Well the monsoon is finally here!! The weather got hotter and hotter and hotter until noone could really take it any more. Finally two days ago we were riding along on our scooter, there was almightly thunder and lightening and the skies opened. It was like someone was repeatedly throwing buckets of water over your head but felt lovely- everyone was quite delirious with joy. After the third day the novelty wears off a little I must say but the cool air is great! Anyway we are now in Varkala in Kerala, still on the coast. It was a mission to get here. We bought train tickets from Thivum by Anjuna to go to Kochi (Cochin,) where we wanted to spend a couple of days and do a cooking course before coming to Varkala. As always we purchased the train tickets online and when we came to print the tickets out we saw that we were waitlisted. This is pretty common and has happened to us a few times but inevitably when you turn up there has been a seat allocated to you due to cancellations or there are loads of free beds so the amenable guard just rearranges you. This time the guard was having none of it. We got onto the train and when the guard came we gave him our ticket. He started getting very worked up and after a flurry of shouting told us that we had to get off the train in half an hour at Madgaon. At midnight. In a town which the ever positive guidebook says "there is little reason to stay here." This was really annoying as it was a long journey and we had been in a taxi for an hour getting to the station. We duly got off and went outside to find a rickshaw. We knew that it shoud only be 50 ruppees into town- it said so in the lonely planet and this is the normal price. "100 ruppees" the rickshaw walla told us. We did the usual protestations "That's ridiculous it should be 50, we've been in India for 2 months" etc but obviously the drivers here were pretty bright and had formed a union. They just stood around calmly smiling and chatting amongst themselves until we sighed with frustration and went back over to him- "you ready now?" he asks. Ready for what? to be ripped off? To give in? Whatever- the majority of people in India are out to make money, have money, and show people their money. It's what the country is driven by- you gotta just accept it. It's why people buy big powerful cars when there are no roads to drive them on and live in the slums with every mod con- a fridges is a great sign of wealth. Anyway we go to the one hotel listed for emerencies and it is full. At quarter to one in the morning we go somewhere else that is ok but when we were driving to it really felt like we were being taken round the back to be killed. Next morning it's back to the station to try and get a ticket to Kochi. Except there aren't any. For a WEEK! Oh no. We are standing in the line for "foreigners and disableds" but even so the man behind the counter isn't overly helpful and it is hard to tell what he means with his furious head waggling as we keep thinking he is saying either yes or no. So the conversation goes
"Hi, can we buy a train ticket to Kochi for today"
"No"
"Oh ok are there no trains"
"No not available"
"Right when can we go"
"You can't"
"Is there another way to get there? Perhaps we could go somewhere else and change?"
"No trains, Indian holiday maybe on 25th or next month"
At this point we start to panic and go off to confer. I say let's see if we can just go straight down to Trivandrum near our next stop and miss Kochi altogether. Then we realise it is the same train that goes to Kochi that continues on there so we won't be able to do that either. Still let's give it a go...
"So could we go to Trivandrum?"
"On 25th? Yes is available"
"No not on 25th, today or tomorrow" (for goodness sake did he not get the point of the last conversation?!)
Lots of head waggling from side to side and we try to interpret this
"No it's not possible?"
He shakes his head and says yes. Finally we determine that we can go tomorrow lunchtime on the mammoth 19 hour journey. Another night in Madgoan, great. However the price is cheaper than that quoted to Kochi although it is a lot further which seems very strange. We book it anyway, relieved although annoyed at missing Kochi and waste another day. Next day we return to the station and board our train. In the beds next to us are a Polish couple and a child. She is devastated at the primitiveness of the trains and wants him to transfer them to first class which I have a feeling she still won't find up to her standards. They later move and it is great as we have their beds as well as our own. Before this however he tells us they are going to Kochi and the train is stopping there 5 hours before Trivandrum. What? So we could have gone to Kochi after all. Never mind. He also shows us his ticket and asks us why we think it is so expensive- it turns out he has been charged all the way to Trivandrum. All very complicated. Later that evening on the train we stop at a station and I go to stand on the platform and get some hot air- the ac is freezer temperatures constantly. I go out and knock on the other side of Charles' window and wave. Then I get talking to a lovely family from the North. They sweep me back to sit with them on their beds whilst the grandmother shouts at me in Hindi- "why you not have nose ring? Why you not wear necklace? Come to my house? Why do you not visit me?" At one point she says she wants to make me chappattis and motions to her daughter to get out the stove she has brought with her- she is very sweet. Anyway after about 15 minutes of the train bopping along I realise Charles will wonder where I am and excuse myself to tell him. Sure enough he is panicking thinking I had been left on the platform as the train moved off! Poor thing. That would have been a nightmare- with no phones or anything we would have been pretty lost.
The next morning we arrived at Trivandrum at 6am and got straight on another train here to Varkala. It is a really nice seaside town which is also a big Hindu pilgramage place. The problem with being by the sea is you would like the weather to be nice. Constant thunder and lightening with torrential downpours mean that you can't really go out and anyway there's nowhere really to go- lots of places are closed for the season and even the internet has been down for 2 days because of the weather. we are going to spend a night at an ashram the day after tomorrow and then onto Alleppey where we will collect a houseboat. Sorry if this blog has been super boring just details of the train but that has been all of our activity and everyone keeps saying I'm not writing blogs! It's getting scary how little time we have left now and it is a funny feeling. We have lots of things to look forward to when we get home but also really don't want this trip to end- it truly has been amazing.