We took the train back from Avi's parents. Awesome, awesome experience! We rode average-person-class, mostly because we almost missed the train - the original plan being to spend the $1 more for the privacy (and possible safety) of first class. Avi's parents tried to warn us off of this a couple of times because of pick-pocket potential and I had been told by a couple of people (all of which seem to read my blog!) that I was going to minimally get stared at the whole time to wholly harassed by people wanting money. I'm not going to lie - I was apprehensive but with the 2 hours between trains we had no choice, literally running to the train. Of course in the end there weren't any problems whatsoever.
Besides seats below, general class has another bunk bed-type seat above, so you have 10 people in a place where maybe 3 people would be in an American train. Every two minutes or so someone walks by trying to sell you something, from chai (tea) and coffee, to fruit (we ate Guava), peanuts, savory cookies, spicy puffed rice (had that too), and other stuff I couldn't place. At one point two fruit ladies coming from opposite directions, with the same wares, started screaming at each other. Even I knew what was up with that. They both went back the direction they came in. Apparently these merchants hop on and off of the train all day.
Another interesting aspect were the she-men; cross-dressing men (wearing saris) who, because they can't get jobs, make do by begging for money. I saw one slap some guys ass, which made him give he/her money with the quickness. Avi got completely saved by an older guy sitting across from him. The two had been talking for quite some time before a she-man came by. To set it up somewhat, the first thing the he/shes does is clap once loudly when they come into the car; a little here I come, what you going to do 'bout it. Then this she-man proceeded to poke Avi with his finger and stood there (saying something I couldn't understand) for maybe 20 seconds before the nice old guy gave he/she some money, causing he/her to move along. Saw at least 3 he/shes on the ride, all lovelier than the last (sarcasm).
[Avi wants me to add that I was harassed as well (by another he/she while Avi pretended to be asleep - way to look out for a friend who doesn't speak the native language, buddy). I simply said no and shook my head. The man across from me said something to he/she, shooing him away.]
Besides all of this, the ride was amazing just because of the view itself. We had taken the bus on the way to Mysore and rode through the countryside by car, but the view from the train was phenomenal. Roadsides here are pretty populated - from food/produce stands to people walking (sometimes barefoot, sometimes herding sheep or goats or cows) but the train cut right through the countryside. It was straight out of National Geographic - woman balancing large items on their heads (and amazingly able to bend over while doing so), farmers plowing rice paddies with buffalo, hand-washing in rivers. The poverty was a little mind-boggling too. There were grass huts to aluminum boxes the size of my bathroom at home, to clusters of 10 or so blue tarp-like tents in the fields, clearly a make-shift village. There were also animals everywhere - roaming herds of sheep or goats, to cows being tied up right outside the entrance to the huts. It's crazy to think that these animals are some of these people's only possessions, their livelihood and maybe their life-savings.
It was quiet too - a nice reprieve from the constant honking on the roads.
I found the rice paddies, something I had never seen in person before, to be exceedingly beautiful. The tall grass is sugar cane, apparently all of which is infested with cobras.
Here are some stills:
This is the end of the ride, pulling into Bangalore Station. I recommend full screen or going to Youtube itself to check it out (just click on the link, it should get you right to the video). You can really see the poverty here, from the garbage along the tracks (pretty much the whole ride by the way) to the insane amount of people living in such close proximity, both on top of each other but also in every available piece of land. Many of the buildings are very brightly colored, which adds quite a lot to the atmosphere.
NOTE: As I proof read this I am realizing how often I say crazy and insane. I am not really trying to judge. These things are crazy to me, a lucky-to-be-spoiled American.
What's next
It's Thursday here. We're hitting the gym today, much needed as we seem to be eating every two hours (and again there hasn't been one thing that hasn't been delicious). May do a little shopping too.
I am very excited about my girlfriend Melissa's arrival tomorrow. I'm not sure what we're doing during the day but the plan is for me to make dinner tomorrow night. Avi has been telling everyone how great a cook I am - not exactly managing expectations - and they want me to make spaghetti and meatballs. Easy enough on paper, right? But there's a couple of problems... First, I don't think marinara is going to cut it - quite a lot of food here is tomato/ onion based sauces, but all kicked up the flavor chain with various spices. I think our regular stuff is going to be way too bland. Second, there's no ground beef (aka Holy Cow!) or turkey meat around, probably only lamb. So it sounds like some Italian-American-Indian fusion of some sort. Wish me luck!
