Almaty, Kazakhstan

Hello Bayan.

Welcome to Expat.com!

Aurélie

Dear Bayana and Aurelie;  My name is Duane and I am currently living and teaching a little in Vietnam.  A friend of mine went to Kazakhstan and liked it. We were both in Saudi Arabia and hated it; the treatment of women, the heavily religious culture, no alcohol, etc.  Now, I respect Muslims, but is Kazakhstan very religious?  I read that the countryside is very beautiful and the people nice.  Which is a better city to live in: Asana or Almaty?   Thank you very much!  Duane

Hello Duane -> Why don't you start a new thread on the Almaty forum with your questions? This will allow better interaction.

Thank you,
Aurélie

Hi Duane,

Kazakhstan is a muslim country but here cant find a heavy religious people... its a very open country. people r too friendly and we r happily welcome foreiners in our country. im living in almaty so its a nice city, located near mountain.. Astana is capital of country... and too young city..to beautiful.

Hope to see u in kazakhstan.
my email id: barikyzy@mail.ru

All the best

duane8 wrote:

Dear Bayana and Aurelie;  My name is Duane and I am currently living and teaching a little in Vietnam.  A friend of mine went to Kazakhstan and liked it. We were both in Saudi Arabia and hated it; the treatment of women, the heavily religious culture, no alcohol, etc.  Now, I respect Muslims, but is Kazakhstan very religious?  I read that the countryside is very beautiful and the people nice.  Which is a better city to live in: Asana or Almaty?   Thank you very much!  Duane

Hey Duane,

Well Kazakhstan is a secular country. Religion is not that influental here as in Saudi Arabia. Of course, we do have believers, church and mosquegoers, but no strict rules like... don't eat this, don't drink that, don't wear that, don't go there and etc.. People drink alcohol, if they wish, girls are allowed to go out barely dressed, again ,if they wish. People in here do obey each other's choice. In a sense, we're quite tolerant, I think... At least from what I am seeing here. If you want to go to mosque each single Friday (for the record, Friday is a normal working day here, not like in Saudi Arabia)- go, if you don't- simply don't.
That's about it

ps: you can not compare Almaty to Astana Almaty is a former capital city, with very old and beautiful downtown, landscape is amazing, surrounded with mountains, city life is full of different kind of events happening all the time, you always can find things to do, places to go, interesting people to meet.

Astana, by all means, is a beautiful city as well. Buildings are very contemporary. Well... cities are indeed different, you need to see and compare, and then you have your own mind. Depending on what you prefer.

Cheers

Hi Byana. I am going to be offered a teaching job in Taraz and I wondered if you could tell me anything about it. Thank you.

Hello keithwlp --> I would invite you to start a new thread with all your questions on the Kazakhstan Forum. This will enable you to get more response. Thanks. Karen