[DET62]

For those of you who have traveled, can you share how hard it was to find nice, authentic Kazakh souvenirs, and what sorts of things you bought? I am trying to figure out a budget for souvenirs. I know when I adopted my daughter the Russian souvenirs were pretty inexpensive [$5 for decent little Matroyshyka dolls in the region, $5-10 for wooden boxes]. In Moscow the same things were 4 times as expensive.

I don't know what sorts of things there might be in Kazakhstan. I am very interested in learning more from folks who have traveled.

Thanks,
Dee

[hml1976]

There's a big bazaar in Almaty, I can't remember what its called but someone else hopefully will. Its like a large department store but with different booths inside. We bought some jewelry and dolls there but also bought some silk paintings and dream quilts from Sasha (I pmed you his site). He now lives in the states so I'm not sure if someone is running his business in Almaty still. We found that Uralsk was more expensive than Almaty for souvenirs because everything was made in Almaty anyway and shipped regionally. HTHs!

[Delmom]

There is a little shop in Petro that has the traditional russian souvenirs at great prices (2 yrs ago). You will see a lot of things done in birch and the carved birch boxes are really pretty. My favorite is a wooden toy of chickens pecking at seeds. Sounds silly but I love it!

For your daughter, they had beautiful jewelry and hair bows carved out of birch. I remember the bracelets being less than $1.00 US.

It seemed that the traditional Kazakh items were more expensive than the Russian Folk art. I remember wanted a toy yurt and camel, but it was too expensive.

We didn't explore a lot in Almaty. Our new son was a bit out of sorts, but what I saw I thought was more expensive.

[AshlingK]

Hi - I think the store a previous poster is talking about is the TSUM store in Almaty?? We did some souvenier shopping there, pretty good prices. I got a great Kazakh boy doll for our son which hangs in his room, it was about 2,000 tenge but I bargained it down to about 1,700....this is the great thing about shopping in Almaty (or at least my experience was) you can barter down the initial price. Another good place in Almaty is the Green bazaar. I got traditional Kaz slippers for our son and daughter there, I had seen the same slippers in the shop in the Hyatt hotel for approx 1,500 tenge, however in the Green bazaar I got the two pairs for 2,000. Souveniers we brought home were, Christmas tree decorations of yurts, Kazakh boy and girl for our tree(one for each child) Kazakh slippers, Kaz tee-shirts for friends kids, some fridge magnets of Almaty and Kazakhstan, I got a couple of nice pieces of Kazakh solid silver jewellery which were for really good prices. Instead of nesting dolls my daughter chose nesting yurts which have given many hours of fun to her (and our son who loves to 'hide' them and then my husband or I end up searching them out!!!) One final thing we bought which I am really glad we got was a book on Kazakhstan and also a book on Almaty region, the books are in Russian/English with great pictures.

Best advice I was given from another adoptive Dad was bargain the price down in Kaz!! - the merchants get enjoyment out of it also!! (obviously use your discretion!!)

Good luck

Mary

[adoptkazakhstanblog]

Hi Dee,

If at all possible shop in your son's birth city - most likely you'll find more reasonable pricing - but if you can't - the ZUM or RAM store in Almaty are an option, along with any of the open air markets.

Some things we have and enjoy:
Traditional Kazakh Outfits - our exchange student parents sent these - our boys LOVE them We had friends who bought them there - even one for themselve and did holiday cards with this photo - really nice!

Kazakh hat - for the life of me - I can't remember the name of it at the moment!

Dream Catchers or quilts/rugs

Dolls - we bought these through kazakhconnection - once we were home

Wood carved chess board (was a little expensive - but so nice)

M&Ms in Russian

Kazakh flag blanket from Yammi Wear (once home) - our boys love these

Books that are written in Kazakh, Russian and English

Yurtas

Camels

Hope that helps some!