The monotonous rattling of the train accompanies us by the steppe of Central Asia. The air that travels with us smells of cooked food. The exhalations of dozens of passengers. Sounds drift over to me from varied corners of the wagon: a sawing snore, children’s cries, folk music and a hyperactive radio voice.
Mendacity in my higher bunk, I seek body contact with the cooling plastic wall because of the summer heat. I'm in a twilight state between shallow sleep. Nervous glances at my mobile phone: nonetheless no reception. I'm trapped in the right here and now. It's shortly after 3am. It is the start of my virtually three-week train journey across the limitless expanses of Kazakhstan.
Above, within the mornings, borrowed bedding is neatly folded and handed over to the train crew. Proper, children play on board
Above, the railway employs about 146,000 individuals and is state owned
I boarded the night time train in the former capital, Almaty. At my aspect is Daulet, my translator. The 26-12 months-old Kazakh works for the country’s Geographic Society, and i met him on Fb only some days in the past. His phlegmatic method gives me a sense of calm. Daulet’s response to options of all kinds is: “Yes, why not? That’s how we do it.” Now he lies in his blue work jumper in the bunk throughout from mine, snoring.
Outdoors, a whistle sounds, newly arrived passengers put together their night’s lodging, and the prepare starts up once more. We fall again into our monotonous rhythm. Gradually, sleep overcomes me, regardless of all of the unfamiliar sensory stimuli.
A few weeks before, I used to be taking a look at a map of Kazakhstan and questioning how to get round this vast nation. I soon found out that the state railway company is the country’s largest employer, with 146,000 staff. However, the railway community is only 16,000km long - far less than Germany’s, though Kazakhstan is identical measurement as central Europe.
The majority of the nation consists of huge plains, sometimes merging into hills, and virtually half is covered by sand or gravel deserts. The one mountainous space is within the south-east, the place the Tian Shan mountain range runs alongside the border with China and Kyrgyzstan.
Among the country’s 48,000 or so lakes is the Aral Sea, which is now almost dried up. It is considered one of the best environmental disasters of current decades, brought on by massive-scale cultivation of cotton throughout the Soviet era
Among the country’s 48,000 lakes is the Aral Sea, which has nearly dried up. It is one in all the best environmental catastrophes of the final a long time, caused by giant-scale cotton cultivation through the Soviet era.
In the morning, I roll out of my bunk bed and climb down the ladder. A few fellow passengers are already there, eyeing me curiously. Foreigners are a rarity on Kazakh trains. On my 7,500km journey, I will meet only three western travellers. I introduce myself to the passengers with Daulet’s help. Virtually nobody speaks English right here; on this far nook of the world, Russian remains to be the lingua franca.
Mayra: ‘On a prepare journey, your ideas are completely free’
Daulet and i wander by way of the prepare and within the last carriage we meet Mayra, a 52-yr-previous woman who invites us into her compartment with an infectious snigger. Her friendly face. Spirit sweep away my tiredness. She offers us boiled meat from a plastic bag, which I gratefully decline. “Vegetarian probably, like all Europeans! ” she screeches indignant. Amused at the identical time. “You can’t even defend your self in the event you don’t eat meat. Kazakhs are born to be warriors; that’s why they eat a lot of meat!” she says and promptly challenges me to an arm-wrestling match, which I settle for but shortly admit defeat.
In Kazakhstan, meals performs an essential social position. Within the practice compartment, it is continually shared between passengers, which is considered a sign of respect and hospitality. Tupperware, cups and pots are piled up on the small tables.
High, Tupperware, cups and pots are stacked on the small tables. Meals performs an necessary social role and is shared among passengers
Exterior the home windows, the monotonous steppe passes below a milky sky. “On a practice journey, your ideas are completely free,” Mayra says, leaning again with pleasure. At the same time as a baby, she was often taken along by her dad and mom to a household reunion hundreds of kilometres away. “In the previous, there was a group between travellers. Folks shared their secrets and techniques with strangers. I began penpal relationships with some folks; some continue to at the present time. At present, most travellers lie there like mute fish, staring at their smartphones 24/7. The Kazakh railway community is state-owned. The rolling stock is usually slow Soviet trains. Every carriage is equipped with three toilets and a kitchen, together with a microwave. There is a colossal water boiler in the corridor that could make tea around the clock - or Korean noodle soups, that are very popular amongst passengers. Not less than one prepare attendant supervises every wagon.
Marat: ‘My job goes far past ticket control. Sometimes I feel like a psychologist. Over many years I have observed all different sorts of people’
We interrupt our attendant Marat while he is washing up within the kitchen. His cabin is cramped. Solely appropriate for sitting or sleeping. On the wall hangs his neatly decorated uniform, which he proudly puts on for our dialog.
“My grandmother labored as a prepare conductor. As a youngster I was generally allowed to experience alongside and watched her work with fascination,” the 63-yr-outdated says excitedly. For 30 years, the trains have been his second dwelling.
A little later, the practice pulls into a station with screeching brakes. Marat squeezes between the passengers who need to get off, opens the door and then stands proudly in front of the train. A benevolent nature is a prerequisite for this job, he says.
