Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Mysore - Bangalore - Delhi - Varanasi
The return journey from Mysore was the best yet. We were in sitting class and it was virtually empty except for a slovenian guy who was also travelling, so we passed the hours exchanging stories, drinking Chai and taking photographs of the abundance of life that takes place alongside the railway tracks.
It is hard to believe anyone could live this way, camped out beside the tracks sometimes with just a blanket for cover, searching through the rubbish for any leftovers that can be utilised in some way, whether for food, fuel or coverage.
There are many blocks of houses also surrounding the railway and we still find it astonishing even after having seen it repeatedly that there is washing hung to dry at every turn, it can never be clean with the amount of pollution, fumes and dirt that are created by the trains alone not to mention all the traffic but I suppose at least they won't smell of sweat.
The people who live there don't have much, but as you pass the women are constantly trying to clean, tidy and make the best of their homes. We watched a lady sweep the front of a hut made of bamboo and coconut leaves and clearing the rubbish from her door remaining house proud even though she was feet away from a huge dump and herd of cattle.
We moaned about the layer of dirt we were covered in, it is nothing compared to the people that live beside the railway and they cannot grab a couple of nights of luxury because they have had enough of roughing it. Makes you think, but human nature and the way we have been spoiled doesn't stop us moaning for long and we chose to live like this they didn't!
We pulled into Bangalore station, back to bedlam and decided as we knew where we were headed we would carry our packs the 600 yards to our hotel instead of being ripped off by a rick driver and sitting in dust and fumes for half an hour much to the astonishment of the watching crowd who thought we were completely mad.
We checked in with the same palaver as before except we refused to have our passports copied again and were as equally abrupt as the staff. We were given a room and as we were only going to be in it a matter of hours we dumped our stuff, organised a taxi for the next day and crashed out ready for the 4.30am wake up call.
The next morning we were picked up at 5am and taken to the new Bangalore Airport which is very nice and well organised. You have to wait in the seats outside until your flight is ready to be checked in, your tickets and passports are then examined on entry and you join the queue to follow the usual check-in procedure. It is the most efficient process we have endured in the whole of India because as much as they try organisation is just not a strong point. We put our packs on the belt crossing our fingers and silently praying that they weren't too heavy. They were both 19kg each Get in 2kg to spare!!!
We headed through to the departure lounge which was equally as impressive, enjoyed Masala Dosa for breakfast, read the paper and boarded our flight without any hassle or problems, it was unbelievable.
The flight itself was brilliant, we took our seats, settled down with the in flight mag and before we knew it 3 hours had passed and we were landing in Delhi and the first leg was complete.
We navigated our way through the arrivals and then made the short walk over to departures, our baggage was being transferred onto the connecting flight so all we had to do was get ourselves through security. This was harder than we first thought as we were pulled up when our bags went through the scanners and told we had a pair of scissors and a lighter that hadn't been picked up in Bangalore. The scissors were easy to find we had left them in by mistake and we were gutted we had to let them go but we couldn't find the lighter anywhere, we were adamant we hadn't got one as we don't smoke but then there it was in a pack of Steph's last remaining cigarettes that had been stashed away for prosperity on the 26th September at 11am by Rod.
We made our way to the departure lounge and again checked out the food court. Our flight had come up on the screens but then we received a text saying it was delayed for an hour. With time to spare we decided it would be only right to indulge in Pizza Hut and it was divine. We ate it like we hadn't been fed for a month it was so delicious and a great treat which we seemed to be having a few of lately. The flight was delayed for another hour so we had pudding as well in the form of a warm chocolate doughnut.
Eventually after a two hour delay we boarded our flight and settled down for a trouble free (if you don't count the idiot who sat in front of Rod with his seat right back but leaning forward) hour and half flight into Varanasi.
We were pleasantly surprised at the ease with which we made the journey and were delighted with the service of Spicejet even though there was a small delay.
- comments