Incredible India (Sarah)

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The journey to India was delayed before it even began - the agency who'd convincingly promised that, for a small fee, they could secure an Indian visa in time for us to cross the border and catch the trains we had booked to get to Goa in time for new year, unfortunately didn't come through with the goods - we only discovered this late on 27 December, the date we were due to depart. "We're very sorry" they said - "the Embassy has been closed, not just for Christmas day but also for the Eid festival the week before AND for boxing day, so all visas have been delayed" (other travellers explained that the Indian Embassy takes the opportunity to close for as many public holidays as they can and because India is such a multi faith country they close for every possible religious festivity they can think of!!!)

We despondantly went online to cancel the trains we'd painstakingly booked a month in advance, that would have taken us to Goa in time for the new year festivities; tried to book tickets for alternative trains only to discover that there were waiting lists in the hundreds for seats; contacted our good friend Hannah to say that we would simply have to cross the border and wing it the 2500'ish KM to Goa and that we may see her on NYE or more likely on the 1/2/3 January!

Late on 28 December our clutching our visas hot off the press, we boarded the very uncomfortable night bus to the Nepal/ India border. After a sleepless night, me full of a nasty cold from Kathmandu, Bob squashed in with no leg room, the driver hurtling at breakneck speed around every corner, breaks screeching except during a long traffic jam to get around an overturned lorry, we arrived in the dim dawn light to a sleepy border down shrouded in mist. We comandeered a bicycle rickshaw for what we thought was a short distance to the border, 20 minutes later we were still squeaking our way along a country lane in thick fog on a rickety cycle rickshaw! Eventually we reached the Nepalese exit post and had the usual confusion of form filling, money changing and passport stamping before reboarding the rickety rickshaw who's driver had boldly offered to "take us to India!"

On we squeaked through the mist to the Indian entrance post where Bob was told he was a very lucky man to have me as his wife by the over friendly passport controller (my passport photo is from when I was a dancer and was getting photos to send off for audtion applications - in the picture I am wearing rather alot of make-up and a sultry smile - not the raggedy traveller look I am currently sporting!) We'd made it, to Incredible India, now we just had to work out how to get to Goa in 60 hours on the weekend before new years eve with no trains booked - unlikely we thought but we can only try!

The rickety rickshaw dropped us in a street crowded with people, bicycles, cars, jeeps and buses; everyone competing for business to take us to a multitude of places in Incredible India - we plumped for a comfortable looking jeep that would take us to Gorakhpur where we could hook up with the wide guage train services that departed for many parts of this vast country. The jeep was comfortable until it was squeezed to bursting with 14 people rather than the 10-12 that it looked like it should accomodate - Bob and I shared the passenger seat whilst a very tall man shared the drivers seat with the driver who had to operate the gear stick between his passengers legs!! Three hours later we breathed deeply again when we finally reached the train station. We headed quickly to the ticket office - by now we had met a number of other travellers who also had dreams of reaching Goa by NYE and we suspected it might be rather a scramble for train tickets.

Our first attempt to purchase tickets was met with a blank stare and a surly "NOT POSSIBLE" with a sideways head jiggle that was rather incomprehensible. We decided to try tourist information instead - a very jolly and motherly lady sat us down and explained that we were in luck as the once weekly train to Pune would be departing that afternoon and she would see if she could get us tickets! Off she went with Bob, pushed to the front of the ticket window queue and promptly secured us places on the waiting list for this train - numbers 6 and 7 - "you'll definately get a seat she reassured us!" She kindly let us leave our luggage in her office while we headed off for a much needed bite to eat. At the roadside food shack we met a French guy who had just tried to get tickets for the same train us us and they had already closed the waiting list - it seemed our helpful tourist information lady really had got there there just in the nick of time, we'd just have to keep our fingers crossed that we would indeed make it from the wait list to an actual seat!

Back to the station we went and result!... We'd been allocated seats for the 37 hour train journey to Pune, just south of Mumbai and not too far away from Goa! A little more reasearch online before we caught the train gave us an idea of the possible routes from Pune to Goa which we would have to chance along the way, but we were just so delighted to be heading so far south so soon after crossing the border! A night, a day and half a night later we reached Pune. The journey (our first Indian train experience) had been fine -we'd been fed and watered along the way by all manner of people who'd wandered up and down the carriage selling their wares - samosas and pakoras; bananas from the platform and sweet spicy tea from the chai wallahs. We'd slept well in our fairly comfy bunks and hadn't had to share (the bunk opposite made for three people had accomodated six and the one opposite made for two had slept five for the duration of our journey!)

