As a foreigner it can have it's benefits as India sets aside a tourist quota for travelling on the train. This is so foreigners can actually travel, as the trains get extremely booked. Especially during weekends. The down side is that finding a wicket at the train station can sometimes get very confusing. You would think that they would make it easier for foreigners to find the counter, but often times it's not even in the same building.
I was lucky enough that I had an older gentleman who had booked on the train also and was in my berth. My Russian friends Yuliana and Sasha came to check out the train and said they didn't think it was bad - 2nd class no A/C. It was just the me and the gentleman in the berth area when we left Mumbai. That lasted about 1/2 an hour when we were inundated with youth that had booked a seat instead of a berth and then moved because they didn't like how crowded it was. I had already secured my backpack on my berth and locked it ( I chose the top berth) but I could sit on the bottom berth. I now just wonder if I would have woken up with someone beside me if I actually fell asleep on my berth. I don't think I would choose the top berth on a day train, it's waaaay too hot up there unless you want to disappear into dust!
Indians don't travel lightly either. They take the whole house with them when they travel. So they want you to lift up your legs, tuck things around ou so they can store their boxes and suitcases. I on the other hand seem to travel quite light compared to their standards.Then the ticket master comes along and finds out they don't have a ticket for the car you are on and chases them off, but that only lasts for about another 1/2 hour and they are back.
I was met at my train station by Sanjiv - my next couchsurfing host. He took me to a condo he owns in a new area of Pune in the complex called the Yuthika, and the whole place was mine! I was not expecting this, but it certainly has been a great place to chill.
I have come down with a respiratory infection. BIG surprise? I should have just taken up smoking, 'cause this pollution has to be equivalent to smoking a pack a day. Given the change in temperature leaving Calgary, flying across the international dateline and now the air quality...er, what air quality! My CS host, Sanjiv is constantly worried about me. I guess I don't need to worry 'cause I have so many other people worrying for me...;)
Monday I decided to ride the public transportation system. I asked to see Koregaon Park, but instead I saw the greater part of Pune. I finally arrived in Koregaon Park, around 4 hours later. The bus is pretty much R10, so it was a pretty cheap and interesting adventure. I took the bus back and arrived home in just 1 hour? I guess I got better on the way back, eh? Sanjiv was waiting for me and was very worried.
I was pretty pumped that I made it home!
This has been my experience so far:
I'm the one with the accent so what I say pretty much doesn't sound what I think it does to me. So the best way is to write things down.
So I purchased a tour bus ticket and needed to be where the tour took off. This would be Deccan. It is not usual for me to purchase a tour ticket, but I figured it might just cut down on the time spent in traffic. Given the traffic is extremely daunting. The transit 'corporation' sells these tours in most of the cities and they are safe to take (not that I've found anything to be terribly unsafe), and I wouldn't have to do too much of my time looking for the interesting places to go.
Here is my experience:
Got up at 5 am, to take public transit at 7:30 am. I can't read Hindi, but ask a young lady at the bus station can she tell me the next bus to the 'corporation' (the bus hub). She directs me that the next bus is leaving to the corporation and so on I hop. I get to the bus hub and then ask for the area that I'm supposed to get to - DECCAN. I ask the bus drivers hanging around and I am told which bus. Before I get on the bus I say is this bus going to Deccan, yes, say two men. I then sit beside a woman and I ask her if this is the bus to Deccan. Yes, she says. I ask for a ticket to Deccan from the ticket taker. Yup, how many times did I ask? Hmmmm....
I notice after about 10 minutes that the bus is not going the direction that it should be. Could I be mistaken? I ask the woman beside me, how long to Deccan...37 kms. HUH? I dig out my piece of paper show her the spelling and she says oh, no you are on the wrong bus. WT...? I say what should I do? She says get off and take a bus back to the 'corporation'. I don't have time, because it is clearly now 8:30 when I was supposed to show up for the bus, but the tour doesn't leave until 9 am. Bugger. I grab an autorickshaw and off we go in choking traffic. I figure that if it is meant to be it is meant to be that I go on this tour. I arrive at 9:05 and I am absolutely stunned that the bus is still waiting for me. Er, could I call this Indian time? I apologize profusely and off we go.
Somehow things all work out...don't they?
Today my infection seems a little better, so I decide yoga at the condo is the exercise for the day . I am the exotic bird where ever I go. People stare and sometimes I even evoke a open mouth gobsmacked stare from children. I laugh sometimes, as it takes me by surprise. I've never received that look back home, for sure.
So I attend the class right on time - 9 am. The only other woman and the instructor are there, and they ask if I belong in the class - have you taken a wrong turn? I say no, I am staying with a friend and was told that I could come to the class. Are you sure? I say yes. It's an interesting yoga inyengar class I've taken in a long time. He had us doing asanas so quickly that I could no longer keep up - it's clearly too hot for me. One of the women says it is so hot....I just snort. You have no idea! Two other ladies had joined the class and so there were four of us in total. I may join the class again tomorrow and then I might go shopping with one of the ladies. They have the inside track...
My plans are to go with Sanjiv to Goa on the 15/16 of December. He is going to drive and we will stay overnight in a place in Kohlapur. Then continue on to Goa on the 16th which should give me plenty of time to get used to this pollution. Cough, cough. I will try some snorkelling in Goa...
Here are some photos of the place I stayed at in Pune....
