14/1/10 Varanasi to Delhi

We got up and fo once the shower water was hot which was great as the room itself was freezing so we needed a defrost in the shower. We checked out and left our bags in storage for the day as we were off back to Delhi on the night train leaving at 7.30pm. We then spent a few hours on the hotel internet doing the blog and trying to book trains. Although the system is online you have to book up about three options as you don't have your reservation confirmed until a few hours befopre departure....rubbish. Phil finally got a few things sorted but it had taken him ages to do. We had about an hour to wait for the car to the train station so we went to the hotel restaurant for some food. They said an hour wasn't long enough for them to cook a meal but we could have sandwiches and chips !!! We ordered the sandwiches and chips which came after a short time but the sandwiches had red sauce instead of butter on them. Much as we like red sauce its just no substitute fo butter and especially not on Phil's chicken mayo sandwich!! Our car came to take us the two minutes to the railway station where we boarded the train. Our beds were empty this time thankfully and we were joined in the four berth by a British mother and daughter. The mum had the most awful trout pout and face lift and we couldn't make eye contact with each other for fear of laughing. They were a pair of hippies really with some funny views on the world. Phil managed to keep a straight face when he spoke to her but we passed a few knowing looks at each other...aren't we horrid. We chatted away to them for a while then all settled in our beds to try and get some sleep.

15/1/10 Back in Delhi

we all woke up at 7.30 our time due into Delhi . The tea man came along to deliver morning tea and coffee and told us we were delayed by five hours. It meant we had plenty of time to see the countryside into Delhi but meant that we'd had a few wasted days as we wouldn't be able to see anything in Delhi like we'd planned to. We'd waited around in Varanasi when we could have flown straight to Mumbai but never mind we will know next time. The journey was quite pleasant though with lots of coutryside to see. There were fields of oil seed rape in flower so it was a blaze of yellow. when we passed by villages people would wave at us but we could see the conditions they were living in weren't too good with rubbish piled everywhere. Any water we saw was being used for washing of peope and clothes but all looked filthy and stagnant except for a few water pumps we saw being used. On the side of the tracks was the evidence that it was used as the village latrines, literally every few inches there was human waste which was pretty grim. We realised we were closing in on Delhi when the air became thick with fog again, obviously thick smog from all the pollution. We pulled into the station expexting to be met by the rep from Odyssey o take us back to the hotel but he wasn't there . We waited on the platform and Phil went all the way along to look but we didn't see anyone ther eto meet us. We thought that maybe as the train was so late they wouldn't come as they should. We decided to go to a phone box and call the number for the office via the car park where we had a quick look for a car. It was absolutely teeming with people and cars so theres no way you could easily find anyone there. We found a call booth and called the office. They told us the rep was there and to stay put, they would call him and let him know where we were. The station was crazy with all the people walking through it. They have no sense of waiting for anyone to move and just barge their way through whoever is in the way. It feels really alien to us to have people literally shoving us and our bags out of the way to get by without a word or acknowledgement. It really is a different world here and the people don'e appear to care very much about each other. We spotted Rajiv running through the crowds to us and he apologised saying he had waited at another exit after he couldn't see us on the platform. We folowed him through the pushing and shoving of the crowd to the other exit on the other side of the station and we walked to where the car was parked. The car park was blocked at both exits by cars trying get in but blocking the path of anyone trying to get out. The cars all sit there not budging honking their horns...madness. Eventually we got out and headed back to the hotel. Rajiv said that there were rules and regulations in India but the people just did what they wanted hence the total mayhem and chaos on the roads. We got back to the hotel and settled into the room. We went down to eat at the Annapurna restaurant and then spent the rest of the afternoon and evening on the blog. Phil managed to book a few trains for us and then we went to pack our bags for the flight to Mumbai the next day.