Back to Madurai

Although it had been recommended that I travel by 3 tier AC, the woman at the train station really wouldn’t let us book the tickts, and instead booked us the S class. For a variety of reasons the tickets would have been $20 instead of $4, and whereas it didn’t sound much to us, we figured it would basically be like paying $250 for a $50 with the only difference being AC, and it sounded ridiculous to them.

About 10 years ago I took a night train before from Moscow to St. Petersburg, and so I had in my mind the individual compartment that my friend Leigh and I had shared where we’d been able to change into our pj’s, and brush our teeth, etc. before climbing into bed. This one was a little different. First of all there were no closed compartments, but rather the whole car was open to about 10 sections of 8 people each, three and three sitting across from one another and two more across the aisles. All of the windows were open as there was no AC, and so it was very noisy, as you could hear everyone in the whole car. I was bummed to not have a window seat, but when I was later able to crawl into the matching number of my top berth about 6ft up, I was relieved. I don’t think I would have been able to sleep very well, with everyone walking by looking down on me, and my head right next to the window (esp. after at one point when people outside threw rocks at the side of the train and a piece of cement came flying through the window in the next section – to be fair the Indians did seem as alarmed as us, and I don’t think it’s a normal occurrence). Fortunately, our neighbors were very friendly although they didn’t speak any English which was too bad bc that’s the way they entertain themselves for the whole ride – by talking to strangers. Again, so different than in the US – with our books, computer, ipods, etc. I would never think to chat with other travelers for hours on end. At about 10 pm we climbed up into bed and read until the lights went out. I was basically laid out a steel plank(with an 1/8 inch of padding), using my towel as a blanket, and of course being as tall as I am I had to curl up or my feet would have been hanging out into the aisle. Thank god for Ambien and Steph’s ear plugs or I wouldn’t have been able to sleep at all, but I was actually able to get a decent night’s sleep. We arrived at 7:30 and then headed back to the guesthouse for breakfast and a shower, and then I went into work.