Night trains

I have done 7 of these and each has been the triumph of hope over experience.

Hanoi – Hue
Moscow – Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg – Irkutsk
Beijing – Xi’an
Xi’an – Lanzhou
Lanzhou – Jiaguyuan
Dunhuang – Turpan

I find the whole idea of a night train romantic and exhilarating. Maybe, it’s down to the movies that I saw in my youth but they were on flashy trains like the Orient Express. Certainly, going for the night train is exciting. Bit like the bus stations about which I wrote ages ago.

Loads of people and baggage, full of purpose like yourself. The darkness just adds to the drama. A bit of a panic at check-in and after that you sometimes wait for ages or are quickly out on the platform looking for your coach which is marked up in a foreign language. And then there are the carriage attendants, usually female and as helpful as a brick. Pretty much the same as flying really, although as ever charm will get you everywhere. No sign here of the graceful waiters with the candle lit tables that you saw in the movies.

Then to your cabin. If you are lucky, you get a lower bunk. If not you get an upper one which requires the skills of a gymnast to get into and to get down from. Beds are not especially comfortable but the ones I have been on have been reasonably clean. Then you move off and since you are leaving a city, there is a huge clatter as you move over zillions of points and this lasts for ages. So maybe you get a few hours sleep but you won’t get much.

Since all the ones I have been on were in ex-Communist countries, there is always a supply of boiling water is each coach. Buy your coffee, sugar and milk powder from the carriage lady and you are all set.The Trans Siberian even served some half decent meals.

Then there is arrival, sometimes at some ungodly hour. Whatever, for me it is always a panic to get my things together.

But, they are still magical and I would do one again tomorrow.