India - The Third Installment

Well, I typed and typed and lost it all when I accidentally navigated away from this page. Then I realized that about 50% of it was probably too boring to publish anyway so then I didn't feel so bad. But then I was just getting to a good part so I did feel bad again - and my fingers are tired.

So, anyway, I started by talking about this cool garden I'd forgotten to mention when I was writing about Delhi - I went there on the day after I went to Agra and it was called Lodi Garden. It is very cool and contains some 15th and 16th century ruins of tombs. The setting of the ruins in the park is great - nice contrasts between the crumbling structures and the wild growth of trees and bushes. You'll see what I mean when I post pictures.

Ok, so day two of Mumbai was a wandering sort of day through the Colaba district of the city - this is where the Gateway to India is. There were a few ships in the harbor and lots of people milling around. Then I got my first taste of monsoon weather. I was looking at street vendors' wares and was dry and five seconds later there was a downpour and I was soaked - the rain felt great, but getting soaked while wearing jeans did not. I ducked into a coffee shop to dry off and then went to a cd shop where I bought a $6.00 copy of "Crash" which I imagine is supposed to be in color, but not in my pirated version.

I was also biding my time a bit because I was waiting to hear about my train ticket to Goa. I found out that to take the night train, you really should book the ticket two days in advance. So I got Agnelo, the hotel clerk to take care of it for me. He told me I needed to give him a few extra rupies so he could bribe the ticket guy. I'm not sure if he actually did this, or said it so that he could make a few rupies, but I gave him the money because it sounded shady and cool. I'd already checked out of the hotel but was keeping my luggage there until I had to catch my train at 11pm. I ate at a really good restaurant called Samrat and ate far too much butter naan and rich desserts than was good for me. Later in the day I picked up my ticket from Agnelo for a second class reserved sleeping berth on the night train to Goa. After spending the day walking around the area between the train station and my hotel, I got used to being approached by vendors right and left and got pretty good at ignoring people who were just wanting to sell me things or get me to take their taxis.

I headed over to the train station at 10pm so I could get an idea of the platform I had to leave from and make sure where everything was. The train arrived by 10:30 and I walked and walked until I found my car. When I got on I was a bit nervous - I had heard that the trains could be a bit dodgy and that you had to watch your luggage closely. Luckily I got a lower berth across from an older gentleman named Narayan - he was a semi-retired postal worker heading down to Goa and - as luck would have it - to the same stop that I was getting off at. Soon we were joined by some 40-something guys traveling together. Second class carriages in India are nothing like any train I have ever been on before. you sit six in an area and then there is an upper, middle and lower berth on each side. There are fans on the ceiling to keep you cool at night, but the trains are in poor shape and offer little comfort. I bundled up my backpack for a pillow, tied a handkerchief around my head, put in my headphones - mostly to keep small bugs from getting in my ears (they may have been cockroaches). I was pretty tired and slept well until I woke up in the middle of the night with a bit of a stomach cramp - I remembered then that the iced coffee I'd drunk earlier may not have had clean ice in it. I took some medicine, but still needed to head to the bathroom - i.e. hole in the floor with treads on either side (glad to have had toilet paper with me - and Purell).

I woke up super early and had some chai that a food service guy came by with - Rs.2 (this amount increased significantly on my train ride back to Mumbai two days later). The rest of the train ride was eternal but I finally reached Tivim(my stop)at around 12:30 and took a pre-paid taxi to Calangute where I was staying. My driver took me to Mira Resort, just a short five minute walk from the Arabian Sea.

To be continued...