Rooting

Some information on the origin of the apple:

• Apple is the fruit (pome) of the genus Malus belonging to the family Rosaceae, and is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits.
• Table apples are of the species M. domestica or hybrids of it.
• The wild ancestor of Malus domestica is Malus sieversii (which has no common name), a tree still found wild in the Tian Shan mountains of central Asia in southern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Xinjiang Province, China. M. sieversii resists many diseases and pests that affect domestic apples, and research with it to develop new disease-resistant apples is continuing.
• Almaty means "Father of Apples". Alamty (Алматы; formerly known as Alma-Ata) is a city in Kazakhstan, with a population of 1,168,000.

So far, I've been three times to this area:

• 9.-31.7.1988
  "Marx & Muhammad", a journey from Moscow to Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
• 13.-28.7.1998
  Trekking from Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan through the Tian Shan Mountains.
• 2.-17.8.2001
  2nd Trekking from Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan through the Tian Shan Mountains with some days around the Ysyk-Köl ans Song-Köl Lakes.

Riding a Kazakhien Ibex