ahh India

Ok well I got a little taste of indian travelling although there wasn't that much we could do about it as it was mostly bad timing. But the story goes that we went to the train station to inquire about taking the train to Ooty. She says that there is no direct train and the connection option sounded quite complicated. Furthermore, the miniature train, one of the main reasons that we were going to Ooty was out of commission due to rockfall. Ok then, fine. We then go to a travel agent dude, who said that there is no train but you can take the bus to Coimbature and that the newspaper has said that the mini train is in fact running again. Well half way at least and we could just go to the bottom station and inquire when we get there. Ok then fine, let's do that. So later on that night, quite late as we were in our bed clothes , we get the knock on the door. It is some Indian man who doesn't speak english very well and is actually a little stressed out. He says that the bus isn't running anymore as it's broken or something and can't be fixed, so he needs our passport info to try to get us on the tourist quota train to Coimbature and then catch the local bus from there to Mettupalayam. Mmm, i thought that there wasn't a train. oh well, we tell him that we will come in the morning and to go have some chai and chill out. So of course, the morning comes along and there is another knock on the door. Same dude, even more stressed out this time and said that we must come now. ok ok we are on our way. We get to the travel agent and he explains things how the bus isn't running and the train is really full as everyone is going home after the festival in Madurai (there was a festival going on?). but he will get us spots, no problem. ok cool. so that night we return to the agent to pick up our berth numbers and he writes one on our ticket, 22. i thought to myself, mmm, that sounds like one number. He explains that it is, it's all he could get, but don't worry, there will prolly be an open spot and the conductor will move you there. mmm right. we were a little frustrated as we felt that we got ripped off, well we did money wise but also ripped off for what we got. but the trael agent guy said he was sorry and justina felt much better as she explained that that never happes. so anyways, it was a very tight ride, i read as long as i could before joining justina in our bunk, fit for one Indian, not 2 whiteys. but hey that's travelling. we arrived in coimnbature and joined in this pair of english ladies on a hired mini-bus to Ooty, arrving around 9am. what a journey but it ended ip being worth it as is usually the case for places that are hard to get to.