It was bound to go wrong at some point!

After living the high life for the last couple of weeks with free accommodation in Himachal and the first class train upgrade to Varanasi, we landed with a bump and have had a rather stressful time over the last couple of days!

There weren't many sights left to see in Varanasi, particularly as they were closed on Sunday. So, after checking out of the hotel we set off to visit two Temples - the Durga temple and the Tulsi Manas temple - only to find that the Tulsi Manas was closed . As per the guidebook's recommendation, we decided to go to the IBA cafe. However, after much wandering and searching, it was nowhere to be found, so we ended up in last night's bakery again. We got back to the hotel to be taken by taxi to the railway station at 4.30pm. We waited...and waited...and the taxi eventually rolled up at 5pm. In the meantime, we were told that there was no food provided on the overnight train we were about to take to Jaipur, so we had to panic buy bananas and pringles to keep us going!

When we reached the station, we found out that our train would arrive 6 hours late, so we would now be leaving Varanasi at midnight. Luckily we found a waiting room and some food. We went back to the platform for midnight and sat waiting...and waiting...until 2am, when there was an announcement that the train would now be leaving at 4am ! While waiting, Pragya made friends with a talkative man, whose constant chatting kept a very tired Jo awake!

The train eventually left at 4.45am. We were planning to get off at Jaipur (in the state of Rajasthan) 17 hours after departure, but were informed that the journey could take at least 6 hours longer than scheduled. This is due to the violence and unrest in Rajasthan - terrorist bombings in Jaipur itself and village protestors, who have blocked railways and highways around Jaipur. We were due to stay in Jaipur until the 29th, and then get the train back to Delhi to catch a domestic flight the next day. We had a tough decision to make - was it worth going to Rajasthan, with the violence and the possibility of not getting back to Delhi in time for the flight? In the end we decided that althought we really wanted to visit Jaipur, it wasn't worth the risk of getting stranded with no way out! We got off the train early at Agra (where the Taj Mahal is) at 8.15pm with the vain hope of getting back to Delhi that night. We ran to the ticket office to try and get tickets for the 8.30pm train to Delhi, but it was not to be and we now faced the prospect of hanging around in the station all night . We managed to get second class tickets for a train at 12.45am but second class on Indian trains is about as bad as it gets - so many people fighting for space that there was very little chance of getting a seat for the 5 hour overnight journey. Whilst waiting for the train, a creepy man started following us around and even tried to get on our carriage. When the train arrived we went straight to the conductor to tell him our sob story and beg for an upgraded seat - any seat! - as long as it wasn't in second class as there was absolutely no room for us or our luggage, with people hanging out the doors. Our sob story wasn't enough for the conductor so we embellished it a little...and told him we had a flight to catch the very next day (it's actually on Friday) which worked! This meant we got a bed each in 2AC (second sleeper class with air con and a 2 tier sleeping arrangement), a world away from second class sitting. We were very lucky as there would have been no room at all in second class.

We never thought we would say this, but we were so relieved to be back in Delhi. We arrived in Delhi at 5am and all we craved was some sleep and a shower, after not having washed, slept or eaten properly for 48 hours! So after having 6 weeks of comfort, nice accommodation, nice food and nice company, we suppose we needed this bad experience over the past few days to wake us up. After all, what's gap year travel without a few mishaps and being taken out of your comfort zone?!

xx