It was 4am in Pune with just a twenty minute stop before another train left which we believed would connect with a further train to Goa! We rushed to the ticket office, Bob gabbled hurriedly at the bemused ticket officer (I was speechless by this point - the cold that had started in kathmandu had now moved to my throat and I had completly lost my voice!) we secured a ticket and leapt on the next train out - result number two! A charming old Indian man took us under his wing as he was going to the same station - Miraj Junction - he said he'd help us out when we got there.

We arrived in Miraj Junction at lunchtime on NYE and with the help of our new friend purchased another ticket to somewhere called Londa where we were pretty sure we could connect with a Goan train - result number 3! The train to Londa took a few hours longer than we expected but passed by quickly whilst chatting to our fellow travellers - a man, his wife, her brother and his wife - they were fascinated to hear about our jounrey and to read our Lonely Planet of India (Bob had to conduct our communcations due to my missing voice but I got by with smiling, nodding and the odd whisper!)! On reaching Londa we headed to the ticket office and discovered whilst we had come so far and were so near to Hannah the next train to Goa would depart at 2am that night, and we would arrive in the early hours of new years day - we were gutted.

Luckily all was not lost, we headed out of the station where we were immediately descended upon by a series of jeep drivers offering to take us to Goa. It was new years eve, we had made it this far, we decided to splash out and go for it! Expensive by relative Indian prices but actually only 30 quid in sterling anyway! Off we headed through the jungle that splits Goa from Karnataka. Early in the journey the driver picked up a 'friend' so that 'he had someone to travel with on his way back' - due to the length of our journey, the tiredness and the cold I was feeling a little ragged by now; this 'friend' made me a little paranoid - were they going to dump us in the jungle and take all our valuables? Maybe they were just going to murder us for fun!? A quick stop at a roadside cafe where a number of the other customers were brandishing sticks made me even more anxious. Thankfully we arrived in Goa eventually and have since heard rumours that there are panthers and pumas in the jungle so the drivers need for a companion was indeed genuine!

At 9pm on New Years Eve - 75 hours after we had left Kathmandu - we arrived in Palolem... to a ROAD BLOCK! The village was full of new years revellers so the road was closed; the jeep driver turfed us out and and said we'd have to walk the last bit! Knackered but excited to finally be there we slung on our backpacks and trudged off down the road looking for landmarks that Hannah had recently texted to us, happily we made it straight to her door with no further problems!! RESULT!

New Years Eve was fabulous - delicious nibbles and wine provided by Hannah, followed by a fun few hours at a great bar called The Secret Garden where we met loads of lovely people and saw in 2008 to fireworks! I was travel weary and nearly voiceless but delighted to have made it from north east to south west across Incredible India! Our first taste of this vast country had been pretty awesome and not only had India proved itself to be incredible - the people we met along the way had made our impossible seeming journey possible after all!

After new year we had a lovely month in Goa, spending time Hannah and various Palolem residents, we got immersed in yoga and reiki which has been a different type of journey altogether! We've visited Hampi in Karnataka which is famous for vast areas of boulders and huge numbers of archaelogical ruins which were fascinating. Then we travelled to Kerala to meet my Mum who has been visiting for the last two weeks; together we have explored the delights of Kerala - Kovalam a great beachside resort; Trivandrum, the busy capital of this state; Fort Cohin a old colonial town up the coast; the nearby backwaters where we spent a peaceful day on a boat; Varkala, a beachside place perched on top of some impressive cliffs - more on these places in the next blog!

This weekend we are headed for Madurai, the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu, for the next month we will be volunteering at The Russ Foundation - the purpose of our overland trip to India! We are not quite sure exactly what our volunteering will consist of but I am very much looking forward to seeing the place and the children; having visited back in 1995 I am fascinated to see the changes and looking forward to seeing what we can contribute during our stay! If you haven't already donated to this fantastic cause and would like to add a few pennies to our Just Giving page (when I last checked we were 92%!t(MISSING)owards our pledged total!) then check out

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Comments

[Sue]

Confused
You could be confused over Sarah's story - paragraph 3 she mentions starting out on 28 January in time to get to India for NYE. She means of course starting out on 28 December. The Indian heat has gone to her head, I know because I've just returned from an amazing adventure in Kerala and my brain hasn't quite caught up yet!