Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Train from Agra to Varanasi

After the long hot day at the Fort, we hung around the hotel. No cold beer since Agra is a religious city.





Our train was about an hour late getting in and was already crowded when it arrived. Still I managed to get a lower berth again. The 8 birth compartment was full again.


The next morning we awoke to a much more more lush landscape.


There won't be too much description of the following photos which are mainly of relatively empty countryside. I was quite curious to see what rural India was like since you see so few photos of it. Not all of India is Taj Mahals, saris and cows.




Perhaps they are laying new track.





You don't see crowds in the county, a few people here and there.











Good collection dung.




Chai in a very thin mud cup. Delicious as usual and I managed to bring the cup as a souvenir for my wife who is now using it to store pins.


Johanna was still having problems with ankle and was able to score other lower birth. She starts work as a nurse when she return to Belgium.























Alejandro had managed one of the length-way bunks.



A narrow water-way just outside Varanassi.


By now we had met and been talking to some of the other passengers in the compartment. For the photo, the husband froze a bit but look at the eyes of his wife. They were fun to talk to.



The train was already two to three hours late when it stopped outside the station. And there we waited for another hour. This is the way India Railways work. Once your train is running late you have to wait for a slot at a platform to open up and you have low priority.

In terms of cleanliness, this was the worst of the three overnight trains for the trip.


Not too busy platform scene.



In the tuk-tuk to the hotel. It was probably some of the worst traffic we had seen so far. Bruce and Jennifer said their ride was terrifying. The driver was speeding, talking on his phone, going much too close to other vehicles etc. That night they told Happy about it who said the should have let her know immediately. She would have then talked to the tuk-tuk leader who Intrepid deals with on a regular basis so that driver would not be hired again.



A rather pleasant hotel but the internet connection was poor, even in the lobby.



Views from the balcony at the end of the corridor.

It was good to lie down for a rest. No cold beer is available since Varanasi is a religious city.



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