Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Indian Railways

We have invested in the Indian Railways Timetable (Trains at a Glance - 30/- = 50c), a tome of 300 pages which not only gives you information on all the trains run by Indian Railways, but also what is the content, quantity and cost of each meal served on their trains, who is liable for discounts on their tickets, how much tickets cost, where to find wildlife in India and lots of other interesting information. Manel has read and inwardly digested all this book has to offer and so discovered that if you plan to travel further than 500km, you can break your journey en route for 48 hours. Hence our stop here, Rajahmundry, a medium-sized town halfway up the east coast. We arrived here on Monday having travelled overnight. It is not a town that receives many (if any) tourists and so most people stare at us unashamedly. Yesterday we visited the Iskcon temple, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, a pastel extravaganza, and then wandered around the busy market and a really very exclusive jewellers just because it was there. Such exquisite things! There are a lot of people in this region, including many women, with shaved heads, which is surprising to see after the long, long hair and plaits of Kerala. In Tirupathi, a town near here, pilgrims sacrifice their hair at the Venkataswara Temple. Their hair later ends up in American and Japanese wigs.

We're all moving at a slower pace. This morning we've left the girls in their room watching cable TV, something they haven't done since before Madagascar. Poor Ella is recovering from a bit of a fright this morning ... a small cockroach was lurking in her straw and ended up in her mouth .... nasty!

Tonight we move on again. This time to Bhubaneswar, 'the city of temples', in Orissa where there are over 500 of the original 7000 temples still standing. The girls are thrilled.

Varem comprar l'Indian Railways Timetable (Trains at a Glance - 30/- = 50c), un volum d'unes 300 pagines que no tan sols t'informa dels horaris de tots els trens a l'India, si no que a mes detalla el contingut, les cantitats i els preus dels menjars que serveixen als trens indis, qui te dret a descomptes, el preu de cada tipus de bitllet per a cada distancia, on trobar animals salvatges i santuaris per animals al pais i molta mes informacio interessant. En Manel la va estudiar tota i va descobrir que en viatges de mes de 500 quilometres es pot fer una parada de dos dies i per aixo ara som a Rajah Mundry, una ciutat petita a mig cami de la costa est. Hi varem arribar el dilluns despres de viatjar tota la nit. Com que no reben gaires, o cap, visitants occidentals, la gent s'ens queda mirant descaradament. Ahir varem visitar el temple d'Iskon de la Societat Internacional per a la Consciencia de Krishna, un lloc peculiar, i despres varem passejar per un mercat molt concorregut i una joieria molt exclusiva, ja que ens varen convidar a entrar-hi. Quines joies! en aquesta regio hi ha moltagent, incloent dones, que porten el cap afeitat, cosa que ens va sorprendre despres de disfrutar dels cabells llarguissims i llargues trenes, que porten a Kerala. A Tirupathi, un poble proper, els peregrins ofereixen el seus cabells en sacrifici al temple de Venkataswara. Els cabells acaben a America i el Japo en forma de perruques...

Avui anem mes a poc a poc. Aquest mati hem deixat les noies a la seva habitacio mirant la tele, cosa que no havien fet des d'abans d'anar a Madagascar, i a mes tenien satel.lit! Pobra Ella, aquest mati s'ha endut un bon ensurt quan ha trobat una petita cuca(ratxa) que hi havia en la palleta de la seva beguda dins la boca... ecs!
Aquest vespre agafem el tren de nou, anirem a Bhubaneswar, la ciutat dels temples, a Orissa, on queden 500 dels 7000 temples que hi havia. "les noies estan encantades".

1 comment:

Anna De Tord said...

Hola a tots,
continuem amb vosaltres aquests fantastc viatge. Recordo que vaig veure un reportatge sobre aquest lloc on ofereixen els cabells i l'explicació dels preus i del lloc on acaben.
També, ben segur, que la guia de trens deu ser una meravella en ella mateixa. Tot plegat molt interesssant. Bon viatge i seguim ruta ......
petons a tots
Anna