Overnight Train Hullabaloo

We decided that going to east to Varanasi on this trip, and to Bodgaya, were just too difficult with every thing else we were trying to do in the amount of time that we have. It really was really difficult to finally choose, because it meant not going to our friend’s wedding and also to miss another chance at receiving a blessing from the Karmapa, but the are other friends that we wanted to see and we will attend a full Monlam in the future. Also, we had the time we had spent with Kalpana going through the days-worth of wedding photos made us realize something---while we want to dance around in a wedding procession for a bit, we don't want to attend a huge, exhausting wedding on this trip. And maybe in the future as well. I know this is a disappointment to many of our friends and family, but you've got to take our word, OR get your own selves invited to an Indian wedding and we get our fix via your adventure!

Once we decided against the east for now, we bought two overnight tickets to Amritsar to visit the Golden Temple and to check out the Indian and Pakistan Border Crossing Ceremony. We got two first class tickets, which were anything but. We didn’t even get blankets or pillow the way the 2nd and 3rd AC bunks get, there was no plug to charge our stuff in our compartment, there was no heat and the window was immovable stuck up a few inches. Ashley, Luke and I put on every stitch of warm clothing we had, locked the compartment and snuggled in. (btw, 5 points to Ashley for rolling up her towel and plugging the crack in the window!) A few hours later after some surprising sleep—I only knew I was asleep because I had now been woken up—there was bang! bang! bang! at the compartment door. It is an older Indian man asking to be let in as he has also was ticketed a bunk in our compartment. If we would have know how many empty bunks there were and also the giant pain in the butt this guy turned out to be, we would have taken the opportunity then to zip up our packs and to move them and us down the train to an compartment. We had all been (mostly) asleep and had built up a level of radiant heat from having the door closed for a few hours, and in comes this bumbling dude. He leaves the door open when he heads to the toilet, he flips on the overhead lights, he offers to Ashley that she can come up and share his blanket and bunk with him...at least we think he did. Once he gets himself settled and has totally unsettled us, he starts right out the gate with bone shaking snores. Seriously??? I burst out laughing at how absolutely ludicrous this whole is scene quickly becoming. Ashley, who is in her own bunk below, begins to give him a push with her foot every half an hour or so, which helps with the snoring for short bouts, but then he begins. After one such “friendly” kick, Ashley and I are sharing a thumbs-up when he leans over the edge of his bunk and catches. After he wakes, he turns the lights back, comes and sits on the bunk that Luke and I are sharing and drinks the chai that he has just bought after leaving the door open again. It goes on from there, for another hour or so before he finally reaches his stop. Later we find out that the most of the compartments in our car had been open all night. We are totally bushed (and slap happy) once we arrive in Amritsar, so we walk to the nice hotel across from the train station and check in. After some sleep and showers and work (they have pretty good wifi) we are off to the Golden Temple. I need to log off for a bit, so I will add a separate post all about our time in Amritsar and also introduce you properly to our friend, Ashley. She is awesome and the only fellow traveller (and American) to make into an inner orbit of Luke and mine.

Until then, hugs and kisses from Luke and me!