February 19th, 2011
2/19/11 - 2/20/11
88 °F
Posted by Tony.Ruby
00:12
Archived in India
February 18th, 2011
2/18/11 - 2/19/11
82 °F
Posted by Tony.Ruby
00:10
Archived in India
February 17th, 2011
2/17/11 - 2/18/11
84 °F
Posted by Tony.Ruby
00:27
Archived in India
February 16th, 2011
2/16/11 - 2/17/11
88 °F
Posted by Tony.Ruby
00:23
Archived in India
February 15th, 2011
2/15/11 - 2/16/11
88 °F
Posted by Tony.Ruby
00:17
Archived in India
February 14, 2011
2/14/11 - 2/15/11
88 °F
Posted by Tony.Ruby
00:09
Archived in India
February 13, 2011
2/13/11 - 2/14/11
85 °F
Posted by Tony.Ruby
00:05
Archived in India
February 12, 2011
2/12/11 - 2/13/11
80 °F
We got up early to pack our bags that are getting pretty big now and we are realizing that traveling the world with only carry-ons is a good idea on paper but it’s a little hard in reality. We hopped into a three wheeler which has become our favorite of the trip thus far—the driver had a stereo playing great Hindi music, flowers and colorful streamers hanging off the sides
Our trip to the Tata Tea museum that morning was awesome. We learned a ton about tea processing and its history here in India. They played a video with tons of historical information but turned it into a Tata Tea infomercial at the end
Did you know that the only difference between black and green tea is oxidation? Neither did we and if you did . . . maybe you drink a little too much tea and it’s time to switch to coffee? :-) We arrived at the bus terminal just as the bus to Kochi was departing and somehow Tony managed to squeeze all of our stuff on as Ruby ran across the street to grab some nuts and a drink for the long 5 hr non-stop ride. On the bus we met a kid named Kirk from Sydney that had been traveling around India for the last three months. We used his India travel book, talked to him about it and decided that we would follow him to Goa. The one problem with this brilliant plan was there is only one night train a week and none of us had reserved tickets—thus, the only tickets we could get were in general seating . This was Tony’s first train in India and the train station was as crazy as you would think. People everywhere, no lines and no real direction on what to do or were to go. Before the train even stopped people were jumping on and off, running up and down as we were doing our best just to drag our stuff in. We didn’t know what “General Seating” was at the time but we do now. Let us tell you, the train doesn’t have assigned seats, in fact it doesn’t have seats at all more like benches with people crammed in. The first on gets the best seats and if you don’t get on quick enough you may be standing for a very long time. This was a 15 hour train ride and after a few hours standing in the halls Ruby and Kirk decided they would go on a mission looking for open seats or a train conductor. Tony stayed with the bags and talked to a few local boys who were coming back from testing in the city. The first problem we encountered is that you cannot walk all the way down the train through connections but actually have to get off to switch train cars . . . so Kirk and Ruby were stuck at the front of the train until about an hour later when at one of the stops Ruby came running back in the train telling Tony that she and Kirk found seats in the front of the train. The best way to get to our new seats was to run outside the train at the next stop but unfortunately for us Kirk stayed to save the seats and sent Ruby (yes 100 pound Ruby) back to carry the 7 bags with Tony. We decided that we had all night and would just walk the aisles slowly until we made it to our new car or came to a locked car. By the way it’s hard enough to walk though a train in India without any bags now we’re dragging, pushing, and carrying 7 of them. We were quite the spectacle…bumping people’s heads, running over people’s feat…basically making a giant mess of US India relations. We finally got stopped by a train official who must have thought we were crazy and gave us two beds. It was some of the best news we had heard in a long time till he told us it was just a few more train cars up. Funny thing about that is we were so excited about our new beds that we passed them and had to walk 3 or 4 cars back thought the cars we had just walked. Yes back, bumping people’s heads, running over feet…well, we finally made it to our beds and Tony ran up and got Kirk. With only two beds Ruby and Tony had to share a 3 foot wide bunk. This is great practice for the yoga we will be doing in Goa. Good night and don’t forget to pre-book an A/C sleeper car for your next India train! 










Posted by Tony.Ruby
00:00
Archived in India
February 11, 2011
2/11/11 - 2/12/11
82 °F
Posted by Tony.Ruby
00:47
Archived in India
February 10, 2011
2/10/11 - 2/11/11
94 °F
Posted by Tony.Ruby
02:57
Archived in India
February 9, 2011
2/9/11 - 2/10/11
88 °F
Posted by Tony.Ruby
00:59
Archived in India
February 8, 2011
2/8/11 - 2/9/11
85 °F
Posted by Tony.Ruby
00:19
Archived in India
February 7, 2010
2/7/11 - 2/8/11
68 °F
Posted by Tony.Ruby
02:01
Archived in India
February 6, 2011
2/6/11 - 2/7/11
71 °F
Posted by Tony.Ruby
01:26
Archived in India
February 5, 2011
2/5/11 - 2/6/11
72 °F
Posted by Tony.Ruby
01:10
Archived in India
(Entries 1 - 15 of 25)
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