as i nervously ran through the station with my bags, trying to find my car, a man told me that the jaipur train had been delayed by 24 hours, and the one stationed was actually the previous days' train, and mine would come tomorrow. i didn't like that answer, so i i basically pushed him away, got on board, and miraculously found my seat. once on board i started asking "jaipur? jaipur?"
an american couple overheard me in the next car, so i joined them on our journey there. they're a married couple from SF and i had a really nice time chatting with them and sharing travel experiences in india. they too had the same 24 hour delay predicament. that same man that i pushed aside earlier was actually the conductor. so he immediately came over and told us that our tickets were invalid, because the january 8th train was actually going to be departing on jan 9th... however that makes sense. so we were instructed to pay a difference in fare to stay on board. what was initially a confrontational relationship became a friendship with the man. we offered him american pennies and a dollar, and he treated it as such a gift. then later, anytime he wanted to sit and do paperwork, or hang out, he came and sat with us. he's the one in the pictures below. he gave me his address and i promised i would mail him these photos when i got back home.
let's just say that even though i was in the best car on board, we still had a roach infestation above our heads. it's actually quite interesting because they provide you with clean sheets, and the seats fold down into beds. in addition, they provide you with food and tea, and anything else. so technically, it could be a nice ride. and i guess for a local who may not be bothered by roaches, it is. but for us, we used our sheets to wrap around our heads in fear of anything crawling in our ears. it was actually pretty funny.
5 hours later, after flicking off many roaches, we couldnt wait to get off and get to our respective hotels.
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