The rails...Alleppy to Kota (March 7-9)

Well, although it would have saved time to fly from the south to the north, we decided we did not want to miss out on the experience of an overnight train trip in India. So, we headed for the train station in Alleppy to reserve our passage....we came away with the 1st and 2nd place on the wait list for "first class a/c private births". It does sound a bit hoytie-toytie but we felt that we wanted to be as comfortable as possible for the long journey.

Let's just say that the money spent was worth it but John kept comparing it to a first class trip on a train in Turkey to which Lori had to remind him "but this is India" :D The cabin was cozy and it was private with a window and functioning a/c. Of course in India, it is only truly private if you lock the door and close the curtain. This is because there is a steady stream of vendors selling water, soda, snacks, coffee and of course Chai (for which Lori has developed a real fondness). Our train was quiet with the exception of the frequent train whistle - which is more necessary here with so many people and livestock crossing or walking along the tracks. With our travel games, books and the passing views outside our window, we were able to maintain our sanity quite easily.

For the longest time we would be going through towns that weren't registered on the low detail map we had so we had no idea of the route we were following. Most of the trip was through countryside with lots of open space, a surprising number of rivers (all very low at this time of year), and a dry brownish sparse vegetation. Thoughts crossed your mind like "where are those 1 billion people?". So there is still lots of open space in India...why wouldn't there be when a 41 hr train ride isn't even the whole length of the country!

By the second night, you start to get the hang of sleeping while being rocked by the motion of the train. But alas, the sleep on the second night had to be interrupted by our 2:30 a.m. wake-up call so we could disembark at 3:00 (which was the scheduled time after 41 hrs on the rails!). Say what you will, but the trains here run quite well.

We were amazed at the number of people (hundreds) in the Kota station at 3:00 a.m. - most were sleeping on benches and floors. We thankfully managed to find a relatively clean 'retiring room' at the train station (for 6$!!) to lay our heads until sun up... Lori had her first successful experiment with ear plugs ;) Unfortunately, due to the India punctuality with morning tea, we were awoken by (you guessed it!) a 7:30 Chai call (on the house).

Unable to return to the land of zzzzzz, we decided to take a quick peek at Kota (pop. 800,000). While walking down the street these 2 citizens stopped and wanted to have their picture taken, to which we happily obliged...only to find out that there was a 10 rupee 'service charge'. Welcome to India!

With the help of rickshaw drivers who sometimes did not understand exactly where we wanted to go (not many tourists come through Kota), we managed to view what what was left (not much) of the fort and to tour through the palace museum (the furniture, guns, hunting trophies, etc of the maharajah's who used to live here)....we needed the exercise anyway!. Below is a view of the Lake Palace, although you can see the lake is kind of running dry as we are well into the dry season here.

We topped this all off with a nice breakfast of massala dosas at an outdoor restaurant beside the palace...

... after which we hailed another rickshaw to return us to the train station to retrieve our bags (Lori's attempt at saying train station in Hindi elicited a laugh from the driver). From there to the bus station where we promptly hopped on the bus which soon after departed for the 45 minute trip to Bundi. This whirlwind tour of Kota took approximately 4 hours!