Nanital 28th - 1st September
We had a very sweaty walk out of Rishekesh, climbing the steps out of Laxmanjula are not good at noon. Our train tickets where from Hardiwar, this is only a cheap shared tuk tuk away but the drivers where so money hungery we took the bus, not as exciting (nor as deadly) but cheaper than what they where asking for.
The train departed at 20.45, now a little train wise from China we arrived at 18.00 and had our tickets checked by the appropraite ticket guy who brought our attension to how early we where for our train - 6h! It was at 00.05!! The guy we had had got it from had told us the wrong time - so now we have leanrt how to desiphir Indian trian tickets (which isnt really that hard if you read them properly) - better early than missed. The time was filled with kids practising english on us, guys approaching David only, wanting to talk to David only, (I am the invisable female) and when they find out I am 'merly' his girlfriend he gets a knowing nod and wink and I get a glace of 'his mistress hey?'.
Egerly we watched trains observing indian train etique, a free for all really, a crush and jam to your seat/bed. People with seats compete for baggage space and people without seats just compete for breathing space. You can hang out the doors of trains in india, slightly unnerving but you feel so free hanging out the door in the wind. Our train was to Kathgodam for Nanital a short ride away.
Naintal is a hill station 1938m up with a large lake and its in the Kumaon region of Uttaranchal. As Shimla rich indians come here for monsoon relief and honeymoons, we especially enjoyed the food here .... hmmm chicken tikka, not dyed bright red as we are accustomed to but marinaded to sweet perfection! Unfortunatly as with Rishekesh and Rajiji National Park no Corbet Park visit, it closed during monsoon the tracks are just too muddy.
While here we experienced a local hindu festival which a fair had come to town for. David described it as how he would precive vitorian fairs to be, shakey rides (no we did not go on anything!) snake charmers, magic shows, freak shows (incl. deformed animals and people), market stalls and the wall of death. Anyone who has experienced india will know something about indian safety standards or the complete lack of them! On one hand it is a release not to be contricted by day to day rules of health and safety, so you find yourself in the most obserd situations thinking what the hell am I doing here ... I could die at any minute! The wall of death was one of these experiences. It was the traditional english wall of death stunt sprinkled with indian superhuman ego trip entertainment and safety, two cars and three motorbikes wracking the fragile shell that shuddered when you sneezed on the thing out of action.
Sadly no photos we even took video of the horifiying yet exhilarating experience but a virus in Almora ate our photos :-((
The train departed at 20.45, now a little train wise from China we arrived at 18.00 and had our tickets checked by the appropraite ticket guy who brought our attension to how early we where for our train - 6h! It was at 00.05!! The guy we had had got it from had told us the wrong time - so now we have leanrt how to desiphir Indian trian tickets (which isnt really that hard if you read them properly) - better early than missed. The time was filled with kids practising english on us, guys approaching David only, wanting to talk to David only, (I am the invisable female) and when they find out I am 'merly' his girlfriend he gets a knowing nod and wink and I get a glace of 'his mistress hey?'.
Egerly we watched trains observing indian train etique, a free for all really, a crush and jam to your seat/bed. People with seats compete for baggage space and people without seats just compete for breathing space. You can hang out the doors of trains in india, slightly unnerving but you feel so free hanging out the door in the wind. Our train was to Kathgodam for Nanital a short ride away.
Naintal is a hill station 1938m up with a large lake and its in the Kumaon region of Uttaranchal. As Shimla rich indians come here for monsoon relief and honeymoons, we especially enjoyed the food here .... hmmm chicken tikka, not dyed bright red as we are accustomed to but marinaded to sweet perfection! Unfortunatly as with Rishekesh and Rajiji National Park no Corbet Park visit, it closed during monsoon the tracks are just too muddy.
While here we experienced a local hindu festival which a fair had come to town for. David described it as how he would precive vitorian fairs to be, shakey rides (no we did not go on anything!) snake charmers, magic shows, freak shows (incl. deformed animals and people), market stalls and the wall of death. Anyone who has experienced india will know something about indian safety standards or the complete lack of them! On one hand it is a release not to be contricted by day to day rules of health and safety, so you find yourself in the most obserd situations thinking what the hell am I doing here ... I could die at any minute! The wall of death was one of these experiences. It was the traditional english wall of death stunt sprinkled with indian superhuman ego trip entertainment and safety, two cars and three motorbikes wracking the fragile shell that shuddered when you sneezed on the thing out of action.
Sadly no photos we even took video of the horifiying yet exhilarating experience but a virus in Almora ate our photos :-((
posted by David at 2:39 pm
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