Indian Trains are the best way to move around India especially the trains that go through the night where you can get a sleeper berth. Booking a train at the station can be a fairly exhausting experience. However, it is now possible to book online after following a complex registration process.
After persevering, we managed to use the online system to look for sleepers. Unfortunately the train we wanted was fully booked. It did however have RAC 5 spaces. This means we are allowed to travel on the train but 5 people need to cancel before we get a sleeper berth and we would probably be separated!
We decided to try another option ... tourist tickets. These cannot be bought online but from a special office in major cities and there are a couple of special spaces only tourists can book. We looked up the address, hoped the office was still there and spent the morning walking through Kolkata to find it.
On the way we saw a lot of this huge city. The poverty is not nice, there are a lot of people living next to the bus lanes, train lines and under bridges. It really is a terrible sight, their water is from the Hooghly river. It is disgustingly dirty. The whole scenario is bad, bad .... bad. Enough said, just bare a thought for how lucky we are.
Calcutta / Kolkata used to be the capital of British India. There are a lot of old colonial buildings which we passed, all in different states of decay ... eventually we reached our destination. The office was open, air conditioned and a brief escape from the heat and noise. We needed copies of our passports and Indian Visa, which we acquired from across the street from an old, old photocopier (which we were surprised worked!).
Lots of filling out of forms and recording in official books took place whilst we battled to understand the Indian ladies' pronunciation of the station names.
But, unbelievably they worked their magic. We have sleeper berths on the train!
Lunch was needed and very tasty, though 'chilly hot' from a street seller. We also had our first Chai, which was served in disposable clay cups.
We thought twice about wandering all the way back through Kolkata and took a ferry across the river. It helped cut the journey in half and was well worth the 6p each it cost! We also got a neat view of the bathing ghats, flower market and famous Howrah Bridge.
Next, one more job for the day before collapsing, getting a special permit to visit the Indian state of Sikkim in the north. Once we located the office; a few forms filled in, more official books recorded in, passport and visa photocopies, passport photos handed over ... we are now the proud owners of Sikkim permits!
What a day, what an experience. WOW!
After persevering, we managed to use the online system to look for sleepers. Unfortunately the train we wanted was fully booked. It did however have RAC 5 spaces. This means we are allowed to travel on the train but 5 people need to cancel before we get a sleeper berth and we would probably be separated!
We decided to try another option ... tourist tickets. These cannot be bought online but from a special office in major cities and there are a couple of special spaces only tourists can book. We looked up the address, hoped the office was still there and spent the morning walking through Kolkata to find it.
On the way we saw a lot of this huge city. The poverty is not nice, there are a lot of people living next to the bus lanes, train lines and under bridges. It really is a terrible sight, their water is from the Hooghly river. It is disgustingly dirty. The whole scenario is bad, bad .... bad. Enough said, just bare a thought for how lucky we are.
Calcutta / Kolkata used to be the capital of British India. There are a lot of old colonial buildings which we passed, all in different states of decay ... eventually we reached our destination. The office was open, air conditioned and a brief escape from the heat and noise. We needed copies of our passports and Indian Visa, which we acquired from across the street from an old, old photocopier (which we were surprised worked!).
Lots of filling out of forms and recording in official books took place whilst we battled to understand the Indian ladies' pronunciation of the station names.
But, unbelievably they worked their magic. We have sleeper berths on the train!
Lunch was needed and very tasty, though 'chilly hot' from a street seller. We also had our first Chai, which was served in disposable clay cups.
We thought twice about wandering all the way back through Kolkata and took a ferry across the river. It helped cut the journey in half and was well worth the 6p each it cost! We also got a neat view of the bathing ghats, flower market and famous Howrah Bridge.
Next, one more job for the day before collapsing, getting a special permit to visit the Indian state of Sikkim in the north. Once we located the office; a few forms filled in, more official books recorded in, passport and visa photocopies, passport photos handed over ... we are now the proud owners of Sikkim permits!
What a day, what an experience. WOW!