We had a “working” morning today, where Nick and I plan things on the computer and Millie gets to watch some TV. We booked some China things and got more solid on where we’ll be through the end of November.

At lunchtime we got ready and dragged ourselves out of the apartment for some lunch. On our way Millie saw a playground she wanted to stop at. Then Nick was too cold so he walked back to get a jacket. Then Millie wanted to use the bathroom so we walked back too. It took us about an hour to finally be on our way.

As we walked we could feel the first chill of Autumn in the air. I could feel in my bones how freezing it must get here in the winter. Almaty has had a smokey smell in the air since we arrived. It smells like a distant wildfire, with a bit of burning plastic layered in. I figured it was something nearby but we smelled it at the museum yesterday, and it didn’t get better after last night’s torrential rains. I finally googled it and learned that Almaty has the second worst air quality in the world. I wasn’t sure if it was cloudy today or just polluted.

We stopped for lunch at Tagam, which is another cafeteria-style restaurant like we went to in Riga. I like these as an opportunity to see something before eating it, and to try a bunch of local specialties. Then again I get overwhelmed by buffets and never manage to get a good mix of things.

After lunch we had planned to head for the mountains to take the cable car to the top, but Millie begged us not to. She usually doesn’t have much agency on this trip since we’re always deciding on the activities, and today we decided to listen to her and let her talk us out of it. So instead we just walked around the pedestrian area of town. She stopped and played for a whole, and we went into a MINISO store to buy what they were selling: shit we don’t need. She got new markers, some jewel stickers, a bath bomb, and modeling clay.

We walked around a bit more and went to a fancy grocery store. In the milk section they sold both horse and camel milk.

Then we came home and followed Millie’s lead. We made some art with the modeling clay. We drew. We made “inventions”. And I took her down to the playground to get some energy out.

We were still full from lunch and didn’t feel like leaving, so we skipped dinner. She’s already watched so much tv today, why stop now? So we watched My Neighbor Totoro as a family, ran her a bath, let her loose with the bath bomb, and then put her to sleep very early.

Tomorrow we have a red eye to China. We are dreading it. So hopefully the early night sets us up for success.