Lykke and Jesper in Kazakhstan, 1994

Almaty was a very popular tourist destination for our closest friends and relatives in 1994. Of course we loved to show off this amazing corner of the world, where I spent some of the happiest months of my life. Here, in Elizabeth's kitchen, we see Else, Jens, Kirsten, Anders, Jesper and Lykke.
Here are the same people joined by Anders Hedeager, who was working in Tashkent that year. We are enjoying a beer or two at the Restaurant at Chimbulak in the mountains near Almaty. One of our favourite places. There were not many restaurants, bars, and shops to choose from when we first arrived, but after a year of reorganization towards a market economy, new establishments were popping up every week. By the beginning of the year, we had to search all the small street kiosks to find essentials like toothpaste, shampoo, and wine. By the end of the year there were several well-stocked supermarkets.
The local currency in Kazakhstan is Tengi, and they take up a lot of space in your wallet. Here my father just won a big bunch from Jens Lindholt in a poker game.
Thomas and Natasha also made the long trip to visit us in Almaty. Here they are sitting on the wall just before the guarded entrance to the wonderful mountain resort, Chimbulak, where only certain people were allowed to enter. We usually got through because our border license plates from Denmark looked like diplomatic plates. When that didn't work, we could always bribe our way through.
The mountain range between Almaty and China is called the Tien Shen mountains. It is an arm of the Himalayas and the area is excellent for hiking. Here is Natasha, Thomas, Kirsten, and Anders enjoying the beautiful surroundings and the nice weather.
One of our favourite weekend activities was to go picnicking in the mountains around Almaty. Here we found a good spot together with Alan and Mayra. The lamb skin indicates that someone had used the spot for picnicking before us.

We were a very close, but rapidly expanding group of expatriates in Almaty in 1994. We had Sunday Dinners together every Sunday and, in addition, there were lots of parties. Tracy held an excellent Halloween Party, and here we see two newcomers plus Rashid and Tracy in the back row, and Jesper, Maria, Terese, and Lykke in the front. And here is Anna Claudia, Maria, and Jesper at the same party.
Alan Delp started a great tradition of Tuesday night dart evenings at KIMEP. It was very popular, and it made Tuesday my favourite day of the week in Almaty. In addition, he organized a bigger dart tournament in October, and here we see the happy winners from Kazakhstan together with the equally happy losers from Denmark.
Angie borrowed a nice cottage from Ernst & Young, where we celebrated Thanksgiving with a relaxing weekend of cooking, eating, dart playing, and video watching. Here is Ian, Rashid, Anders, Angie, Maria, and Lykke waiting for the shashlik, that is being prepared in the background.