India Adventure Part 2 - The Train

So the first full day that we were in Delhi, we went to go book our train tickets for Goa (our original destination). When we got to the train station, we found out that this should have been done months in advance, not just a couple of days in advance. The train for Goa was completely booked with a waiting list of at least 20 even in second class. (By the way 1-Tier is the best, then 2-Tier, then 3-Tier, then 2nd Class Sleeper is the lowest class on the sleeper trains.) So our driver for the day worked with the ticket man to figure out that we could still get to Goa by riding the train that goes all the way from Delhi to Ernakulam, Kerala. Since we really had no other choice, we took it, but we only had enough money for one way tickets on 2 - Tier. I decided that we should probably just take the train all the way to Kerala and not get off in Goa because we would have been there at 10pm. Plus, we paid the money for the trip to Kerala and we'd still get the beach experience. We went into the city that day and exchanged money and came back the next day to buy tickets for our return from Kerala.

The ticket counter in Delhi is more like a mosh pit than a set of lines (or ques). Luckily, there was a line for women and senior citizens, so I took on the job of buying our return tickets. When I finally made it up to the ticket guy with my ticket request form in hand, he almost started laughing. "We are totally booked on this train until the 10th of Jan!" (This was the day we were to leave Delhi.) However, assertive Katie took over my normally passive self and refused to take no for an answer. "We are willing to travel in ANY class," I said. He looked, but said that there was a waiting list for every seat. I didn't want to give up my spot in line and have to try all over again, so I just stepped to the side long enough to look at a map and find another big city that's NOT on the coast and was fairly close to Kerala. The only thing that jumped out was Bangalore. SO, I pushed the next person in line out of the way (not considered rude in India by the way) and said, "What about Bangalore? Can I get 2 tickets for 6th of Jan?" Luckily there were tickets available even though they were in 2nd class, I really didn't care, because we didn't have much of an option.

All this to say, that we left for Ernakulam, Kerala on 24th Dec at 9:30am and were on the train until 2pm on 26th of Dec. We got to meet some very "interesting" people, but also some lovely families traveling together. I had 2 kids on my bunk all day on Christmas. They pretty much invited themselves up when they found out I had color pencils. There were other children that had me help them with math and science when they found out I am teacher. We also spent hours at the door of the train watching the scenery change from desert to farmland, to hills and mountains, and finally to palm trees. The night of Christmas was very special to me, tool. We were passing through Goa (quite a large Christian population) at night and most of the houses were decorated in lights. It was almost like taking a Christmas drive around town to look at the Christmas lights, but I was on a train and the temperature was in the 80's.

Here are some of the kids who enjoyed using my colored pencils.


Sunset from the train on Christmas Day!


I love the simplicity of the house on the hill.


It was so great to see green trees and hills.

So I'm going to stop here, and pick up from our time in Kerala.