually made it. A few things that stood out to me.....

• the supermarket aisles are very, very narrow


• staff to customer ratio of about 1:1 - there were staff everywhere and I bet these people were paid a very low wage


• service from staff was absolutely crap - can't blame them really when you think about what they are probably paid


• food on offer was really good - the range of fresh and cooked produce is absolutely fantastic


• no fresh vegetables - these are available at the "markets" (yet to go) but I believe they are pretty expensive


• prices were not too bad - unless you want fish, steak or breakfast cereal


• still can't ge used to the amount of alcohol available in the supermarkets - I reckon it must provide them with about a third of their turnover (beer is very cheap at around $2 a litre, as are cigarettes at about $1 per packet)


• people stare when you speak - understandable when you are in a non-English speaking country


• when we left and returned to our vehicle there were guys in the street stopping traffic and "managing" the parking spots - for a fee


• the traffic in Almaty is shocking - no, it's even worse than that, it's absolutely crap!

It really was a great experience, and so different to home.