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Namaste!
I am writing this while on the train to Udaipur from Delhi.<span> The ride will last twelve hours so I figured I should make the most of this opportunity to write a blog post before I spend the next two days getting to know my new hometown.
From the hotel, our driver helped us find the right platform and train car.<span> We came prepared with a dinner packed by the hotel and I loaded my bag with ‘western’ snacks from a gas station (Lays sour cream and onion chips, sour skittles, skittles, Gatorade, and two kinds of Gobstoppers).<span> We are riding in second class, which means there are two beds on each wall, three sets of beds per compartment and my favorite part; air conditioning!
There are no rats thank god.<span> The interns who went to Seva Mandir last semester apparently got no sleep because there were rats on the train. Knock on wood this doesn’t happen when we go back to Delhi for the midterm.
I tied my backpack, which holds my lap top and books, to a handle on my top bunk.<span> I am clipping my camera bag/purse to my watch so that if anyone touches it I will know.<span> Our hiking bags didn’t fit under the bunk completely but I am hoping Emilie, who is on the bottom bunk, would notice someone trying to steal our bags. I might get her to clip them together.
We are sharing the compartment with two other people a couple who have two sons our age (25 and 22) who are traveling from one home in Delhi to their second home in Udaipur.<span> One of their sons is married and both of them work at the Marble mines/factory.<span> They shared their meals with us, which means we broke the one rule Raul (the director at Seva Mandir) told us to follow.<span> Hopefully I’m not running for the bathroom in an hour but the food tasted great.<span> It was naan bread, with a somewhat spicy red chilli sauce, some potatoes and almost a trail mix that tasted like curry- and mangoes! The mango was the best part and I look forward to buying a knife so that I can buy more mangos in Udaipur.<span> I know they are in season in Delhi so I hope they are also available in Udaipur. <span> I was very gatreful that they shared their food, so I pulled out my lap top and showed the couple pictures of Ottawa, my house, our Latendresse Easter dinner (aka Shawarma Dinner) and of the last time I went snowboarding in Mont Tremblant.
The train keeps stopping which is probably why it takes so long to get to Udaipur.<span> I am jamming out to the Beatles and reading IT by Stephen King.<span> I am still at the beginning, where all the characters are adults and heading back to Derry, Maine.<span> I am looking forward to some creepy action to start.
The washrooms are supposed to be really gross on the train (Raul warned us) and I can see why.<span> It’s a hole, with two huge raise footprints.<span> I am guessing you stand on the footprints and squat.<span> I can’t imagine peoples aim is very good at all.
Today we went to Old Delhi with Raul and the other interns.<span> It was very cool, so many back alleys.<span> It was intense too because these alleys are not big at all and they are full of people shopping, rickshaws and motorbikes trying to get by all the time.<span> The honking in my ear and almost getting run over by Rickshaws was so annoying I was happy to get out of there by the end of it.<span> I was so hot I wore my scarf on my head, I still need to practice how to put it on properly.<span> I missed that lesson when I was sleeping in the other day.<span> We also walked through a market in Old Delhi where they sell a bunch of women’s accessories for clothing.<span> Apparently a lot of the big designers in Delhi (according to Raul) buy their jewels and stuff that they sew onto Sarees and shirts.<span> It was so cool, I wish we could have shopped more.<span> There were houses that were over 150 years old as Old Delhi was built before the British Invasion.<span> In fact, the Presidents house and parliament buildings were all built on what used to be thick jungle and Old Delhi was the real capital before the British came.
We stopped to take pictures of the president’s house, and saw the outside of the Red Fort, which was built by the Moghul’s before the British invaded.<span> It is really cool.<span> We went to check out a mosque but could not go inside because it was Friday and only Muslims are allowed inside since it is a day of prayer until 2:30p.m and we needed to go to lunch.
We had lunch at Side Wok, which made me think of the South Park episode with the City ‘Shitty’ Wok and City ‘Shitty’ Sushi. It was hands down the best meal I have had in India.<span> We all ordered a bunch of stuff and shared. Thanks Raul/iVolunteer that paid the bill.<span> It was in Cannaught place, which is a richer area of Delhi.<span> There was a lot of shopping to do there and I had to remind myself to wait until Udaipur to do more shopping.
Anyways that was pretty much our day! I am going to make my bunk (they give us clean sheets, blankets and pillow) and get set up for bed.<span> <span>J Miss everybody.
Air India has sacked something like 57 pilots since we arrived on our 12 hour delayed flight.<span> As a result, the direct flight to Toronto has so far been cancelled an almost every other international flight out of Delhi is full.<span> So lets hope this strike does not last three months because as much as I love India- I need to be back in time for Osheaga long weekend of August.
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jojo
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love it!
hey brie, lovin all your posts! look forward to hearing more about the train ride and especially udaipur. your mom is improving every day! big hugs xo