We've just arrived in Varanasi after a 4 hour train journey from Allahbad. It was a different type of journey to what we've experienced before so I thought you should know.
We travelled by train (for a recap on classes see my post on Delhi) in sleeper class which we hadn't done before. It's basically the same as 3AC but without the AC. Surprisingly comfortable, as we left early before the heat.
The thing about sleeper class is that tourists don't tend to use it as they can afford 3AC very easily, and for long journeys especially it's nice to be cool. By the time we'd booked our tickets 3AC had soldout, so sleeper it was!
We found our bunks ok and sat down with a group of locals who were all very friendly and wanted to chat. For the first half an hour this was ok, by the 2nd hour I was a bit fed up. We were definitely a novelty, they wanted to know all about us (which is nice) there were smiles when we said we were married, cries of confusion when we said we didn't have children and frowns when we told them that men and women drink together.
Through their pigeon English and our attrocious Hindi we had a lovely conversation, but by this point the rest of the carriage had been listening and we turn round to find 10 or more people standing round us wanting photos, it was like being a celebrity!
When the chattiest man started reading Martyn's palm, it all got a bit much for me and I had a fit of the giggles. I didn't know what to do for the best! Apparently the verdict from both our palms is that we are both clever but Martyn is more so (well he is a man), we are both rich but I am more so, so I have to give money to Martyn (we'll see about that) and that we'll both have 2 children, initally there was some concern as I was going to have 1 and Martyn 2, but luckily for us the man found another line on my hand. Phew!
We travelled by train (for a recap on classes see my post on Delhi) in sleeper class which we hadn't done before. It's basically the same as 3AC but without the AC. Surprisingly comfortable, as we left early before the heat.
The thing about sleeper class is that tourists don't tend to use it as they can afford 3AC very easily, and for long journeys especially it's nice to be cool. By the time we'd booked our tickets 3AC had soldout, so sleeper it was!
We found our bunks ok and sat down with a group of locals who were all very friendly and wanted to chat. For the first half an hour this was ok, by the 2nd hour I was a bit fed up. We were definitely a novelty, they wanted to know all about us (which is nice) there were smiles when we said we were married, cries of confusion when we said we didn't have children and frowns when we told them that men and women drink together.
Through their pigeon English and our attrocious Hindi we had a lovely conversation, but by this point the rest of the carriage had been listening and we turn round to find 10 or more people standing round us wanting photos, it was like being a celebrity!
When the chattiest man started reading Martyn's palm, it all got a bit much for me and I had a fit of the giggles. I didn't know what to do for the best! Apparently the verdict from both our palms is that we are both clever but Martyn is more so (well he is a man), we are both rich but I am more so, so I have to give money to Martyn (we'll see about that) and that we'll both have 2 children, initally there was some concern as I was going to have 1 and Martyn 2, but luckily for us the man found another line on my hand. Phew!
Oh I forgot the food! There are wallahs (Boys selling stuff) every where. They walk up and down the aisle shouting about what we can buy.
If we'd have wanted to we could have had:
Chai, peas, chickpeas, newspapers (in English or Hindi), samosas, icecream, whole cucumbers, carrots, bottles of water, silk scarves and socks!
Plus the bonus flute playing and singing...
All in all sleeper was fine, and we would travel on it again, but more than any other carriage we've been on there has been more chatting, awkward questions, no personal space and generally the feeling that you are "up for grabs" (hopefully not literally).
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