My first Indian train experience.
We had a connecting flight from Mumbai to Goa on arrival. But with no pre planned travel for the return, and a desire to experience more of India, it was without a doubt the best decision to take the train.
I think I got lucky on my first Indian train experience. We travelled in the day time, so there were no beds despite booking the sleeper cabins. The beds were folded away and there were small plaques displaying our seat numbers across one bench.
It was the departing station, so contrary to what we were led to believe about the train arriving late, it was on the platform before us. This was more confusing than you can imagine…
“Surely this isn’t our train, no it cant be, lets try and find someone to clarify”
After clarifying that it was in fact the correct train, on we got, found our numbers and waited patiently for it to fill up, and get going.
We decided to do the journey in two, chose somewhere approximately half way between Goa and Mumbai, which saw us in a very different town to Benaulim (described in my previous blog), called Ratnagiri.
Previously, when we had said we were going to Ratnagiri to our mutual friend Rodger, he replied with
“what are you going there for? You’ll be the only white people.”
That he wasn’t wrong, in fact it turned out there weren’t many people headed to Ratnagiri at all, which made the anticipation of arriving even more exciting.
It didn’t affect our experience at all, a few looks as if we were extremely lost or slight looks of confusion from the locals seemingly that not many travellers stop by this town.
Other than that we only encountered helpfulness, and inquisitive individuals who just wondered where we were from and what we were doing; from those who could speak a little English.
Beach recommendation from a stranger at the ATM, Road police offering to find us a taxi although we were happy walking, followed by further information to help us enjoy our time there, and a very friendly tuk tuk driver who couldn’t say welcome enough to his city that he seemed very proud of.
If Ratnagiri taught me anything, its that getting off the beaten track is a must – there’s alot to learn from the lesser travelled places, and very authentic experiences.
We only spent two days here to break up the train journey, it was quite refreshing although a little chaotic after leaving Goa.
It felt much more like the ‘real India’ that i understood, and had witnessed very briefly some 8 years ago in the north. Probably a worthwhile stop as we continue on to spend 4 days in Mumbai. The economical capital of India, with twice the population of London, in a third of its size.
Its about to get busy…
The same can’t be said for the train to Mumbai… In actual fact, our seats were already taken. We spent some time walking up the train to find some seats, probably someone else’s.. we left our bags, excluding valuables at our seats just incase.
The trains may be chaotic but they felt very safe.
Some hours later, the train conductor comes along and says you’re supposed to be up there.. before asking for our names. It must have been our names that gave it away..
He kindly told us to retrieve our bags and just stay there.
Both train experiences were amazing, the flow of food, and all sorts of things you wouldn’t ever imagine you needed just kept on coming…
In a soft, fluid yet loudly spoken Indian voice; Chai, colouring book, garam garam, cutlet’s cutlets to name just a few…
We arrived in Mumbai after 12 hours on the train, 4 hours longer than expected and the chaos commenced.
We booked the cheapest hotel we could find. Turns out it was located in the industrial quarter which in itself was magnificent to see
It was all go, we did heaps of walking, site seeing and generally just exploring the streets of Southern Mumbai, just north of Colaba. There was so much to absorb in this city so for now I will share with you some of my favourite photos.
After two crazy days fully embracing one of India’s busiest cities we went in search of a something a little quieter, and found nature in the city before our next long haul flight..
There is a huge amount of variety; culture, food, colours, sights and sounds across the city.
It is impossible to take it all in in one trip. 4 days was a good amount of time to still enjoy the final day with small amount of energy remaining.
So ill wrap this one up here until my next return. Maybe not the same city, but i know for sure ill be back in India again soon enough and I look forward to sharing my experiences with you.
For now, its time for me to continue onwards to Australia. Watch out for more travel updates soon..
