Jaipur to Mumbai

27.09.11

This morning was eventful! The price we were quoted for the taxi was again too much so we started looking at trains around Rajasthan, it looked like we couldn't get out of Jaipar for a few days. So we decided we would take Martin's friend John, up on his offer and head to Mumbai then Pune. We found a train online and thought we'd better call John to check

before we booked. 2 minutes later, we could nolonger book the train. So we headed to the train station and again booking had stopped 4 hours before the train was due to leave. We were told that we could go an hour before and try and get a

ticket an hour before.

With much dilemma this is what we did and we got on the train at 2 o'clock. we had Ac2 sleeper which was much more spacious,with only 2 bunks, 6 bunks in a carriage. We saw any unexpected sights as we travelled, from warthogs snuffling around on station platforms, people casually crossing the tracks. It was very noisy on the train, from the rumble of the train on the

the tracks, the horn sounding frquently, people snoring gently and vendors calling out their wares. In our carriage there was a really friendly the couple. They spoke to us about their lives and life in India, telling is about their daughter's 5 day wedding with 3,000 guests! They also helped explain what was going on on the train and ordered us a meal.

Unfortunately when our meal came most of it was inedible! When the couple saw us struggling they were insistent that we share their meal. They explained that they deliberately brought more food when on a journey so they could share it. It was delicious, they had made fresh roti and aloo gobhi, which was so tasty.

Soon it was time to make up our beds, stretch out and go to sleep. We were not due in to Mumbai until 8 am.

Having met this couple and a old man on the train. It made me think about the first impressions I had had of many of the Indians I have met. Typically people have not seen very open, friendly or smiley on first impressions. It's common not to be greeted automatically. People can also come across quite abrupt and stern in their manner. We have not heard one person apologise if they bump in to you or say excuse me. It is also not considered rude to stare which can be

a bit disconcerting! We have also had many people ask to have their pictures taken with us!

Amritsar to Jaipur

24.09.11

On Saturday we had the long journey from Amritsar to Jaipur. We left the hotel and 4am to get the train at 5am. We found the train and our seats easy enough. We were sat in an ac carriage that was pretty similar to what you would have at home.Except included in your ticket price is tea when you get on and then breakfast. This is served to you on little trains

like on a plane and you each get a little hot water jug. The food was not quite as good as on a plane. The journey was not as comfortable as on the bus, because we were sat at a table and there was not as much leg room, but it was okay. We got chatting to the guy sat next to us, who worked for a top university in India, in the Media department. It turns out he had previously

been a sports reporter. He spoke great English and we spoke for quite a while. We discussed how different India is to most of the world and he had an interesting point to make about the Indian people. He spoke of how flexible the people are, how they live to their means and will adjust to do so without a seconds thought or complaint. It got us thinking about how different this is to our nature in England, where people spend money they don't have, and find it very hard to adjust

there standard of living to what they can actually afford. It took us 6 hours to get to Delhi.

When we got to Delhi we had wait until 5pm for the second half of our journey to Jaipur. So we headed to cafe, had a long lunch and then hung around at an internet cafe, because we had our packs to lug around so didn't want to go too far. We then got a rickshaw across town to the smaller Rohilla Railway Station, where we were departing from.

On this train we had a sleeper carriage AC3. So we were sharing a carriage with 6 other people.

When we got on the bed had not been made up so we were sat on a bed either side with the top bunk down and the middle bunk folded up. A family of 4 got on our carriage, a husband and wife, their toddler and a grandmother. For the first 2 hours the child did not speak a word, but engaged us in peak-a-boo and mimicing games. The rest of the family were all very

smiley and spoke to us in Hindi.

As we left Delhi, we passed mile after mile of 'Slums'. The homes made by the side of the railway were mainly made from breeze blocks and some makshift corregated iron, there were not always fronts to the buildings, so it was all very open. There was garbage everywhere which was being sifted through, mainly by women and children. The conditions were quite

comparable to those dipicted in films such as 'Slum Dog Millionaire'. However as we pass these places and find it hard to come to terms with how some people are forced to live, we noticed something. The people living here were talking to each other, working together, preparing food, playing with there children. There were groups of children playing 'jump rope'

couples sat together listening to each other. All these things that one would hope would be everyday occurences in all our lives, but which when I think about, happen all to rarely back home. Here in what must be some of the poorest, toughest conditions to live in, there was undoubtedly lots of things to learn from the people calling this home.

Another thing which was very noticable was that despite the area being basically a massively dirty dump site where people are forced to try to make home, the community there were, in particularly the women and children,very well presented, with beautiful Saris, so colourful and bright, and some men in bright, smart shirts and trousers.

This time there was no food served on our train, but people were continuosly moving along the

carriage selling chai and other drinks. About 8 o'clock there was some discussion between the family, guards and the other two people in the carriage and we gathered they wanted to put the beds down to sleep. It would have been quite comfortable if we had somewhere to store our bags but we had to keep them at the heads of our bed. So as you can imagine for Martin this was not the most comfortable situation.

At 10pm we arrived in Jaipur where it was absolutely packed, it was difficult to move through the hoards of people sat picknicking or sleeping on the platform. We were guided through the crowds of people by an eager, very young looking rickshaw driver. He took us past the bridge over the tracks, which was jammed full of people trying to get out of the

station and was all but static, to the next bridge which thankfully was alot quieter! He informed us he would take us to whatever guest house we wanted for 20Rs (just over 25p) we had planned on trying to find the guest house we had already

booked online by foot but gave in as we were shattered and had all our bags etc! The nipper (we later found out he was 23,but didn't look a day over 19) then sold us his services for the next day, offering to take us around the city for 300Rs.

When we arrived at 'Vinayak Guest House' we were happy to find our room was colourful, comfortable and clean! We hit the hay as soon as possible after one of many long days of travelling to be expected on our trip!