Almaty is an enormous uphill grid iron, orientated towards the Tian Shan mountains in the south. This means that directions in Almaty are idiosyncratic. Like many other twentieth century cities, everything is measured in blocks, but in Almaty there is the added dimension of elevation. Thus "Three blocks higher, on the left" is a normal way of describing things. If I am on the right track, I sometimes feel that I am in a gameshow, as the only directions I will get are "higher, higher", or "lower, lower"!
Sunday 27 September 2009
Higher! Lower!
Almaty is an enormous uphill grid iron, orientated towards the Tian Shan mountains in the south. This means that directions in Almaty are idiosyncratic. Like many other twentieth century cities, everything is measured in blocks, but in Almaty there is the added dimension of elevation. Thus "Three blocks higher, on the left" is a normal way of describing things. If I am on the right track, I sometimes feel that I am in a gameshow, as the only directions I will get are "higher, higher", or "lower, lower"!
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