All aboard, the NIGHT train!

James Brown: a night train

We took the 'Turan Express' night train down to Almaty. Far from express, this 19 hour journey is for people who aren't in a hurry; this includes us as we were taking a few days off. Three of us travelled, and the cabins hold four persons, so excitement grew as the time came close and we wondered who our mystery fourth travelmate would be.

There is a faster train, and indeed one with a toilet that's not super rank, but we took this train to 'enjoy the scenery', i.e. save some money, but also we heard that it's a great experience: that we'll make new friends who offer us food and ply us with vodka which it's impolite to refuse. Real lonely planet stuff.

Doug Lazenby: a crossword

We brought vodka and all sorts of home made food for the adventure. Our cabinmate turned out to be a lovely Kazakh man who before long had given us a pot of delicious natural honey. He was on his way to Mecca, making hajj; hence the vodkathon didn't materialise!

Many people from around here are puzzled by our desire to take the train, so let's hover on that for a moment. Firstly, the steppe is actually interesting the first few times you see it.

Stove: this is no Pendolino

More importantly trains are a pleasure to be onboard anyway: plenty of space and time to do crosswords (above right). This particular train had coal fired heating on each carriage (left), and there was a tap dispensing hot water to make tea whenever you wish. Rad!

Forget being stuck in a car; forget losing your luggage after check-in, your dignity after security, and your health after sitting in a sealed tube with 100 other people's exhaust for hours. Consign coaches to the past - a primtive form of torture. It's all about the train, the night train. They rock you to sleep, they arrive in the centre of town, and they save you the cost of a night's accommodation. Three cheers for night trains.

Keywords: steppe, puddle, industry

For the return journey we got the 'Ispanski' (Spanish train), which takes a mere 12 hours. This functional machine, faster, more efficient, with plastic walls and an airline style toilet, does everything you'd wish but without the soul (or the space) that the mis-named express train offers. However, with a clean toilet, it was a happy medium. This time we did meet someone keen to polish off multiple bottles of Russian water; some of us - I won't name Doug's name - were plenty keen to join in.

All in all, some very happy travelling experiences. 

Left: strange friend; right: friendly stranger Ispanksi: functional