Quick Catch Up

After Varanasi Jess and I headed to Khajuharo, famous for its Kama Sutra temples. Khajuharo is a strange town geared for tourists, and as it was coming to the end of tourist season and ridiculously hot, we were the only ones left. The result was an extreme amount of hassling. We tried to ignore the constant attention, but this led to remarks such as "just because we're not white doesn't mean we're not human" and meant we spent a lot of time in our hotel room. The temples were definitely worth a visit though, especially the smaller temples in the countryside which we travelled to by cycle rickshaw.

Next stop was Hyderabad, over 30 hours away, and I can safely say it was my worst train experience of the holiday. Our first train took us from Khajuharo to Jhansi Junction and should have been a straight forward one. But the train was ridiculously overcrowded with five people to every bench (usually sits three) and at least three or four people up on the top berths. So from 6pm until nearly midnight (the train was late) we were squashed in, surrounded by men and absolutely boiling. Upon arrival in Jhansi we spent ages wandering around trying to understand the confusing signs and find the retiring rooms, which were of course, by the time we got there, full. So it was a night in the Sleeper Class waiting room for us, sleeping on our bags on the floor surrounded by giant black locust type things. I have never seen the clock tick more slowly. Eventually 5am came, we boarded our 24 hour train to Hyderabad, and fell asleep on our berths. But not for long. With a strange sense of deja-vu we watched the train slowly fill up to bursting point. As evening approached we realised that no one was getting off. Where were all these people going to go when we put the beds down? To them, of course, the answer was obvious. They would share our beds. Jess and I both ended up with a child asleep with us and two or three people sat at the foot of the bed. When Secunderabad finally arrived we couldn't see the aisle. It was covered with sleeping bodies all intertwined and cramped together. I have never been more happy to see Hyderabad; we definitely made the most of the luxuries of a supermarket, room service, and AC malls, after our 'most Indian' train experience of the tour.

Am now back in Tangutur, after an overnight train from Hyderabad to Ongole which felt like first class - it was so empty! Was whisked off to a bank function that evening and had to listen to two hours of speeches in Telugu and pose for a photo before I worked out what was going on. Back to life as usual!