Trains and taxis and rickshaws oh my

The train to Agra took about 21 hours. The bed was comfortable, the light was sufficient, the ride was quiet (-ish), and I had Wheel of Time. It was the most rest I have had in a while. They even served vege- samosas in the train! Fantasitc. There was a guy who walked up and down the train, for 21 hours, saying "chai! Coffee!... Chai! Coffee!" He was funny.

We arrived in a little town out side of Agra at about 1700. The rickshaws wanted to charge us hundreds of rupees to travel to Agra, but we found a bus for 40. It was fully awesome. Then after a short ride on a rickshaw, we found our hotel. Not too bad, and only sort of expensive, the drawback was lots of mosquitos.

Tuesday morning we got up and did the Taj Mahal. India was worth it just for that hour and a half. The girls kept wandering off, which made our tour guide mad, so he hurried us. It was still beautiful. I'll have pictures up soon. Words just can't describe. I was just raptured...

Tuesday night we split up. Olga didn't want to fly, because it was too expensive. We didn't want to take the train, because we wouldn't have enough time in Darjeeling. I wanted to fly so I could make my flight back to Thailand. Phil and Olga stayed to take the train. Annie, Nikki, and I took a taxi to the airport in Delhi. We stayed the night at a fairly nice little hotel in Delhi, and when I awoke in the morning, I discovered that the water we had purchased during the car ride was bad. I had noticed that the cap didn't seal, and had been a little worried that it would make me sick. Sure enough, it did.

Tuesday night and Wednesday morning were miserable. I had constant diarrhea, and in the morning i threw up. I thought it was over after i hurled, but no. I threw up twice on the plane, with constant diarrhea. When we arrived in Bagdogra, I was far too miserable to take the train or jeep up to Darjeeling. I got a hotel while the girls continued up the mountain. My hotel was nice, and in the morning I got up, got a rickshaw to the airport, and prepared to get on the plane. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to print my itinerary. This meant that I couldn't enter the airport building. Also, the internet was off, because the power was off, so I couldn't even get an itinerary printed. I wasted 2 hours with the lady at the airline counter, until someone finally found that I was indeed on the flight which was now scheduled to leave in only 30 minutes. I hurried through security and into the terminal, to find that my plane had been delayed more than three hours. Still not too horrible, because I had my Wheel of Time books.

While we waited, there was almost a small riot because of the delay. Idiots. Flight to Kolkota was fine, although I have not yet mentioned that I was still throwing up.

I landed in Kolkota, collected my bag and got a taxi to the hotel that Mom had booked for me. I then found out that it was 70 km away from the city. It took 2:30 to get there. It was a beautiful place, but getting back to Kolkota to make my flight was looking like it was going to be a nightmare.

Continue Tomorrow...

So very sleepy.