Well I did say I'd do a bit on trains!
Train journeys in India are notoriously difficult. First of all dispite the size of the population and country there are not many tracks laid so they are always booked up for weeks in advance and secondly, unlike everything else in India and probably because it was provided by the British the system is totally rules based. Fair to say the original information tree (timetable and booking system) has transformed into a twisted bramble patch.
Most tourists travel in air conditioned sleeper class ‘B’ which is a carriage containing folding beds - stacked 3 high against facing walls, during the day the beds are folded leaving 3 to a seat on the bottom bunk.
I was on sleepers a few times for night travel and didn't get a wink of sleep from the snoring and very loud farting and coughing and morning hacking up of gobs ( bet you think I‘m joking?).
Then there are the toilets, usually one Indian and one western which are a horror to visit after the first say, hour.
Train journeys in India are notoriously difficult. First of all dispite the size of the population and country there are not many tracks laid so they are always booked up for weeks in advance and secondly, unlike everything else in India and probably because it was provided by the British the system is totally rules based. Fair to say the original information tree (timetable and booking system) has transformed into a twisted bramble patch.
Most tourists travel in air conditioned sleeper class ‘B’ which is a carriage containing folding beds - stacked 3 high against facing walls, during the day the beds are folded leaving 3 to a seat on the bottom bunk.
I was on sleepers a few times for night travel and didn't get a wink of sleep from the snoring and very loud farting and coughing and morning hacking up of gobs ( bet you think I‘m joking?).
Then there are the toilets, usually one Indian and one western which are a horror to visit after the first say, hour.
When visiting the train station to make a booking, you first have to find the correct queue - the pic above shows that cancer patients and freedom fighters are allocated the same queue as tourists.
When the train stops, the major train stations have porters who will carry your bags - but the same applies here as with rickshaw drivers, you have to haggle and agree the price before you start out.
Oh and Indians tend to walk over the tracks to leave the station or train if it is quicker. I haven't found there are too many beggars on the train platforms either, but generally, there is one with a lack of limbs on a skateboard chasing around after you.
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