Another trip to the mountains or how to escape the pollution

Турист обращается к сидящему у сарая местному жителю:

- Любезный, не подскажете ли, как мне побыстрее попасть вон на ту гору?

Житель задумчиво посмотрел сначала на туриста, затем на гору и отвечает:

- Хотите, я собак отвяжу?

Today we went to the Butakovka Gorge ( Урочище Бутаковка), a scenic place famous for its waterfall, located at 1860 meters.

We didn't reach the waterfall. After 40 min walking uphills we were more then exhausted.

We did enjoyed the surroundings and fresh air. If you don't want your lungs turn black, you have to leave the city for a while. First I thought it was fog covering the city, located BTW in the valley... Now every time I look out of the window, I see the smog obscuring the Almaty skyline. Considering the number of cars in the city it is not strange at all. Won't Almaty need to start dealing with it?

Лучше гор могут быть только горы

"There is one thing that's better than mountains

And it's mountains that we haven't climbed."

Vladimir Vysotsky

Russian poet, actor and singer.

Today we went to the mountains to take a dose of fresh air and a huge portion of sun.

Almaty is located at the foot of Tien Shan Mountains and it took us 30 minutes by car to get the the ski-resort called "Chimbulak" (2300 m above the sea). Now i get why people drive big cars here, mostly jeeps. It is much easier to drive jeep to the mountains. R went to ski and I took a long walk in the mountains. You have to be there to feel the magic of this beautiful place. I wouldn't mind to have a "dacha" there. Here come some pictures from the today trip.