I was lucky enough that I had an older gentleman who had booked on the train also and was in my berth. My Russian friends Yuliana and Sasha came to check out the train and said they didn't think it was bad - 2nd class no A/C. It was just the me and the gentleman in the berth area when we left Mumbai. That lasted about 1/2 an hour when we were inundated with youth that had booked a seat instead of a berth and then moved because they didn't like how crowded it was. I had already secured my backpack on my berth and locked it ( I chose the top berth) but I could sit on the bottom berth. I now just wonder if I would have woken up with someone beside me if I actually fell asleep on my berth. I don't think I would choose the top berth on a day train, it's waaaay too hot up there unless you want to disappear into dust!
Indians don't travel lightly either. They take the whole house with them when they travel. So they want you to lift up your legs, tuck things around ou so they can store their boxes and suitcases. I on the other hand seem to travel quite light compared to their standards.Then the ticket master comes along and finds out they don't have a ticket for the car you are on and chases them off, but that only lasts for about another 1/2 hour and they are back.
I was met at my train station by Sanjiv - my next couchsurfing host. He took me to a condo he owns in a new area of Pune in the complex called the Yuthika, and the whole place was mine! I was not expecting this, but it certainly has been a great place to chill.
I have come down with a respiratory infection. BIG surprise? I should have just taken up smoking, 'cause this pollution has to be equivalent to smoking a pack a day. Given the change in temperature leaving Calgary, flying across the international dateline and now the air quality...er, what air quality! My CS host, Sanjiv is constantly worried about me. I guess I don't need to worry 'cause I have so many other people worrying for me...;)
Monday I decided to ride the public transportation system. I asked to see Koregaon Park, but instead I saw the greater part of Pune. I finally arrived in Koregaon Park, around 4 hours later. The bus is pretty much R10, so it was a pretty cheap and interesting adventure. I took the bus back and arrived home in just 1 hour? I guess I got better on the way back, eh? Sanjiv was waiting for me and was very worried.
I was pretty pumped that I made it home!
This has been my experience so far:
I'm the one with the accent so what I say pretty much doesn't sound what I think it does to me. So the best way is to write things down.
So I purchased a tour bus ticket and needed to be where the tour took off. This would be Deccan. It is not usual for me to purchase a tour ticket, but I figured it might just cut down on the time spent in traffic. Given the traffic is extremely daunting. The transit 'corporation' sells these tours in most of the cities and they are safe to take (not that I've found anything to be terribly unsafe), and I wouldn't have to do too much of my time looking for the interesting places to go.
Here is my experience:
Got up at 5 am, to take public transit at 7:30 am. I can't read Hindi, but ask a young lady at the bus station can she tell me the next bus to the 'corporation' (the bus hub). She directs me that the next bus is leaving to the corporation and so on I hop. I get to the bus hub and then ask for the area that I'm supposed to get to - DECCAN. I ask the bus drivers hanging around and I am told which bus. Before I get on the bus I say is this bus going to Deccan, yes, say two men. I then sit beside a woman and I ask her if this is the bus to Deccan. Yes, she says. I ask for a ticket to Deccan from the ticket taker. Yup, how many times did I ask? Hmmmm....
I notice after about 10 minutes that the bus is not going the direction that it should be. Could I be mistaken? I ask the woman beside me, how long to Deccan...37 kms. HUH? I dig out my piece of paper show her the spelling and she says oh, no you are on the wrong bus. WT...? I say what should I do? She says get off and take a bus back to the 'corporation'. I don't have time, because it is clearly now 8:30 when I was supposed to show up for the bus, but the tour doesn't leave until 9 am. Bugger. I grab an autorickshaw and off we go in choking traffic. I figure that if it is meant to be it is meant to be that I go on this tour. I arrive at 9:05 and I am absolutely stunned that the bus is still waiting for me. Er, could I call this Indian time? I apologize profusely and off we go.
Somehow things all work out...don't they?
Today my infection seems a little better, so I decide yoga at the condo is the exercise for the day . I am the exotic bird where ever I go. People stare and sometimes I even evoke a open mouth gobsmacked stare from children. I laugh sometimes, as it takes me by surprise. I've never received that look back home, for sure.
So I attend the class right on time - 9 am. The only other woman and the instructor are there, and they ask if I belong in the class - have you taken a wrong turn? I say no, I am staying with a friend and was told that I could come to the class. Are you sure? I say yes. It's an interesting yoga inyengar class I've taken in a long time. He had us doing asanas so quickly that I could no longer keep up - it's clearly too hot for me. One of the women says it is so hot....I just snort. You have no idea! Two other ladies had joined the class and so there were four of us in total. I may join the class again tomorrow and then I might go shopping with one of the ladies. They have the inside track...
My plans are to go with Sanjiv to Goa on the 15/16 of December. He is going to drive and we will stay overnight in a place in Kohlapur. Then continue on to Goa on the 16th which should give me plenty of time to get used to this pollution. Cough, cough. I will try some snorkelling in Goa...
Here are some photos of the place I stayed at in Pune....
 |
| The room I chose to stay in (there were three) |
 |
| The living room and diningroom |
 |
| The complex Yuthika on Baner Road |
Glad to hear that you are still safe and sound although struggling for breath. I hope the infection gets better soon. Did you manage to go snorkelling in Goa?
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