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    Not The Darjeeling Limited...

    ...but the Himsagar Express:

    http://indiarailinfo.com/train/629

    I'm doing this in August. It's the single longest train journey you can take in India. Am soooo excited!!!!

    #2
    Not The Darjeeling Limited...

    The page doesn't seem to be loading for me. What's the route? How long does it take?

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      #3
      Not The Darjeeling Limited...

      I've just tried the link and it is working fine for me AG.

      If like me you enjoy journeys for their own sake, it's a peach. It starts Friday morning at Kanyakumari, India's most southerly point (and the resting place for Ghandi's ashes) and then travels up the spine of the country via Delhi and Ludhiana Junction before arriving in Jammu in Kashmir Monday lunchtime. Here's the wikipedia link:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himsagar_Express

      I've been to Kanyakumari before and although it's supposedly one of the most sacred places in India, what with the convergence of the oceans etc, to be honest it's a bit of a dump. I had a beer there in what must be the seediest bar I have *ever* in all my years of travelling, ever had a beer in. The temple there is pretty interesting - not least of all because all male visitors to it have to take their shirts off, though that may just have been one of those lies they tell the tourists!

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        #4
        Not The Darjeeling Limited...

        God, I start getting antsy if I have to sit on a train or a plane for 3 or 4 hours. A journey lasting 3 days would kill me.

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          #5
          Not The Darjeeling Limited...

          It's working for me now, too. Christ that's a fantastic-sounding trip

          So are you getting one of those sleeper rooms like they had in the Wes Anderson film?

          And where else are you going in India? This isn't the sum total of the trip, I take it.

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            #6
            Not The Darjeeling Limited...

            AG - No, I'm going to be slumming it in 2nd class. Train travel in India is a real joy. It'll be hard work but worth it I hope. My only real concerns are (a) a lack of proper coffee for three days, (b) nowhere to charge phone/ipod.

            I fly into Trivandrum on the Tuesday before hand, then head down to Kanyakumari. Once I arrive in Jammu, I'm planning to travel back south to Amritsar and across to Chandigarh - a city designed by Le Courbousier (sp?). It's meant to be a gem. Then south to Delhi from whence I'll return to this sceptr'd isle.

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              #7
              Not The Darjeeling Limited...

              No Samovars (like the TransSiberian), I assume.

              Still, I would think that vendors with boiling water would be around at least some of the stops (of which there appear to be 71), so if you brought coffee and filters, you could rig something up in a pinch. Extra batteries for the electronics and/or finding outlets during the long stopovers (Delhi, for instance).

              I've heard differing opinions on Chandigarh. Evidently, quite a few of the buildings have deteriorated significantly due to the climate.

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                #8
                Not The Darjeeling Limited...

                a).Drink tea, you philistine bastard! You're in bloody India!

                b). Busk, send an email when the train stops (or even a telegram if you fancy the old school) or do without.

                You're not the true identity of that blogger we discussed a few months back, are you? Confronting the horrors of the world with nothing more than dad's credit card and your trust fund?

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                  #9
                  Not The Darjeeling Limited...

                  Good call ua re the filters etc. The stuff that the chai vendors dish up is unspeakable.

                  Yeah - I'd heard that about Chandigarh too, but there was a recent piece in theGuardian about it which whetted my appetite. Even if it has detriorated I reckon it would still be a fascinating place to visit.

                  "a).Drink tea, you philistine bastard! You're in bloody India!"

                  Applause!

                  No, I'm not.

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                    #10
                    Not The Darjeeling Limited...

                    Well, I fly out on Tuesday. I've bought my ticket and I've got a 2nd class sleeper reserved. The only problem is that it's all kicked off in and around Srinagar and Jammu - Curfews, tanks on the streets shootings, the whole nine yards.

                    Looks like it'd be wise to finish the journey somewhere south of Jammu. A shame, but I'm not going to be stupid about it. Why put myself deliberately in harm's way?

                    Have bought some battery powered chargers for my phone and ipod so that's that sorted. Just the coffee issue to resolve now...

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                      #11
                      Not The Darjeeling Limited...

                      That was exhausting!

                      The journey was incredible. As anticipated, I had to get off early, 100km short, at Chakki Bank rather than go all the way to Jammu. The more I spoke to people and read the papers the more I realised that it was just too dangerous to go all the way. I have to say however epic I may have thought my journey, the fact that there were young couples with families travelling from Kannyakumari all the way up to Jammu because they had no choice as that's where their jobs were kind of put things into perspective for me.

                      Some of my abiding memeories: Standing in the open door of the carriage as it sped through Southern India at sunset, watching herons and fruit bats flying low over paddy fields: a slow moving train on a hot sunday afternoon making the heat feel even more intense. Languid is too small a word; a little lad coming onto the train to try and earn some money by entertaining the passengers with the worst tumbling act I have ever seen...

                      On a more prosaic note, there was actually somewhere to charge phones etc on the train, though there was invariably a queue (a comment itself on the modernisation of India). As for coffee, there was a chice between "nescorpy" and the (relatively) more palatble "garam corpy". Even the sweet chai became palatable after a while! As for food on the train, lunch and dinner were provided for Rs 32. That's about 45p to you and me. Unfortunately the food didn't come in old fashioned tiffin carriers but was filling and tasty nevertheless.

                      After getting off at Chakki Bank it was a bus to McCloud Ganj, where the Tibetan Government is in exile. A lovely place, where the golden eagles fly in pairs in the valley below you. Nearby is the Church of St John in The Wilderness, which has a stained glass window designed by Edward Burne Jones. A little gem high in the mountains!

                      From there it was Amritsar - like the Vatican for Sikhs. Even for an aethiest like me it was incredible. The sense of shared purpose amongst the pilgrims and spiritituality is quite palabable. To be honest though, I found it quite confusing on many different levels.

                      Then, it was on to Chandigarh. ua - you'd be surprised at how well the place is bearing up. It's not like anywhere else in Northern India - organised and calm. Highlight for me was visting the High Court. Lovely building and the rigmarole involved in getting permission to take photos was *so* India.

                      On then to Delhi. That's changed. It's suddenly rich and Western. Not as manic as previously.

                      After all that, I was exhausted. Seems liked such a long time ago.

                      Will go back and finish that last 100km one day.

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                        #12
                        Not The Darjeeling Limited...

                        So you didn't go that extra fiver for the first class berth?

                        Or are you just not admitting it?

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                          #13
                          Not The Darjeeling Limited...

                          Pictures please.

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                            #14
                            Not The Darjeeling Limited...

                            gt3 - I am very jealous. I went on a train journey in India back in 1979, from Delhi to Srinagar, and it was fantastic, although nothing like as epic as your journey. I did get addicted to chai, though.

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                              #15
                              Not The Darjeeling Limited...

                              There are pictures, and they are very great.

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                                #16
                                Not The Darjeeling Limited...

                                PG - No I didn't. The Second Class Sleeper was fine, albeit a bit tiring, sleeping on a shelf for three nights really takes it out of you!

                                Villain, I've got them in my Photoshop Album, but don't know how to post them. Any advice would be gratefully received. Thank you wingco.

                                Masala chai is the business boris.

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                                  #17
                                  Not The Darjeeling Limited...

                                  Very pleased to hear the report on Chandigarh, and even more so to hear what a great time you had.

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