The Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge – Day 6 & 7

After the near death of the GCIRC, we rested up in our new train berths onwards to New Delhi. Arriving in the early morning, Delhi was everything I expected India to be and more. There’s rubbish, poverty, and chaos everywhere, but once you look past it all, you find businesses thriving, children playing and people going about their daily lives, just like anywhere else.

‘Helpful’ Locals

Winding through alley after alley, we arrived at our supposed hotel. It turned out to be the wrong one, with a similar name. A kind local offerred to guide us to the correct hotel. We were led through even more alleyways, and of course, not to our booked hotel, but his cousin’s much better hotel. This was the exact same scenario that a friend said had happened to them in Mumbai, so Todd and I laughed it off. Others were not so high-spirited, but we trudged on nonetheless to our destined hotel for much-needed showers, Internet and brekky.

We’re Not in Kansas Anymore

Banana bread is very different in Australia. It is similar to a piece of cake, but baked like a loaf of bread, sliced into pieces, then each piece is toasted and buttered. Indian banana bread means a few pieces of banana sandwiched between two pieces of white bread, with the entire sandwich fried in a whole heap of butter. Not nearly as good as the Aussie version, but then I’m not travelling the world to be surrounded by the comforts of home.

Lost Again

We had at least four locals tell us to go into an info centre, even when we specifically said we had already been and had enough free maps to last a lifetime. Perhaps we were just easy targets with that ‘lost foreigner’ look on our faces, as we genuinely did get lost with all the responses, ‘Yes the main circle is just down there, but you can get a free map at the information centre just over there, here I take you’.

In the end we gave up trying to find Connaught Place (the main circle of Delhi) on our own and flagged down a bike-tuk. What was supposed to be ‘just down the road’ was at least an hour’s walk away. We would’ve walked if we had the time, but it was a quick cuppa and then back to make our 2 o’clock train that would be the longest of the GCIRC, 39 hours if all goes to schedule.

GCIRC Day 6 & 7

• Train: Rajdhani
• Depart: New Delhi @ 14:00 on 23-Feb-11
• Destination: Dibrugarh @ 05:00 on 25-Feb-11 (estimated)
• Distance: 2443 km, 39 hours