Background Reading

NEW JERSEY, USA

Much of what I know about train-ing it across the "Silk Road" came from here, one of the best travel websites--or freebies of any kind--there is:

http://www.seat61.com/SilkRoute.htm

For a description of Chinese trains in general, and "hard sleeper" in particular, click here:

http://www.seat61.com/China.htm

You can also get a sense of how much cozier Russian trains are, especially in 2nd class, aka "soft sleeper," to which I succumb on voyages much longer than 24 hours:

http://www.seat61.com/Russia.htm