“A Train to Catch”

Through engaging photos and musings, Husna Kassim documents a memoir of a debut journey of a group of over-sixties old friends travelling through Siberia and the Balkan states on the Trans Mongolian Express, the Balkan Express, and other less-exotic trains. This book is about memories they created, memories rekindled, people they met on the trains and in the cities while journeying from Beijing to Moscow (through Mongolia), St Petersburg, Tallinn, Warsaw, Budapest and Zagreb. Savouring scenic Russia and fascinating Mongolia with its wild horses grazing on the steppes and fleeting images of yurts/gers dotting the horizon; discovering cities, and seizing moments on the lens, kept the group energised throughout the entire journey. What started out as an awkward mix of characters, bound for a falling-out, resulted in a colourful travel experience of a life time, sometimes punctuated by amusing episodes of miscommunication but always pulling through in comradeship. A journey such as this, with its challenges and opportunities, allows the traveler to discover who she really is, in a way only the road brings.