This a view south from "Kok Tube" hill - taken about 150 from where the first photo in the next row was taken and, obviously, looking in a different direction. Reminds one of pictures of Switzerland. The "hill" is really the end of a ridge that descends from the mountains to a point essentially within "downtown" Almaty.

The buildings are private "dachas" or "summer houses". There is no road to them but the walk is only a few hundred yards. Dachas are popular as either a place to spend the weekend, or to grow fruits and vegetables - these probably do not have much in the way of gardens. Many people in many parts of the former USSR had summer houses and/or garden plots, often many miles from their principal residence.