The heat is on......!!

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Ok, so 2 years on and I'm back in India. I always promised I'd come back to finish off my last trip. For those who don't know the last one ended in St Thomas's hospital , London,being treated for giardia and Salmonella paratyphi...probably due to my far-too-intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the Indian toilet system ( see last blog!)

So, back into Delhi, it seemed appropriate that the first place I should visit would be the Sulabh International museum of toilets. I know, I know, strange place to visit, and obviously a way off the tourist trail as my driver drove 15 miles trying to find something 3 miles away from the hotel ( then tried to charge me for excess mileage- typical India!) . Anyhow,' this just has to be seen', I thought. Trouble is, I didnt realise that this is a charitable organisation which takes its toilets very seriously and I was given a one-to-one tour detailing the whole history of sanitation around the world, and had to pretend to be enthralled ( which for somebody wih the attention span of a gnat is quite difficult) . There were some hilarious posters on toilet etiquete for married and unmarried Indians- will post when they 're uploaded!!

The long-running mossie battle has re-started. Guess nobody has been feeding them as they seem mighty aggressive, going straight for the jugular and dive-bombing. I feel like a matador wih my large white bath towel having a swipe at them. Occasionally a few choice expletives are muttered at them and I envisage the guests in the next room talking about the crazy nutter next door with tourettes!!

I decide to take the sleeper train to Varanasi and head back towards the chaotic, boiling and scam-ridden place which is Delhi train station, pursued by beggars wih hands outstretched, tugging and clawing at me. There does seem to be a fashion ( if you can call it that) of the very poor amputating their own limb(s) so that they can beg, and you tend to get these stumps thrust in your face (very pleasant I know). The sleeper trains on this route are known for their robberies and tourists being drugged, and to compound my nervousness I meet 2 tourists who have just travelled the route the other way who had their stuff nicked by a fellow traveller.

Totally paranoid, I acquire the biggest stock of water, bananas, biscuits and chocolate, vowing to accept nothing from anybody. I arrive early, latch onto a nice respectable- looking Indian who guides me to my platform and my sleeper carriage( for I was geting serious staring treatment at the station) and chain my entire luggage contents to my berth and decide I will sleep on them overnight, even if it means me sleeping at nearly 90 degrees! Anyhow, I shouldn't have worried as my first berth companion who arrives is a sweet N Korean lad with all the latest electronic gadgetry you could imagine, on full display. 'Good', I think,'they'll rob him first!!' ( nice selfless behaviour!). He spends the entire trip obsessed wih his tripod and camera, shooting pix the entire journey ( when not sleeping) of anything that moves ( or doesn't) . Our other 3 berth companions turn out to be judges on a holy pilgrimage and spend their spare time buying us chai from the railway chai-wallah. There was me expecting to be robbed and instead I was being treated to Indian hospitality. I didn't sleep too well though.........

Writing this from Darjeeling and will hopefully update more tomorrow. I need to go get my bucket of hot water ( daily allowance- no shower in room). We've just found out today there is bird flu in the area, so I have been busy taunting anybody seen eating eggs or chicken....

more soon
love, the smug vegetarian!! xx

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Comments

[Teresia Quinn]

Wow Sally
Hi Sal, great to see you on the road again - enjoy. Glad you're a smug vegetarian...I'm still an omnivore but if it came to bird flu in India I might just try veggies only. Love Tess and the family (who haven't seen a dentist for goodness knows how long.....)