Well this blog will cover a lot:

My first India train experience,

My time in Goa, and

My bus trip to Mumbai.

Well: the India train experience! Imagine walking into a clean, organized and spacious train station. Just imagine it!

Then reverse all those lovely aspects and expectations and throw them out the window.

100's if not 1000's of people trying to buy tickets, get refunds, check the train schedules and find out if they made it on the train.

Now throw a confused traveler in the mix and you have a fun time.

Tiptoeing around hundreds of people in 36 degree heat, 50 pounds of gear and many stair platforms and you got the start of my trip.

I find my train...

I guess I should explain the India train system: there is many different classes in their system. I will start from the best:

AC1: This is top of the line, the most room and upper class people (bankers, military officers etc). There will be 2 or 4 bunks with a locked cabin, better service, air con and a western toilet.

AC2: The choice for many backpackers. Like AC1, the only difference is that there is no locked doors and there is middle-lower class people. Still a good choice.

AC3: Like AC2, the only difference is the beds are 3 high and lower class people.

Sleeper class: like AC2 but no AC and really smelly in the day. Lower class people or cheap backpackers ( I enjoy my AC).

2nd class: this is just a bunch of hard seats with a whole bunch of people. Very crowded but cheap. Also dirty so no thank you!

General: for shorter trip but crowded like 2nd class.

So that's the Indian train system.

Now onto my journey. I took the AC 2 class as its 40% cheaper then AC1.

The good part to being a western traveler on the train is that the bump you up.

I got bumped up to AC1, and also my own cabin... India trains system thank you.

A little lonely but great for a night sleep and too much spec for one person, but hey... Ill take it!

The trip was good!

I landed about 70 km away from we're I was staying so I had the option of spending $20 on a cab or 60 cents on a train ticket that will get me about 5 km from my guest house...I took the cheap option.

I was in general seating and it was cramped, hot and smelly, but I got to experience the two ends of the train system. I was pretty much standing outside the train but the breeze made it worth it.

When I arrived, I took a cab to my guesthouse in Anjuna beach, one of the main beaches in Goa. This beach use to be the big hippy playground where nudity and weed were a common thing. Although lots of men ask you if you want weed, I didn't see any nude bodies.

Goa also has a few black people, who come up to you very nice , strike up a good convo and then ask if you want cocaine. No thanks!

My guest house was good, a very homey feel were I met a lot of cool people, as we ended up doing a lot of things together (beach, markets, dinner and few beers).

It's the end of tourist season in Goa, so it was not to busy, but there were a bit of Indian tourist. The men I guess have never heard of a bathing suit and take off their pants and swim in their boxes.

The water is nice, very warm but the beach was not as nice as the ones in Gold Coast.

After a few days I switched hostels to another one at a different beach. It was a nice hostel but my room had a very strong mold smell and I ended up feeling sick the next morning.. Aghh!

Met more cool people and we all just flock to dinner together, share stories, ask about each others lives and ponder our next destinations.

After spending a day at the beach, the mixture of a lot of sun and feeling sick, I was not in a good state.

I ended up taking a taxi to a city to catch an overnight bus to Mumbai: seems good but pretty bad in the end. The bus was nice, the bed was small but overall good, but it was the driving that ruined the night. If these buses operated on the 401 then they would be great, but not on Indian highways or whatever you call them.

They are pretty much 1.5 lanes that have lots of night traffic. Add to the fact the bus driver thought he was in a Honda civic, the sharpe turns made me get thrown around.

Adding to that they stop the bus a lot for no reason and we they go to a rest stop (not like the ones we have), they yell and it wakes you up.

I did end up making it to Mumbai and found my hotel. However, I felt really sick and slept the whole day.

This is were I will end this blog!

More to come!

Take care!!