Agra, Lucknow, Sunali, Train Travel.
OK, so after spending a couple of days with Kerrun which was great, organized, peaceful, and even relaxing regardless of being in a HUGE city in India, I now am faced with getting on the train and getting to the Nepal boarder. Delhi to Agra by train turned out to be a very very interesting experience.
Kerrun booked me a ticket all the way through to 2 hours from the Nepali boarder so I had my tickets purchased and all I had to do was get there… not so hard right? Well first of all there is nothing labeled at the platforms in Delhi so I have no clue what train is what, and how to figure out which actually car on the train I am supposed to be in. A ton of questions later I board a train seconds before it takes off (thank god it was the right one). From here I have a 5 hour journey to Agra (home of the Taj Mahal). Well after wondering the cars for about an hour, trying to figure out which one I belong in and where my seat is, I give up, sit beside an open train door in between cars and watch the scenery pass me by, it was actually quite nice, peaceful, and definitely and educational experience because with in the hour I sat by the open door I witnessed a couple of people come and heave garbage over my shoulders out onto the tracks, a grown woman go up to a train platform, turn around to face all the people standing on the platform and squat and take a piss, as well as meet a new Indian friend who just wanted to attempt to speak English while escorting me back to his seat so we could chat it up (he later helped me find my seat). I may be explaining this lightly but at the time, finding my seat took 2.5 hours and really was a huge pain in the ass.
Agra, I arrived at night and took a auto rickshaw to a hotel that I searched out online (again thank god for planning ahead). Got to the hotel and my rickshaw driver began to pitch me the idea of him taking me around the city the next day and dropping me off at the train station for my next departure, he had a good price so I agreed.
Taj Mahal, I woke up early to see the sun rise over the Taj and it turned out to be a flop, overcast, cloudy, but very peaceful, I saw the Fort which was nothing in comparison to the Taj, and did a bit of touring with my new rickshaw driving friend, he turned out to be pretty cool and took me to rug making factory which was surprisingly interesting, we went to a market, and he took me to a roof top restaurant to watch the sun set on the Taj, all cool things.
At this point I came down with the sweats, chills, and really didn’t feel so hot, in a panic I showed every type of pill down my throat that I had with me, and went to wait for my next HELLISH train ride to Lucknow. At this point not feeling good and having to board a train with the experience I just had getting to Agra I was scared shitless. It turned out that I found my train, car, and seat right away, definitely and act of god. Lucknow turned out to be a hell hole, a dirty little industrial city (I’m totally judging), but in it’s defense all I did was go from the train to a hotel, sleep, and back to the train. If I didn’t feel like hell I would have stayed at the tracks for 6 hours or walked around but I needed the sleep.
Gorakapur was my next stop, this train almost as confusing as my first (2 hours from the Nepal boarder), I rolled in there around 11:00pm and again would have charged for the boarder but felt obligated to sleep, so another auto rickshaw to another filthy hotel. Got some sleep and woke up early to a very very exciting day. As I headed towards the bus station on a pedal rickshaw a random charges my rickshaw screaming SUNALI, SUNALI, SUNALI which is the name of the boarder town. He pointed to a land cruiser, told me it would be 100rs ($2.25), so I hoped into a packed 12 person deep land cruiser for 1.5 hours to the boarder. The ride, if not so cramped would have been great, the views were rural, less trash and pollution, but sitting 4 people in the front seat and watching the driver change gears with the stick shift between some Hindu man’s legs was an interesting ride.
The Boarder: from the bus drop off the boarder is about 1 mile hike through utter madness, cars, busses, motorcycles are all jammed in trying to cross, it is a disaster. Pushing through the mess you have to check out of India at an UNMARKED booth where some random dude is just stamping passports, I exchanged some money, and ran like hell until I reached the boarder because after 19 days of India the MT. of Nepal were calling my name.
Nepal info to come….
OK, so after spending a couple of days with Kerrun which was great, organized, peaceful, and even relaxing regardless of being in a HUGE city in India, I now am faced with getting on the train and getting to the Nepal boarder. Delhi to Agra by train turned out to be a very very interesting experience.
Kerrun booked me a ticket all the way through to 2 hours from the Nepali boarder so I had my tickets purchased and all I had to do was get there… not so hard right? Well first of all there is nothing labeled at the platforms in Delhi so I have no clue what train is what, and how to figure out which actually car on the train I am supposed to be in. A ton of questions later I board a train seconds before it takes off (thank god it was the right one). From here I have a 5 hour journey to Agra (home of the Taj Mahal). Well after wondering the cars for about an hour, trying to figure out which one I belong in and where my seat is, I give up, sit beside an open train door in between cars and watch the scenery pass me by, it was actually quite nice, peaceful, and definitely and educational experience because with in the hour I sat by the open door I witnessed a couple of people come and heave garbage over my shoulders out onto the tracks, a grown woman go up to a train platform, turn around to face all the people standing on the platform and squat and take a piss, as well as meet a new Indian friend who just wanted to attempt to speak English while escorting me back to his seat so we could chat it up (he later helped me find my seat). I may be explaining this lightly but at the time, finding my seat took 2.5 hours and really was a huge pain in the ass.
Agra, I arrived at night and took a auto rickshaw to a hotel that I searched out online (again thank god for planning ahead). Got to the hotel and my rickshaw driver began to pitch me the idea of him taking me around the city the next day and dropping me off at the train station for my next departure, he had a good price so I agreed.
Taj Mahal, I woke up early to see the sun rise over the Taj and it turned out to be a flop, overcast, cloudy, but very peaceful, I saw the Fort which was nothing in comparison to the Taj, and did a bit of touring with my new rickshaw driving friend, he turned out to be pretty cool and took me to rug making factory which was surprisingly interesting, we went to a market, and he took me to a roof top restaurant to watch the sun set on the Taj, all cool things.
At this point I came down with the sweats, chills, and really didn’t feel so hot, in a panic I showed every type of pill down my throat that I had with me, and went to wait for my next HELLISH train ride to Lucknow. At this point not feeling good and having to board a train with the experience I just had getting to Agra I was scared shitless. It turned out that I found my train, car, and seat right away, definitely and act of god. Lucknow turned out to be a hell hole, a dirty little industrial city (I’m totally judging), but in it’s defense all I did was go from the train to a hotel, sleep, and back to the train. If I didn’t feel like hell I would have stayed at the tracks for 6 hours or walked around but I needed the sleep.
Gorakapur was my next stop, this train almost as confusing as my first (2 hours from the Nepal boarder), I rolled in there around 11:00pm and again would have charged for the boarder but felt obligated to sleep, so another auto rickshaw to another filthy hotel. Got some sleep and woke up early to a very very exciting day. As I headed towards the bus station on a pedal rickshaw a random charges my rickshaw screaming SUNALI, SUNALI, SUNALI which is the name of the boarder town. He pointed to a land cruiser, told me it would be 100rs ($2.25), so I hoped into a packed 12 person deep land cruiser for 1.5 hours to the boarder. The ride, if not so cramped would have been great, the views were rural, less trash and pollution, but sitting 4 people in the front seat and watching the driver change gears with the stick shift between some Hindu man’s legs was an interesting ride.
The Boarder: from the bus drop off the boarder is about 1 mile hike through utter madness, cars, busses, motorcycles are all jammed in trying to cross, it is a disaster. Pushing through the mess you have to check out of India at an UNMARKED booth where some random dude is just stamping passports, I exchanged some money, and ran like hell until I reached the boarder because after 19 days of India the MT. of Nepal were calling my name.
Nepal info to come….
No comments:
Post a Comment