Yesterday I said goodbye to Maxi and Nat, as they were going to the east coast and I was headed to Kochi, on the west coast.
I got a sleeper bus in the evening and then had to change to a semi sleeper after a few hours. The semi sleeper has seats that you can lean back pretty far and even a foot rest, so I slept quite well. The only downside was that we arrived at about 4.30 am and it was still pitch black in Kochi. I hooked up with a German couple so I didn't need to wander the dark streets alone and took a rickshaw with them to the ferry terminal. They were going to Fort Cochin and took the first ferry across. By then it was an hour until sunrise, so I went to sit by the water. I saw a few fishermen gliding soundlessly through the dark water while the bats were flying above my head catching the mosquitos that buzzed around me.
Slowly it got lighter and as the sun was rising, people woke up to the new day I was watching on the horizon. The sunlight painted the world in colours again after the darkness of night.
I was exhausted, so I slept for an hour there in the morning light. Then I went on a train ticket mission.
I was still too early because it seemed all the travel agencies and tourist informations would open at ten. I was told to go directly to the train station, but when I was almost there I finally found a travel agency that was open. The man there told me he would get me a ticket and I should pick it up at twelve a clock. I went to have some breakfast in the meantime and then found an internet cafe to kill some time. I had thought to get a ticket for tomorrow, but they found me a ticket for tonight, so I thought I might as well take it. With my train ticket in hand I walked off with my backpack and got a room. I was so dirty and sweaty that I decided to get a room for the day so I could take a shower and have a rest before my train in the evening. Even though it was a crappy room and the shower only gave me a trickle of water it was worth it. If they had had nice cafés or a clean comfy waiting room at the train station I might have just hung around all day until my train, but there is really nowhere to go here. It is all noisy, hectic and dirty in cities, so lying in my room with the fan on and feeling slightly cleaner than before is nice.
Tonight I'm taking the train, I got a quite expensive class, because it was the only one left, but it will be nice to have a proper place to lie down and not just the luggage rack as on my last train ride.
Tomorrow I'll wake up in Goa again!