June 19 Day 124
We got up and ready in a mental fog. Our tuktuk driver knew where to go and we were at the station in plenty of time. We found the platform and the train but it was a very long one and we had no idea where our car was. A friendly guy suggested we check our phone for texts and then told us our car was at the end of the train. There were no staff on the platform until its end, where another guy told us it was at the front, two down from the engine. On our walk back the first guy apologized but we got to our car 10 minutes before the train left.
We had the car to ourselves, with two bunks and a lockable door. It was banged a few times, to check our tickets and drop off the bedsheets. Someone came calling out breakfast. We were told not to eat the food on the train as it was often cooked the day before. Later we found out it was complimentary, and so wondered what we missed.
This was a milk run, taking more than the scheduled 4 1/2 hours to do the 200 km from Agra to Delhi. The scenery was mostly rural and green, going through many stations and pausing as crowds of teenagers with school backpacks boarded. Our first class car was quiet and Meg got a good sleep.
Finally in Delhi, we walked through the busy central train station and checked our bags before looking for lunch. This was in a budget hotel area that was busy and we had many tout offers before getting to our cafe. They had an excellent breakfast buffet and we properly stuffed ourselves. They even offered to give us leftovers to go as they packed it up but we weren't hungry and wouldn't have access to kitchen facilities in Nepal.
We went back out into the busy street and the heat to the train station and the metro to the airport. I became very frustrated as a machine at my money and promptly went out of service but the guy at the counter actually left his desk, opened the machine and fished out the bill. Just when you thought Indian bureaucrats were useless, they do something helpful.
At the airport I wasn't able to print out our documents and so had to go to a very slow counter for people needing ticket printouts. There was security before the ticket desks and so you had to prove that you had a ticket before they let you into the building. My confirmation code wasn't working and neither was the airport internet until finally it clicked in and we were through. Meg then got excited when she saw that India Post had a desk there and scribbled off a few postcards before we went through security.
After customs and security it was a long walk to our gate and the plane was boarding. We had video screens but only a little over an hour flight so I opted for tv over a movie, little knowing we would be delayed 45 minutes before takeoff.
The meal came with a beer, first time in a long time. At landing, several passengers needed reminding that they needed to wait until the plane stopped moving before they got up.
Getting a Nepalese visa is annoying mainly because it is done electronically and they have few staff to help you. You have to fill in tons of information using a clumsy video screen that has mandatory fields, making me create our hotel's address and our cell number. The passport pictures I was told to get were replaced by a camera which took a horrible picture. We then paid for our visa after not seeing the booth we were supposed to go to. There was no line up at the immigration desk but everything was slow and I had to dig out my boarding pass stub (Meg had left hers on the plane). Finally through, our bags were there and so was our ride to the hotel.
Our hotel didn't have its own van before and Kathmandu looked much cleaner and newer than in 2012. We thought we saw familiar places but couldn't be sure. At the hotel they were very friendly and we had a welcome tea in their garden patio. Our room was on the same floor as our old one and was very nice. We tried to contact our friends and then relaxed and went to sleep.
We got up and ready in a mental fog. Our tuktuk driver knew where to go and we were at the station in plenty of time. We found the platform and the train but it was a very long one and we had no idea where our car was. A friendly guy suggested we check our phone for texts and then told us our car was at the end of the train. There were no staff on the platform until its end, where another guy told us it was at the front, two down from the engine. On our walk back the first guy apologized but we got to our car 10 minutes before the train left.
We had the car to ourselves, with two bunks and a lockable door. It was banged a few times, to check our tickets and drop off the bedsheets. Someone came calling out breakfast. We were told not to eat the food on the train as it was often cooked the day before. Later we found out it was complimentary, and so wondered what we missed.
This was a milk run, taking more than the scheduled 4 1/2 hours to do the 200 km from Agra to Delhi. The scenery was mostly rural and green, going through many stations and pausing as crowds of teenagers with school backpacks boarded. Our first class car was quiet and Meg got a good sleep.
Finally in Delhi, we walked through the busy central train station and checked our bags before looking for lunch. This was in a budget hotel area that was busy and we had many tout offers before getting to our cafe. They had an excellent breakfast buffet and we properly stuffed ourselves. They even offered to give us leftovers to go as they packed it up but we weren't hungry and wouldn't have access to kitchen facilities in Nepal.
We went back out into the busy street and the heat to the train station and the metro to the airport. I became very frustrated as a machine at my money and promptly went out of service but the guy at the counter actually left his desk, opened the machine and fished out the bill. Just when you thought Indian bureaucrats were useless, they do something helpful.
At the airport I wasn't able to print out our documents and so had to go to a very slow counter for people needing ticket printouts. There was security before the ticket desks and so you had to prove that you had a ticket before they let you into the building. My confirmation code wasn't working and neither was the airport internet until finally it clicked in and we were through. Meg then got excited when she saw that India Post had a desk there and scribbled off a few postcards before we went through security.
After customs and security it was a long walk to our gate and the plane was boarding. We had video screens but only a little over an hour flight so I opted for tv over a movie, little knowing we would be delayed 45 minutes before takeoff.
The meal came with a beer, first time in a long time. At landing, several passengers needed reminding that they needed to wait until the plane stopped moving before they got up.
Getting a Nepalese visa is annoying mainly because it is done electronically and they have few staff to help you. You have to fill in tons of information using a clumsy video screen that has mandatory fields, making me create our hotel's address and our cell number. The passport pictures I was told to get were replaced by a camera which took a horrible picture. We then paid for our visa after not seeing the booth we were supposed to go to. There was no line up at the immigration desk but everything was slow and I had to dig out my boarding pass stub (Meg had left hers on the plane). Finally through, our bags were there and so was our ride to the hotel.
Our hotel didn't have its own van before and Kathmandu looked much cleaner and newer than in 2012. We thought we saw familiar places but couldn't be sure. At the hotel they were very friendly and we had a welcome tea in their garden patio. Our room was on the same floor as our old one and was very nice. We tried to contact our friends and then relaxed and went to sleep.
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| Our train compartment. |
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