So, Indian trains...
They're unreal. Stuart was left in charge of booking the first train, and went with the cheapest class available (Sleeper class on this particular train), so worries that it could be a rough journey were at an all time high. Didn't get off to a great start, when we ran onto the train with <10 minutes until departure and found our seats, they were occupied by a young woman and her grandmother. It appeared we had the exact same tickets. Thankfully there was plenty of room, but not the ideal scenario to start off our rail journeys with. It turned out the young woman's husband was left in charge of booking the tickets, and booked them for 15th Feb, not 15th Jan. Oops. They had to pay for a ticket from the inspector, and on we went.
The train was great, very spacious and comfortable. Sleeper class was fine (though in hotter temperatures might be uncomfortable) - we're generally going with the air-conditioned classes from here on out.
The best part about it, which has also been one of the best things about the trip in general, was the Indian people sitting near us. Dani discussed the ticket situation with the young woman (after a heated, but affectionate, call with her husband), finding out where she was from, what she was doing in Delhi, and where she was going next. In general the people seem genuinely interested in who you are and why you've visited India. It's lovely.
After the chat, Dani climbed up to the top bunk for a snooze, Stu stayed down on the seated berth with his Kindle. We hadn't planned too far ahead for the train, so we were unprepared re food/drink - and himself was starting to get hungry/thirsty. A group of lads next to us took out some almond biscuits and tucked in, but made sure to offer everyone nearby one first, which Stu gladly accepted. There are salesmen walking down the carriages every 5-10 mins, selling chai/coffee/soup, water, and snacks. Stuart asked the chai guy for water (rookie mistake), leading to more confusion, and no water. After this the grandmother offered Stu some of the bottled water she had, again gladly accepted. At this point Stu finally forgave her for stealing his seat. There's many other stories like this about the people and we're only a week in - the warmth and kindness has been far more than we expected.
We arrived in Agra on time, and were greeted to the usual rush of taxi/tuk-tuk drivers awaiting us from the train/outside the station. Stu got an Indian SIM (highly recommended), and we've downloaded Uber/Ola, two apps that let you book your transport (same as Uber/MyTaxi back home) - we generally use it to get what the fare should be, and then haggle the tuk-tuk drivers down to in and around the correct price.
First thing we noticed was Agra seems a bit more....remote/rough around the edges in comparison to the capital city of New Delhi. Definitely way more cows, horses, goats, pigs, monkeys roaming the streets, minding their own business.
Our hostel (Bedweiser Backpackers) seems a little quieter, but that suits us as we needed to plan some more of our trip. Our tuk-tuk driver recommended Pinch of Spice, a fairly fancy Indian restaurant Stuart had read of online, and so we took his recommendation and went for our first meal in Agra. It was probably the nicest food we've ever tasted. Take a look:
Agra is home of the Taj Mahal, so we made our plan to see it the next day, and set off for bed. We woke up at 5a.m. on the 16th (Stu's birthday), to start off our day with sunrise at the Taj Mahal. A 15 minute walk from the hostel and we were queuing up at the gates. The Taj Mahal is mind blowing. Words and pictures genuinely can't do it justice, but we'll try anyway:
Not a bad start by any means to celebrate Stu's 28th, however the early start took its toll, and after a lovely breakfast at Good Vibes Cafe, a 2-3 hour power nap was needed. Waking up was as tough as it was at 5a.m., but there was more for us to do to celebrate this finest of birthdays, namely: bowling. Once the activity of choice for kids birthdays, it's now making a comeback, well, at least for Stuart. This was a bit different though - rather than being in the Leisure Plex of your choosing, this turned out to be in a 5-star hotel. With nobody else in the arcade room, it was basically our own private alley.
Not bad eh. Still feeling fatigued from the lack of sleep, we made our way back to the hostel and ordered takeaway from a well-rated restaurant (repeat: Indian SIM - best thing ever). At this point we noted that if visiting Agra, you only really need 1 or 2 nights. We're spending 3, and while it's nice for us to chill out and organise our trip a bit, the 3rd night could be better spent elsewhere.
We did make the most of our third day though: we've now booked our flights to our next stop - Sri Lanka. Organising/planning a trip this big takes a lot of time and deliberation, so an off-day will be needed every so often, and that's exactly what we did. After a day of booking various things, we decided to have a late lunch at Sheroes Hangout cafe - a cafe run by acid attack survivors, where you pay what you feel is fair, with proceeds going to giving acid attack survivors the means and the confidence to have a place in society, after they may have felt that had been taken away from them.
We wanted to say one last goodbye to the Taj Mahal, and set off in a tuk-tuk to the viewpoint across the river, to catch it at sunset.
That's it for here, Agra is a bit quieter, but the Taj Mahal makes any sort of stop here absolutely worthwhile. Next up is a first class train to Jaipur - which seems a bit of a more lively place. We'll give a recap of everything we get up to there just before we leave, and compare the cheapest class to the most expensive on the trains.
