KZBlog

And now for the lighter side of the news: The Olympic Torch will pass through Almaty on 2 April on its way out from Beijing to Istanbul. I wasn’t aware that the torch starts its trip in the host country (after being lit in Greece at Olympia of course) , in this case China, and then travels around the world and back.

The torch was lit on 24 March and is currently in Greece.

According to local news, the torch will be run through the main streets of Almaty before being put on a plane to Istanbul. You can check out the the relay schedule and get photos and video of the torch at each stop. The official Olympic relay page for Almaty: City of Apples has facts, photos and history of Kazakhstan and the city itself.

Already the city is decorated with billboards featuring Kazakhstan’s Olympic athletes (and if I could find the cord that attaches my cellphone to my computer I’d have some of them up here!) and a clock counting down the days to the torch relay in front of KBTU.

Kazakhstan expects to get 10 medals this year and the government will pay $250 000 to each gold medal winner.

Unfortunately I won’t be able to be in Almaty for the relay so I am counting on local bloggers to recount the event for us. Leave me links in the comments, please!