Travel Day

September 24, 2010

Left Fort Cochin last night via the train. Splurged and got AC3 class. That is an air conditioned car with three tiers of beds. Sheets and breakfast provided. Got hit up for tips by the carriage personnel twice before arriving in Margoan close to eleven in the morning. Threw our packs over our shoulders and stepped out into the train station. Rickshaw drivers strangely reserved. Made it all the way out of the station and to the bus stop with little heckling. Caught a creaky, old bus across town to the public bus stand. The only bus going to our next destination, Hampi, would depart at 7:30 in the evening. Not fancying another night on a government bus (read about our first overnight government bus here) we checked across the street with a travel agent at the private bus stand.

Booked tickets for a private sleeper bus departing at 8:45 in the evening. Now, just had to find something to do for the next 8-9 hours. Hoisted our packs and caught another city bus back to the center our town. After dining at a restaurant we took up residence on a bench in the shade at the well-kept park across the street. I took bag watch while Jean took off on a self-guided tour of Margoan.


At this point I've been wearing the same clothes for over 24 hours and had sweated through them several times. The day was warm. My eyes were gritty. I always sleep on the train but it's never very good sleep. Slogging through the Gandhi autobiography I was getting drowsy. This is a nice park I absently thought. I wonder why it wasn't full of dead-asleep vagrants. Then I noticed a brown uniformed man smacking a couple of rough looking men who had been snoozing with his stick. Better keep my eyes open.

Jean came back a while later with ice cream and a report on her findings. She'd come across a clothing shop with clearly marked prices and clerks who didn't follow you around. Neither Jean nor I much enjoy haggling or being followed around so we get excited when we find such a shop. Decided to check it out in a couple of hours when it was cooler. In the meantime we hung out on the bench in the park reading and staring absently into space.

Half past five we donned our packs and trudged over to the shop. It was all true. After browsing for a long, undisturbed while I tried on a several shirts and ended up buying a couple. Jean picked up a shirt as well. Leaving we got cornered by a girl and ended up at her shop. Jean got a skirt there. So get ready to see some new outfits in future posts.

After our shopping extravaganza we caught a city bus back to the long distance bus stand. It was still early so we decided to get something to eat. Accidently ended up at a trendy looking restaurant. There were chandeliers, gleaming, polished floors, and it was comfortably cool. The manager wore a suit and all servers wore white shirts and black vests. I felt a little self conscious strolling in with my pack, dusty from the road and not having bathed in a day in a half. In true Indian fashion, everyone was extreme cordial and polite despite our ruffled appearance. Another enigma was that upon surveying the menu I discovered the prices not much different then what you'd find at an open air street cafe.

We had a great meal and as the sky grew dark walked over to the bus stand to wait for our bus which as usual was late. We quickly discovered the bus was not quite water tight. Of the the four berths remaining, two bottom bunks were completely saturated. The other two on top were damp. We grabbed the less damp of the two and settled it for another night on the road. Next stop Hampi.