Top, a conductor takes a nap. Above, old Soviet locomotives and wagons still make up nearly all of the Kazakh railway fleet. Proper, a painting in the National Museum of Almaty shows the then newly built Turkestan-Siberia Railway, which connects Novosibirsk, now a part of Russia, with Almaty
“A few years in the past, an older man fell off his bunk mattress in the midst of the night and broke his hand. I bandaged his hand with cardboard, let him sleep in my cabin and accompanied him to a doctor the following morning at the primary cease. There have additionally been girls who've given birth on the journey.”
Because the outskirts of the town of Atyrau slowly glide past the windows in the early morning sunlight, the mood in the carriages is already one of departure. All passengers neatly fold their bedsheets and blanket covers and press them into the prepare attendants’ hands. The compartments are left precisely as they had been discovered.
A newly married couple are greeted off the prepare within the groom’s residence city
In Atyrau, a crowd of people has gathered across the wagon. A newly married couple is returning dwelling from celebrations. Excitedly, the waiting relations clap their fingers, and confetti flies by the air. The disembarking couple are congratulated with numerous heartfelt hugs.
Most lengthy-distance journeys start and end in the previous capital Almaty
For our journey, stopovers are fairly inconvenient - we normally rest for about 12 hours in run-down hotels near the stations earlier than boarding another train. Most cities will not be particularly engaging, with the exception of the former capital Almaty, which is extraordinarily green and surrounded by breathtakingly lovely mountain scenery. Nur-Sultan, the capital named after the recently deposed president, appears more just like the playground of a megalomaniac despot. In the midst of the desert, futuristic buildings are lined up with dilapidated prefabricated buildings. The country’s fascination lies in the many scenic highlights - which we sadly only see passing by the window.
Adylet: ‘Anyone who nonetheless mourns the Soviet Union at present is out of his thoughts!’
On the station in Aralsk, an unusual figure catches my eye. An older man with a long white beard, a gray coat and a black fur hat stands out from the remainder of the passengers on the platform. He is travelling alone with a massive suitcase that he's laboriously dragging along behind him. No sooner has the practice departed than I set off with Daulet in quest of him. We discover him in the second-to-last carriage. What occurs then surprises not only the 2 of us but in all probability the entire carriage: the man begins talking without Daulet having to ask him a query.
His statements are considerably disorganised - repeatedly, he slips in quotes from Kazakh philosophers - however by no means uninteresting. “Anyone who still mourns the Soviet Union at this time is out of his mind! There were no freedoms then; society was godless and lived below fixed brainwashing,” he says angrily. The folks on the prepare are all silent and stare at him. “When the Soviet Union was slowly crumbling, our family largely ate only bread. We only survived because our ancestors had a farm constructed up by way of years of exhausting work! Today’s Kazakhs have all of the alternatives, however all they do is complain on a regular basis. It appears that onerous work has been unlearned.”
Today’s politics should not excellent both, and the outgoing president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, still promises, as he did 25 years in the past, that one of the best times are yet to return. The temper within the onboard eating places, however, is always cheerful. Peals of laughter and the odor of soup permeate the wagon, and the serving girls deliver one bottle of vodka after one other to the exclusively male company.
The restaurant wagon is full of laughter and the smell of soup, aided by the free-flowing supply of vodka
Three burly men invite us to their table. Whereas Daulet performs the Muslim card to keep away from drinking vodka, I settle for a few glasses. Earlier than each toast, somebody has to make a want out loud. Smoked cheese. Salad are served with vodka. The three males shortly grow to be affectionate, continually eager to shake my hand - and pouring me more and more vodka. By the sixth glass, I’m shouting that we might all stay happily and healthily for ever. Daulet interprets my wish, already slightly annoyed.
On our means back to Almaty after greater than two weeks, we sit down with two older women in a compartment. Their faces present deep furrows. They move in sluggish movement however radiate internal contentment. Both put on white headscarves. On the little desk is a pack of milk and a teapot. Nubia is peeling an apple, which she, of course, provides to us immediately. Reyma sits cross-legged in her seat. Appears to be like at us curiously.
Nubia, left, and Reyma. ‘Travelling on rails is the most exciting adventure’
Then the two girls start their story. Each are ethnic Kazakhs, however till eleven years in the past, they lived in Afghanistan. “We were among the children of mother and father who had been a thorn within the side of the Soviet state. Individuals like us were put in prison camps at that time. Our dad and mom had been conscious of this and fled the country.” In Afghanistan, they grew up in Baghlan, near the Tajik border. The Kazakh neighborhood in Afghanistan right this moment nonetheless numbers a number of thousand.
Here in Kazakhstan, Reyma says, there's peace, and that is all you need at this age. Effectively, that and this train journey: “Travelling on rails is probably the most exciting journey. You'll be able to drink tea all day, meet new people and watch the steppe from the prepare window. It enlightens my interior self.”
After two and a half weeks, we arrive again in Almaty late within the night. In complete, we've got spent 225 hours on trains. Even nights later, I nonetheless feel as if I am gently rocked again and forth in my bunk bed on the prepare as we journey via the pitch darkness.
