I’ll Take the Slow Train, Thank You Very Much

Through Siberia, the railway winds gently across the landscape. Sometimes it stops inexplicably—perhaps for repairs, perhaps so the passengers can get a better look at the scenery. It probably averages thirty miles per hour. The carriages are older than we are, and they clank and clatter noisily over every mile. The Chinese high-speed trains knock out a clean 180 miles per hour with a low electric hum—and they’re always on time.

Looking out the window on a train is one of life’s greatest gifts.

But the windows are smaller on the Chinese train, and the curtains don’t open all of the way. The seats all point forward to where we are going, rather than facing one another in a cozy living room style. There doesn’t seem to be any call to talk to one’s neighbor or to just look out the window—and looking out the window on a train is one of life’s greatest gifts. The fast train is full of businesspeople, nicely dressed, young people headed somewhere important, and families on holiday. All people trying to get somewhere else as fast as possible.

Meanwhile, the slow train in Russia is filled with middle-aged women going home to visit their mothers, with an occasional foreign tourist interspersed. These two groups are much more inclined to look out the window, to want to talk to a stranger, and sometimes to make a lifelong friend.

And you’re more than welcome to join us.

Yes, the toilet on the Chinese train actually flushes instead of just opening to the track below. Yes, traveling from car to car on the Chinese train is smooth and uneventful, unlike the Russian train, where it so is perilous as to be a religious experience. Yes, yes, yes.

But for my money, I’ll take the slow train. I’ll be the one chatting with those who like to watch the Siberian forest slowly slide by. Together, we might just slip off during a long stop to see if we can find a bottle of cheap Russian wine to drink while relishing the feeling of being on the train. And you’re more than welcome to join us.