A Baptism of Fire, Indian Rail-style

The last 24 hours in a nutshell:

Kilometres traveled: at least 700
Indian States traversed: 3 (Maharastra, Gujarat and Rajasthan)
Train trips: 2
Hours of train travel: 20.5
Hours of sleep: 5
Railway station samosas consumed: too many

This afternoon we arrived in Udaipur, Rajasthan, and I don't think I've ever been so relieved to get off a train! We enjoyed the relative luxury of a second-class airconditioned carriage for the overnight leg from Mumbai to Ahmedabad, and luckily was able to get a few hours' sleep without the assistance of my trusty sleeping tablets. My only gripe was that a second-class carriage comes equipped with approximately 57th-class toilets, and that's a conservative estimate. Oh, that and the seedy Indian guy who stared at Phil and I for hours in between watching hard-core porn on his mobile phone.

The second leg, from Ahmedabad to Udaipur, was in sleeper class - the cheapest, most basic carriages but also the most interesting as you're truly thrown in with the locals. That said, we seemed to have been allocated tourist seats as we shared our berth during ten-hour day trip today with a Russian girl and two lovely French guys - both called Thomas, which was quite confusing. The scenery was absolutely amazing, particularly as it changed constantly, from city slums to green fields to rural towns to desert landscapes as we traveled deeper into Rajasthan.

Phil and I had somehow forgotten that we had booked two really long consecutive train journeys, so we only came armed with a few pieces of fruit. Luckily, we made friends with a lovely Indian man in our berth who had come armed with a backpack bulging with goodies that he repeatedly insisted we tried: his wife's spiced Roti breads, biscuits, bhaja mix, fried chilli coconut, dried spiced lentils and chickpeas, and whole green onions that he crunched whole like they were carrots! The aforementioned samosas were also a good snack - you can buy them at little stalls at every station and are surprisingly fragrant and delicious. I know you're not supposed to eat Indian street food, but I figure that they're vegetarian so probably okay. Besides, my motto has always been 'what doesn't kill me makes my immune system stronger!'

Udaipur is a beautiful city, and I'm really looking forward to spending the next two days and nights here. The small cobbled streets, friendly locals and relatively clean air is so welcome after the traffic, ripoff merchants and pollution of Mumbai, but the real drawcards here are the beautiful buildings, notably the city palace, Monsoon Palace and the Lake Palace Hotel (most noteworthy for its starring role in the Bond film 'Octopussy', which seems to be played every night in every restaurant in town).

The hotel we're staying at is lovely and I know I'm going to find it difficult to leave. And $9 a night, too!

I probably have more to write but I'm absolutely shattered and looking forward to my comfy bed and the promise of a sleep-in and lazy breakfast of banana and honey porridge tomorrow morning. The hotel has lopts of computers with net access in the foyer so no doubt I'll be able to update again very soon.

Love,

E x