Day 73 (Mon 18 Sep) - Jaipur / Mumbai
After brekky we headed off to the Jaipur tourist office to try and get some information on Ranthambore National Park.
The tourist office were great and put us onto a reputable sounding firm; will email them our details and that should be Ranthambore National Park sorted.
Got back to our hotel and relaxed in the small gardens until 1'ish. Caught an auto, that ran out of petrol halfway through the journey, to the train station.
Found our train platform on which a train stood. We were about an hour early for our train and Sarb was convinced that this could not be our train. Jo insisted that it could be; so we checked and found out that it was our train. The reason for the long delay was so that they could clean it.
As we moved from where we were sitting to the air con class near the head of the train we passed the 2nd class carriages. People had been made to sit in a sort of wide arc around each carriage and this was enforced by stern looking policemen with big sticks. As we passed a whistle sounded and all hell broke loose. The well behaved crowd surged forward for the doors, where the clever policemen had positioned themselves either side. With the aid of the sticks, shoves etc the policemen 'helped' the passengers board the train and kept queue dodging to a minimum (London Transport take note). We could truly believe stories of people being crushed to death when trying to get on a train.
We found our carriage and settled into our little section. We had two single seats facing each other, with the large window on the right of us and the aisle on the left. Above us was a bunk and the seats we were on could be cleverly folded to make another bunk. Quite comfy.
Train set off on time. At about 9pm a train chap wandered past and said did we want dinner. Hearing that the grub on the train was a treat not to be missed we replied 'Bring it on big boy'. Food was great, served on a little plastic tray. Had dhal, some other unidentifiable stuff that was tasty, chupattis and rice.
After dinner a chap came round with pillows, blankets and sheets. Taking this as a big hint that we should prepare for bed; Jo scampered onto the top bunk whilst Sarb sorted out the bottom one.
Soon we were comfortably lying on our bunks, with the curtains drawn; our main rucksacks padlocked below us and our small day sacks containing our valuables in our little cabin.
Sarb wasted no time in slamming in his ear plugs and rocked by the motion of the train fell into a deep sleep keeping everyone else up with his snoring.
The tourist office were great and put us onto a reputable sounding firm; will email them our details and that should be Ranthambore National Park sorted.
Got back to our hotel and relaxed in the small gardens until 1'ish. Caught an auto, that ran out of petrol halfway through the journey, to the train station.
Found our train platform on which a train stood. We were about an hour early for our train and Sarb was convinced that this could not be our train. Jo insisted that it could be; so we checked and found out that it was our train. The reason for the long delay was so that they could clean it.
As we moved from where we were sitting to the air con class near the head of the train we passed the 2nd class carriages. People had been made to sit in a sort of wide arc around each carriage and this was enforced by stern looking policemen with big sticks. As we passed a whistle sounded and all hell broke loose. The well behaved crowd surged forward for the doors, where the clever policemen had positioned themselves either side. With the aid of the sticks, shoves etc the policemen 'helped' the passengers board the train and kept queue dodging to a minimum (London Transport take note). We could truly believe stories of people being crushed to death when trying to get on a train.
We found our carriage and settled into our little section. We had two single seats facing each other, with the large window on the right of us and the aisle on the left. Above us was a bunk and the seats we were on could be cleverly folded to make another bunk. Quite comfy.
Train set off on time. At about 9pm a train chap wandered past and said did we want dinner. Hearing that the grub on the train was a treat not to be missed we replied 'Bring it on big boy'. Food was great, served on a little plastic tray. Had dhal, some other unidentifiable stuff that was tasty, chupattis and rice.
After dinner a chap came round with pillows, blankets and sheets. Taking this as a big hint that we should prepare for bed; Jo scampered onto the top bunk whilst Sarb sorted out the bottom one.
Soon we were comfortably lying on our bunks, with the curtains drawn; our main rucksacks padlocked below us and our small day sacks containing our valuables in our little cabin.
Sarb wasted no time in slamming in his ear plugs and rocked by the motion of the train fell into a deep sleep keeping everyone else up with his snoring.
posted by Jo and Sarb at
9/18/2006 06:55:00 am
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