Jaipur (1 night) My journey from Agra was actually fairly comfortable. I was travelling by train in AC Chair Car. I think the name gives most of the description you need, but I will add that the chairs were large and soft. Unfortunately, my 'window' seat placed me between windows and the one in front of me was broken, so no view for me. When I arrived in Jaipur I met the two English travellers that had shared a rickshaw with me to the station in Agra and we set...

Agra and the Taj Mahal (1 night) My overnight train from Varanasi was my first of the lower 'sleeper' class. The layout is similar to that of 3AC, with 3 tiers of beds and berths of 6 beds opposite 2 side bunks, but it is less comfortable, clean, and obviously doesn't have air-con. This meant that it would be very very cold in the night, so I had bought myself a blanket. Security is also more of an issue, as their is less attendance from a conductor, the carriag...

Varanasi (5 nights) I should begin where I left off in the previous blog, which was arriving at the train station in Gaya. My train was scheduled to arrive at 14.55, but when I entered the foyer and looked at the display I said aloud, 'this must be a mistake'. Another traveller saw what I was looking at said 'Oh my God!'. We made separate enquiries as to the truth of the matter and were disheartened to find that the time of 00.30 was correct! Bodhgaya was an ...

Bodhgaya (1 night) My journey to Kolkata to Howrah train station was exciting. The Kolkata taxi is a yellow Hindustan Ambassador, it has been in production since 1958 with little alteration and is based on the Morris Oxford. The roads of Kolkata are literally teaming with them, about 35,000 in fact, and this gives one an impression of being in a very busy time warp. In order to get to Howrah train station from Kolkata city you have to cross the New Howrah Bridge...

Kolkatta (4 nights) I was nervous about arriving in India late in the evening around 22.00, so nervous about that in fact that I wasnt even worrying about the flights. I had two flights, one from Chiang Mai to Bangkok and then a second to Kolkatta. I had a nice scheduled gap in between the flights, but this disappeared when the first flight was delayed an hour. When I arrived in Bangkok I swiftly made my way to the check in for the other airline. They were waiti...