After a rough start, the train turned out to be- dare I say- fun? OK- maybe fun is going a little bit too far, but it was at the least, really entertaining.
Good to know.
Happy to report that this warning was effective- as I was not harassed in the least. I made quite a few Indian friends, who were more than a little surprised to see a blond-ish American woman sitting with her feet out the train door, but they were all exceptionally polite and many cups of train chai were consumed.
We finally got settled in to the train life, and since I drew the short straw and got stuck with the very narrow top bunk, I decided to give up hope of sleeping and go exploring on the train and leave Dave sleeping peacefully on the bottom bunk.
When a fellow passenger saw me trying to take pictures of the passing landscape through the dirty glass window on the door, he kindly pushed me aside and alleviated the problem by swinging the door wide open and suggesting that it was A-OK to just swing myself right outside the train to get a better picture.
I am not exactly a huge risk taker, and putting limbs outside of a moving train in India is probably not a great idea, but .....it was so fun! And look, as you can see in this picture- I was clearly holding on with a good grip.
Meanwhile back at the bunk, Dave was taking in the scenery in a far safer manner.
Don't worry, after I informed him of my fun times in death-defying acts, he had to get in on the fun too and did his own exploring and risking of limbs to snap pictures of the random stations we passed in rural India.
Since we were on the train for 6 hours, we had plenty of time to take pictures of the passing towns. Because we were a local train, and already behind schedule, we would end up sitting at these very small stations for a really long time, waiting for faster and express trains to pass us. This gave people at the platforms plenty of time to walk across the tracks, hop aboard the train and sell snacks. Being as that we did not eat breakfast nor plan to need to eat a meal en route- I was starving- but seeing as how I really wanted to see the Taj- me and my delicate stomach decided to be starving instead of being ill.
Well, you know how I feel about monkeys. So imagine my delight that during one of our sojourns stopped in the middle of nowhere, we found this happy bunch of primates having a morning banana snack.
Come on, they are so cute right?
The Indians on the train found my excitement about the monkeys to be comical.
OK- to be fair- I think they found my entire existence on the train to be comical, but they were very nice about it. In fact, a lot of them were more than just nice- they were so incredibly warm, open and friendly- it was an incredible experience. By halfway through the trip we had amassed a collection of random friends from the train who had come to sit, have some tea and chat with us. The wonderful family sitting in the beds across from us generously shared their home cooked meal with us- and despite my best judgment- I happily ate it- and it was delicious. The people we met were eager to chat about America and how we liked India- and to figure out why the hell we were on this train in the first place. They told us about their journeys and bought us quite a few dixie cups of chai.
While I cannot remember the last time I spoke to a stranger in a train or plane at home, there is something about travelling in a foreign country that makes you so much more open to these sorts of things, so I was making friends right and left. For the rest of the neverendingtrainride, I happily alternated between chit-chatting with my new best buddies- and hanging out the side of a sometimes-moving, but mainly stopping- rail car to watch the world chug on by.
Eventually we bid farewell to our new train friends, and after an eternity in transit, finally made it to Agra.
Taj Mahal here we come!
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