Europe Bound - Tashkent to Moscow via train

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CENTRAL ASIA to EUROPE - (Aug 2007)

- (Sunday 19th to Wednesday 22nd August) -

So the day had finally arrived when I would start my long journey back to Europe, or to be more exact Moscow. Over 70 hours, including three nights, on a train all the way from Tashkent in Central Asia to Moscow in Eastern Europe. For the next few days I would be stuck on a train, travelling alone, and I didn’t really know what to expect.

I’d nearly had a last minute change of plan and had been weighing up the possibility of travelling back to Europe via the Caucasus’ (Azabazan and Georgia) and into Turkey and from there into Western Europe and back to England. However, to do the region justice, I would probably have had to extend my trip by too much so I eventually decided against it and to stick to my original plan.

I’d never been to Russia before and was looking forward to it albeit with a bit of trepidation. As with the rest of the former Soviet Union countries I had already visited, I had heard stories of corrupt border guards and police who would take every opportunity to make life difficult for you, all of which were contributing to my doubts about whether I was doing the right thing. However, I always had these initial worries when entering a new country on my own for the first time anywhere I went, and so I knew that these feeling would pass as soon as I got to Moscow.

The Sunday morning was spent preparing for the trip. Buying some dried food and water for the journey. It was Ali’s (the owner of the guesthouse where I was staying in Tashkent) wife’s birthday that day and he had invited me to have some food and drinks that afternoon along with anyone else who was about in the guesthouse. However, I didn’t feel in the mood and certainly didn’t want to get drawn into one of Ali’s inevitable 'Vodka-Beer’ drinking sessions, so I made some excuse that I had too much preparation to do before my journey, although at the same time adding that I would try to be around if I could.

After I had managed to get all the food and drinks that I could reasonably carry, I spent the rest of the afternoon in the internet café killing time and not really doing much. When I arrived back at the guesthouse, the party had already finished and Ali had gone for his usual afternoon sleep. Unfortunately when it was time to leave and get the taxi to the train station, Ali was still asleep. I felt a bit guilty at the time about not saying goodbye properly after all of Ali’s hospitality. However, I’m sure that Ali wouldn’t have given it a minutes thought as there were always plenty of people passing through the guest house, and in reality I was just another ‘face’ momentarily passing through.

The train was due to depart at 6pm so I got to the station around 5pm to give myself enough time to find my carriage and to settle in before the train departed. When I arrived, the platform was already a hive of activity with people looking for their compartments and people saying their farewells to loved ones and buying last minute supplies.

I quickly found my compartment together with my designated bed and began to settle down. Lots of people were milling around the carriage but my compartment was initially empty before it began to fill up the nearer it got to departure time. The compartment had a total of 6 beds inside but as it got closer to departure time there were still more people sitting in the compartment than beds which was a bit worrying for a while until it became evident that most of the people were just there to see people off.

My travelling companions at this stage (they were to change throughout the journey) were a mixture of families and young 20 something’s. Only one woman who had lived in America for a short while spoke any English at all and unfortunately as it turned out, she was only travelling the short distance to the other side of the Uzbek/ Kazak border and would soon be gone.

An announcement was made shortly before the train departed which prompted a minor panic as people who weren’t travelling rushed to get off the train while people who were travelling rushed to get on and bags were quickly thrown and pushed onto the train through doors and windows. The train set off more or less on time and started travelling extremely slowly towards the Uzbek/ Kazak border. Although the border is only around 15- 20km away from Tashkent, the journey to the border took around 2 ½ hours.

It had been light when we set off from Tashkent but by the time we arrived at the border it was dark. As I had come to expect when reading the LP Thorntree Travel Thorum, I had read all sorts of stories about the border guards wanting bribes and even clearing carriages of local people just to take money from the lone ‘Westerner’. As a consequence, I wasn’t looking forward to the any of the border crossings on this journey, particularly the Uzbek/ Kazak border crossing. However, as I had generally found in Central Asia, contrary to all the traveller’s tales crossing the border ended up being a none event with not a sniff of anything untoward. And there were even some very friendly guards who tried their pigeon English out on me and wished me a pleasant journey!

After crossing the border, some of my nerves and trepidation disappeared and I could now relax and settle down. Unfortunately the only person in the compartment who could speak any English at all got off shortly after crossing the border and the rest of the evening was very quiet. I was in the middle bunk and I just spent the time lying on my bunk reading before dropping off to sleep.

I woke up fairly early the next morning once the sun had started to come up. There wasn’t a lot to do so there was no hurry to get up other than wanting to visit the bathroom which was basic but relatively clean in your usual Chinese/ Russian train type of fashion.

The previous day when we had initially set off from Tashkent we had passed through green/ yellowing fields on the way to the border until it got dark and I couldn’t see anything. Now, after waking, the scenery was gradually turning into desert the deeper we got into Kazakhstan.

