Lets begin
The in-flight music is making me nostalgic
Last year I travelled with Air Astana from Delhi to Russia
Inflight entertainment has improved a lot
It will take around 4 hours to reach Almaty
We will reach at 4 pm in Almaty
Let me show you the freebies which I got in this flight
This is the goodie bag
Here are the candies
Now we are flying over Pakistan
We have just crossed Lahore, Sargodha, Gujranwala...
Now we have entered Jalalabad, Afghanistan
This is Afghanistan
I requested for vegetarian meal
I wanted to edit the videos but couldnt just because..
the landscape visible from this height is mind blowing
We are flying above Tajikistan
That seems to be a river and a dam
We are somewhere near Dushanbe and Kulob
If you love such landscapes, then I would recommend you to take this flight of Air Astana
This flight leaves Delhi around 11:30 am
We have reached Almaty
Mr Kartikeyan accompanied me on this seat
Like him there are a lot of medical students in this flight
Even last time I saw lot of medical students in Air Astana's flight
So this flight belongs to students and Doctors
He is going to Ukraine and I am staying here in Almaty
The unique thing about this trip is that I am going to travel 3 countries this time
but I didn't take advance visa for none of them
Let me tell you, how I am doing this!
Right now I am in Kazakhstan.
After this I am going to visit Turkey and then Georgia
My initial plan was to visit Turkey
There are lot of flights from India to Turkey
But I chose Air Astana
because Kazakhstan offers a free transit visa to Indians for 72 hours
Only condition is that Kazakhstan should be in your transit, not your actual destination
So after 2 days I am going to fly to Turkey
You have to leave Kazakhstan within 72 hours of your arrival
After this I will visit Turkey, then Georgia and then back to Delhi via Astana (Kazakhstan)
I was not required to get advance visa from the Turkish embassy because...
Turkey offers e-visa to valid Schengen and US visa holders
Thanks to my US visa because of it I could get e visa for Turkey
Indians can visit around 40 countries without visa if you have a valid US visa
I have written an article on it. Check the link above.
These 40 countries are other than those countries which normally offers such facility to Indian passport holders
You dont have to get US visa for those 'other' countries
For eg Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal, etc.. Indians get visa on arrival, e-visa or without visa to visit these countries
So if you have Schengen or US visa, then you can visit Turkey with an e-visa
getting e-visa for Turkey takes hardly 2 minutes
You have to fill in your personal details, US visa number, travel details, etc and you'll get Turkish visa online
Similarly, my US visa is also going to help me enter Georgia without its visa
I didn't shoot videos at Delhi airport because all the formalities at Delhi airport are already recorded in another video
That is the first video of my Russian series
That will help you to know about the formalities in India before you fly outside
You can stay in a 3-4 star hotel for a day in just 1 US Dollar if you are flying with Air Astana
Today, I am going to stay in a 4-star hotel
I just paid 1 US Dollar
Around 70 Indian Rupees
This is the airport
Kazakhstan is like Russia
That an ATM from Cberbank
Tenge is the currency in Kazakhstan
i am going to withdraw from an ATM
You can also exchange US dollars from those exchange counters
In this Stopover Holiday Programme I also get free pickup and drop facility
You can extend your stay in the hotel by paying for discounted tariffs
as you are Air Astana's passenger
So if you are flying to Russia, Ukraine, China, Mongolia, UK, Germany or somewhere else...
then you can visit another country (Kazakhstan) without its visa if you fly with Air Astana
Please check their website to know where all do they fly
I would definitely recommend Air Astana's 'stopover holiday programme' and Kazakhstan's 72 hours free transit visa
I am sure you'll love this experience
After landing at Almaty airport, I approached the Immigration desk
They asked me are you a Tourist?
Yes
The immigration officials could not speak properly in English. I had a similar experience in Russia
however, we managed to talk with eachother
They asked me for Kazakh's visa
I said, I am availing the 72 hours free transit visa
Then he approached a senior official
A lady handed over him this document
This helped me in getting permission. It was an easy process
Though the immigration process takes time
Now I am going to approach the stopover holiday desk
There is a free wifi for passengers at this airport
but you need Kazakhstan's local number to use it
the send OTP only on Kazakhstan's sims
I have an Indian sim so couldn't use the free wifi
This is a small airport
Here is the Tourist information desk
This is the meeting point for Stopover Holidays
I have got some basic information from this Tourist Information desk
This is operated by the official Tourism department of Almaty
I have asked them how should I plan my next 1 1/2 days in Almaty
Let me share something important
This is bus 92. Goes from Airport to the city center
This will take you from the airport to the Sayakhat bus terminal
From there you can get a bus to go anywhere
You have to pay 150 Tenge (KZT) to reach there in the bus
its almost 30 INR
The fare remains same irrespective of the distance you cover in a bus
But you can avail discounted fares if you use Onay card
its cost 400 Tenge
Instead of 150 Tenge you will pay 80 Tenge through this card
its 8:00 pm
This is Hotel Ramada
I paid 1 USD to stay here
I am getting messages from Couchsurfers now. I am using this hotel's wifi
Its 8 pm here and 7:30 pm in India
This is a petrol station near Hotel Ramada
He is a couchsurfer. Helping me a lot
I have purchased a local Sim for 300 Tenge
which costed around 2000 Tenge at the airport
This is 'Tele 2'. The same network I used in Russia
I a going to recharge it with that machine
I used the ATM at airport to withdraw 1000 Tenge
This is not working. We are going somewhere else to recharge
Here you can stop a car by waving your hands
Even private cars will stop
You can bargain for the fare if its not a taxi
I saw a few people doing this
Its just like hitchhiking
but here you pay for this
Going to recharge my sim from this machine
I like this place
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