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Across Kazakhstan by rail

theguardian.com

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Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#31

Post by go_elmo »

bartread wrote: post #29
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 d…

This. Recently took the TGV. When no automated greeting was playing after each stop it was some broken speaker from the cabin crew, truly horrible without noise cancelling headphones & decent volume music.

Also needing over 2h to book a ticket as things are made extra complicated to accomodate each parties interests in international train lines as well as the systems which are just horrible to use.

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#32

Post by malermeister »

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 think your impression is right - there's some indications that guy might be at the very least have questionable morals, or might even be a straight up sexual predator - https://old.reddit.com/r/BaldAndBaldrDossier/comments/judnlm...

tl;dr internet sleuths have connected him to a since deleted account on a "pick up artist" forum where that person has bragged about going to Eastern Europe to find desperate women to have sex with, using very questionable methods

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#33

Post by xioxox »

Kazakhstan is an interesting place. The huge open landscapes are completely different to what I've experienced in Europe. There are seemingly endless rail tracks and telegraph poles.

I've been to Baikonur to see a proton rocket launch from there, which is not typical Kazakhstan, but a little bit of Russia in the middle of Kazakhstan. Unfortunately the launch was delayed, but I did get to see the rocket itself.

I put some photos here (https://photos.app.goo.gl/W8tkAdjkeZsP3Sqh6), but this includes some of the Energia control centre and a space museum. I do have some better photos on my camera, but I still need to process them...

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#34

Post by dominotw »

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…

> check-in to a hotel; go on a short walking tour within a few blocks of the hotel while acting like an asshat; the end.' And this gets millions of views and subscribers.

he lived in india for couple of years and learnt passable hindi.

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#35

Post by rantingdemon »

xioxox wrote: post #33

Kazakhstan is an interesting place. The huge open landscapes are completely different to what I've experienced in Europe. There are seemingly endless rail tracks and telegraph poles. I've been to Baikonur to see a proton rocket launch from there, which is not typical Kazakhstan, but a little bit of Russia in the middle of Kazakhstan. Unfortunately the launch was delayed, but I did get to see the rocket itself. I put…

Great photos!

I see there seems to be a stairway to go into the Buran rocket. Can you go inside and have a look?

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#36

Post by jakub_g »

Semi-related: I've been to Uzbekistan before pandemic with friends. It was very fun. Country is modernizing fast but has some remnants of the old era, which make a fun mix. Very nice people; at the same time, the controls on rail stations are airport-like, with x-raying people and the baggage, triple checking the tickets etc (but it seems mostly pro-forma).

What was surprising is that they have very modern high-speed trains, and super new train stations (most of them built just a few years ago). The country is huge but very well connected by train (and air; we first flew to the far west, and then came back east by train and visited a few cities along the road).

For one of the trains we bought regular tickets, but the ticket inspector friendly insisted on us to get an upgrade to the "lux" class :) (probably the regular class was busy), which was a good decision; the upgrade was absurdly cheap, and worth it (4-people compartments, very spacious and comfortable) due to the length of travel (several hours).

Another fun story: in another train we've been in an "open space" w/o compartments; it had TVs on the room which first played Michael Jackson concert, and the some TV series :)

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#37

Post by xioxox »

rantingdemon wrote: post #35
xioxox wrote: post #33

Kazakhstan is an interesting place. The huge open landscapes are completely different to what I've experienced in Europe. There are seemingly endless rail tracks and telegraph poles. I've been to Baikonur to see a proton rocket launch from there, which is not typical Kazakhstan, but a little bit of Russia in the middle of Kazakhstan. Unfortunately the launch was delayed, but I did get to see the rocket itself. I put…

Great photos! I see there seems to be a stairway to go into the Buran rocket. Can you go inside and have a look?

Yes, but I think it's a mock-up and not a real Buran. It was mostly empty inside (and dark!). They showed us the hanger which partially collapsed and damaged the Buran inside, as we were being driven along.

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#38

Post by agent327 »

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…

That's one way to look at it, I suppose. What I see is someone who travels around a country that is unfamiliar and inaccessible, and who focuses on showing us what life is like there. And that may not be incredibly spectacular, but I admit to greatly enjoying seeing such a unique and unfamiliar part of the world and the people that live there. I could travel there myself (and I have), but I don't speak Russian so I could never make the connections he makes and hear the stories he hears.

Is he rude? Well, he is certainly much more extraverted than I could ever be, and I suppose he crosses the line at times, but he talks to real people about their real life, rather than putting up a bit of a tourist show with only highlights. I find it fascinating, just like I find "yeah Russia" (youtube channel) fascinating.

I do wonder how his Ethiopian adventure ended though. I'm sure there's a story there...

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#40

Post by lmm »

88840-8855 wrote: post #28
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.

There's one (and a half) last scheduled sleeper train in Japan (as distinct from luxury cruise trains), the Sunrise Izumo / Sunrise Seto, which has fairly reasonable prices, although as you say it's a conventional train and much slower than the Shinkansen.
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