Day 5: 11-hour train journey (24.02.2017)

After a good night's sleep, Brendon and I packed our belongings and headed towards the train station. We quickly got into a rickshaw, got on the next train, and thought we would make ourselves comfortable there... or so we thought. Unbeknownst to us, the driver took us to a tourist office after a hearty breakfast. According to him, we would be better served there and get our tickets faster. As it turned out, this was a typical scheme to offer overpriced tickets to tourists. He showed us on his computer that all tickets for today and tomorrow were sold out and offered us a coach for almost 6 times the price. He seemed trustworthy, but revealed himself when he tried to bargain with us over the price, which is not possible with tickets. With a healthy dose of skepticism, we exposed the swindler's scheme and finally went to the train station, hoping to get a seat on the train.

For just 4 euros, we booked an 11-hour train journey towards Varanasi in the Sleeper Class. We passed the ridiculous 6 hours of waiting time plus a 2-hour delay by eating, feeding monkeys, and engaging in other activities to make the time go faster.

Unfortunately, the train journey was not as relaxing as we had hoped. I was too afraid that my bag could be stolen to close my eyes. In addition, I had a poor family sitting in the compartment who did not seem trustworthy. They appeared very unkempt for Indian standards, and both me and my electronic toys were constantly stared at. It was also chaotic. But after not being able to resist sleep for about an hour, I found 2 members of the family sitting on my 60 cm wide bed. Apparently, my sleeping spot was perfect for starting a small conversation circle. I knew that I would have to make up for a lot of sleep the next day.