trains held together by roaches...

let me just start by saying first class in this country is totally different than what my western mind had expected and i did not have huge expectations...

allow me to tell you about our first class train ride....

first, we check out of hotel in kolkata and head off to mother teresa's house called the "mother house". it was a simple building filled with much love. her tomb was large and covered in flowers saying "jesus is love" and behind the tomb a sign saying "i thirst". we were given charms for love and protection, which we later needed. we then continued on the the zoo. i know, i know...a zoo??? but please remember the great love sarah shares with nature and i am of course always game. so, we get there and the only animals that are truly on display are US!!! we leave within minutes agreeing it wasn't our brightest idea and go to our favorite internet cafe until our 7 pm ride to the train station.

now, our biggest fear so far on this trip is kolkata taxi drivers ever since we were almost killed at least 5 times the first night of arrival. so we enter this cab with already psyched out thoughts and hugging one another. the traffic was very bad, which we later figured out was due to the ending of the work day and along with us...EVERYONE is heading to the train station and i mean EVERYONE. bikes, cabs, rickshaws, barefoot workers and buses so long & continuous they look to be the train.

india houses 1 billion people but my eyes overwhelmed & in wonder counted at least 2 billion going to the kolkata train station.

getting there with 20 minutes to spare, we notice much of the same activities taking place in the station as on the streets, there are dogs, cows, women carrying produce and people occupying every inch of space.

we board our train relieved we have made it in time, find our beds in the indian version of first class. we chat among ourselves wondering about the other 1 billion passengers also boarding lesser classes of space on the train?

how do they do it? such strength, such limited space, and such chaos.

we were not alone in our cabin...we were greeted by cockroaches and creepy peeping tom's (and not of the average curious indian fashion) ready to join us...yuk.

we then decided in unison that we would not be sleeping on this train ride. but rather we worked as a team killing roaches all night and monitoring the curtain for intruders. we then realized that the train does not have a system of announcing arrivals whether by intercom or by person. now on top everything we worry about missing our stop in varanasi.

14.5 hours later we exit the train starving because we disposed of all our snacks to keep the roaches away and tired because we have been up or 27 hours.

we immediately agree the next train ride we already have booked to agra, which mind you is longer and of a lower class of cabin is now going to be avoided at all costs!!! we immediately book our airfare. we just can not fathom doing it again. looking at one another we are proud to have tried but have agreed the indian railroad has won!!!