sybarites

I recognize that perhaps not everyone shares the same experience of train travel in India. I suspect that some voyages are rather enjoyable, offering some pretty scenery and pleasant company with whom to pass the time. Probably, some people are able to happily get a good night’s sleep and wake up refreshed as they arrive at an exciting new destination. However, this little resembles our first train experience.

The train left Goa two hours late. As we have no schedule, this was hardly an issue and it was a warm and sunny day to wait on an outdoor platform. We met another traveller, a Brit named Tom, who would be sitting/sleeping nearby and it was nice to talk to somebody new. Then we boarded the train.

It was full – which was expected – but not to the point where our seats were taken. So, we and our backpacks squished onto the bench seats with the other men already there and the train departed; only 20 hours to go.

It turned out that even though we had booked sleeper berths, they cannot be used during the day as they are folded back so that passengers can sit up. The seats are 90 degrees and do not recline. The windows were open so that the hot air could circulate and luckily we were on the shaded side and luckily the scenery really was quite beautiful. I didn’t feel comfortable rumaging around in my backpack while 10 people watched so I didn’t use my iPod or read my book for the whole journey. Mostly, it was sitting and looking out the window. Occasionally, we chatted with Tom and the fellow sitting next to me but otherwise, we just sat. Twenty hours is a long time to sit.

On the plus side, there was hot and spicy food served on board. We were able to get a couple of meals of biryani and masala with chapati to break up the hours and fill our stomachs. But it was hard to throw all our trash out the window. The man next to me assured me that this is how it is done here, but it still felt strange.

When we were finally able to fold down our berths, that was when the cockroaches came out. They were few, and most were quite small, but that made it hard for me to sleep; I started at every tiny tickle I felt on my arms and feet. There was little sleep.

We will be travelling by train often in the near future. Perhaps I will get used to it.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 18th, 2006 at 2:03 am by Marc and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.