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Across Kazakhstan by rail

theguardian.com

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Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#21

Post by deanclatworthy »

All the sentimental comments here around travelling by train make me wonder if Europe is just not good at this. I did the interrail about eight years ago and some of the worst nights sleep were had on the cramped bunk cabins. Arguments over air conditioning (too cold low down, too hot up top), people staying up late when you want to sleep, bad hygiene etc.

Even the night trains to the north of Finland which are seen here as some kind of benchmark are noisy with earplugs. They stop multiple times in the night so you wake to the beeping of the doors opening and closing.

I think there’s a market for rail travel. I love the idea. But it’s just not comfortable at all, or at least not economical to travel comfortably.

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#22

Post by NackerHughes »

pachico wrote: post #20

You don't have to go to these remote places to feel the vintage-discomfort of old, smelly and unpunctual trains! Just visit Italy, where even diesel trains and optional time-tables will make your journey through art exceptional! I still remember those 2 (some times 4) daily train trips from Modena to Bologna to get to the university (yes, this is in a developed and rich region of Italy) where you had to sit in the fl…

No air conditioning? The horror!!!

It amuses me to no end how Americans seem to equate lack of air conditioning, something the human race has survived perfectly well without for tens of thousands of years, to unsanitary conditions in a third-world country or some sort of dystopian post-apocalyptic nightmare.

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#23

Post by BelenusMordred »

deanclatworthy wrote: post #21

All the sentimental comments here around travelling by train make me wonder if Europe is just not good at this. I did the interrail about eight years ago and some of the worst nights sleep were had on the cramped bunk cabins. Arguments over air conditioning (too cold low down, too hot up top), people staying up late when you want to sleep, bad hygiene etc. Even the night trains to the north of Finland which are seen…

You can pay a fraction more and get your own compartment if communal sleeping takes it toll.

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#24

Post by ImaCake »

lmm wrote: post #6

I spent a few days on the train in Kazakhstan in 2012 - went Moscow-Shymkent-Almaty-Urumqi (on my way from London to Osaka). It was striking looking out across the steppe and seeing a line of telephone poles, and then a completely empty landscape all the way to the horizon. The baths in Almaty were wonderful too. Edit: the kind of scene I'm talking about: https://www.amazon.co.jp/photos/share/8PiwLfaaWMNCyULYDTAvy1..…

I’ve seen similar scenes driving in north western australia. The immensity of the flat desert landscape is something else.

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#25

Post by pachico »

NackerHughes wrote: post #22
pachico wrote: post #20

You don't have to go to these remote places to feel the vintage-discomfort of old, smelly and unpunctual trains! Just visit Italy, where even diesel trains and optional time-tables will make your journey through art exceptional! I still remember those 2 (some times 4) daily train trips from Modena to Bologna to get to the university (yes, this is in a developed and rich region of Italy) where you had to sit in the fl…

No air conditioning? The horror!!! It amuses me to no end how Americans seem to equate lack of air conditioning, something the human race has survived perfectly well without for tens of thousands of years, to unsanitary conditions in a third-world country or some sort of dystopian post-apocalyptic nightmare.

When you are forced to sit in the floor because the train is packed and there is no room to even walk inside, when temperatures are beyond 35'C, air conditioning is not a western commodity (btw, I am not from US) but a necessity.

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#26

Post by Doctor_Fegg »

BelenusMordred wrote: post #23
deanclatworthy wrote: post #21

All the sentimental comments here around travelling by train make me wonder if Europe is just not good at this. I did the interrail about eight years ago and some of the worst nights sleep were had on the cramped bunk cabins. Arguments over air conditioning (too cold low down, too hot up top), people staying up late when you want to sleep, bad hygiene etc. Even the night trains to the north of Finland which are seen…

You can pay a fraction more and get your own compartment if communal sleeping takes it toll.

Indeed, on the British sleeper routes, you no longer have the choice to travel communally - i.e. the railway company won’t ever book you into a cabin with a stranger.

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#27

Post by cfn »

Ansil849 wrote: post #16
zhte415 wrote: post #8

A related YouTuber: https://www.youtube.com/c/baldandbankrupt He treks around former soviet countries (mainly) on his own creating commentary travellogs.

I tried watching a couple, and the guy just comes off as an insufferable douchebag. Acting like a twat and mugging for the camera. edit: having watched a couple more videos, this just reinforces my theory that the most popular youtube channels are also the most mediocre. This guy's formula is basically 'travel to $random_CIS_country; check-in to a hotel; go on a short walking tour within a few blocks of the hotel whi…

I understand where you are coming from but there are some pearls in there such as this one about the Beslan tragedy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0knAQL9WtM

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#28

Post by 88840-8855 »

deanclatworthy wrote: post #21

All the sentimental comments here around travelling by train make me wonder if Europe is just not good at this. I did the interrail about eight years ago and some of the worst nights sleep were had on the cramped bunk cabins. Arguments over air conditioning (too cold low down, too hot up top), people staying up late when you want to sleep, bad hygiene etc. Even the night trains to the north of Finland which are seen…

China's approach seems to be one of the best: bullet train soft sleeper, capsule-like design, individual windows.

https://youtu.be/DAOYz8FcDiQ

Japan has also nice sleepers, but they are not bullet trains, plus, way way more expensive, and not a mass phenomenon.

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#29

Post by bartread »

deanclatworthy wrote: post #21

All the sentimental comments here around travelling by train make me wonder if Europe is just not good at this. I did the interrail about eight years ago and some of the worst nights sleep were had on the cramped bunk cabins. Arguments over air conditioning (too cold low down, too hot up top), people staying up late when you want to sleep, bad hygiene etc. Even the night trains to the north of Finland which are seen…

> They stop multiple times in the night so you wake to the beeping of the doors opening and closing.

Triggered.

This is one of my biggest bugbears with early trains into and (particularly) late trains out of London: endless overly loud beeping and automated announcements at every single station. I'd usually like to catch up on an hour's sleep whilst I'm on the train but unless I'm completely exhausted even earplugs don't cover the din.

I get that some people have impaired vision or are hard of hearing, and therefore need affordances (which I am strongly in favour of), but is it strictly necessary for those affordances to torture the rest of us? Surely we can do better in the 21st century?

"Oh, but the announcements need to be loud because people who've fallen asleep might otherwise miss their stops." They might. I've done this (on the tube, as it happens). It was incredibly annoying and resulted in a very expensive taxi journey home, but it was also entirely my own fault and responsibility. I took it on the chin, and learned a lesson. Again, is it necessary to torture everyone so a few people avoid this every night? I'm not so sure it is.

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