Five Cats Hotel

Our first impressions of Almaty were definitely positive, but our good  mood was very quickly dampened when we got to our hostel. It was not only cheap and uncomfortable looking, but unfriendly, and the man at the desk was asking us to pay triple what it said on our booking!

We decided to try and find accommodation elsewhere.

When we finally managed to find our new hostel, in a further out and much less busy part of the city, we instantly knew we would like it more here. The hostel had its own beautifully well-tended garden with outdoor areas to sit, and a great ornate door that led into the building itself. And – to top it all off – there was a little fluffy black and white kitten that looked just like a miniature version of my dear cat Tequila. It was very playful, but also shy and somewhat averse to being touched. But we quickly formed a relationship, and of course even the way this kitten acted reminded me of Tequila. I was in love.

Once we had talked to the very friendly owner of the hostel, she took us to our room, which turned out to be more of a suite. It was a little building out the back of the main hostel area that we had all to ourselves, complete with kitchen (with a washing machine) and bathroom. As we took our stuff to our incredible new home the little kitten followed us to the doorway before running away back into the garden again. Little Vodka, as I so affectionately named her, was brave as well as skittish.

It wasn’t until the next day that we met our next guest. A lovely brown Siamese looking cat, with soft blue eyes and a curious meow, decided she’d come and see if we’d give her any food, and we soon found out she wasn’t just here for food but affection as well. She was incredibly affectionate, but we didn’t really have any food for her, so we went out to the shops to get her something. When she came back again later that same day, we fed it to her. She came back again the next day, and we fed her again, and then she came into our bedroom and after a bit (but not a lot) of coaxing, she jumped up onto my mum’s bed and sprawled across her chest. My mum was ill at the time and it seemed like the cat knew it and was trying to make her feel better. Continuing with the alcohol theme (started by Happy Landings for Tequila and her mum Sherry and now spreading out across the world), we named this cat Baileys, and she became a frequent visitor to our room, coming into our bedroom and lying on mine or my mum’s chest after she’d eaten. She would grip onto us and purr loudly, truly one of the sweetest cats I’ve ever met.

I spotted Vodka a few times in the garden as well, and played with her which she loved, and I could tell she was definitely beginning to trust me. We started to feed Vodka as well which she was very happy about.

Then, one day, a new visitor appeared. A big, but cautious, ginger Tom cat who ate some of the biscuits we left out for Baileys and then quickly hurried off, and we didn’t see him again but we called him Old Peculiar. But clearly, we hadn’t had enough visitors, because then ANOTHER cat appeared in our doorway – a timid but vocal tortoiseshell cat who, although she slunk around, quickly warmed to us and was very happy to be petted and she ate all the biscuits we gave her. We decided to name her Tia Maria…she became a regular visitor.

Of course there was also another cat, another big but frightened Tom, who came in and out a few times but was too frightened to stick around, but we still decided to name him Guiness.

One time, little Vodka had felt brave enough to come all the way into our room, and we had just fed her when – oh no – Baileys came in! Baileys looked confused, and Vodka instantly became very protective of her food, growling at Baileys who was at least three times her size. And Baileys didn’t make it any easier by trying to come up and get Vodka’s food.

We shepherded Baileys into the other room in the hopes that we could let Vodka eat her food in peace, and she ate it all, both paws on the plate, clearly still not trusting that another cat wouldn’t come and take it from her. When we released Baileys, Vodka quickly left the house again, obviously not liking Baileys’ presence (and I’m sure Baileys felt the same about Vodka).

We were visited by five cats in total during our stay in the hostel in Almaty, earning our room the name ‘5 cats hotel’ by us. I will miss all the cats we met there, Baileys and Vodka in particular, and I hope they are still being fed and taken care of by the next residents of that room.