Big love, Dani & Stu.
Currently Listening to:
They're unreal. Stuart was left in charge of booking the first train, and went with the cheapest class available (Sleeper class on this particular train), so worries that it could be a rough journey were at an all time high. Didn't get off to a great start, when we ran onto the train with <10 minutes until departure and found our seats, they were occupied by a young woman and her grandmother. It appeared we had the exact same tickets. Thankfully there was plenty of room, but not the ideal scenario to start off our rail journeys with. It turned out the young woman's husband was left in charge of booking the tickets, and booked them for 15th Feb, not 15th Jan. Oops. They had to pay for a ticket from the inspector, and on we went.
The train was great, very spacious and comfortable. Sleeper class was fine (though in hotter temperatures might be uncomfortable) - we're generally going with the air-conditioned classes from here on out.
The best part about it, which has also been one of the best things about the trip in general, was the Indian people sitting near us. Dani discussed the ticket situation with the young woman (after a heated, but affectionate, call with her husband), finding out where she was from, what she was doing in Delhi, and where she was going next. In general the people seem genuinely interested in who you are and why you've visited India. It's lovely.
After the chat, Dani climbed up to the top bunk for a snooze, Stu stayed down on the seated berth with his Kindle. We hadn't planned too far ahead for the train, so we were unprepared re food/drink - and himself was starting to get hungry/thirsty. A group of lads next to us took out some almond biscuits and tucked in, but made sure to offer everyone nearby one first, which Stu gladly accepted. There are salesmen walking down the carriages every 5-10 mins, selling chai/coffee/soup, water, and snacks. Stuart asked the chai guy for water (rookie mistake), leading to more confusion, and no water. After this the grandmother offered Stu some of the bottled water she had, again gladly accepted. At this point Stu finally forgave her for stealing his seat. There's many other stories like this about the people and we're only a week in - the warmth and kindness has been far more than we expected.
We arrived in Agra on time, and were greeted to the usual rush of taxi/tuk-tuk drivers awaiting us from the train/outside the station. Stu got an Indian SIM (highly recommended), and we've downloaded Uber/Ola, two apps that let you book your transport (same as Uber/MyTaxi back home) - we generally use it to get what the fare should be, and then haggle the tuk-tuk drivers down to in and around the correct price.
First thing we noticed was Agra seems a bit more....remote/rough around the edges in comparison to the capital city of New Delhi. Definitely way more cows, horses, goats, pigs, monkeys roaming the streets, minding their own business.
Our hostel (Bedweiser Backpackers) seems a little quieter, but that suits us as we needed to plan some more of our trip. Our tuk-tuk driver recommended Pinch of Spice, a fairly fancy Indian restaurant Stuart had read of online, and so we took his recommendation and went for our first meal in Agra. It was probably the nicest food we've ever tasted. Take a look:
(Paneer Kadhai, Chicken Garlic Tikka [Dry], Veg Pulao rice, Garlic naan)
Agra is home of the Taj Mahal, so we made our plan to see it the next day, and set off for bed. We woke up at 5a.m. on the 16th (Stu's birthday), to start off our day with sunrise at the Taj Mahal. A 15 minute walk from the hostel and we were queuing up at the gates. The Taj Mahal is mind blowing. Words and pictures genuinely can't do it justice, but we'll try anyway:
Not bad eh. Still feeling fatigued from the lack of sleep, we made our way back to the hostel and ordered takeaway from a well-rated restaurant (repeat: Indian SIM - best thing ever). At this point we noted that if visiting Agra, you only really need 1 or 2 nights. We're spending 3, and while it's nice for us to chill out and organise our trip a bit, the 3rd night could be better spent elsewhere.
We did make the most of our third day though: we've now booked our flights to our next stop - Sri Lanka. Organising/planning a trip this big takes a lot of time and deliberation, so an off-day will be needed every so often, and that's exactly what we did. After a day of booking various things, we decided to have a late lunch at Sheroes Hangout cafe - a cafe run by acid attack survivors, where you pay what you feel is fair, with proceeds going to giving acid attack survivors the means and the confidence to have a place in society, after they may have felt that had been taken away from them.
We wanted to say one last goodbye to the Taj Mahal, and set off in a tuk-tuk to the viewpoint across the river, to catch it at sunset.
That's it for here, Agra is a bit quieter, but the Taj Mahal makes any sort of stop here absolutely worthwhile. Next up is a first class train to Jaipur - which seems a bit of a more lively place. We'll give a recap of everything we get up to there just before we leave, and compare the cheapest class to the most expensive on the trains.
Big love, Dani & Stu.
Currently Listening to:
So ye went for sri Lanka over Nepal? Have a ball - get some surfing in!!
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