The Trains

We are back from our whirlwind trip. I'm thinking I'll talk about it by category rather than chronologically so I can remember things and to give us time to get our pictures in order. So, first, our train experiences. To get to Delhi, we took an overnight train. I had never been on a train before and was kind of excited after all of the movies I've seen involving trains (and not just the ones where people die or disappear). Our driver took us to the station and found out which platform to be on and then waited until the train arrived and told us which compartment was ours. He was very helpful and I have a sneaky suspicion that Grace put him up to it (she called us while we were waiting for the train to make sure things were going smoothly). He was also helpful because if the people looking at Anna got too close, he would tell them to back away.

For going out, we weren't able to get first class so we were in the next best thing called two-tier AC. That means that there are two beds, with AC, but only a curtain separating you from the walkway. Our compartment was on the end by the door which means we didn't have anyone across from us, it was like having a private compartment which I really enjoyed. The beds folded up for when we were awake and there was a little table and plenty of space between us and the wall.

Anna thought the train was pretty cool. When we first got on, she was jumping and looking around. Then we put her on the seat and she was scooting and rolling. Unfortunately, sleeping on the train wasn't as much fun for her. I put her in her car seat and put her on the floor. She slept ok but she is getting to the point where she doesn't sleep so well in her car seat. I think it's because she can't roll onto her tummy. She woke up a number of times in the night so naturally I did too. Once Jason woke up, he watched her for a bit while I rested until we arrived. I don't know how much sleep I actually got but I did feel a bit better.

There was another little girl near us and she kept coming over to see Anna and then to offer us some of her food. She was really cute but got a little bit annoying after a while. Her mom would come over and take her back. At one point, she had no interest in going back and resisted it for a while. I guess we were pretty fun.

When we first started on our journey, there were a ton of people coming along with all sorts of things. First there were the bedding people. They brought pillows, blankets and sheets. Then people selling food: bottled water, tomato soup, chai tea, cold tea and other cold drinks, omelet sandwiches, and finally dinner. We were hungry when we first got on so we got a couple of omelet sandwiches. They came wrapped in newspaper! We kind of hoped there was something like foil under it but no, only the newspaper. We tried not to think about it as we ate our sandwiches which were pretty good. After a little bit, Jason was hungry again so he got some tomato soup. The guy selling it had it in something like a cooler with a spigot and held it in his legs while he dispensed it into the cup. Dinner, in true Indian fashion was at around 9 pm. It had a couple of dishes with rice, roti and some digestive plain yogurt. It was pretty good even if it was all yellow (they only have three food groups here, the yellow group, the green group and then red group). Breakfast was more omelet sandwiches.

On the train back, it was another overnight sleep but this time we were in first class. The main differences were that it was bigger and had a door that we could close. Unfortunately, we had to share it with two guys. So while the beds were bigger, I was less comfortable. I did have Anna sleep with me rather than her seat that time and I think it helped both of us sleep better. She did so-so but they guys were pretty tolerant of her cries. Our train was later and we ended up missing dinner. It was also earlier and we didn't have time for breakfast. All in all, I enjoyed our trip out better.

While the driver who picked us up was there, he was waiting at a different place than we came out so after getting rid of all of the rickshaw drivers trying to give us a ride and walking over to the parking area, we called Bindu who called him and told him where we were (we didn't have his number). Then we went home and Anna and I took naps while Jason got ready for and went to work.