There was not a lot to do on the train apart from look out of the window and watch the scenery go by or lie on my bed and read. The conversations I had were few and far between as no one in my carriage appeared to speak any English at all. When I did manage to engage in any conversation, the conversation mainly consisted of the same limited phases such as "what is your name", "where do you come from"’, - and then there was silence - and that was about the extent of the English anyone know. And as I couldn’t speak any Russian or Kazak, that unfortunately was it and it all became a bit tedious after a while. I must admit that despite all the travelling I’ve done, I’m not initially the most outwardly friendly and the most easy person to engage in conversation with until I know someone, so I probably didn’t help matters too much myself.

We would occasionally stop for a short while at stations which gave people the opportunity to get off the train for a bit and stretch their legs. However, I didn’t venture far as I didn’t know how long we were stopping for and not wanting to miss the train, I would just wonder along the platform for a short distance in the sun never venturing more than a few meters away from the train.

My first full day on the train was mainly spent either reading on my bed or staring out of the window watching the scenery go by with the occasional very short limited conversation with someone. My travelling companions seemed to change on a regular basis as people got off the train and others got on.

The Kazakhstan desert and steppe seemed to go on forever with an endless flat barren landscape all around as far as the eye could see. We would occasionally pass through a small village but there didn’t seem to be too much out there although we would occasionally see a group of camels by the side of the railway track, but not much else.

In the evening, the sun setting over the desert was spectacular as only a sun setting over a desert can be with the sky turning various shades of red and orange over the course of the sunset before suddenly dropping from the horizon after which it quickly all became dark.

Conversation in the compartment was still limited and I was glad that I had a good book to read.

On waking the following morning, the scenery was slowly turning from desert to green fields the closer we got to Russia. Soon after I woke, the train came to a stop and it was the start of the Kazak/ Russian border crossing. Our first visit was from the Kazak border guards checking for the illegal export of goods and stamping people out of the country. After they had finished, the train began to move slowly for a short distance before stopping again at the Russian border stop.

Dogs bounded onto the train sniffing around everywhere followed by border guards slowly moving through the carriages checking people’s passports and visas, questioning people, and occasionally asking people to open their luggage.

Everyone on the train was sat in their compartments, very quiet, waiting for the border guards to come. It is at these moments that I tend to get quite tense and all the stories of corrupt border guards come flooding back. My compartment was in the middle of the carriage so it took quite a while for the guards to get to us.

Once they got to our compartment, everyone was very quiet and no one spoke. The guards took everyone’s passport one by one, examined them, before stamping them, occasionally asking questions and pointing to luggage. Once it was my turn I handed my passport over and the guard began examining it, flicking through looking for the visa.

After a short while the guard looked up at me and with perfect English said “YOU ARE A LONG WAY FROM HOME, IS THIS YOUR FIRST TIME IN RUSSIA?” I had been expecting to be quizzed about why I was in Russia and why I had a Business Visa instead of a Tourist Visa. And also about who I was seeing in the course of my ‘Business’ visit, questions which I had prepared for but which I would still have struggled to answer, especially if I started to get a bit nervous - I’m not a very good liar, especially in these situations!

But fortunately this didn’t happen, and after telling the guard that it was indeed my first visit to Russia, he returned to examining my passport. After a tense minute or so he suddenly stamped my passport, clicked his heals in true army tradition and barked "WELCOME TO RUSSIA" while a small smirk broke out across his face! And that was it, 10 minutes later we were on our way again. I felt a palpable sense of relief that the border crossing had been so straight forward with not the slightest hint of any trouble.

The train carried on towards Moscow, the desert long gone and the scenery now turning more European like with the train passing through green fields and forests and small villages. People again came and went thoughout the day and the people in my carriage started to get a bit younger and conversation was slightly easier, although still not flowing or too frequent.

The previous night a girl in her early 20’s had got on the train and had a ticket for my compartment. This morning, shortly after crossing the border into Russia we were joined in the compartment by a Russian guy of a similar age to the girl. I’m sure they didn’t know each other before getting on the train - but they soon began to get on very well! In fact too well, and after a couple of hours they seemed to spend most of the rest of the journey to Moscow together on the top bunk - I didn’t know where to put myself!

The day was again mainly spent reading on my bunk or outside in the carriage when the two ‘lovebirds’ got too much for me. The day (the second full day on the train) dragged and it was a relief when night fall fell and the lights were turned out and everyone went to sleep.

The next day, my third full day on the train, was spent expectantly looking forward to arriving in Moscow, although with the usual apprehension that I always have when arriving in a new country. The train began to fill up the closer we got to Moscow and the scenery had now certainly turned very much European like. The train passed through lots of villages and towns where plenty of allotments bordered onto the train track and you could see people tending to their gardens and allotments. The buildings that could now be seen from the train in the various towns and villages that we passed through ranged from the usual drab old Soviet concrete tower blocks through to the traditional Russian wooden buildings. However, as we passed closer to Moscow, the drab concrete tower blocks became more frequent.

By early afternoon we were passing through the outskirts of Moscow and the next Chapter of my trip was about to begin!

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