AllahaBAD

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On Tuesday morning we arrived in Allahabad and got off the sleeper train at about 4am. Due to Marc's sickness we were unable to explore the city. With no WiFi and all shops and cafés closed, we had no way of finding a hotel or hostel to book a room. So we had to turn up on the doorsteps of hotels and ask if we could stay. After being rejected from EIGHT hotels because we were foreign and therefore do not hold an Indian identity card, we were eventually accepted into a grubby looking hotel, but at least the room had air-con. That evening, once Marc was feeling better, we went to the railway station to get a train to Varanasi.

Our fond memories of the train to Agra were quickly forgotten. You are advised to arrive 1 hour before your train to allow time to get yourself to the right platform, but when we arrived at the station we saw that our train to Varanasi had been delayed by 3 hours. We spent most of the time sitting in a hotel next to the station drinking ice tea and milkshakes but sensed that we had overstayed our welcome. So we braved the train platform for the last hour. Besides the usual constant staring, we were also harassed by a group of young boys begging for money. We had already been told on many occasions not to give children any money or gifts as it teaches them bad habits around white tourists. We stood our ground but it was extremely upsetting to have small children tapping us, following us, shouting at us and eventually throwing things. All the while everyone else around was watching the whole ordeal not doing or saying anything. By this point we were desperate for the train to arrive.

When the train was about to come into the platform we had people trying to get us to go to different platforms which became very confusing and we became further flustered. Once sitting in the right seats on the right train FINALLY, we were squashed up with 2 security guards who squeezed in next to us (who are apparently allowed to sit anywhere they want). Things were definitely going from bad to worse. We were unable to sleep as there were people sitting on our beds, and we had no idea when our stop was. In our experience, trains in India rarely give any information at all about when the next stop will be or what stop it is. The trains also stop on the tracks at any moment for unknown reasons, sometimes adding hours to your journey.

Eventually, we arrived in Varanasi at 3.30am instead of 10pm, and good luck finally struck. Our hotel was clean and quiet, with air-con, bottled water and fresh towels.

Unfortunately, our experience in Allahabad was not great. However there was a small highlight, and that was the Indian Coffee House. We had been to one in Kochi so it was great to find another in the north. These coffee houses have a strong presence in Kerala, this is likely due to them being owned entirely by the workers (Marc was happy about this). Although sick boy only managed a couple of slices of toast, I thoroughly enjoyed my masala dosa. Maybe Allahabad isn't so bad after all.

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Comments

[Mum]

Poor You
Sounds like a nightmare wouldn't do for me