Trans-Asian Express

A Project from 2013 Remembered.

On my way to Beirut, I remembered this project that was never completed. Anyone interested in riding the Trans-Asian Express with me?

Old train station in Mar Mikhael, Beirut

In 2013, sitting along the Mediterranean Sea, I had a dream of a high-speed train that would leave Beirut and travel to Beijing. I wanted to board this train at an old-world station near the old Green Line that divided East and West Beirut during the Civil War and cut across the entire continent of Asia to the north-eastern capital city of China, Beijing. It was a dream fashioned during a period of war in Syria, tensions over Iran, war in Afghanistan, and uncertainty in the Central Asia states. Blood and despair defined this belt of Asia; I wanted to imagine that the Trans-Asian Express would cut through the pain and bring people together.

In 2013, when I was dreaming of this train in the hills above Beirut.

For fun, I mentioned the project to Tania el-Khoury of the Dictaphone Group, a superb art project that would take such crazy ideas and make them a live event. She was interested in the idea, but we never developed it. But the idea remains with me, as high-speed trains become a reality in Asia and the possibility of such a real train comes closer into life. The show that we would have done together would have been a magical expedition with videos and music, skits and dance through the train’s journey. And I hoped that Tania Saleh, the singer and artist, would somehow conjure the music for a live show that would become a concept album for her, with musical traditions from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Central Asia, and China – drawing the musical styles from the train’s journey (she later designed the cover for my book, The Death of the Nation and the Future of the Arab Revolution). Then, meanwhile, I wanted to work with chefs from across the region to design the fantasy meals that would be available on this train as it rambled across the splendid terrain of Asia. The recipes for the Trans-Asian Express would be given to everyone who came for the show in a small booklet.

The Trans-Asian Express would be a live show, a booklet, a train schedule, a classic style train schedule with menu cards to go along with the cultures and terrain, and a musical odyssey that goes along with the cultural map. It would be about trains and freedom, the possibilities of connection and conviviality.

Here’s a little taste of the unfinished, never finished Trans-Asian Express:

Estimates: Bullet train runs at the top speed of 320 km/hr, although the average speed will be more likely 250 km/hr.

Total distance: 10,275 kms.

Total time for the train, with no stops: 43 hours.

My girls running along the Corniche in Beirut, 2014.

Day 1:

Beirut at 10am.

· Beirut to Damascus. 115 kms (30 minutes).

Coffee in Damascus.

· Damascus to Baghdad. 850 kms (3.5 hours).

Lunch in Baghdad.

· Baghdad to Tehran. 880 kms (4 hours).

Dinner in Tehran.

· Tehran to Ashqabat (Turkmenistan). 1000 kms. (4 hours). Night stop in Ashqabat.

· Ashqabat to Herat (Afghanistan). 700 kms. (3 hours).

Badakhshan Ensemble

Day 2:

Breakfast in Herat.

· Herat to Kabul. 820 kms. (3.5 hours).

Lunch in Kabul.

· Kabul to Dushanbe. 580 kms. (2.5 hours).

Music and entertainment after lunch: Badakhshan Ensemble, trance-rhythms. Choice would be for a khalqi, a traditional – very popular – song.

Tea in Dushanbe.

· Dushanbe to Kashgar. 630 kms. (3 hours).

Dinner in Kashgar.

· Kashgar to Bayingol. 1000 kms (4 hours).

Liang Pi

Day 3:

Breakfast in Bayingol.

· Bayingol to Kumul. 800 kms. (3 hours).

Tea in Kumul.

· Kumul to Wuwei. 1000 kms (4 hours).

Lunch in Wuwei.

Menu: Liangzhou Mooncake, Liang Pi, Niangpizi, Mutton in brown sauce.

Liang Pi (Cold Skin Noodle) [Shaanxi Province]. Liang Pi noodles are either made from rice or wheat flour. They are thick and chewy. Create a soft dough by adding a little water and a pinch of salt to the flour. Place dough in a blow to ‘rinse’ the mixture with a little cold water: this allows the dough to be saturated with the starch. Remove the dough from the water. Leave it to settle in a cold place for at least twelve hours. The dough will now be like a past – the muscle of the dough. Spread evenly and thinly on a plate. The entire layer – each one – can be put into fast boiling water and steamed for a few minutes. After it has been cooked, the layer can be cut into thick noodles. Then allow to cool. Since the train runs in the north, the noodles are eaten with cucumber slices, and a sauce of vinegar, hot chili sauce, salt and black sesame paste (Majiang).

· Wuwei to Xian. 900 kms (4 hours).

Dinner in Xian.

· Xian to Beijing. 1000 kms (4 hours).

Late night arrival in Beijing.