A Train To Catch

Authors: Husna Kassim
Publisher: Partridge
ISBN: 9781482864434
Weight: gsm
Pages: pp
Year: 2016
Price: RM90

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.

Having spent thirty-two years in a research environment, Husna felt it is time to set her wandering heart free to travel and pursue her passion in photographing and writing about people and journeys she makes to places less travelled. She is happiest when cycling by the beach in Terengganu.