Our last few hours in Amritsar were spent in and around the Golden Temple. Our third visit to this wondrous place meant that we had seen it at three times of the day - morning, afternoon and night. It was totally different yet again - the sun was shining today which made the waters surrounding it as blue as the ocean and the temple itself sparkle in the sunlight. We were a little bit paranoid about what to eat for lunch before getting on a 22 hour train journey so we reverted back to being typical western tourists and had individual pizzas from Dominos (I know how terrible that is!) and afterwards bought the most ridiculous amount of snacks for the train. Crisps, chocolate, toffees, polos, butter biscuits, oranges, grapes, mountain dew and sprite. An obvious question at this point would be 'why isn't there food and drink for sale on this train?!' Well there is - I'm just a bit scared of it. Most of you know how picky I am anyway but my mum isn't - she'd eat almost anything and even she stays away from the actual meals on the train as even the suggestion of being ill on the train is not something you want to think about! We got a cycle rickshaw back to the hotel (extra guilt for the poor guy pulling us up a hill when we're also carrying our body weight in confectionery!) to grab our bags and a quick drink before catching our train to Varanasi at 6:45pm. It was at 'Bottoms Up!' (the 'English' pub in our hotel which claims to be the first pub in Amritsar) that we met Bruce and Daphne, a fantastic couple from Hervey Bay, Australia, who had just arrived into Amritsar but were travelling around India for a total of 8 weeks. They reminded me just how much I love Australians - it's wrong to generalise about an entire nation of people but I've never met an Aussie who wasn't pleased to meet you, cheerful as ever and who you didn't get on with like old friends after a drink or two. Bruce told us that they'd been pretending to be Canadian or Kiwis for the last few days since Australia had been thrashing India in the cricket! A lovely couple and chatting to them was a lovely end to our last day in Amritsar.

The Kolkata Mail Train that we were catching to Varanasi thankfully started at Amritsar rail station so we arrived at the station and boarded the train 45 minutes before departure to give us time to chain up the luggage and get ourselves comfortable, Platform 1 again, we found our seats without any trouble and soon we were off, leaving Amritsar and our 22 hour train journey had begun. Our travel guy in Goa (the wonderful Marlon, travel agent extraordinaire) had booked us side sleepers so mum took the top and I had the bottom (the reason for this being that the last time mum slept on the bottom bunk she fell off in her sleep and hurt herself - the top bunks have bars to stop this from happening!). We read for a while, had some tomato soup and croutons (the one food item deemed safe enough for us apparently and it was delicious too!) and suddenly it was 10pm, most of the lights are turned out and it's bedtime on the train. I should mention at this point that despite all the windows being closed it was absolutely freezing at 10pm on a moving train. My usual sleeping attire in India consists of a vest and some shorts with only a sheet for cover. Last night I wore the following: ankle length leggings, harem pants, socks, a vest, a short sleeved top, a think jumper (thank you Ahmed for lending me that!!!), a scarf wrapped around my neck, a woolly hat and wrapped myself entirely in a think fleecy blanket (a genious last minute purchase in Amritsar which absolutely saved us from freezing to death). And I was still pretty cold! I'm not the best at sleeping surrounded by strangers (sometimes my breathing sounds weird and I've been known to talk in my sleep) so I can get a little self conscious but despite seeing a baby rat scurry past on the floor, tiredness eventually kicked in and I fell fast asleep. I'd love to say that I slept soundly for the next 12 hours but unfortunately this was just not the case. At around midnight I stirred, adjusted my position slightly and realised that a man was sitting on my bunk in the space behind my knees (damn foetal position being so comfortable!) and I basically had a mini panic attack. Everyone was asleep, mu mum was fast asleep in the bunk above me and I had no idea what to do. I'm not sure how long I laid there, absolutely rigid, until I heard the sound of a walkie talkie. I realised then that this man must be either a policeman or some other form of security on the train. He got up, walked off down the carriage and I promptly started to cry. I know it sounds ridiculous but spending half an hour being genuinely terrified can have quite an effect once relief kicks in and it made me realise just how dangerous it can be to be a young woman travelling alone in India. Thankfully, I'm not alone but when I found him sitting there I felt completely and totally helpless. I managed to fall asleep again and was woken sometime after 2am by a large family piling into the carriage. I was sleeping facing the window so I only heard them but my mum saw everything. There must have been at least 15 people in the group, the father was shouting loudly, oblivious to the fact that the entire carriage was full of sleeping people (or the more likely scenario is that he just didn't care!) and the noise woke me up with a jolt. An argument seemed to happen with lots of people getting involved, the children were leaning back onto me digging their elbows into my side and the dad was arguing with several of the passengers. It was only after a policeman forcibly removed the whole group from the train (and when I say forcibly I mean with a big stick!) that mum leaned down to check I was ok and filled me in on what had happened. Apparently the family had piled onto the train carrying huge bundles of their possessions and had been trying to put them wherever there was space. This apparently included on top of my sleeping mother and several other people who were fast asleep. It seems that they didn't have tickets and were attempting to stow their belongings all over the carriage and then slot themselves into spaces where they wouldn't be noticed. Their first mistake of course was making such a racket in the first place! Mum said that none of them were wearing shoes and they were all filthy - she said after their bags had been moved from on top of her she felt itchy all over so god forbid what that was from! Their scheme failed anyway with the policeman literally botting them and their belongings off the train. And back to sleep we went!

I awoke this morning to eight faces peering at me. I mumbled a quick good morning and then rolled over to compose myself - I pride myself on being incredibly pepped and sociable first thing in the morning but not literally the instant I open my eyes. It was 10am, mum was still asleep and it was a beautiful crisp day outside. Changing clothes on the train isn't exactly feasible so after cleaning my face up a bit I settled back on my sleeper to read my book (The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht) and literally watch the world go by. Travelling across northern India is providing a very different view of India for me - we can travel miles at a time and not see another human being and then come across a small town or village that's teaming with people and animals and life. The smell of open countryside, the scent of jasmine filling the train, passing herds of goats wearing jumpers (seriously!), dung fuel factories, young girls collecting fire wood and wagons filled to the brim with people. Rivers and crop fields and leverl crossings, people waving to you at every opportunity and smiling so much when you wave back. We're literally the only westerners on the train and we couldn't be made to feel more welcome. The ticket inspector shooed away our tickets when I presented them for checking, strangers have given us samosas and fruit for no reason at all, when I had trouble closing the window late last night, three men jumped up to help me without me having to ask. Admittedly at night I was a bit scared and wary of going to sleep but come morning I realised that we were surrounded by people who would help us without request, that the majority of people are just like us and are on this train because they're just trying to get somewhere. Despite the noise of the train it's surprisingly peaceful and writing the blog right here on the train feels surreal to say the least. Only 4 more hours until we reach Varanasi and then I'll have survived my first proper length train journey in India. Despite the chaos, I've loved every minute of it!