I didn't want to hang around long in Mumbai - so headed off as soon as I had woken and showered to the reservation office to investigate getting ways of getting to Udaipur. I was staying in cobala and the walk to the office took me past 'The Oval' in surrounded by many impressive colonial buildings. It famous for the numerous informal cricket games going on. As I had arrived the day after Australia had taken a series winning 4-1 lead in the ODI, this was the topic of conversation any time anyone asked where I was from.
I secured tickets for the early afternoon for a seat to Ahmedabad in the early afternoon and then a sleeper through to Udaipur. I spent the rest of the morning exploring the area around my hotel near Cobala causeway. There was a frantic street market selling produce. The well known 'gateway to India' is also in the area and was worth a photo but not in itself anything spectacular. The view out over the water towards Elephant Island was pleasant enough. It was very busy with touts and tourists.
I took a cab to the central station (another adventure in itself) and found myself about an hour early for my train sitting talking (well he was talking I was trying to listen - or at least understand what he was saying) to a man who introduced himself as a Choreographer. He seemed to be telling me that he was in Mumbai for a market and proceeded to show me everything in his bag - from a pack of three toothbrushes ( a bargain at 3 rupees) to a plastic bag full of seashells. He was pleasant enough with a very animated expression and didn't seem to be trying to sell me anything so it was a pleasant way to pass the time.
It was hot, in the mid 30s but I had decided to take a non airconditioned train, partly because it was much cheaper (about a quarter of the price) but more because I anticipated - correctly as it turned out it would be more interesting travelling with others who could only afford this class. There were certainly no others in my carriage who looked like a foreigner.
So in dot points - the things I noted about the trip
- I was asked to swap from my reserved seat because a family wanted to all sit together - but they had bad english and I wasn't sure if this would mean I ended up standing up. They called in an interpreter and it all worked out in the end - I moved and the new seat was fine.
- A stream of beggars and salesman worked the aisles of the train for the whole way. In particular I was startled by a naked to the waste boy sliding along the floor with a rag cleaning the dirt and asking us for tips. There were also a couple of very tall, elegantly dressed women whom I took to be transvestites who just walked down the aisle clapped their hands and everyone seemed to give them money. I thought at fisrt they may be superior in some way - but I still have no idea.
- There was a shouting match between two fat women and an old man that went on for a very long time and was very loud. Later a woman was scolding her son also very loud and she began to slap him around the head until he was wailing. Everyone nearby stopped talking and seemed to be looking dissapprovingly - though noone intervened. Ten minutes later I was relieved to see the mother hugging the boy and him smiling.
- A man sitting near me spoke english and was giving me advice about Udaipur and train travel in general. When we discussed the prices he wondered why I hadn't gotten seniors discount "you can over 65" he said - he was that age and had grey hair, I assume my hair fooled him as there are few young Indians already grey.
- There were a string of fans along the room - they looked like normal "blade" fans stuck on the cieling - 48 of them in all (plenty of time to count).
At the train station in Ahmedabad a man wanted to sell me a chain to protect my luggage. My default answer is no to everyone who tries to sell me something - but after thinking about it I decided it was probably a good idea on a night train, but I couldn't find him to buy it. I worried about getting robbed for much too long (I didn't get robbed) and slept with the strap from my pack connected to my hand to wake me in case it moved in the night.
The sleeper section went well - there was a friendly family from bangalore heading there for a holiday. They were very well equipped and prepared, unlike me who didn't realise that in the cheap class you got no bedding and once the sun went down I was very cold. I gradually put more and more clothing on as the night progressed and around 4:30 finally realised I probably should close the window. (Why hadn't any else done that already ? Because they all had covers and pillows and were sleeping soundly.
I slept Ok in the end and arrived in good spirits in Udaipur at 7:30 in the morning.
