As we joined the Almaty Marathon 2019 on 21 April, I booked 3 nights at Iris Hotel which is within 5-minutes walk from the Republic Square, where the starting point of the run is located.
Vlad located the hotel through his mobile app and asked if we need to take a right turn into a sidetrack, but Google Map on my phone was not so accurate that I "thought" the hotel should still be ahead. That's why we missed the turn and needed to go for a "circle drive".
We went out for a morning walk and to find a place for breakfast. Along the Nazarbayev Ave., there is the snow-cap Tien Shen at the background (southern side)
French House at the opposite side of the road
Breakfast at coffee shop Pravda Cafe, Nazarbayev Ave & Abay Avenue
The Almaty metro has only 9 stations. The nearest one for us is Abay station
Walkway along Abay Avenue, there is also bicycle lane
The tiny street washing cart went back and forth
Many birds in the city
After doing the grocery and sent back to the hotel, we got out to the Republic Square to understand the route of our upcoming 10 km run. Spring is the blossom season.
The Golden Warrior Monument, also known as the Golden Man Statue or the Statue of the Golden Warrior, stands on Republic Square in the former capital of Kazakhstan, Almaty. The monument celebrates the independence of Kazakhstan, the identity of its people, and the role of the city of Almaty as capital of Kazakhstan until 1997 when the capital moved to Astana. The statue, a Saka warrior and a barys, stands atop a 91 feet (28 m) tall column.
The design of the monument was inspired by Kazakh folklore and the 1969 archaeological discovery of an 18 year old Second or Third Century BC Saka or Scythian noble buried in a golden suit of armor with a sizable hoard of gold, earning him the moniker "Golden Man" (Russian: Zolotoi Chelovek).
The Golden Man, main symbol of Kazakhstan independence, is a warrior’s costume from about the 5th century BC that was found in 1969 in a Saka tomb near Issik settlement, about 60km east of Almaty. It is made of more than 4000 separate gold pieces, many of them finely worked with animal motifs, and has a 70cm-high headdress bearing skyward-pointing arrows, a pair of snarling snow leopards and a two-headed winged mythical beast.
The Golden Man has become modern Kazakhstan’s favourite national symbol. The conventional wisdom is that the skeleton found inside the costume was that of a young Saka prince killed in battle. But there is a strong countercurrent of thought that the Golden Man was in fact a Golden Woman, and that Kazakhstan’s nation-makers have deliberately misrepresented the gender to suit Kazakh stereotypes.
Archaeologist Jeannine Davis-Kimball argues in Warrior Women (2002) that the body was too badly damaged for its gender to be determined, and that other goods in the tomb suggest it was a woman. One intriguing school of thought identifies the Golden Woman with Tomiris, a queen of the Massagetes tribe who defeated the invading forces of Persian emperor Cyrus the Great.
The original Golden Man is apparently kept safe in the National Bank building in Almaty, but replicas adorn museums all over the country.
Falcon in one hand, bow in the other, 3 arrows at the backpack, a Scythian warrior stands in a winged snow leopard atop a huge column in Almaty's Republic Square
The road side has been set up for the Marathon
The advertisement of the Marathon could be seen everywhere in the streets.
Football stadium of the major team
Canal flowing to Esentai
Wild flower and "3-leaves" plants
Interfood with supermarket, but we had no time to visit
Just next to Interfood, it's the stadium at where we collected our runner pack
Lots of booths set up in the stadium building up the welcoming and exiting atmosphere. Phiten had display there too but at universal price. Noel bought a pair of long knee support braces of local brand at good price
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