Anyway, Mel comes in at 3am Friday night/ Saturday morning, so we'll be getting a car to drive us to the airport to pick her up. Baby doll has one whole day to get over jet lag before we head to Goa on the southwest coast for some beach time on the Arabian Sea.
I will try to make one more post before Goa. Any requests as to what you want to hear about? I still plan on posting a driving video. Ciao.
Besides seats below, general class has another bunk bed-type seat above, so you have 10 people in a place where maybe 3 people would be in an American train. Every two minutes or so someone walks by trying to sell you something, from chai (tea) and coffee, to fruit (we ate Guava), peanuts, savory cookies, spicy puffed rice (had that too), and other stuff I couldn't place. At one point two fruit ladies coming from opposite directions, with the same wares, started screaming at each other. Even I knew what was up with that. They both went back the direction they came in. Apparently these merchants hop on and off of the train all day.
Another interesting aspect were the she-men; cross-dressing men (wearing saris) who, because they can't get jobs, make do by begging for money. I saw one slap some guys ass, which made him give he/her money with the quickness. Avi got completely saved by an older guy sitting across from him. The two had been talking for quite some time before a she-man came by. To set it up somewhat, the first thing the he/shes does is clap once loudly when they come into the car; a little here I come, what you going to do 'bout it. Then this she-man proceeded to poke Avi with his finger and stood there (saying something I couldn't understand) for maybe 20 seconds before the nice old guy gave he/she some money, causing he/her to move along. Saw at least 3 he/shes on the ride, all lovelier than the last (sarcasm).
[Avi wants me to add that I was harassed as well (by another he/she while Avi pretended to be asleep - way to look out for a friend who doesn't speak the native language, buddy). I simply said no and shook my head. The man across from me said something to he/she, shooing him away.]
Besides all of this, the ride was amazing just because of the view itself. We had taken the bus on the way to Mysore and rode through the countryside by car, but the view from the train was phenomenal. Roadsides here are pretty populated - from food/produce stands to people walking (sometimes barefoot, sometimes herding sheep or goats or cows) but the train cut right through the countryside. It was straight out of National Geographic - woman balancing large items on their heads (and amazingly able to bend over while doing so), farmers plowing rice paddies with buffalo, hand-washing in rivers. The poverty was a little mind-boggling too. There were grass huts to aluminum boxes the size of my bathroom at home, to clusters of 10 or so blue tarp-like tents in the fields, clearly a make-shift village. There were also animals everywhere - roaming herds of sheep or goats, to cows being tied up right outside the entrance to the huts. It's crazy to think that these animals are some of these people's only possessions, their livelihood and maybe their life-savings.
It was quiet too - a nice reprieve from the constant honking on the roads.
I found the rice paddies, something I had never seen in person before, to be exceedingly beautiful. The tall grass is sugar cane, apparently all of which is infested with cobras.
Here are some stills:
This is the end of the ride, pulling into Bangalore Station. I recommend full screen or going to Youtube itself to check it out (just click on the link, it should get you right to the video). You can really see the poverty here, from the garbage along the tracks (pretty much the whole ride by the way) to the insane amount of people living in such close proximity, both on top of each other but also in every available piece of land. Many of the buildings are very brightly colored, which adds quite a lot to the atmosphere.
NOTE: As I proof read this I am realizing how often I say crazy and insane. I am not really trying to judge. These things are crazy to me, a lucky-to-be-spoiled American.
What's next
It's Thursday here. We're hitting the gym today, much needed as we seem to be eating every two hours (and again there hasn't been one thing that hasn't been delicious). May do a little shopping too.
I am very excited about my girlfriend Melissa's arrival tomorrow. I'm not sure what we're doing during the day but the plan is for me to make dinner tomorrow night. Avi has been telling everyone how great a cook I am - not exactly managing expectations - and they want me to make spaghetti and meatballs. Easy enough on paper, right? But there's a couple of problems... First, I don't think marinara is going to cut it - quite a lot of food here is tomato/ onion based sauces, but all kicked up the flavor chain with various spices. I think our regular stuff is going to be way too bland. Second, there's no ground beef (aka Holy Cow!) or turkey meat around, probably only lamb. So it sounds like some Italian-American-Indian fusion of some sort. Wish me luck!
Anyway, Mel comes in at 3am Friday night/ Saturday morning, so we'll be getting a car to drive us to the airport to pick her up. Baby doll has one whole day to get over jet lag before we head to Goa on the southwest coast for some beach time on the Arabian Sea.
I will try to make one more post before Goa. Any requests as to what you want to hear about? I still plan on posting a driving video. Ciao.
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