Train Day

It's been a somewhat boring day on the train today. We're on a 24+-hour train from Varanasi to Amritsar. Mary got some fabric the night before and spent some time making little interior pockets for our small daypack. Josh read pretty much the whole HindustanTimes paper. Also spent some time reading on Kindles, Josh is reading “Frankenstein,” Mary is reading “Around the World in 80 Days.” We've had a couple different Indian traveling companions at different times. The first was a banker, from whom we learned that the Indian trains are all electric, getting their power from overhead like the light rail in Portland. The second is a Jain businessman who runs 4 clothing showrooms in Lucknow and wanted to know all about how much we are spending on our round-the-world trip (for anyone curious State-side, the target budget is $20K, with a drop dead return home early limit of $30K), how much we made back home, what things cost in America, and so forth. He also wanted to play with each electronic gadget we got out, and know how much each costs. We also saw pictures of all his family members, and learned about how Jains are not allowed to eat any meat, not even eggs, and how they are not allowed to eat anything except fruit and milk after sunset, but that that's healthier anyway.

Anyway, we are in 2A accommodations, which is a pretty high class of sleeper. It's very nice, aside from the occasional mini roach. It’s odd seeing them in the higher class and not in the lower class. I wonder if it's all the tourists eating crumbly bread and crackers, compared with the containers of Indian curries brought by Indians on the trains, which probably leave a lot less roach food behind.

Also, the bathroom, while nice and clean, has minimalist plumbing. You can see the tracks going by at the bottom of the toilet bowl. No wonder there is a sign outside saying not to use the toilet at the station!

Note the Sunlight from Drop Box

That was the excitement for the day, and I've been getting a little motion sick (hope it's motion sickness!) if I try to read much, so it's been mostly pretty dull. But dull isn't so bad every now and again.