RaveBurbleBlog

Something I dislike about train journeys in India is that Paul is able to sleep like a baby while I get on with the panicking about which is the right stop to get out on. When you’re jammed up against the ceiling looking directly at a set of 3 dubiously-hung - and at best, dangerous looking - fans, and the train keeps stopping and letting people on and off at seemingly random intervals at stations that don’t appear to have any form of identification, it’s pretty easy to get a little stressed. Over and over your mind plays recordings of horror stories that others have told of missing their stop and ending up in goodness-knows-what sorts of situations. So each time the train stops, you crane your neck trying to look down through the window and up again at the signs at the stations – if indeed you can actually find a sign - and goodness knows why because those you can spot are written in Hindi and it’s too dark to read anyway.

It’s downright disgusting how relaxed that man looks when my nerves are in tatters and I’m freaking out about where we’re supposed to get off on this enormous sub-continent. [read on]

Before I get onto Rajasthan, I’d like to extrapolate on our experience while trying to return to Delhi from Orchha. At the Jhansi Railway Station Paul had a bit of a struggle finding someone that spoke English. In fact he downright couldn’t. So he took his best shot at reading the info board, which was written in Hindi, and decided that our train was probably leaving from Platform 1. So we hauled our now very heavy luggage down to where we figured our carriage would probably line up (and these trains can be VERY long!), and sat down to wait. We had a little bit of time to spare, so he decided to go and check around with a few people and see if we were on the right platform. So I was sitting there with my scarf pulled up over my glaringly obvious blonde hair, feeling pretty pleased with myself for wearing pants that weren’t laughing at the crotch this time, when I saw Paul racing towards me with an urgent look on his face. “Get your stuff!” he cried. “We have to go to Platform 3!” We hauled anchor and lugged our bags back along the platform, up the stairs, along the walkway, down the stairs and along Platform 3. Whew! Thank goodness we got that sorted.

Not so. During a genial conversation with a chap sitting near us, we discovered that we should’ve actually been on Platform 5. Pulling our anchor in again, we raced back along the platform, up the stairs, along the walkway, down the stairs and along Platform 5. Paul, wanting to make sure we had it right this time, decided to consult with some likely looking men a few feet away from us. And they all decided that we should indeed be on Platform 3. They were dead certain about this. So, well, you know the routine. Upstairs, downstairs, onto Platform 3. Okay, by this time our luggage had done it’s usual trick and gained another 80 pounds. We’re hot, sweating, exhausted and getting pretty stressed. [read on]

We finally reached the top of the steps to the palace and most gratefully sank into the seats in Reception. This was about 7am and we were now surrounded by archways and columns, rich furnishings and other such trappings. We ... [Continue reading this entry]

We just got back this morning from Orchha , which is in Madya Pradesh, about 20 Km’s from Jhansi. (This is south of Delhi.) To start off, we missed the train by minutes. These things happen. So we had to ... [Continue reading this entry]

Train stations in Delhi are an interesting thing. People milling around, sitting around in piles, lying around sleeping and some people even actually doing some work. We had to walk up some stairs (dark, hot and very nefarious looking) to ... [Continue reading this entry]

Well, another hot day in Delhi. It actually gets hotter at night here, at one stage. Around the 8pm mark. Disgusting idea of a joke if you ask me. We watched a bit of a spectacle the other day that ... [Continue reading this entry]

Nighttime now and we’re back in our own neighborhood after another afternoon of cruising around. This time we traveled by motor rickshaw, which give the illusion of being safer than cycle rickshaw, but apparently are not. I did not bother ... [Continue reading this entry]

Well, settling to the Indian way quite nicely now. Yesterday was a bit of an adventure. We went to a bank around the corner and went and sat in a little room where some men were writing things in duplicate ... [Continue reading this entry]

Okay. All went well and I made it to India. I was very lucky and got to sit beside a Canadian diplomat on the plane. She was very nice and exceedingly helpful. I now have in my possession a list ... [Continue reading this entry]

Well, I made it to Bangkok. The plane ride was very, very long, but fascinating. I had a great seat by the window, just in front of the wing and I made total use of it. Sort of like a ... [Continue reading this entry]