Across Kazakhstan by rail

#1

Post by sleepyshift » Fri, Oct 22, 2021, 8:23 AM UTC

Across Kazakhstan by rail
theguardian.com

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#2

Post by walrus01 » Mon, Oct 25, 2021, 1:59 AM UTC

railway system map: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Railway_Map_of_Kazak...

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#3

Post by davidw » Mon, Oct 25, 2021, 2:07 AM UTC

Reminds me a bit of a friend who took surface transportation from Vietnam all the way to where we lived in Padova, Italy at the time. Busses to China, then the trans-Siberian train, then various trains to Europe and down to Italy.

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#4

Post by w1ntermute » Mon, Oct 25, 2021, 2:27 AM UTC

Reminds me of this great travel blog from 2008: http://vienna-pyongyang.blogspot.com/

The writer traveled from Vienna to Pyongyang by train, giving him 36 unsupervised hours in North Korea.

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#5

Post by dustintrex » Mon, Oct 25, 2021, 2:40 AM UTC

More train travel: https://driftingclouds.net/2018/07/04/from-siberia-to-tibet-...

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#6

Post by lmm » Mon, Oct 25, 2021, 2:47 AM UTC

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...

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#7

Post by baybal2 » Mon, Oct 25, 2021, 3:06 AM UTC

My late father used to ride K3, and K4 Beijing-Moscow train very often in early nineties, when Russia had visa free travel with China.

That's where he made his first money. The train was called "Bazaar on wheels" back then. Amazingly, kids were usually just waved off at immigration at the time.

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#8

Post by zhte415 » Mon, Oct 25, 2021, 3:07 AM UTC

A related YouTuber: https://www.youtube.com/c/baldandbankrupt

He treks around former soviet countries (mainly) on his own creating commentary travellogs.

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#9

Post by extr » Mon, Oct 25, 2021, 3:19 AM UTC

w1ntermute wrote: post #4

Reminds me of this great travel blog from 2008: http://vienna-pyongyang.blogspot.com/ The writer traveled from Vienna to Pyongyang by train, giving him 36 unsupervised hours in North Korea.

Cool link, thanks. Love reading stuff like this, it reminded me a lot of that forum thread of the couple traveling through the DRC.

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#10

Post by hardwaregeek » Mon, Oct 25, 2021, 4:08 AM UTC

There's something so beautifully romantic about trains. Perhaps that's why filmmakers love them. I can't help but think of the characters in Days of Heaven, migrating across the Texas Panhandle for work and a new life. Or the wonderful opening scene of Clouds of Sils Maria, with Kristen Stewart ducking and weaving, the barrier between Juliette Binoche and the frenzied celebrity culture of the outside world. Or the scene in Pather Panchali where the young kids encounter a train for the first time and you understand that they haven't just seen a train, but indeed they've gotten a glimpse at modernity, at a brave new world that they don't understand, but will come to encompass them.

Everybody loves their road films but I think trains are the ultimate film vehicle.