For our last day in Kazakhstan, we decided to step up our game. The Soviet Union, for all of its ills, was definitely a patron of the arts (you know, the approved ones). That affection for all things artistic permeated into its former territories, such as Kazakhstan. Now, as a sovereign nation, Kazakhstan is very much interested in opera, ballet, symphonies, and the like. It just so happened that the Kazakh premier of Mozart’s Requiem coincided with our last evening in Almaty. Seemed like a good way to bid adieu to Kazakhstan.

Our friendly hostel staff directed us to the ticket office of the symphony, which just happened to be located next to the Green Market, aka Almaty’s bazaar. After purchasing the tickets, we wandered the bazaar for a spell. It’s appropriately large and chaotic, selling everything from knock off sneakers to industrial power tools. The food part of the bazaar was particularly appealing. Available for purchase were all manner of fresh and dried fruits, pickles, spices, and unidentifiable consumables. The butchers were organized according to the four main meat groups of Kazakhstan–lamb, beef, pork, and horse.

In the afternoon, we visited the National Kazakh Museum. It was slightly underwhelming, mainly because several sections of the museum were only available with the purchase of separate tickets. And not special exhibitions mind you, these were mainstay permanent exhibitions like ancient Kazakh history and art. We weren’t interested enough to pursue further so we just took a spin around the museum with our normal tickets and called it a day.

The concert was lovely, complete with celebrity violinist, soloist, and guest choir. One individual played a wind instrument that bore a slight resemblance to a clarinet, but clearly was not. Cindy and I wondered if the Kazakhs had imported a traditional instrument and musician to substitute for something from Requiem. It would certainly add a nice local twist. After the concert, we headed back to the Georgian restaurant to unload our remaining Kazakh Tenge.