A PLASTIC SURGEON'S RANDOM BRAIN WAVES: THE TRANS-SIBERIAN

With a wide array of trains and the largest railway network in the world, running across the length and breadth of the country, Indian Railways offer a pick for all budgets and preferences. From the most luxurious trains like Palace on Wheels to cheap trains running regionally – Indian Railways offers the most appropriate amalgamation of speed, comfort, proficiency and cost-efficiency. Air travel is fast and a road trip can be fun, but nothing can beat the excitement and entertainment of a train trip in India. No wonder, I am addicted to trains.

There's no better way to see the world than from inside a train carriage. The scenery goes by out the window, sometimes slowly, sometime lightning fast, and you sit there ensconced in your carriage, this little microcosm of society, this moving diorama of commuters and tourists from every conceivable walk of life. It is an opportunity to befriend strangers, learn about new cultures and experience a new way of life.

Trains in India, whether in North Bengal or in the Konkan coast or in Himanchal and Kashmir are some of the greatest tourism experiences on Earth. Trains in Japan are attractions in themselves. Trains in Canada – Canada coast to coast or Ultimate Canadian Rockies from Vancouver to Jasper pass through picture postcard like wonderland that are simply divine. Trains in Europe are fast and comfortable and the ideal alternative to flying. Most trains in China and Russia are public, working services, which will be filled with local commuters. There are also several luxurious private trains, which come at a far greater cost and offer many more of the creature comforts.

In this world where carbon emissions are having such an obvious effect on global well-being, and where we've all fallen into the habit of trying to move too fast and do too much, train travel is the antidote. Trains are running on electricity or Hydrogen and steam and diesel locomotives are slowly being phased out. This makes train travel greenest and best.

Travellers used to be able to get from Singapore to London by rail (with a few bus journeys to connect the dots), travelling through Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, into China, along the Trans-Mongolian and into the wider European rail network. You didn't have to be particularly intrepid or fearless to tackle that great journey – it was a well-trodden path.

The Trans-Siberian (Moscow to Vladivostok), the Trans-Mongolian (Moscow to Beijing, via Ulan Baator) and the Trans-Manchurian (Moscow to Beijing, via Harbin) all provide incredible experiences for travellers, whether you're travelling via the cheapest six-berth sleepers on regular commuter trains, or the fanciest first-class cabins on purpose-built tourist trains.

The Trans-Siberian Railway took 13 years to build. Passing through Ural Mountains, it extends on the coniferous forest of Siberia and ends in the far eastern port city. With a total distance of 9259 kilometers (5753 miles), it departs from Moscow Yaroslavsky train station, running through Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Chita, Khabarovsk (Boli) and finally reaches Vladivostok Pacific Terminus. It crosses eight time zones, three regions and countries, as well as an autonomous region of the Russian Federation. It takes about 7 days (166 hours, to be exact)to finish the whole journey. Starting from prosperous Moscow in inland Europe, travelling through wild and primitive Siberia and reaching coastal Vladivostok in Asia, these are bound to be the best seven days of your life! And guess what – Vladivostok is just a ferry ride away from Japan !

There's no experience in the world quite like chugging your way through Siberia, watching as the Earth unfolds before you, seeing in real time the way things change, the way houses change, the way food changes, the way people change. You have to draw a distinction between cruise trains, that are really aimed at tourists and often cost a lot of money, and the Trans-Siberian, which is a real working railway. You travel in four-berth second-class sleepers, or first-class two-birth sleepers, there are no suites, the best you'll get is a shower at the end of the corridor. There's a restaurant car attached that serves decent food, very affordable, but there are no lounges, there are no pianos, there are no bars. It's not a deluxe tourist experience.

The cabin

The plus side of it being a real train for real people though: first, it's affordable, you can get from Moscow to Vladivostok for a fraction of the airfare; and secondly, you get to meet some of the locals on these trains. You become a participant rather than a spectator. It will take you straight out of your comfort zone. I couldn't speak the language; I couldn't communicate with people unless we used an app. It was a really good instant exposure to the way in which Russian people do things, from the way they eat, the way they drink, the kind of conversations they have with people, the stuff they find interesting about you. There's this constant rotation of residents in your compartment, which is one of the most fun things about this journey.

A modest dining car

The Trans-Siberian train certainly does not offer too many creature comforts: primitive heating (coal fire), bunk beds, pelmeni, and borscht for food and a lack of showers make for a certain kind of charm that doesn’t appeal to everyone. The lack of internet connectivity and limited facilities for charging your phone are blessings because you are forced to disconnect from your devices. On the plus side there are some Russian champagne, along with snatches of conversations, interspersed with cat naps every now and then. It is getting back to basics in the best possible way.

You can stop along the way and see the Gobi Desert, wander the endless Mongolian Steppe, visit Lake Baikal, call through Novosibirsk on the edge of Siberia, see where Europe becomes Asia in Yekaterinburg. You can share vodka shots with Russian commuters, buy smoked fish from platform vendors, play cards with fellow travellers.

A long halt

What's incredible about the Trans-Siberian is that people outside Russia have got this image of it as an isolated Russian curiosity, winding single-track with one train a month that goes from Moscow to somewhere called Vladivostok. . Actually it is a double-track electrified railway, just one part of the massive Russian rail network, and you can use it to travel by train from London, Paris or Berlin, through Moscow, not just to Vladivostok but Beijing, and through Beijing to Hong Kong and Shanghai and even Hanoi in Vietnam.

The old cliché of travel – "it's the journey, not the destination" – has never been truer than it is on these famous routes. Moscow is amazing, Beijing incredible. Vladivostok, to a lesser extent, is also interesting. However, the time spent aboard these trains, rattling through Siberia and across the Mongolia Steppe, meeting locals, eating local food, taking in culture on board while watching the world change through the window, is truly something else.

If I had just got to Moscow and flown to Vladivostok, I would have felt like we were in two different worlds, but actually seeing that gradation of change between Moscow and the port city, not just in the landscape, but in the food we were eating, you could see how the cuisine was changing really slowly, the flavours were different . You could appreciate how things changed very gradually, and that idea that we're very different from one country to the next is actually not true.

A station where we did not stop

Even in the way people looked, their facial features, you're starting off with blonde and blue-eyed, and at the other end people have got black hair and dark eyes, but in between you had everything. You could see how that slow filter of change happens. And in an odd way, despite feeling very displaced a lot of the time on board, I had a much better sense of space by the end, and I was so aware of that distance and what it felt like. And at the same time, you actually see how close we all are. The Mongols, the Chinese and people from Russia bordering these countries had the unmistakable resemblance with our North Eastern countrymen.

Trans-Siberian Railway is considered as an important part of “Eurasia Land Bridge”, making great contributions to the economy and safety of Russia, even Europe and Asia. A word of caution - foreigners who spend more than three days in any Russian city have to register with the authorities. This isn't expensive, but it's a major headache if you don't speak Russian — unless there's a city you want to explore deeply, plan your stops so they last less than three days, or at least ask your hotel if they'll do it for you. You can travel on the Trans-Siberian all year round. Naturally, the summer months from May to September have the best weather and the longest daylight hours so are the most popular. Most tourists travel the east bound train and fly back from Vladivostok. Tickets cost 14398 Rubble for Platzkart (Third Class), 20952 Rubble for 4-berth coupe and 48055 Rubble for the First Class and you can book online 45 to 60 days in advance. In winter the tickets are cheaper.