this is the train that never ends...

After a lovely relaxing time in the little town of Orchha, we went to the train station to catch our overnight train to Varanasi. We had a lovely cab driver not only drop us of, but came in to verify we had the right platform and show us the "upper class" waiting are (you, know for super models and the like)

You have to understand that train stations in India are a bit different than at home. Everyone is camped out, literally sitting and sleeping, everywhere all over the ground. The upper class waiting area (as cramped as that was) was appealing due to the lack of whack-a-doodles in the room. You don't have to be quite a paranoid as on the main platform, keeping an eye out for your belongings. One really sweet addition to the main platform was a mother dog with 6 pups who were probably about 5 weeks old. They were so cute! I gather the station master had a soft spot and hadn't run them off.

So being that we're in India, 1 1/4 hours after our train was due to depart it arrived in the station. We boarded to discover we weren't ticketed for the class we had hoped,but also that it was scheduled to take 12 hours to cover the 575km distance. After an attempt at sleeping the sun rose and there we were waiting yet again for the train to move. This one just seemed to stop contstantly, with out any apparent reason. The a/c was weak at best (it's 44 degrees C here today) and Sandy was going greener by the minute.

After having arrived at the train station at 9pm, we arrived in Varanasi at 1pm. Thankfully the guide that had been booked had waited the additional 3 hours and we stepped off to a "Welcome Lesley" sign which was the only thing that kept Sandy from a mini breakdown. He whisked us off to our hotel (which was quite nice) where Sandy became one with the bed and bathroom while I went off on a boat ride down the river. For the record, Sandy has been to Varanasi before and told me to go without him, since I'd have our guide with me.

It still seems a bit strange to me when we passed the burning gates (where they cremate bodies 24hrs/day) I did see a body wrapped up in the adorned fabric. But thankfully I wasn't able to identify anything that was currently burning. The truely crazy part were how many people were just downriver swimming. Candles are set a drift amongst flowers and it made for a beautiful sunset.

Sandy is looking better now, hopefully it lasts!

Namaste