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Our night on the sleeper train was not quite as bad as I expected. It wasn't necessarily comfortable but I did sleep for most the night. I did wake in a panic a couple of times to check my bag was ok but we had no problems. Everyone in our carriage seemed lovely and actually I really enjoyed the experience. Apart from the toilets (which is to be expected), the train was very clean and comfortable even in 3rd class. The only toilets available in the train were squatter toilets (if you don't know what that is I'm sure you can guess) which are mainly what the Eastern part of the world use to my knowledge. I haven't been to the gym for a few weeks so it was great on the old thighs!
There was an hour delay getting into the Varanasi station which according to the locals in quite normal, sometimes you can wait 3-4 hours, if not more. On arrival, a guy who works for the hotel came onto the train with a little board with our names on which was organised by the tourist office so we didn't need to flap about where to go. He carried my bag to a car waiting for us outside which then took us straight to our hotel. The hotel's name was Sarweshwary Hotel and on arrival the staff were very friendly. The hotel is being refurbished but our room was very good, with much better facilities and very clean. This is important to me so I was happy! ALSO we now have a proper shower that has warm water which we haven't had in any of the previous hotels yet. There is usually a water boiler that you have to turn on 15-20 mins before you want to shower. Once the water is ready, you turn a tap on and hot water flows into a bucket below. You then add cold and use a smaller bucket to throw the warm water over yourself... this is your shower!
We ordered room service of a chicken Korma and vegetable rice with a roti to share as it was now 14.00 and we hadn't eaten. As a general rule, because the portion sizes here are fairly big which is a good thing, we are buying one curry and a side (either rice or 2x naans) to share which usually comes to 350-450 rupees with a couple of drinks too. This is usually plenty of food.
We chilled out in our room for a bit and sorted ourselves out as sometimes, when your constantly on the go, you need time to just stop and organise. We were starting to have a few issues with contacting our tourist company which became a concern. One of Jack's (my brother) friends Dad lives in Delhi so we contacted him and he called the company to give them a kick up the bum for us which we really appreciated! It made us feel safer that we had a contact there if we had any problems. Jack's friend warned us that sometimes companies in India are slow and inefficient in comparison to what we are use to in the U.K. At home, if you pay for a service, you expect that to be followed through and very efficiently. If this doesn't happen, there are people to turn to and systems in place to protect us as a consumer. In India, this is not so much the case, and that in paying for a service as a tourist, you most definitely will be ripped off and sometimes they are slow at providing what you have asked for. At this point, apart from ringing and getting irrate, there really isn't much you can do. This is another thing I am having to learn to accept, and try to stay patient!
After a long chat with my Mum and Dad on FaceTime (who I'm already missing), we headed out to find some grub! We found a very nice looking Southern Indian restaurant and had a lovely Shahee Paneer curry with cheesy garlic naan and kashmiri naan which was sweet, and I think very similar to a Peshawari naan. Either way, the meal was yet again lovely! Back at the hotel, we chatted to the receptionist man Ram for a while before heading to bed. The bed was possibly the most comfortable bed we have slept in since arriving and after the sleeper train, we were excited for a great nights sleep.
- comments
Mum Ah bless - sounds as though you are settling into the culture now... Possibly been a bit of a steep learning curve for you both on several fronts... Glad you are both safe X missing you X mum
Marcus (Daddy) Hamblin Hi Guys - great blog Chels.....sounds like things have settled down a bit and that you are finding your feet. Pictures look amazing....Bet the currys taste nice...I can almost taste that Naan bread. Enjoyed reading Matts blog too - totally hilarious Hope Matt is ok.