Advertisement
Published: November 17th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Ring, ring, am I dreaming, no it’s the phone, who on earth knows were here, let alone ring us at 5.15 am…. The front desk of course and the beautiful people who had looked after both of their sick guest’s had in with much Indian love remembered that we were catching the Mandovi express to Goa, which departed at 7.05am, so best be at the station at 6.30 as like everywhere else its also chaos. For those of you who live on the east coast or any major city for that fact you would understand the daily pilgrimage of commuters traveling into the city for work. Which is all well and good, but 15000 Indian’s, Kashmir’s, Pakistanis, I’m sure there were a few Afghans, with a generous sprinkling of people from countries like Nepal and Tibet, at 6.30 in the morning certainly got us clutching our back packs, each other and looking for the most recent familiar face, the taxi driver, who by this stage had disappeared into the crowd like 3yr old would at the royal show. Gone and never to be seen again.
So here we are, CST station, yesterday the train left from platform 5, or that’s
what they told us, today it’s a very different story, we’re on platform 15, there’s no train and both somewhat clueless as to what to expect. Although even in wake up mode we still managed to ask for directions and surprisingly got it right. There’s a rumble from down the line this must be our Mandovi express, 12 hours in a two tier Air conditioned sleeper cabin….. so we thought. Nothing is as it appears in India. Firstly, this train had not made its way from the yard where we thought it would be kept overnight in preparation for our trip, it had just made the same journey, but in reverse. We eagerly waited to board our carriage, find our seats and get comfortable for what was still a semi-uncomfortable trip because of our recently gastronomic journey. Both really looking forward to some privacy, a good rest and just some time to chill and take stock of Mumbai, like that was going to happen, we are in the busiest city, at the busiest train station in the country. Backs and fronts loaded with packs, the uneven wobble of a couple with just a little bit to much to carry comfortably
we put a foot on the stairs to board when we were stopped, “I’m sorry sir, madam the toilets are being cleaned” and the there were still sleepy traveler’s waking up that needed to get off before we could board. So we waited, watched goods and cargo being loaded, people being unloaded and whole range of produce and the like moving all over every platform, some 20 that we could see. 7am and we finally get on board, to our dismay and I’m sure some shock and pangs of discomfort from Mel we realize that our 2 berth sleeper was not what we had imagined. We though Orient express, we got two chairs and a curtain, well the chairs folded into a bed and there was another bed above which we were to pull down at some stage…..
No thanks. Lucky for us we keep meeting beautiful people that can read the horror in our faces in an instant. A lovely gentleman who was traveling with his family, just new what was going on approached us and after some conversation we realized that our Orient express was one carriage up and availability of such private cabin was dependant on
Anjuna Beach
Home of the beach party how quickly we could shuffle ourselves and packs into it. Let me tell you shuffle I did. Claimed my prize, now all we had to do was find the conductor who would upgrade our tickets and secure our sanity, privacy and much needed recovery. It wasn’t long before Mr. Ramesh found me. a small Indian man, with a moustache, everyone here has a moustache, quiet stern at first, but livened right up when he found out we were willing to pay. More chats, a little for you, a little for me later and we secured our seats, at a much discounted price, most of discount went to Mr. Ramesh, but nonetheless we had our piece of paper and a “legitimate” claim to our cabin.
Certainly not the Orient Express, but 1st class was much more welcoming for this traveling duo. Like a lot of India this cabin had seen better days, and those days were well before we were born. Comfortable and strangely memorable for its quirky kitchness. We were moving when we heard the first of what were to be many knocks on our cabin door, so much for the rest…. Blankets and pillows how very civilized! Then
coffee, then breakfast followed by a regional specialty at every station we stopped at. I just wanted to try everything, yet couldn’t Bombay had left me wary, although the egg omlette with green chillies and warm bread was good, lunch which was fried rice and an assortment of vegetable curries (veg thali) was a little iffy to say the least. Mel had a smell, a look, left it and opted for the bread and steamed rice. I tried, but fear is such an overpowering emotion, I froze before my hand could dip the naan into the gravy. Not this time, but it smelt soooo good. Although I did have some sweets goulab jamouns, for those who know (not as good as mums), and Mel had the obligatory nibble, just enough to taste, not enough to damage if you know what I mean. No chances with her now.
With remnants of Bombay belly a trip to the bathroom was always going to be on the cards……. True to form the Mandovi did not fail to surprise in this category either. Full marks to the storage of waste problem, classic Indian ingenuity, I know we’ll just invent a toilet that flushes
and has no bottom, yep that’s right straight through to the tracks. I think the only thing different between the 4 classes is how far up from the tracks your bottom actually is.
7pm- Karmali station Goa, more ingeniousness, build a ramp that’s goes up three stories on one side, linked by a bridge which leads to another equally as impressive ramp on the other. God its hard work over here sometimes, especially when you consider that the ramp is only wide enough for one person and hand luggage and that most people getting off were in a hurry only to be slowed right down by the very smart little old local lady who knew which carriage stopped in front of the bridge who also had the most luggage after returning home after a stay in the big city…. Lots of pressies for the fam, all at her own pace. Of course we were on the carriage furthest from the ramp, after all we were in 1st class, no first off the plane here… At least we didn’t have to haggle for another taxi to a destination we didn’t know how to get too, prepaid taxi vouchers a travelers
Talpona beach
One of the few off the tourist track secluded beaches best friend in india. Fixed price guaranteed delivery. Then we met John our Goan taxi driver, what a relief, friendly, likeable and has turned out to be one of the few very honest Indians around, that we’ve met. We like John. People in Goa are like that though, this place rocks and is a must visit for anyone who comes to India, well that’s been our experience so far.
More stories, in a couple of days we’ve been very “holiday” just enjoying Goa, here are some more pics, so you can see what we mean. Big thank you’s to all of you who have left us messages and comments, it means a lot us to be in touch whilst we are over here, thank you all for your thoughts and well wishes.
Rez n Mel
Advertisement
Tot: 0.053s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0329s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Val
non-member comment
shave
Sport, love the commentry, its nice to see your enjoying life's challenges... just got back from a brain sprain in Canberra (picked up a new gig) best in class learning... f kn full on... and was delghted to get a taste of your experience in India for a moment... Take care my friend and BTW u need a shave...Hi to Mel..