Greetings From India ('s train system)

Hello everybody.

We are in India :)

I hope everyone has recovered from the mass hysteria (i'm just being a bit cruel - don't get angry) and that your tickers are ok.

I understand (at least partially) what it must have felt like when you first got the news about the tsunami - and indeed it is a terrible disaster and it will take a while before the final outcome will be seen for the people of Asia and the western tourists that were affected.

We arrived this morning in a town called Trichy (its short for some long Indian name - I'm not sure I can type it with less then 5 mistakes so Trichy is all you will get). Its located more or less in the centre of Tamil Nadu in southern India. We are NOT near the coast nor do we have any intention to be, though we have been assured that even Chennai is safe (by several locals, including a woman that lives there) but will be using the change of plans to free more time for us in Goa and later on in northern India.

Now I'm sure you are asking - "Well... How is India???"

Well... damn... India is INTENSE...

Imagine a sledgehammer hitting you in all your senses at once (really hard) - your sight, your hearing, your nose, and damn that's hot - your taste buds. Now sustain that sledge hammer feeling for 24 hrs a day 7 days a week. That's how India is like. Hila had the feeling that Thailand was occasionally too much - too many people, too much noise, too much "lichluch". Thailand, in Hila's own words - "Is Switzerland compared to India" and I pretty much agree with that.

What have we been doing so far? well.. we landed in Banglore - which is a pretty boring city - and took a train to Mysore (3 hrs). Mysore "is a charming town", in the words of the lonely bible - we found nothing "charming" about it. I guess compared with what we still have in store for us in India, it might be a charming city - but being objective - It ain't very "charming". It does have a very nice Maharaja Palace, and we catched 2 temples (one of them very old - at Simanathpur -which was a real nice one). We then took a night train to Trichy (around 13 hrs).

Now India has, I guess, a heritage of Red Tape. Inorder to buy a train ticket in advance (you need to, or else you won't have a seat) you need to fill out a form, then stand in a very loooong Indian line. By 'Indian line' I mean a mosh pit. You need to push and shove, and some Indian guy always but always cuts in front of you just when your the next guy at the window. In some stations foreigners have a separate line - together with senior citizens and "Freedom Fighter" (which I cant understand what exactly these guys are supposed to be besides old geezers). Now having to kick old Indian guys in the shins inorder to buy a train ticket is a bit awkward - but that's how it is. Once you have booked a ticket and wish to change it - again that's another form and another line. Our first ticket was a standby one - we were worried we wouldn't get on so we tried to insist that they change the ticket for us - we were told to go the divisional train station building to some office or other and ask for "an emergency tourist quota" - yes there is such a thing - but there we were told that for this specific train there is no quota (its just a 3 hrs ride). The next day we needed to check, at the computer terminal, if we had our seats - and indeed we were in luck. Finally when we got on the train - it was half empty!!!??!
At our last visit to the train station we learned that we can do the booking over the internet - so we will try that next time - I'm just not a match for some of these freedom fighters. Its really not that complicated - you just need to get used to the rules - and I guess India's railway system is a bit complex - it has 1.6 million employees (its the worlds largest employer) - and getting a billion Indians from one place to another can be a bit tricky.

Click here for some exciting info on Indian Railways

Now you ask how was the train ride itself ??? well... the 3 hrs one to Mysore was fine (we accidentally took the most expensive one, so we had a/c and a meal). The one here, well... we both have had some bad rides in our travels, and I cant say this one was the worst of them, but its was long, and it was a strain on the nerves. We took a sleeper, and we didn't take the a/c one (its was very expensive). Sleeper class - is just what it says - sleep. But I didn't catch must sleep between the feet of so many Indians and the constant crying of children, people on cell phones, and since it wasn't exactly an "express" - we had a lot of stops, and waits, and slow downs...
No really it isn't that bad - we just need to learn to organize ourselves better on a train and try to get better seats when we do the booking. Because once your at the window in the mosh pit - you don't have a lot of time for decisions - oh and I forgot to say that getting used to the Indian accent is a problem by itself. But we survived and are taking the rest of the day to recuperate.

We plan to stay here at Trichy for 2-3 there are supposed to be some nice temples here, and then days head on to Ooty (another short name for a really long Indian one) for some mountain relaxation. Then on to northern Karnataka and Goa.

Ok, now lets recap the gibbon contest and see what we have so far:

Tsumi - by Ruti with a good head start for being the first!!
urila - by Nira
Urila tzumi - by Julio with a bit of a twist
Divluli - by Tommy
Shush - by Julio with another try at the contest
Bobi or Tsu - by Yogi (indeed lo Mashehu ;)
Bubu - by Tommy and Yogi in a joint operation (I won't be bringing any Yogi ;)
Namitsu or Cookie or Motzart - By Neely & Shlomi, Clara & Suki.

thank you all for participating - we will be waiting for some more options though these are all good ones thanks!!!

Now about the new prize!! - as we are in India - what better way to celebrate the holiness of life on earth, peace love and understanding than with an original Indian Cow. Yes that's right the lucky winner of this wonderful competition will receive a local Indian cow complete with the original street shit smell and even gift wrapped with several dozen local flies!! (we do not guarantee the Hindu dialect the cow or the flies speak, batteries not included and not needed - they are Indian ones and stop working several minutes after purchase anyway) Now doesn't that sound great!!!!!! So keep up the good work and send in those name suggestions.
(I'm sorry you have to signup inorder to comment but its a very simple process, so don't be LAZY!!!!)

Ok that's all there is to tell now, we will write more in the near future and once we get some films developed will post them on the net - hopefully with more pics with us in them (maybe).

the one the only Hila (she is back to not helping me at all - so all this is my gibberish alone)
& Morphhh Sleazy.