Another view from the 7th floor - this one toward the northwest, looking out over the steppe.

Almaty is along the southern edge of the central Eurasian steppe. The steppe is an immense grassland that covers most of Central Asia, from the western edge of China to Ukraine and Romania. The terrain is essentially flat from Almaty to the Baltic Sea (St. Petersburg) and the Arctic Ocean and into southern Siberia, east of the Ural Mountains. Much of the steppe in Kazakhstan is very dry, fading into desert in the western part of the country. The part just north and west of Almaty is farmed, using many miles of irrigation canals.